Chapter 7: 늦어서 미안해! (Sorry This is Late!)

Uh, yeah like the title says…

Sorry this update is coming to you literally a MONTH after the last one. To all my loyal and passionate readers (all five of you), I would like to sincerely apologize for the brief hiatus.

But fear not! For I have returned with lots of stories and updates. Also, let’s just take a moment to appreciate that I came back to this blog and didn’t give up halfway like last time. Because we have literally just passed the halfway mark of the semester, so you should take this as a good sign.

Yeah, midterms happened over the last two weeks, and I still have a seven page paper that needs to be written (read: needs to be started and it’s due in a week AH), so I’ve been pretty out of it for a while. Literally all of last weekend was spent in my room as I prepared for my 30-minute presentation on the teacher shortage in America (I think I did an okay job, eh), and the weekend before that was spent studying for my other three midterms, although at least I got out and went to a cafe and worked.

Here is said cafe. It’s a chain, so it’s not exactly famous for having the best pastries or whatever, but everything is cheap and it was definitely made to be a study/meeting cafe. Lots of study spots, outlets at every table, Wi-Fi. What more could you ask for? Too bad it’s like a 40-minute walk from my house, but it’s kind of worth it if I’m really in the study mood.

Alright, so I guess I’ll just go through my camera roll and recount what I’ve been doing.

The first thing to come up are some pictures from my internship! As I explained in a previous post, I’m working at an organization called VANK that works to spread awareness of Korean history and culture as well as correct information that has been distorted in some way. As of now, I have published two articles, both having to do with the Korean alphabet hangeul (한글). If you are intrested, you can read the articles below!

An Introduction to Hangeul, Korea's Official Script

Hangeul Day: A Holiday for an Alphabet?

I’m also currently working on an article about Korean language education in the US, so you can check in to us.prkorea.com within the next week or two to read that! There are also plenty of other articles on the site covering all types of topics if you are interested.

Anyways, I am really enjoying my internship mostly because everyone in the office is so friendly and supportive and are willing to help us interns to improve our Korean language skills and also educate us about Korean history and culture. If anything, they treat us like family (and give us lots of food), so I always look forward to going into the office on Tuesdays.

The VANK team! (There are like 2 people missing just FYI)

Here’s some examples of the food we get at lunch, which always ends up being the most exciting part of the day.

This is me giving a presentation introducing myself. Our team leader was just kind of like “Yeah, if you can just like talk about yourself for maybe 20 minutes or so?” I’m not that interesting of a person, so this presentation took a lot more work than I’m willing to admit.

Another fun thing we did this week was the dalgona game (달고나) or I think some refer to it as ppopgi (뽑기). I’m not sure what the exact difference is.

Anyways.

This game involves a (very) sugary treat that has a shape pressed into it that you’re meant to carve out with a needle, and is a popular treat for school children. It’s made simply out of melted sugar and baking soda, the melted sugar making it taste like a burnt marshmallow and the baking soda giving it a light caramel color. The mixture is poured onto a cool surface and then pressed into a flat circular shape, upon which the stencil shape is pressed. The shape can be anything, like a heart or a star.

Not sure how great that explanation was, so here’s a picture for reference.

So why did we suddenly start doing this at our internship?

If you haven’t heard of the Netflix series Squid Game, I’d honestly say I’m a bit surprised. It has become the #1 Netflix series in over 90 countries and has been everywhere on social media. Since I haven’t watched it personally (I’m too scared haha), I ‘m not going to go into the plot or anything, but basically this show’s premise is about a survival competition that revolves around traditional Korean childhood games. One of those games happens to be dalgona, and the trend of doing the dalgona game has exploded all around the world. So of course we had to get in on the trend.

I’m happy to say I succeeded two out of three times. It was a very tedious process, but it was definitely fun! The actual dalgona itself was…eh. Too sweet for my liking, but that might be just what someone else is craving. (Dalgona lattes though? Delicious.)

The broken one is not mine, I would just like to point out

I am also still on my endless search for good places with lots of nature, though sadly I haven’t had the opportunity (or maybe I’m just lazy) to go hiking as much as I would like to.

But again fear not, because I took my teacher’s recommendation and went to Seoul Olympic Park, which ended up being one of the most aesthetic walks I’ve ever been on.

This was a park built for the 1988 Summer Olympics that were hosted in Seoul and is definitely a popular destination for families, tourists, and people like me who just want a nice walk outside.

Here’s a fun episode: There was a minimart near the entrance to the park for like buying snacks, and I wanted to go get something to eat and drink since it was really hot that day and I needed lunch. Well, this was the only place to buy food practically in the entire park, so when I say it was packed, I mean it was packed. That was honestly the most stressful time I had ever had in a convenience store and I honestly just ended up grabbing the first things that looked okay because there were so many people everywhere.

My lunch ended up being a yogurt drink and a bag of cookies. Don’t judge me

Here’s the actual “olympic” park of the park haha

And here’s all the nature! I forgot what the pink grass was called, but it was very pretty! And obviously a popular place for people to have their pictures taken

My friend and I also went to another park a couple weeks later, and there was also a nearby flower market that was literally filled from corner to corner with all types of plants. For some reason, orchids seemed to be a very popular item, as well as the hanging air plants. I wish I could’ve bought something, but knowing me it would have been killed almost instantly.

To continue our “nature” narrative, I also went and took a walk along the Han River (한강) after studying for the entire day before midterms. If you didn’t know, the Han River is the fourth largest river on the Korean peninsula and is the major river running through Seoul. It’s a popular place to picnic and ride your bike and is honestly beautiful to look at no matter where you happen to be.

Side note: If you’re going to ride your bike, you better know how to ride fast because I swear the majority of bike riders here are speed bikers and they will show you no mercy if you get in their way. (Haha, I totally didn’t almost get run over while trying to cross the path)

(Okay, all of these pictures kind of look the same, but sigh, so pretty)

Next up is a bit of a break from nature.

As a treat for getting through midterms (though we still had presentations the next week haaa), the Flagship program took us all to Everland, which is South Korea’s largest amusement park and is located a little ways outside of Seoul. It’s home to the T Express, which is the 6th longest wooden rollercoaster in the world. If you know me, you will not be surprised to hear that I did not ride this death trap, but according to my friends it was pretty fun (somehow).

Instead, I spent my time with a few others who had a shared disinterest in rides, and we instead walked around the zoo that was included inside the park. I got a lot of steps in that day and my body was hurting a little more than I’d like to admit that night, but it was a very refreshing and relaxing trip. Everland is also located literally in between a bunch of mountains, so the scenery is incredible. The leaves were also starting to change, making for an even prettier sight (I was crying on the inside at how aesthetic of a scene it was).

The pandas were a major point of the park, and to get a spot to see the panda exhibit was literally like signing up for classes all over again. In other words, a lot more stressful than it needed to be.

I’ve also started getting up early in the morning (I’m talking like 5:30 AM early. I didn’t know I had it in me, either) and going jogging or walking near the stream that’s about half a mile away from my boarding house, and this has honestly started becoming my favorite part of the day. I’ve seen lots of sunrises now and really enjoy the time to myself (surrounded by lots of older folk who are also out for their daily cardio workout) and also like knowing that I’m getting hopefully some health benefits.

It’s exactly three miles from my house to the end of the stream and back. A good way to wake oneself up before a long day of work.

And just today I went with a friend to go see Van Gogh Inside the Theater, which was a virtual art exhibit that showed Van Gogh’s works by projecting them onto the walls and floors of a large room and had music that went along with it. The show lasted around 50 minutes and went through seven different movements, and I really wish I knew more about art to elaborate more on the pieces, but since I don’t, all I can say is that it was really an experience like nothing else. If anything, it was a super therapeutic time and a good escape from reality for a little while. The music was also incredible and I actually got chills from the emotion being conveyed through the art and music. I guess this exhibit was also in the states at some point, so I’m glad I got to catch it here!

Lastly, here’s just some random pictures on my phone that didn’t really fit in any other category!

The night view in Yongsan (용산)

Another BTS pop-up shop that I just needed to go to. Fun fact: I went here when we got back from Everland. I had also gone jogging that morning, so that day I got in 27,000 steps. It hurt.

Food!

These photo booths are set up all around and my friend said she’s “collecting these like Pokemon cards,” so of course we had to take a picture together. The photo booth place also had some Halloween decorations, which was cute to see since Halloween isn’t the biggest holiday here.

A picture of the street my boarding house is on taken in the early-ish morning when no one was around and most places weren’t open. Very peaceful.

Our weekly family video calls featuring Pecan

Again, proof that I’m alive and doing well!

If you’ve made it this far down the post, congratulations! I’ll cook you food when I get back home as a reward haha.

I’d also like to mention that I think my Korean skills are improving as I continue to study and live here. I mean, I guess that’s kind of a given, but I always tend to think a bit more negatively, which isn’t the best practice. But as I’ve continued going to class, doing presentations, debates, essays, and speaking tests, I can honestly say that I think I’m at least a little better than I was when I first got here. Obviously there’s still a long way to go and I have a lot of things to improve, but as I’ve continued to fix my study habits and find new ways to learn, I can feel myself growing in the language. Who would’ve thought we’d have gotten to the point where I can have conversations about the intellectual property of the COVID-19 vaccine or the gender conflict in South Korea and sound somewhat like I know what I’m talking about? Four and a half years ago I just knew how to read, and not even that well.

Also the fact that I can watch all my favorite shows and understand maybe 80% of the dialogue (people need to stop using all this slang that my textbook didn’t teach me lol just kidding. English is worse. We all know it) is honestly so nice. I don’t know, sometimes it’s just good to reflect on the progress you’ve made so the road ahead doesn’t look so daunting.

Well, that’s it for this update!

I’m going to do us all a favor and not make any promises about when the next update will happen. Although there will be an update, I just don’t think keeping a schedule for writing is going to work if I don’t end up doing anything exciting. But I’ll for sure be back, you can count on that!

Until next time!