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. .

Drawing Connections

Seollal is the Korean Lunar New Year. Wait, the lunar new year? It sounds really familiar. Oh, right--Rosh HaShannah! I began to draw some connections between the two celebrations. On eruv Seollal (the night before Seollal), I bought some round bread and honey, traditionally eaten on the Jewish New Year to symbolize having a 'sweet' new year, to share with my new host family.

Rosh Hashannah
  • September-ish
  • Honoring god 
Seollal
  • Late January/early February 
  • Honoring ancestors

Rosh Hashannah and Seollal

  • Lots and lots and lots of food. 

Some Seollal customs: 
  • Visiting your kohyang, hometown (traffic jams) 
  • Bowing to grandparents, chol
  • Giving gifts to grandparents
  • Dressing in hanbok to honor elders/ancestors
  • Receiving gifts from grandparents
  • Eat tteokkuk, rice cake soup 

But my Seollal education began before Seollal itself. Last week I volunteered at the Mapo Youth Center with elementary school students. It was one of the first times I was able to learn with and from the students at the same time. We both learned how to chol, bow.
Men and women conduct different bows, however neither of which remotely resemble a "bow" or "curtsy." Both bows involve getting on one's hands and knees and staying down for about three seconds before getting back up again. I was complimented by the teacher on my form.

Then we learned how to make mandu. I remember I pulled up my sleeves to start working on filling the mandu wraps and when I did, jinpi, the student sitting next to me reaches out and touches it. tol! tol! fur! fur! 

We ate tteokkuk and then went to the senior center across the street to greet the the elderly. Not to tangent too far off topic, but Korea is facing a huge issue now as people live longer as many of their laws are still slightly outdated. This has led them to lead lives of loneliness and ultimately, poverty. Park GyeunHye ran on extending social benefits to the elderly, but has yet to fully provide for the amounts she had proposed during her election. Back at the senior center, we lined up with the Korean students and bowed in front of a line of mainly halmoni and haraboji. Although uncomfortable at first, it was important for me to keep in mind that it was not religious, but ceremonious. 

We played yunori, a game traditionally played on Seollal. I could not really grasp the rules of yunori, but I know when it came my turn to roll the four wooden sticks, I rolled mu, which must have been something good because everyone started cheering.

On Seollal Day, we went to see the grandparents. They had since moved away from their kohyang, but being with family is more important than the location where one was raised. It reminded me of when people asked me what my hometown was. Where did I live? Because I've moved so many times, I'm not sure I really know. I feel wherever my family is, whatever house in whatever city and whatever country, that is where my "hometown" is. I consider my hometown not a series of streets and cul-de-sacs, but rather the feelings I have when I am with my family. 

We ate. And bowed. And they gave out money. And we brought gifts. And they gave us their blessings (not religious, but spiritual in nature). 

새헤복 많이 받으세요 (recieve many good forturnes this year)!



Omma called me today. She was shopping at E-mart, the local equivalent to superTarget, and had thought of me. Speaking over the phone is especially difficult in a foreign language, but we made it. We talked about how she had been doing, the family, her Seollal plans and when I'd be coming back to Suraksan to eat.