I'm pretty good at Korean now

Many people who come to Korea find that they can get by with just English. Korean and Japanese, which are grammatically structured almost the same, are much more difficult to learn for English speakers than, say, Latin-based languages. This is because they have absolutely nothing in common with English with the exception of traded words and a few coincidences. For example, in English we say "karaoke" and "sushi", and in Korea and Japan they have adopted words like "coffee" and "computer". One interesting coincidence is that in many languages around the world, the word for "mom" is similar. In Korean, it's "eomma". This is thought to be because the first sounds babies make tend to be incoherent ramblings with a lot of the "m" sound, which is the easiest consonant to make. Japanese is not one of those languages- "mom" is "haha".
한국에 오면 영어만 써도 살 수 있는 것을 알게 된 외국인이 많다. 영어 쓰는 나라에서 온 사람한테 라틴어 관련 된 언어보다 문법이 비슷한 한국어와 일본어가 훨씬 힘들다. 왜냐면, 영어랑 한국어의 비슷한 점은 서로 받았던 단어나 우연히 비슷한 단어 빼고 아예 없다. 예를들어 미국에서 "카라오케", "스시" 같은 일본어 단어를 쓰고 한국하고 일본에서는 영어에서 온 "커피", "컴퓨터" 같은 단어를 많이 쓰인다. 새계에 많은 언어로 "엄마"라는 단어가 이상하게 아주 비슷하다. 영어로는 "맘"이다. 아기들의 젓말이 대부분 그냥 의미 없는 소리 이고 그소리 중에 미음 발음이 만들기 쉬워서 많이 나온다고 생각이 있다. 일본어로는 오히려 "하하"라고 한다.

Anyway, I brought this up because I don't want to sound like I think English speakers who come here and don't learn Korean are idiots. If languages just aren't your thing, Korean and Japanese are just about impossible to learn. Fortunately for me, languages are my thing. I enjoy learning them and linking them to the culture as a whole. For example, Korean culture is traditionally communalistic, meaning that the whole is more important than the individual (as opposed to Western individualistic culture). I think this is related to the fact that the subject is optional and often omitted in Korean sentences, whereas it is mandatory in English sentences (with the exception of the command form). Languages are a hobby of mine. So it's no wonder that after 3 years in Korea I've reached a level of fluency which allows me to participate naturally in social settings and even understand about 80% of TV. Although I don't really watch TV much.
하여튼 그 말 하는 이유가 한국어 안배우는 한국에서 사는 외국인이 바보라고 말 하고 싶지 않다. 언어 재능이 타고났지 않았으면 한국어와 일본어 배우는것이 거의 불가능하다. 나는 해운이 언어 재능이 타고났다. 언어를 배우고 전체 문화랑 어떤 관련 인지 생각하기 좋아한다. 예를들어 한국은 전통적으로 공동체주의의 사회라고 개인보다 대형이 중요하는 문화가 있다 (반대는 미국같이 개인주의의 사회). 한국어 문장에 주어를 필요하지 않고 보통 지워도 돼는데 영어 무법으로는 주어 지우면 안됀다. 나한테 언어가 취미다. 그래서 당연히 3년동안 한국에서 살면서 편하게 한국인과 소통도 되고 티비 보면 80%정도 이해할 수 있는 수준으로 늘었다. 티비 많이 안보는데.

Rather than just tell you my Korean has improved, I have translated this entire post and if you also know Korean you will see that I'm not just faking or pressing "translate" in Google Translate and then copy-pasting.
그냥 한구어 실력이 늘었다고 말하는것보다 보여주는것이 더 큰 의미 있으니 이 포스트 다 직접 번역을 했다. 본인도 한국어를 할 수 있으면 거짓말 치거나 구글번역에 "번역하기" 늘어서 봍어넣기만 하는 것이 아닌 사실을 알겠다. ~영어로는 안썼지만, 여기 실수 많잖아요. 아직 많이 모른다는 느낌이 들어서 자랑하고 있는걸로 보지마세요.

 The point of this is to show that learning Korean is possible if you like it and keep at it.
이 포스트의 목표가 한국어를 좋아하고 배우려고 계속 노력하면 배우기 가능한다고 다른 외국인들한테 보여주는 것이다.

I don't have to explain myself

It's been about 2 years since I posted. I got married, opened a burrito restaurant in Andong, failed, moved to Seoul and worked at Samsung C&T for 14 months, in the middle of which I left my husband; in January this year I signed the divorce papers, losing my visa and my job, had a little breakdown, blah blah blah. Now I work at a pharmaceutical company at COEX Trade Tower in Seoul and am dating an architectural engineering major with a job waiting for him at Samsung C&T (where we met during his internship just before I got fired) next year, and I am trying to figure out how to move out of my overly expensive room in a luxury high-rise on the edge of the city. I think that about sums it up. Now instead of having a "here's my life story day by day" theme for this blog, I'm just gonna post whatever the hell I wanna post. Nice to see you all again. Also, I appreciate the emails from strangers with questions about Korea, but I request that you do not add me as a friend on Facebook because I don't actually know you, and then I end up wondering months later, "who is this person?" and that's just awkward for everyone.

Retracing my Steps- Getting Married

[edited post-divorce so I don't throw up reading the mushy things]

Now that I'm so far behind in this blog that I can't even remember what I have to blog about, I'll try for big events. Here's a big one: I got married.

On July 9, 2010, the day after my plane landed in Korea, my fiance and I went to the American Embassy in Seoul and did some paperwork because I'm an American citizen. Then we walked about two blocks to the Seoul City Hall and did some paperwork there because Kyu Won is a Korean citizen and we're in Korea. Then we were officially married in Korea. Once again, we went to the American Embassy and gave them a copy of the marriage license from the Seoul office, making us officially married in the United States. It cost about $100. Very anticlimactic, but I wore nice white clothes and he wore nice black clothes so it felt like a wedding a little. If you are an American citizen thinking about getting married to a Korean citizen, go here: US Embassy website.

After the paperwork, we celebrated by going to eat at one of our favorite restaurants, then we went to the CoEx Aquarium in Seoul. I'd wanted to go there since I first heard about it last year, but I never got the chance. It was amazing! I wanted a real wedding on Jeju Island, but we had no money.

The day after we were married, we met with our closest friends living in Seoul and ate at a restaurant called Gogi King ('gogi' means 'meat'), which is an all-you-can-eat meat buffet. You sit at a table that has a round grill in front of you with a retractable air vent above it (common in Korean restaurants), and you fill a large plate at the buffet with all the raw meat you want to eat. Then you cook it yourself at the table and everyone takes what they want. Then we went to the Seoul Tower on Namsan, the tallest mountain in Seoul. We didn't do any of the expensive things, but Kyu Won and I participated in a tradition: couples buy padlocks without keys and heart-shaped plastic things to write messages on, then put the hearts on the padlocks and lock them to the fences. If a couple has a padlock on Namsan, they are going to be in love forever. Of course that's not always true, but it's a sweet couple activity and there are a LOT of padlocks. We put ours next to my best friend's. She is Korean and her boyfriend was American. He came to Korea for summer vacation to learn some Korean, meet her parents, learn about her culture, and just to be with her. They broke up, too. Neither of our padlocks worked!

After getting married, we went back to Andong and rested for a while. Then we took a trip to a bamboo forest. I really wanted to go there, because of course we Americans don't really see a lot of bamboo in our lives and I have a thing for plants. The day we went it was raining cats and dogs, which was great because there weren't many people there. On sunny days, you can't take a picture without 10 people in the way. The bamboo was just like in kung-fu movies, tall, close together, and serene. I expected people dressed in old-fashioned nonspecific Asian clothes to come out fighting in a nonspecific martial art style. Speaking of martial arts, the uniquely Korean martial arts are Tae Kwon Do, Taekkyeon, as well as a Korean version of kendo called kumdo. We walked around the forest slowly, trying to find baby bamboo shoots because supposedly it's lucky if you see one. We didn't see any. I still have good luck from when a white tiger looked me in the eyes at Everland. Don't worry, I'm not superstitious; I just like the idea of luck. Did you know that knocking on wood comes from a superstition about distracting fairies from stealing your luck? We're all a little superstitious.

On the way home, we had to stop in Daegu to transfer buses, and Daegu just happens to be the homeplace of my favorite Korean food (yookgaejang, a spicy beef and vegetable soup), so we went to that restaurant. Amazing~! We drank my favorite Korean alcoholic drink, macceoli (rice wine, tastes a bit like skim milk mixed with sweet champagne) with its rightful side dish, nokdoojeon (kind of like a spicy shallot pancake) while we were waiting for the soup.

After our "honeymoon" was over, we returned to Andong again and rested a few days before opening up our restaurant. And that, my friends, is a topic for another day.

Retracing My Steps: Hello California!

My mom moved to Silicon Valley, California in June, so I decided to take a five-day layover in sunny Cali on my way out of the country. As the plane circled the San Francisco Airport and came in over the Pacific, all I could see out my window was the ocean drawing nearer and nearer to the plane. I'm sure my eyes almost popped out of my head, and I started to panic. What was the idiot pilot doing so close to the ocean?!?!? Turns out, the runway backs up to the water, and however seasoned the traveler, the first landing there is always terrifying. After flying all over the U.S., to Germany, England, France, Japan, and Korea, you'd think I'd seen it all. Maybe now I have?

When I arrived, I was half elated and half exhausted and half just wanted to go to Korea already. I know that's three halves, but like the (John Mayer?) song, I was bigger than my body. My mom was waiting by the baggage claim area and gave me a hug and a 'congratulations' for finally finishing school. We got my suitcases and headed home, stopping for a late night steak and onions for me and breakfast food for her. Yes, there is a restaurant that serves both 24/7. California is that cool. Over the next few days, we did the tourist tour of San Francisco and Silicon Valley, including the Stamford campus and its famous tree-lined street and beautiful buildings, the Golden Gate Bridge and a fort that overlooks the bay with Alcatraz in the distance, the sea lions that play and chat at the docks, Lombard Street's famous curvy section of red-brick road, and some local shopping areas. We like window shopping, but not wasting our money.

I remembered that I can't buy women's shoes large enough for my size 9 1/2 feet in Korea, nor can I buy deodorant (at least nothing that works), so we went shoe shopping and deodorant shopping. Hopefully they will last me at least 6 months. I can order things online, or have somebody in America send them to me at great expense, but I don't want to think about that right now.

Being my first time in California, I drank it all in. The summer is cool and sunny in San Francisco, and there are no mosquitoes whatsoever because it's not humid. My mom pointed out that many houses don't have screens in the windows because they don't need them. The houses are very different from Michigan houses. Michigan houses look old and like they are made for the sole purpose of withstanding all kinds of weather, which is largely true. In Michigan, the lake effect drives the weather crazy, even crazier than most midwestern states. In one day it can be warm t-shirt sunny weather, then rain, then snow, then be warm again. Michigan people all know to dress in layers in the transition seasons. I call them 'transition seasons' because Spring and Fall are each less than a month long, and more of a start and end of the 6-month-long winter. My mom says that the weather in northern California is always perfect. I can see that in the houses. But, the houses there are made to withstand constant sun and occasional earthquakes. They are stuccoed and painted in cheerful, clean colors. There are pastels, bright colors, all shades of white, blue, green, pink, yellow... I don't recall seeing a single gloomy house. Honestly, just the fact that there are no mosquitoes makes me want to live there, but it's extremely expensive. I guess everyone hates mosquitoes and winter. Ha!

San Francisco architecture reminds me of a mix between Florida and Paris. Of course, that's just out of where I've been, so it's probably not a good description. Anyway, it's gorgeous. If I get rich, that's where I want to go! Anyway, I can visit my mom the California licensed lawyer (congrats!) anytime I want, as long as I can afford $1500 for a round-trip plane ticket.

There's a little Koreatown where my mom lives. She showed me areas where every sign has Korean and English, or even just Korean. They have everything from food to healthcare to insurance. Koreans generally only trust Koreans when it comes to important things, so I'm sure the large Korean population is largely self-sufficient.

Other than that, there's nothing from that week that's pertinent to this blog, so I'll stop at that.

Next installment: getting to Korea and getting married!

Retracing My Steps: Goodbye Michigan!

The past month has been a whirlwind of activity. For the first time since I started writing this blog, I made an outline so I could remember most of what I wanted to write. Now comes the hard part: filling in the details for you. I'll break it into installments to make it less crazy.

Let's start in Michigan: my last few crazy days.

I had three final exams, two of which were online and therefore rather easy, and one of which was “fundamental” genetics. I don't see how molecular chemistry and complicated algorithms are fundamental, but I spent a good all-nighter studying after barely sleeping the night before because of one of the online exams. I used my human alarm clock (my fiance) on the other side of the world via MSN messenger to wake me by sending me messages with my computer on high volume after a catnap, and then studied some more, got a bagel, coffee, and an orange to go from the cafeteria, and walked and ate to class. Little did I know that almost everything on the exam was exactly what I'm terrible at: statistics and memorizing names of things. Also, because it was my last semester and therefore totally futile to buy expensive things, I had no calculator.... I almost passed. The other two classes I passed no problem, headed straight for graduation, but... ouch. I emailed my professor from California a couple of days later begging for a 1.0. More on CA and the professor's answer later (suspense!).

After the genetics exam, I was exhausted, so I slept a couple hours and woke up to my human alarm clock again. Bedodoop! That's the best I can describe the telltale MSN sound. Then it was time for more cafeteria food (I was living in a dormitory for the summer session) and the last online exam. Although I was sleepy, it wasn't bad. After that I took a shower and got ready for my going away party!

It was supposed to be a take-my-stuff-so-I-don't-have-to-deal-with-it-and-then-let's-get-food-and-drinks party, but it ended up a Kristin waiting for an hour in Bubble Island for people to come, then everyone coming late so the restaurant I wanted to go to was already too packed, so everyone sat around feeling awkward until we decided to go to Buffalo Wild Wings instead party. Although I was exhausted and a little annoyed at first, it ended up being more than I had hoped for. More than ten people came, and everyone got along even if it was the first time they had met. While people were arriving, my dad stopped by on the way through town to say goodbye and drop off some things I needed for the move. Again, awkward but nice. My father looks very strange without a beard. All in all, my last day in Michigan ended up being very warm, and I crawled into bed for another catnap for the last time. Although nobody took my things that day, a couple of friends had mostly cleaned my room out already, taking things like kitchen necessities, clothes and towels, office supplies, and other things that everyone needs and uses.

The next morning I took a shower, got in some comfortable traveling clothes, did some final packing (i.e. toothbrush and hairbrush), and went to play piano for the last time while waiting for my friend Jessica to come take my TV and a couple other things I promised her if nobody bought them. Jessica and my brother were “dating” in kindergarten, if kindergarteners holding hands all the time can be called dating, and he found her again on Facebook recently. She happened to live near me, so I got to see my brother more and made a new friend a couple months before leaving. After we hugged and said goodbye for the millionth time, I went back in and cleaned up what was left of my room. Then another new friend, Tei (whom I had met recently because he was something equatable to my RA) came to my room to help me take my baggage to the bus stop. I hadn't found a home for my dorm fridge yet, so we lugged it downstairs and left it in a corner, an the front desk called someone to take it to some storage area. Before it was taken away, a random conversation ended up with a guy taking it to his room. He was checking in while I was checking out. Funny how things just work out sometimes. After checking out, we rolled my two suitcases, me dragging my smaller one with my carry-on bag on top, and he dragging the larger one with a box of textbooks to sell on the way on top, the fifteen minutes or so to the bookstore, then to the bus stop (now bookless). We chatted until it was time for me to go, then said another sad goodbye. I got on the bus, which took me to the airport, called my mother so she wouldn't worry about my getting up on time, and slept.

The flight to California was an uneventful flight with one stopover. One interesting thing was that, with the new baggage fees, it was about the same price to check my bags as it was to upgrade the first leg of the trip to business class. As the southern businessman sitting next to me in business class later said on the topic, “that's what we call a no-brainer!” That was July 2nd.

In the next installment, Kristin goes to California for the first time ever!