In that short period of time, I had to unpack my bags, do laundry, repack my bags, clean my room, run some errands, and write an evaluation of my English Winter Camp to submit for my school's records. It was quite hectic, to say the least. Fortunately, I got home just in time to celebrate my host brother's 14th birthday! Prior to this, I asked my mother to mail me some stuff from home to give to Joon-soo for his birthday [Thanks Mom]. The gifts included 3 large bags of sour cream and onion chips (his absolute favorite) and the game Bop-It (which now my host kids are addicted to). Host mother cooked him his favorite beef dish for dinner and for dessert, we all devoured a scrumptious chocolate cake. It was a great day.
While I was home in Daejeon, I also received some seriously disturbing news. If you can recall back to early December, my otherwise pleasant school life was disrupted by the sudden suicide of one of my students. Well, while I was having the time of my life in southeast Asia, it happened again. Call it a copycat suicide, if you will, but it certainly doesn't lessen the blow of this horrible tragedy. It occurred on January 16th, when I was likely frolicking around Kuala Lumpur without a care in the world. My host family and Fulbright friends thought about informing me as soon as they found out, but both parties decided that it wasn't worth ruining my trip and saved me from the emotional heartache until I returned home.
I started off the year with 638 students, and ended it with 636. Over the course of the semester, two young, innocent lives were lost to the pressures of Korea's unforgiving education system and the torments of bullying. Almost two months later, I still find myself unable to come up with the right words to describe how shocking this is to me. This time, I had a personal connection to the victim. As the class captain of the first victim's homeroom, she always erased the chalkboard for me and made sure that everything was in order before I arrived. She was a sweet girl with a good heart and a genuine desire to help. That very sense of duty is what likely led to her downfall.
Later on, I learned that the first and second victims were friends. Having both a leadership role and personal attachment to the first victim, the second student was unquestionably affected by the earlier tragedy. In losing her classmate, she became absorbed in grief and felt as if she failed as a class captain and friend. Apparently, she attended the free counseling sessions offered by the Daejeon Ministry of Education, but they did little good. She began isolating herself and making up excuses to avoid coming to school and confronting her guilt. Eventually it all became too much to handle, and she, too succumbed to the unbearable turmoil and stress.
I cannot fathom what these victims felt in the days leading up to their death. It is so hard for me to imagine that a person can feel so hopeless that s/he would rather choose death than continue on any longer. But these incidents are not isolated events. It is happening throughout the country. In Korea, suicide is now the leading cause of death among those aged 15-24. I wonder how many more individuals will have to kill themselves before the government begins to recognize this as a serious problem and actively seeks to counteract this startling statistic. More than anything, this is a profound lesson for me. Stuck in my little bubble, I sometimes feel detached from the real world and forget about the greater struggles and crises that exist out there. But moments like this bring me back to earth, reminding me that life is so precious and cannot be taken for granted.
Anyway, on that happy note - I moved to Seoul early in the morning on February 1st. It was perhaps the coldest day of the year. Seoul was dusted over with a powdery blanket and sheets of ice coated the sidewalks. This, of course, made for a very unpleasant moving-in experience. Trying to lug my suitcase down the street without slipping was a nearly impossible, and I was cold, cranky, and underslept. We got there early because we wanted to check in and drop off our bags before our language placement test at 10am. The test consisted of written multiple choice questions and an oral interview. It went alright and I was placed in the same class as Amy and Korena, two of my closest friends here.
For the entirety of the month, Amy and I opted to stay at Coco Residence, a 고시원 (goshiwon) in the lively Sinchon neighborhood. A goshiwon is a small room that students often inhabit for a few months to isolate themselves so that they can study for a big test. Talk about a very Korean concept. My room had a bathroom and shower attached, and the place came with free internet, television, laundry, and meals (nothing fancy, just ramen, rice, and some vegetable side dishes). But considering that I paid around $400 for the month, it was a pretty good deal.
The goshiwon was in a great location, smack in the center of a triangle between Sinchon train station and the Ewha Women's University and Sinchon subway stops. In the morning, we just had to hop on the subway and go two stops to get to our language class. But there was one serious issue with this residence; it lacked any semblance of heat. When we arrived in Seoul, the weather was averaging in the low twenties, definitely below freezing temperature every day. For this reason, the first few nights at Le Coco Chateau (the posh nickname for our not-so-posh abode) were unbearably cold.
I wore 3 layers of pants, two shirts, a fleece hoodie, two pairs of socks, and a hat to bed, and I still woke up shivering. It was so bad that I seriously considered leaving and finding somewhere else to stay. After incessantly complaining to the manager, she eventually provided us with small space heaters for our rooms. I have no idea how the other folks staying there were surviving. With the space heater and the weather becoming warmer every day, it ended up working out. But it was a really stressful experience, at the time. Fortunately, other aspects of my life in Seoul were much more pleasant and enjoyable.
The main goal for coming to Seoul was to improve my Korean language skills. For four days a week, several hours every day, we took class at Ganada Korean Language Institute, located in the fun, youthful Hongdae neighborhood. It was established by Yonsei University in 1991 and was the first Korean language institute in Korea. Overall, I was quite satisfied with the course's content, instruction, and structure. We learned a new chapter in the textbook every day. The pace was relatively quick, but not too overwhelming. There were 12 students in our class: 6 Japanese, 4 Americans, 1 Chinese, and 1 Canadian. The diversity of the classroom made for an interesting experience because without a common language, we were forced to rely on our Korean to communicate with each other.
The class was really what you made out of it. It was possible to get by the next day without reviewing the material the night before. But if one studied the new vocabulary and grammar every night, one could make significant strides in the course of one month. The biggest struggle was the plethora of new vocabulary words that were thrown at us every day. In total, we learned over a thousand new vocabulary words and dozens of new grammar points.
At the end of the month, there was a final exam that tested our reading, writing, speaking and listening skills. I ended up with 2 A's and one B+; the lowest grade being in listening, which is ironic because, having heard relatives speak Korean my entire life, listening is quite arguably my strongest skill. Regardless, I was proud of my progress and achievement. The only pictures that I have of class depict my friends and I hoarding an obscene amount of snacks during break time. Haha, I suppose that was a very integral part of my Korean language learning experience.
My day-to-day schedule in Seoul went like this: wake up around 8am, cook breakfast, then hop on the subway and head to class. After class, a bunch of us got together and ate lunch somewhere in Hongdae. Next, we'd all go our separate ways. I usually went home, took a quick nap and then went to the gym. After that, I'd sit in a cafe and study Korean. In the evening, I would eat dinner, then usually meet up with friends. On days off, I explored different neighborhoods of Seoul with my friends and caught up on the majority of my homework. It was an ideal schedule, with a good balance of work and play.
The best part of living in Seoul, by far, was being able to see my friends on a regular basis. There were so many Fulbrights living in Seoul during Winter Break. I would estimate about 1/3 of us were either taking Korean class, interning somewhere, or just visiting for the weekend at any given time. In terms of being close in proximity again, it kinda felt like a repeat of Orientation. Below are some photos from our highly anticipated "Plaid Day."
All in all, I don't think that I could've had a better Winter Break. I got to go home to America for 2 weeks, travel all throughout Southeast Asia for 2 weeks, and then spend an entire month living and studying in Seoul. What a lucky girl, I am! During my time in Seoul, my real parents came to visit me and our relatives that still reside here. Next time, I'll tell you all about their trip to Korea!
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