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. .

Is 38 Just Another Number?

The Demilitarized Zone (the 38th parallel) 


  • My second time going back to the DMZ. This time we did not get to go to the JSA, unfortunately. We were able to go to the Bridge of Freedom and the Third Infiltration Tunnel, in addition to the Tongilchon village and Dora Observatory (overlooks N. Korea). 

Going back reminded me again of the poem we had learned in Korean class about being on the same road, but at a different place in time and as such, an entirely different person. Unlike last year, this year we did not go to the MAC buildings where the armistice treaty was signed in 1953 (in the JSA (Joint Security Area)). I remember only there, standing in the room with the large oak table, did the tension feel real. Without going to those rooms, the border felt a little tourist-y, sales oriented. There was a convenience store and an amusement park and a Popeye's restaurant. It was only in being transcended into a different place both in location and in time that I was able to comprehend the reality that is the DMZ. 

Also different about this visit to the DMZ, is that I have had more contact with Korean people and thus a better understanding of South Korean opinions on the situation. In addition, I had seen a  North Korean film screening and was able to meet a North Korean defector who came to Seoul ten years ago and hear her story. From what I have learned through speeches and videos and through asking Omma and Jun, is that South Korea, is ironically, split into two. Usually the older generation is more willing to endure the hardships that reunification would entail. When I asked Jun, however, he said that because it does not make any sense economically, he would rather wait than pursue reunification now.  His response was interesting because our tour guide had said something similar: "We want to wait for North Korea's economic level to reach that of South Korea and then we can reunify!" 

Even without going to MAC buildings, standing at the border served as a reality check . Like our resident coordinator was telling us, many students come to South Korea for the K-Pop and K-Drama's, and while that is alright, it is important to recognize the reality in which South Korea exists and functions. Korea is still at war, and it is vital to realize that as much as K-pop and K-Drama's are a great way to learn more about Korea, there is that reality that cannot be ignored.

My thoughts when leaving the DMZ were ambiguous. Did I want to be unrealistically optimistic at the prospect of a reunification occurring int he near future? I still am not sure how I feel. In my conversations with Koreans my age, I am left feeling that the thirty-eight could become just a number in the future.

2-2: The final score of my first soccer game, FC Seoul vs. Incheon United

Foreign festival outside of the stadium, had foods from all over the world. Favorites: Thai coconut cookies, Nepalese rice balls and Indian milk tea. 

Saw taekwondo performance 

3 hours: Practiced football (soccer) with kids from my class for the game we have later this week. It was freezing and many of us fell on the gravel, but we prevailed. Hojun went to the doctor and is on a six week break. Huichol hurt his foot, but can still walk. Yongsok said he pulled a muscle and I scraped my knee and pulled my calf. But we prevailed. We got some hot pizza for dinner and then played some scrimmage games.