Korean translation, 년[neon,nyawn]: year



Korean translation, 년[neon,nyawn]: year




To whoever is looking at this blog, know that while although one of the functions of this blog is to inform others of my time here, I also use this blog as a way to document what I am doing in Korea for myself. I do this so that come a year, two years, ten, twenty from now, I can look back and remember some of the the amazing people I met, the places I went and the meaningful experiences I had.

Why am I in Seoul, anyways?

Why am I in Seoul, anyways? I'm studying language in Seoul for the year through the National Security Language Initiative for Youth operated by the U.S. State Department. While in Seoul, I attend a local Korean high school as a regular Korean student and have intensive language classes three times a week at an international institute in Seoul. My school is a digital media vocational school. Both in school and in many other settings, I am often the only American they have met and almost always the only Jew. As such, I have an important role, not only as an American or a Jew, but as The American and The Jew. Because of this, I have been prone to some alarming, but insightful questions. Like when it was drizzling outside, weather that does not necessarily warrant carrying an umbrella, but being asked by my host brother, "Do all Jews not use umbrellas?" I am constantly being put in new situations. I make mistakes sometimes. Like when I clearly asked for "not spicy," however later realized, tears in my eyes, that the woman's shocked expression when I ordered "meh-un tteokbokki" was not from my Korean ordering skills, but was because I had probably been the first foreigner to specifically ask for the spiciest food on the menu. These year as the non-umbrella-carrying-spicy-food-eating-American-Jew living in Seoul has been exhausting and exhilarating, but a year of experiences I will bring with me for the rest of my life. .

Biking and Temple

Biking:

  • Took hour and a half subway to Gyeyang station
  • Rented bikes 
  • Took ferry to main island and biked to two others, all connected by bridges
  • Located at Incheon Islands, where General MacArthur landed during the Korean War 
  • Saw the famous "mud flats" 
  • Potluck on the beach 
  • Sculpture park on Mo Island 
  • Saw Korean men eating live octopus (not uncommon)
  • Went to famous house used for Korean soap opera; now abandoned. 












Yeongju: 
  • Arrival drama (wired money, but space filled up before he received it. We went at 7am anyway hoping someone would be a no show. Sure enough two spots opened up and we were able to go!)
  • Buseoksa Temple in the mountains 
  • Apple orchard and picking 
  • My first ride up a mountain in the back of a pickup truck
  • Sweet potato harvesting 
  • Yeonju Tofu making, lunch (bibimbap sponsored by the Yeongju government)  
  • Museom village and bridge visit 
  • Ginseng market