Back from S. Korea! Seoul and Busan

Hello and welcome back!  Happy New Year 2012.  I feel a good one ahead.  Not only because there is a lot in store for me this year, but also because it's the year of the dragon, my personal favorite of the zodiac signs and also my birth year!  Plus, 2012 just feels like such a nice even number, there's bound to be fortune an excitement in store!

My one-week trip to Korea was brief, but very pleasant and a nice change of pace.  Despite having lived in Japan for two and a half years, Korea was immensely difficult to get used to.  I had not one trace of knowledge about the language, and I thought that since Korea was partially the origin of Japan many of their customs and habits would coincide.  I was wrong on many counts, and had a lot of embarrassing moments making cultural etiquette errors and not being able to be easily understood with English.  It was a good experience however, and taught me to be more careful about assuming that English is enough as well as assuming that just because I know a lot about their neighbors, does not mean I know anything at all about them.  Ultimately, I think I was taught to assume less and research more.

Of course the language was the first immediate difference.  Much like Japanese, the written language of Korea was once borrowed from China.  Eventually however, King Sejong the great created a new alphabet called Hangul, which suited the Korean language much better than borrowed Chinese characters.  Japanese continued to use the mixed Chinese characters in addition to their adapted alphabet, or syllabary.  I could not read Hangul, and I also had a hard time wrapping my mind around all of the new sounds that exist in Korean.  The combination of vowels and varying consonants are closer to Chinese, which I have never studied.  I felt inadequate trying to ask for anything, or even use the guidebook to say simple phrases.  I couldn't figure out how to pronounce anything by the romanized spelling, and went back to relying on English.  We intentionally did not use Japanese because of the animosity between the two countries.  We bought a simple Korean language book and have looked at it since returning to Japan. If only I had done a minimal amount of research before I left!

Other differences that I wasn't really expecting included everyday etiquette like how to eat a meal, speaking and eating on subways, and a more pushy and less artificially friendly atmosphere.  They were much more outgoing, and honest on the surface.  Perhaps it's because it's not an island?  Also, I think that their proximity to China gives them more Chinese mannerisms, while Japan is a secluded island nation and developed it's own culture and customs apart from the rest of the world.

Other than a few embarrassing mess-ups, it was a really great trip!  I was more interested in Korean culture than I thought I would be, and enjoyed seeing the sites and trying all of the local foods.  My favorite things to eat there were kimchi, bibimbap, and a fried dough pastry with cinnamon sugar inside called hottoek.

We started our trip with four days in Seoul, up in northern South Korea, and then took a bullet train down to the most southern tip and spent three days in the slower city of Busan.  We were able to meet up with some fellow Denison graduates who are teaching English there, much like we are doing in Japan.  Unfortunately the first full day we spent in Seoul we ended up walking around the city, through palaces and temples, and encountered many hills.  I sprained my foot this first day and was left limping for the rest of the trip.  I think it slowed our pace and limited us on a few of our journeys, but all in all it was a wonderful experience and I'm looking forward to going back some day.  Here is a slide show with pictures of the places we visited!

Thanks for reading and check back again soon!