If it's Good for the Seoul: So much has happened!

This week's topics:

(read what you want, pass up what you don't)

Emily meets her match.
The campers have arrived!
Bold and the Beautiful's got some competition.
What the heck does 'Sino' mean?
How to sneeze in Korean: Onomatopoeias
"Uhhh, well, like, yeah..."
You can't out-drink a Korean. Don't try.
Wait, Korean and French. What?!
Did you know?
If you haven't coupled in Korea, you haven't coupled.
Kimchi Bitches and Flower Boys
Konglish highlights
Becoming a Taekwondo black belt...but really.
Being queer in Korea
Buddhist temple stay
Best night yet
A commentary on temple life
The 6 degrees of William Cameron Townsend
I know where I'll be living this year!
Making the national news

Bonus feature: What's Bryan up to?

1. Emily meets her match.

It was a beautiful August morning when I learned that my computer, who had served as a close friend and comfort for two short years, had been taken by our Good Lord. She lived a good life. Well, maybe I didn't give her enough. There are times I wonder if I could have done better by her. I don't know if I was ever the owner she truly needed me to be. But, by God, I loved her like I have never loved another Apple product. All I ask is that you try to remember her as she was in her younger years, always with a bright, happy screen and just bursting with exciting new information. May she forever rest in peace.

Yes, my Mac had fallen and I have been left feeling rather empty and Internet-less. But if the saying 'misery loves company' is true, then I should be quite delighted because we are actually a group of 14 Fulbrighters so far. Yes, 14 computers have broken down. 14 of us have seen our computer desktops for the last time. We don't know what this mystical, terrorizing, destructive force is or why it has chosen us. But, it's real I tell you.

*On a brighter note, I think my warranty will cover the repairs. So, long story short: I should be able to blog regularly again some time soon. And although being computer-less can be a pain, three great things have come from it:

1) I now know how to navigate Korean computers. Really, if you need to know how to say copy, paste, open, or cancel, I'm your girl.

2) A couple of my friends have kindly lent me their laptops. #faithinhumanity

3) You can't waste time with your eyes glued to a computer screen if you don't have a computer.

2. The campers have arrived!

- During orientation, the Fulbright Korean Orientation program puts together a 2-week English immersion camp for Korean students. It gives us a chance to practice teaching and connect with Korean students. I got to teach two lessons, one at the elementary level and the other at the high school level. Here are some pictures from my high school class! With them, I did an anti-bullying lesson. We had fun. :)

I also got the opportunity to be a Team Leader for our Activity Weekend. I coordinated 17 other ETAs to put together an afternoon of outdoor fun for 90 Korean campers. It was a pretty cool feeling looking and seeing how well everything came together.:)

3. Bold and the Beautiful's got some competition.
Watching TV shows is a great way to learn about the language and culture of a place. A lot of people in my program love the K-dramas, which are the soap operas of Korea. They're usually only about 12-24 episodes long and famous K-pop celebrities usually act in them.
Disclaimer: They are generally REALLY overacted and cheesy.

But I guess so are our soap operas. I've only really begun to watch them. At first, the difference in acting style between Korea and America was a bit of a shock to the system. But I'm getting more and more used to them. Plus, as my Korean gets better, it's more fun to watch. Because then I understand what they're really saying even when the subtitles don't make sense.
I'm only one Episode 3 of the Coffee Prince (a favorite among the Fulbrighters here), but I really like it. It's about a hard-working androgynous girl who finds herself in a rather interesting situation when this guy takes her for a man.

4. What the heck does 'Sino' mean?
The word 'Sino' has been creeping up on me a lot lately. My first exposure to the word was when I learned to count in Korean. There are two numbering systems: 1) Native-Korean and Sino-Korean. The former is the 'pure' Korean way of counting and the latter is the numbering system adopted from Chinese. I've since heard the word Sino coming into play in other situations (Sino-American business relations, for example), so I finally looked into it. 'Sino' generally refers to China, Chinese culture, or Chinese people. But where exactly does the word come from? What's its etymology?

From what I understand, the word originates from the name of the ancient Chinese dynasty called Ch'in. Then Late Greek began using a modified version of the Chinese dynasty's name to refer to 'silk-makers,' as China was the hub for silk-making. This word was 'Sinai. When absorbed into Latin and transformed to the nominative case (the suffix that marks a word as the subject of the sentence), then the word became 'Sino.'

5. How to sneeze in Korean: Onomatopoeias
If you ask a Korean what sound a dog makes, they won't say 'ruff ruff.' And to them, a duck doesn't say 'quack quack.' Although it seems that onomatopoeias should be common between languages because they supposedly 'mimick real sounds,' this is generally not the case. The following poster gives you a cursory look at Korean onomatopoeias.

I thought these had English pronunciations on them, but alas they do not. So below I've written them plus a few extra personal favorites:

Ruff Ruff (dog) = meong-meong
Meow = ya-eong
Ouch = a-ya!
Oops = at!
Achoo = ah-chwi!
Mwa = jook-jook!
Shhh = shweet!
Boom boom (heart thumping) = doogun doogun
Chewing food = nyam nyam
Waaaah (crying) = aung aung
Cock-a-doodle-do = go-gee-oh!
Beep beep = bang-bang!
Poof! = byeong! ( like something appearing or disappearing)
Choo choo! (train) = Jik-jik-pok-pok
Tick tock (clock) = jay-gak-jay-kak
Bang! = Tang or Kwang!

6. "Uhhh, like, well, yeah..."

In this section, I'll explain how Korean filler words work. Filler words are parts of speech that one uses to signal that they are pausing in conversation and that they still have something more to say.

Like/Uhh...well...that-ah... --> Kuh or Jaw
Alright... --> Jah (indicates "let's start")
Yeah --> ng, mm
Mmmm --> *suck breath in through the teeth* (indicates that you don't know the answer to a question or you disagree with what has been said)

7. You can't outdrink a Korean. Don't try.

This section explains how to play one of Korea's most popular drinking games.

The Nunchi game

This one's really fun. Okay, so Nunchi (눈치) means 'social awareness.' To be good at this game, you have to be good at reading other people's intentions. The game starts when someone shouts out the number "1." Let's say we're a group of 10 people. The goal is for everyone to shout out one number. The game can end in 2 ways: 1) If two people shout out the same number at the same time, they have to drink and the round is over or 2) If everyone says his/her respective number without simultaneous shouting, the person who calls out the last number (in our case, 10) has to drink. This creates the competition to say your number early on.

8. Wait, Korean and French. What?!

Bread

The Korean word for bread is빵 [pronounced like 'pang,' which is interestingly close to the romance word for bread if you remember that from your high school Spanish or French classes].
I looked into it and it turns out it is a loanword from the Latin-influence.
Latin 'panem' > Portuguese 'pão' > Japanese 'pan' > Korean 'pang'
This indicates that the Western world probably introduced bread to Asia (like other loanwords: coffee, cheese, television..etc.)

9. Did you know?

50% of the Korean population lives in 0.6% of Korea 's total territory. Yes, I'm talking about Seoul. That's 30 million people in one city.

There's a type of pants that are really popular around the world lately. They have different names everywhere of course. In Spain they call them 'bombaches' and in the U.S. I guess we can call them 'low-crotch' pants. But in Korean, they go by the name 'neng-jang-go paji,' or refrigerator pants. I mean they do allow for cool, refreshing air flow.

10. You haven't been a couple if you haven't coupled in Korea

Couple outfits are a thing

And we think Valentine's Day is too much pomp

Valentines Day

February 14th
She gives him chocolates.

White Day

March 14th
He gives her chocolates back.

Black Day

April 14th
Single people eat the black-sauced dish called Jajagmyeon and celebrate...eh... their loneliness?

Christmas

December 25th
It's more a celebration between couples and/or friends. Not so much a family thing.

Peppero day

November 11th
Celebrated like Valentines Day
Some say the original purpose was to exchange Peperos with each other in hopes of becoming taller and thinner (like the shape of the candy).
But the current purpose is to exchange peperos to show affection between friends and loved-ones.

100 Day Anniversaries

A lot of younger Korean couples celebrate their relationship every 100 days. It can be a big deal.

11. Kimchi Bitches and Flower Boys

These are terms used for rich, fancy, people that have pretty clothes and probably have had a lot of plastic surgery done.

Often times, the wealthier men will actually rent expensive cars for a date. This would kind of categorize you as a Flower Boy. In that same vein, girls who rent expensive purses for dates are likely to be called Kimchi Bitches.

Although flowers are often associated with effeminate traits, 'Flower Boys' isn't an emasculating term. Being a flower boy doesn't mean you're gay. It's more like being a 'pretty boy' or 'metrosexual.'

12. Konglish highlights

Literally "Information Retrieval Room"

Learning survival Korean: "I understand that you care about the environment, but you can't recycle ducks."

"I can see that you have a big jolly baby."

"I'm really not excited about the prospect of dating you."

13. Meet the Intermediate Korean class

This past weekend we all went out together for dinner and karaoke. Here I am with our much loved teacher, Ms. Park.

Monica :)

Our teacher's self-written bio. We equate his teaching style to that of a stand-up comedy act. Only his punch lines lead up to a grammar point.

Ms. Park's bio.

Getting presents and writing cute things all over the board for your teachers is a thing in Korea. Our class has taken it to the next level. Here, Misha and Ashley treated one of our teachers to seven coffee beverages, a pastry, and some silly socks.

My contribution was the Mr. Lee Won. I printed out 35 of these babies and taped them all over the room. I'd say he was both confused and grateful. We might have made it rain when he came in the classroom.

It's now become a running joke that each week we buy him a new pair of silly socks.

14. Becoming a Taekwondo black belt...but really.

15. Being Queer in Korea
Fast Facts

Same sex marriage is illegal.
Legally, there is NO protection in the constitution for gay people. The government put in an discriminatory clause, buy conservative lobbyist groups shot it down. For example, you can get fired for your sexual orientation.
Politicians generally don't want to talk about queer rights. It's too taboo.
Although gay marriage is illegal, gay sexual conduct is legal. Between consenting adults, you can do whatever you like.

Generally speaking, gay people in Korea remain closeted because homosexuality is so taboo. So, the only real gay representation in Korea consists of gay/LGBT celebrity news.

"Skinship": This is a bastardized Konglish word that is defined as the act of intimate, non-sexual touching between very close (usually same-sex) platonic friends. It involves acts such as holding hands/arms, hugging, and kissing on the cheeks. Sometime it can go even deeper than that and even involve bathing together (i.e. in the public bath houses) as group nudity helps break down the barriers and helps establish a closer relationship. This same-sex touching seems a bit odd given the anti-queer context, right? It's definitely got a slight homoerotic spin to it. Here's a picture of some K-pop boy band skin ship. On stage, they often get close and pretend to kiss and it makes all the fans swoon.

Side-note: 'Skinship' can also refer to the physical, intimate relationship between parent and child (i.e. tactile playing, breast-feeding) as well as romantic partners.

Queer Media Icons

Harisu (하리수) was the 2nd Korean citizen ever to get a sex change. She went through sex reassignment surgery in the 1990s and soon after became a wildly famous singer, actress, and model. Her stage name is a Konglish adaptation of "Hot Issue."

Hong Seok-cheon (홍석천) was a famous actor/broadcaster who fell under severe public criticism and lost his career for close to a decade as a result of coming out in 2000. However, 14 years later, he's come back strong and now has gained a large pro-gay rights following, now openly out and successful again.

The K-drama I'm watching now (Coffee Prince, see Point 3 above) actually speaks to gender/sexuality issues in Korea. The ploy lines describes the life of an androgenous-looking young woman who choses to portray herself as a male. Essentially, she ends up being employed as a rich guy's play toy under the assumption that she is in fact a male (the rich guy is gay). So, it's quite an interesting media loophole. They are table to portray what seems to be gay relationship because she's actually biologically a girl.

16. Best night yet

What happens when you try to out-drink Koreans.

This night all began when I asked the coffee shop owner if she'd want us to put on a free concert at her coffee shop. I thought it would be a gesture of friendly, cultural ambassadorship on our part. But once we arrived, I realized they were the true cultural ambassadors. From 8pm till 2 in the morning, they served us delicious dishes, quality whiskey, and the owner's friends even put on a little show for us. Their band did a set comprised of both Korean and English songs. I wish I could figure out how to upload videos here because they were awesome.

At one point there were at least 35 of us at what had seemed to have turned into a private Fulbrighter & selected Goesan resident party. Once the Korean band finished their set, they turned the place into a karaoke bar and we all took turns rocking it out on the stage. But it wasn't just any karaoke bar. We had real backup musicians! By far my favorite night yet. There was such a feeling of warmth and community. If you're ever in Goesan, the Coffee Shop on the hill is a really special place. And the kicker was that they didn't charge us a dime. They simply wouldn't accept our money.
17. A Commentary on Temple Life

Rockin' the modern hanbok uniforms.

Making Lotus Flower paper lanterns.

We did a little tea ceremony. The flower you see there is lotus flower. In fact, the lotus flower is a powerful symbol within the Buddhist philosophy. Why? The lotus flower grows in very murky waters. In this way, it represents the idea that even beautiful things can come from icky situations.

One of the sweetest, silliest, funniest monks you can imagine.

Ready for your closeups, Ted, Ari, and Xander?

My 'flip socks'. Ted's face. Xander's eyes. hahaha

The following pictures were taken by the talented 남종우. Thank you for such beautiful souvenirs!

The main Dharma hall where most ceremonies and meditation hours happen.

My take-aways from the 2 day temple stay:

The monks I met were truly sweet people. One even drove us all the way home to our University. A few exchanged emails with me because they wanted to keep in touch.
Buddhism centers on non-duality, the belief that we are all one, united being. That means that you are me and I am you. But then why do we occupy separate bodies? Does that mean I am the same being as a serial killer?
Even though the ritual is rooted in Zero-Food Waste and Resource Conservation ideals, I see some sanitary issues with the idea of cleaning your eating bowls with only your own hand and a piece of leftover radish.
While a lot of religions capitalize on missionary work and spend a lot of time trying to spread their religion to others, Buddhism does not. Buddhists strongly believe that you should not impose your beliefs on others and I really respect that.
When asking a Buddhist a question, you never quite seem to get a straight answer. It's like an episode of Lost. You start of with one question, but by the end of the episode, they have answered your question but introduced 3 more.
Buddhist monks can find meaning in everything. If there is a pine cone on the ground in front of you, the monk will be able to think about it and understand why it's there. Perhaps it represents the spreading of one's seeds. Or maybe it's showing the circle of life. I think the difference is that the Buddhists monks believe everything happens for a reason (because of this idea that karma exists and we are all one being) and I believe that you can find reason in everything that happens.
The food was great.
It's hard to sit all day in Indian style with no back support.
Buddhism encourages finding peace and happiness through quiet meditation. However, I'm a people person and I find I'm the happiest and most at peace when I'm doing something or with people.
Buddhism is not for me.

*Side-note: This was that temple's first foreigner-focused/English-spoken Temple Stay. It was a really big deal for them and they did a lot of preparation for our arrival. It was really sweet.

Here I am being interviewed.

Click here to see (or read, if you know Korean) the article. There are pictures!

18. The 6 degrees of William Cameron Townsend
Once one of the Orientation Coordinators found out that I'm in linguistics, she asked me if I had ever heard of Wycliffe Bible Translators. I hadn't, but it turns out her grandfather was a prominent 20th-century American Christian missionary/linguist. He founded the organization known as 'Wycliffe Bible Translators.' Essentially, he and his team of linguists entered areas that lacked any form of written language and they 1)learned the language and 2) created an alphabet so that they could start recording their history or experiences in writing. Of course, as missionaries, their main goal was to translate the Bible. However, their work did facilitate literacy among minority languages. For a linguist interested in endangered languages, this guy is pretty interesting.

19. I know where I'll be living this year!
The time has come! #$%&@^@$(!!!!!!
To begin, a lot goes into the Fulbright Office making the decision of where to place you. You put in a preference form, you have a meeting with staff, and they look over your performance profile from Orientation. But I finally know! So here's the low-down.

Here I am! The stickers represent the sprinkling of ETAs we have all over Korea. I am the only first-year ETA in my city, but there is a 2nd year renewee there as well.

I will be living in the city of Cheonan (천안), which is located in the northeast section of the province South Chungcheong.

It's a major transportation hub of Korea

Population's about 580,000 people

It's a suburb of Seoul (40 minutes outside of the capital by way of the fast-speed KTX train)

It's flanked by the Charyeong Mountains to the East, but is actually relatively flat.

The City Tree is the Weeping Willow, my favorite tree! #meanttobe

Not to brag, but the City Animal is a Dragon.

It's got 4 seasons. Just like Pittsburgh, really hot summers and really cold winters.

It was the site of the Battle of Cheonan, a battle that occurred early on within the Korean War.

It's known for its small, sweet walnut cakes called hodu-gwaja (호두 과자)

It is home to many big universities

It's home to many large tech companies like Samsung and LG.

The demand for tech-savy employees has brought in an influx of foreigners that numbers around 9,000 currently.

Interestingly, Cheonan is the site of the prison made exclusively for foreigners. It's got rougly 1,000 inmates. If I should go to the slammer, at least I won't have to go too far (just kidding Mom and Dad).

Wikipedia page about Cheonan (if you're craving more info)

20. Making the national news!

We shot this from the TV in the Fulbright Lounge so ignore our giggles in the background.
I show up several times. But, I know you are all going to ask what I was doing particularly at minute 1:00. And I wish I could tell you. All I can say is that with learning an Eastern Asian language comes a lot of miming.

Click here to see the segment

Bonus: What's Bryan up to?

A lot of people have been asking about Bryan and what's he's up to these days. As requested, here's a little update. Enjoy!
He's loving CERN and he's learning a lot. On his off days, he's traveled to Florence, Rome, Munich, Paris, Geneva, and a few smaller towns in France. He works long hours, but really likes his supervisor. Unfortunately he twisted his ankle playing soccer a few weeks ago, but it's healing up nicely. Check out some of his pictures below. He says hi to all of you!