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. .

Vegan Food and Christmas Festival

Saw poster on my way to the subway one day for a vegan potluck.

Vegan Potluck

  • Kelsi and I went and brought kam (Korean persimmons)
  • Ate delicious food 
  • Recognized someone from our bike trip to Sinsodo Islands a while back and was able to reconnect
  • Different expat vibe than usual- usually very professional and middle aged people, but here we were able to meet people in their twenty's. 
  • Got invited to go vegetarian restaurant hopping with the leader of the potluck 
Ice Cream in Itaewon 
  • Went to famous ice cream store called SOFTREE
  • Vanilla ice cream with honeycomb 
European Christmas Market
  • Lots of Christmas-y things going on
  • Each European country (not all of them) had a tent set up with food for sale. 
  • Too crowded for us to meet any new people 
  • Disappointing, but a worthwhile visit nonetheless