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. .

Jeonju Oct. 19-20

Jeonju Recaps:


  • Second time going, very different experience because of my age and conscious.  We learned of a poem in Korean that said, "we travel down the same roads, but are different people." I travelled down the same roads of Jeonju, but I was a different person. 
  • Took KTX railway to Jeonju. Three.5 hours from Seoul, roughly $20 each way.
  • Made Kimchi
  • Ate the traditional Jeonju Bibimbap. Jeonju is famous for its bibimbap
  • Visited the Hanok Village (now at 5+ million visitors per year) 
  • Stayed in Hanok (traditional Korean house), slept on the floor- used to it by now. 
  • Jogging at 6am: running through the Land of the Morning Calm, and it was calm alright. No stores were open, no people were out. Stopped at different guest house by mistake because we thought it was a coffee shop. I saw a note on the wall written by a Pakistani person who had stayed at the guesthouse. I remember it said, "we belong to the Seoul." I thought it was so nice to see how the translations from Urdu to English convey the Urdu jargon. From this Pakistani guests' translation, I was able to learn that in Urdu you say "you belong to a place" instead of "being from somewhere." 
  • Took the TOPIK (Test of Proficiency in Korean, 3.5 hours) 

NSLI-Y gang and me at the Jeonju Hanok Village