“Live in your strength.”
“당신의 힘 속에 살아라.”
-Lao Tzu | 노자
날마다 일어나 보니 오늘부터 1일이라고 생각하면 된다.
Translation by me, so it might be a little off.
korean
Finding Solid Ground
안녕하세요!
It’s been a ridiculous amount of time since I posted. Where have I been since then? I went to Korea for two months and studied at Yonsei University again, and then I came back, worked, and endured a semester filled with the turmoil that, well, each new semester seems to bring.
During that time, I started writing and sharing short stories (really, really short short stories written in poor Korean) on Instagram, purchased several more books in Korean, only one of which I have succeeded in finishing (not for lack of ability but for lack of motivation), started a Korean language study club with my friends, and did some serious soul-searching (I didn’t even make a bad pun – that must tell you how serious I am) about what I want to do after I finish undergrad.
Lately, everyone wants to know different things, like
- When are you going back to Korea? Wait – you don’t know? YOU SAID THIS WAS YOUR DREAM.
- Why do you keep going back to Korea? (Isn’t it time you stopped listening to Gayng-naym Style and chose a real major, Jamie?)
- Internship? Internship? Internship?
- ????????????? Your dream career?
- *awkward smiles at gatherings where everyone’s got their partner* So, are you seeing anyone these days?
- More ????????
Stahp just stahp 제발
I know my path hasn’t been entirely conventional. Most people wait until junior year to go abroad, and many people go during the summer rather than for a full semester, whereas I went for four months in fall 2014 and two months for summer 2015. And everybody does internships these days, and I haven’t done a single one.
I’ve tried to make sense of my varied interests. Writing, I love creative writing. I’d love to be a published author. I succeeded in finishing Nanowrimo last year WHILE studying abroad and my goal is to clean up that novel with some revisions and start beating on publisher’s doors with the manuscript (figuratively, of course).
Please let me in…
I also love making videos, even though I’m not fantastic at it. I made my high school’s graduation video, and I’ve made a couple short films for my classes while in undergrad. But I am by no means skilled.
I love studying Korean and learning about Korea. And I really love helping others learn, too. I created this blog to do that, and yet I’ve been doing an awful job lately (my last post is from May, seriously?). Time to change that.
I never wanted to make my blog personal. It was supposed to be a place of anonymity, the domain where I wrote about Korean and people who wanted to read about Korean could do so. But when I studied abroad, I opened it up, told some friends, some family. I even shared my post about the temple-stay on Facebook because I was so inspired, and that inspired other people to look into temple-stays.
Perhaps it’s time to be a bit more personal, do a bit more writing, share some videos, and invest myself. And invest in myself. Because I’m not sure what I want to do with Korean Studies, or International Studies, or the Creative Writing Minor I might be adding in my last year of undergrad. But I know what I don’t want to do, and that would be to waste my passion by doing nothing with it.
잘 부탁드립니다.
강하라. Be Strong.
“Be strong, because the beginnings to great things are always the hardest.”
“강하라. 모든 위대한 것들의 시작은 항상 가장 힘드니까.”
힘내자.
Encouragement courtesy of AQuoteADay on Twitter.
Studying Abroad at Yonsei University in Seoul: See you soon, Seoul
Believe it or not, but I’m headed back to Seoul this summer – back to Yonsei University, in fact. I seem to be blessed with endless doors opening for me over the past two years and so I’m planning on charging full speed ahead (hoping that I won’t charge headfirst into a closed door anytime soon).
Yonsei University runs a summer program called YISS, or Yonsei International Summer School. It’s a relatively short program of about a month and a half that is geared towards international exchange students who come and take a Korean language course alongside one or two regular academic courses.
But beyond the classroom! Wherein lie the true lessons of life! And Korean. Because studying at KLI/YISS is all very well and good but speaking Korean with the convenience store clerk, or navigating the subways and bus routes, or asking for directions to a performing arts center to attend a musical – this is the stuff that truly challenges. That proves whether the classroom has provided the foundation and whether I trust myself to stand on that base of knowledge – and most importantly, whether I can lead myself and others through moments of challenge both great and small.
That’s my dramatic spiel for the day.
Translating Korean Poetry
Despite the fact that I haven’t posted anything new in a few centuries, I have been actively studying Korean. Coming back from Korea was a whirlwind of adjustment and academic rigor and it took all of my focus to keep up.
Actually about me in the morning. During post-Korea life, my sleep deprivation has vastly increased.
Well, not all of it. I’ve started translating Korean poetry 
as a self-study method. My current focus is on an anthology of Koreans’ 100 Most Beloved Poems, or 한국인이 가장 좋아하는 명시 100선. A very good friend of mine gifted it to me just before I left Korea. Continue reading
Books I bought in Korean (and other acts of madness)
새해 복 많이 받으세요!
It’s already been over a week since I left the Land of the Morning Calm and returned home – and discovered that Seoul has more snow than Michigan, which is terrible. Michigan, I feel betrayed!
In my three heavy suitcases, I lugged back my earthly possessions: clothes, gifts, selfie sticks, and of course, books. Textbooks, biographies, and works by Andrei Lankov, obviously, but more pertinent to my language studies, I brought back books in Korean.
Me in the Kyobo Bookstore inside Gwanghwamun Station
I am a firm believer that the more you read, the wiser you can become, and the better you learn to write and comprehend. It doesn’t matter what language you read in; it will help you. Korean is no exception, which is why I pushed myself to buy two novels that I know I cannot read without laboring over each paragraph. You can’t get better without challenging yourself. I also chose to buy poetry, because poetry is artistic and allows one to learn about the creative soul within a language. Continue reading
“Please Try” – Temple Stay at Myogaksa, South Korea
I wrote a post for my Reach the World classroom this past weekend about my experience at a temple in Seoul (Reach the World is a program that I joined via the Gilman Scholarship which is supporting my studies abroad; it is designed to connect world travelers and exchange students from the United States with K-12th classrooms). While I am constrained by space and writing level for those pieces – because I am assigned 2nd graders – I really wanted to expand on my experience on my seouldream blog. The temple stay indubitably ranks as one of my top three experiences in Korea thus far. I cannot think of a better way to have spent my weekend than to have lived in a Buddhist temple for two days and one night, and I hope that after reading this, you’ll want to experience it too. Continue reading
The Cost of Living in Seoul: Student Style
안녕하세요!
It’s unbelievable that I’ve already been in Seoul for over a week and a half, and today is my fourth day of classes. The amount and variety of things to do can be a little overwhelming, so I haven’t been very good about writing posts….Yes, yes, dishonor on me, dishonor on my cow….
Living in Seoul for even just a week and a half has given me a good sense of the cost of living – if you take out the cost of a place to stay. I live in a dorm on campus, and compared to my home university’s housing fees, it is very cheap.
There are other things that cost money, however. Food, clothes, transportation, coffee (there are innumerable cafes in every direction), tours, traveling (cross-country, like to Busan, as opposed to within Seoul). And textbooks/printing out class assignments and readings. Continue reading
Pay tribute to me! Mistakes in Korean
안녕하세요!
It’s been a while since I’ve updated my Miss Interpretation section. Not because I’m not making mistakes, but mainly because they’ve been relatively boring mistakes. I haven’t said anything really inappropriate or completely grammatically incorrect in a while, but I’ve continued to make little mistakes without advancing much. Sigh. I need to get down to business to defeat the Huns and actually get back into intense studying.
Actual photo of me. I’m secretly a muscular Chinese man, but don’t tell anyone.
I did, however, have any interesting conversation with one of my language partners on Skype Continue reading
나는 학생이다: Turning Laziness into Education
안녕하세요!
I’ve been spending a lot of time watching endless clips of 나는 가수다 (Naneun Kasu-da. trans: “I am a Singer”) and Immortal Song 2 on YouTube. They are music shows that feature singers who perform their own renditions of Korean oldies and I think they’re absolutely phenomenal. I’m a music lover to my very core and these old songs and these incredible singers affect me so deeply.
But let’s be honest. Watching YouTube clips for hours at a time isn’t quite conducive to attaining Korean fluency – unless I incorporate a studious attitude!
The greatest boon of Korean broadcasting to language learners like myself is its penchant for Continue reading
서울드림 