Not too much to say about water in Korea. It's safe. I haven't heard of anybody getting sick. There are water purifiers everywhere and every convenience store sells bottled water.
According to Wikipedia, Korea does not fluoridate their water. If you don't know about water fluoridation, it's a bit of a controversial topic. Do some research. Here are two perspectives:
For: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_fluoridation
Against: http://fluoride.mercola.com/
One interesting thing: Drinking fountains are reaaally uncommon. I don't think that I've actually seen a single one since I arrived in Korea. I'm not sure if there are any anywhere. You know what is really common, though? These metal cups. It seems like every single restaurant and cafeteria has them, and they're all identical. And they have UV sterilizers. I don't know much about them, but I will find out more soon.
This exact setup is eeeevvvveryywhere.
Also, Koreans hardly drink any water. And especially not at meals. I find it very strange.
I like water. I drink like two liters of water every day. Gotta maintain a clear stream ;)
물 (Mul) - Water
물 주세요. (Mul juseyo.) - Give me water, please. (This really is the polite way to ask for water.)
물 사랑해! (Mul sarang-he!) - I love water!
So Jjimjilbangs. They're Korean spas where you go and shower, bathe, sleep, and wake up and shower and bathe again. All for about $8. Which seems like an awesome deal, (and it is) though you have to sleep on the floor. It's definitely not what I imagine when I think of a spa.
So once you arrive, you pay and they give you a key. You take off your shoes, find your shoe locker, and leave your shoes there. Then you walk in to the gender-segregated locker rooms, put your things in a locker, and drop your pants. Everyone's doing it. No need to be shy. I was a bit shocked the first time, but at least on the men's side, Koreans seem to have no shame about being naked together.
So after undressing, you walk into the main room with lots of showers and tubs, and take a shower. On a side note, Koreans brush their teeth while showering. Like all of them always. Do you guys do that? I don't usually. It seems like a waste of water.
Anyways, you shower, and then hop into one of the tubs. It seems like there's a rather particular order in which you do these things, although there's a bit of variance from one Jjimjilbang to another. Usually, though, it works something like this. First, there's an aroma tub which is somehow scented with a whole slew of nice smelling things: roses, lavender, etc. Hang out there for a while, then move on to the massage jet tub, which is a little bit hotter and has seats with lower back jets. It's quite nice after a long day of carrying a backpack around. Then, if you are bold enough, there's the realllly hot tub which is maybe around 45C/115F. And then generally there's a larger pool with cold water. I'm not sure how cold exactly, but after a scolding hot bath, it feels pretty freaking cold. Then sometimes there's a rope in the middle of the room that drops water from the ceiling onto your head. It feels pretty good to stabilize your body temperature after going back and forth between hot and cold a few times.
The girls said that they even drank tea and put on a skin face mask while in the hot tubs. Fancy stuff.
So then you dry off and put on the clothes that they give you, which are actually pretty comfortable. If you want, there are usually several saunas of various temperatures and maybe a cold room, which you can hang out in. Or you can go to bed you've probably been walking all day and it's like 1:00 am.
The sleeping conditions are really less than ideal. Sometimes the floor is really hard. But the one that I stayed at this past weekend in Seoul was actually pretty comfortable. It had nice thick mats to sleep on. Although when I asked for a pillow and played charades with the woman for a minute to convey to her what a pillow was, she looked around, grabbed a wooden block and handed it to me, smiled and left.
Then, in the morning, you get up and do it all again. Except usually you use these sit-down showers and clean yourself more thoroughly. There's even this hand-scrubber-glove-sandpaper-thing that you use to peel off dead skin. Maybe a friend will help you get your back. It actually feels pretty great.
When I was in Busan, Dok-de insisted with his broken English that we do everything, at least the first day. It was pretty hard to disagree, not speaking Korean and all. But it was all fun. Of course, if you don't want to go the whole nine yards, you can just sleep and shower in the morning.
I'll definitely be visiting more Jjimjilbangs in the next few months. I think next time, though, I'll try to smuggle in a sleeping bag to sleep on. I'll let you know how it goes.
I've been really slacking on blogging. Sorry about that. College is busy.
So the week before classes started, we went on our first field trip to Inje, which is in the northeastern part of South Korea. All of the American and Korean students in the Global Village program went. We left from the University on Friday in two buses, and arrived about two hours later at the place where we would sleep that night. It was a modest guest house with one side for the girls and one for the guys. There was very little furniture; the rooms were very open to make as much space as possible for people to sleep on the floors. After we set down our things in the guest house, we got back on to the buses. One bus went white water rafting, and the other went to play paintball. Then we switched.
Paintball was much more violent. called "survival game" in Korean, was pretty intense. I had never played paintball before, but I had heard people talk about it. From what I had heard, the goal was to hit people in the body and avoid the head. This was the opposite. Only head shots counted. We suited up with fairly thick pants and shirts and a mask which, for some reason, only covered our faces, leaving most of the back of our heads exposed. Getting hit in the back of the head with paint balls really is not my definitions of fun. It was a bit exciting, sure. But I didn't like getting hit and I didn't like shooting at people, because I knew that it would probably hurt, even if I missed their heads.
I am so thankful that military service is optional in the United States.
White water rafting, though, was sweet! The people from our bus filled three boats, I believe, each of which had a guide who steered and gave us instructions. I don't think any of them spoke English, but there were lots of Koreans in our group who could translate. Most of the river was pretty calm, although there were definitely parts that were pretty wild. Big drops and lots of splashes. I enjoyed it for sure. And whenever two rafts approached one another, there were usually splash fights. It was all in good fun, but it got to be a bit cold after the first few times. At one point, we pulled over to a tiny little island in the river where there were rafts stacked up that people were using as a diving board. Front flips are great. So it was lots of fun. I would absolutely go white water rafting again. And after we got out of the water, one of the guides who was splashing us a lot came over and gave me a big bear hug. That was the first time someone hugged me in Korea.
For the most part, restrooms in Korea are identical to restrooms in the U.S. There are a few differences, though.
Urinals Just so that we're all on the same page, this is a urinal. In the U.S., it's pretty common for them to have automatic sensors. It is in Korea, also. The major difference is that in the U.S., they generally flush when you leave, although sometimes there are "water-free" urinals that don't flush, but instead have some super-scientific smell-reducing thing. In Korea, they flush both when you arrive and when you leave. While it may seem like a good way to keep them clean, actually they usually smell worse here than in America. So I'm not sure what's up with that.
Automatic but-washers
They're real. They're not common, but every once in a while you'll run into them. Yes, there is usually toilet paper there also, so you can choose to opt-out if water squirting at your butt isn't your thing.
I used one once. It was an experience. I'll leave the rest up to the imagination. Google is always there if you want to know more about them.
Toilet Paper
My female friend said that sometimes there' not toilet paper in the Women's restrooms in the subway. I've never had that problem, personally. But there is a rather shocking bit about toilet paper that I've still not really adjusted to.
Next to almost every single toilet that I've seen in Korea is a trash can. And for a while, I just ignored them. I didn't want to ask why they were there. But they're in Every. Single. Bathroom. And they're often filled with used toilet paper. I ended up asking a friend recently, and my suspicions were confirmed. Apparently, it's normal in Korea to throw away your toilet paper in a trash can rather than flushing it. I suppose Korean plumbing systems aren't all designed to handle toilet paper. I haven't been able to bring myself to do it. It seems so unsanitary. And some of these trash cans don't even have trash bags. I feel so bad for the old women (and they're always old women) who clean the bathrooms. I'm open to advice on this one. I sure hope that I haven't clogged any toilets yet.
Signs
Alright, this one is pretty funny. So in Korean, the word 화장실 (Hwa jang shir) means both the restroom and the actual toilet. So like 90% of the time, if you see a restroom sign with English written on it, it will say "Toilet." I suppose it's not allll that crazy, but it's just a bit off. A lot of signs here have small grammar mistakes. And some have bigger mistakes. I wonder if there are lots of signs in America with funny translations in other languages.
I've also noticed that Koreans are really creative with their bathrooms signs! Sure, the standard guy/girl sign is common, but a lot of signs have unique, well designed graphics. Here are some examples from the internet.
Soap
So I think that it's safe to say that the public hygiene standards in Korea just aren't what they are in the United States. In most restrooms, there just isn't soap. When there is, it's almost always bar soap. Which is very strange for me. I'm not sure whether it's more sanitary to use it or to avoid it. Sometimes, you'll even see bar soap on a bar! I had no idea that this was a thing. I can't say that I entirely understand the point. I will admit, though, that I have seen liquid soap in a restroom. Once. It really happens, though rarely. I have yet to see an automatic soap dispenser, though, like the ones that are so common in America.
Squatters
These are also not very common, but you might find them in older buildings or in the subway. I've yet to use one yet, but maybe I will before I leave. I think this is significantly less shocking to me than the toilet paper thing. Wow.
So there's a bit about restrooms in Korea. Here are some useful phrases about restrooms.
화장실 (Hwa jang shir) - restroom/toilet
여기에 화장실이 있어요? (Yeogi-e hwajangshir-i isseoyo?) - Is there a restroom here?
화자실이 어디예요? (Hwajangshir-i eodie-yeyo?) - Where is the restroom?
화장식이 가고 싶어요. (Hwajangshir-i kago shipeoyo) - I want to go to the restroom.
As a note - The characterㅓ is generally transliterated as "eo" (As in Seoul). It's a bit misleading. It's not two sounds, but one. It's not a sound that we really have in English, but it's maybe similar to:
Maud
law
the sound you make when you yawn
"Oh lawd!" (Oh lord!)
I hope you feel like an expert in Korean restrooms.
So after much deliberation, I chose five classes to take this semester: Beginning Korean Conversation, Medical Ultrasound, Division and Unification of Korea, Special Topics in Applied Physics: Semiconductors, and Korean Culture Experience,
We've only had one full week so far since we had no school on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday of the second week due to Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving). So these are just my first impressions.
Beginning Korean Conversation
I spent some time learning the Korean alphabet and a few simple phrases before I came, and since I arrived, I've been trying to learn as much as possible from all of the Koreans. So the first day of class was pretty boring for me personally since we're starting from square one. We basically were just learning the vowel sounds and how to write them. I think I'll probably know most of the material that we cover for at least the first few weeks. Hopefully after that, though, we'll be able to get into some more advanced concepts like grammar and sentence structure. I really want to learn Korean. Everything is easier when you can communicate with more than like 5% of the people around you.
Medical Ultrasound
So this class is all about the mathematical theories behind ultrasound imaging. I like math. Like a lot. I'm a math major if you didn't know. So on the first day of class when we went through like a semester of calculus in two hours, I felt comfortable and excited. I fully realize that not everyone has this experience with math. That's okay. So I'm really in to this class. I really like the idea of learning new mathematical concepts and then combining them to learn about a real technique that is widely used in modern medicine. That's so cool. My roommate Jihoon, though, told me that the professor has a reputation for being really hard and he recommended that I choose a different class. I thought about it. But none of the other classes taught in English had as much math, and I enjoy a challenge.
So I talked to the professor after class and asked if it would be okay if I took his class since I'm the only one who doesn't speak Korean. The first thing he asked me was "Didn't your friends warn you about this class?" He said that it would have the workload of three classes. I have no fear. For our first assignment, he gave us like 70 calculus problems. The day after he assigned them, I sat in the library for about five hours and finished them all. Bring it on.
Division and Unification of Korea
This class is all about North and South Korea: the history, the cultural similarities and differences, and the prospect of reunification. The professor is really cool. He's an older guy, and he's pretty laid back and funny. He speaks English pretty slowly, but pretty well. I'm the only American in the class, and when he found out that I was from Ohio, he was really excited. He said that I will be his official Ohio English language assistant. I have no idea what that will entail.
Anyways, he wrote a paper recently entitled "Imagine One Korea" which he submitted to President Obama discussing the idea of lifting sanctions from North Korea and trying to make peace with them. I haven't read it yet, but I plan to do so in the next few days before our next class. He's been to North Korea several times and knows a whole lot about their culture.
On the first day, we watched a video about the North Korean Mass Games. Skip around in the video below. It's like the most elaborate, hugest marching band show ever. And I believe that those giant images you see are not screens, but rather thousands of people holding little books with different colored pages watching a guy with a flag telling them when to flip pages. Here's the link to part of the documentary that we watched if you're interested. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSrcLC6Zz54
This class is going to have a lot of hard topics to swallow, and a lot of really important issues to think about. I'm really interested and grateful for this chance to learn about a culture that is so radically different from my own and try to grapple with the question "Can we live together in peace?"
Special Topics in Applied Physics
This is a senior level class, mainly for physics majors, discussing semiconductors, how they work, and their applications. The prerequisite course listed was "General Physics." I took Physics I, but not Physics II. So I think I'm not really prepared. Buuuut oh well. I'll learn quick. And anyways, I think it's actually going to be a really easy class. It seems like a throwaway kind of class that seniors take because they don't want to take something hard.
The first day was just a class intro and the professor let us out like an hour early. But by the second class, we started getting into quantum physics and how semiconductors work. It's really complex stuff. Wow. Molecular Orbital Theory is kind of blowing my mind. BUT the professor goes really really slow. So first, he'll explain everything in English (Did I mention I'm the only native English speaker in the class?) really slowly and repeat himself a lot. Like to the point where I'm just doodling because he's already said this three times. And then, since most of the students probably didn't understand anyways, he'll explain the whole thing again in Korean. So I think there will be a weird kind of tension in which I'll be bored and confused at the same time. We'll see how that goes.
But regardless, I'm really excited for the class! We're going to get into some really interesting topics. The three that I'm most excited for are solar cells, energy cells, and artificial photosynthesis. How cool. I want to learn all about all of those things. And a significant portion of the class time is devoted to student presentations, so we'll learn about the topics and teach each other. I think the idea works best when everyone speaks the same language, but it's a cool concept.
The Korean students in my class are so shy! Oh my god. I'm not sure if it's just because they have to speak English or if it's because in Korean schools, participation usually is equated with attendance. On the first day, though, we had to get up and introduce ourselves. Like really basic stuff. Name, age, major, hobbies. And there were like two Korean students who could do it without speaking really quietly or giggling embarrassedly the whole time. We'll see. This is going to be an interesting class on a lot of different levels.
Korean Culture Experience
This class is going to be super cool. Based on the syllabus, it looks like we're going to be doing something different almost every week. It's the only class that we have on Fridays, so we'll take lots of field trips and do interesting things like make paper, climb mountains, and learn Taekwondo. I'm pretty excited. And it seems like it will be pretty easy, too. We only have one midterm essay and one final essay, 1500 words each. Not bad.
In our first class, we had a lecture from Professor Simone Kim who teaches classes on Christianity and preaches at the University Church. She's a Korean America who grew up in California but now lives in Korea. She has a really interesting perspective on Korea as kind of a native foreigner who has a deep understanding of both cultures. She taught us about two important ideas in Korea, 정 (Jeong) and 한 (Han). Although I only just began to learn about them, here's my understanding so far.
정 is a kind of deep familial connection for friends and family and for the country. It is developed over a long period of time and is a very strong attachment which is an integral part of Korean culture. It also seems to have to do with respectful interactions between people of different ages, which is incredibly important in Korea. It is always necessary to show deference to your elders and to bow when meeting them. On the other hand, it is common for Koreans to buy food for younger friends and family, or to care for them in other ways. Even one or two year age differences are significant in Korean culture, where they would be almost entirely overlooked in America. The importance of age and respect is so deeply ingrained that it plays a large role in Korean language. There are usually two or three ways to say any given phrase: One for speaking to a younger person, one for a peer, and one for an elder. It's really a big deal.
한 is a very different, yet somewhat related concept. It is the repressed feeling of hopelessness experienced specifically by Korean women as a result of long term cultural and interpersonal oppression and subservience. Although Korea is quickly becoming modernized and gender barriers are eroding as they are elsewhere in the world, thousands of years of very strict gender roles have a way of remaining a part of a culture. We read a case study today in which a woman was told by her husband shortly after their wedding "my parents are like my limbs, irreplaceable and with me forever. You are like my clothes, sheddable and easily replaced." Or something like that. I'm paraphrasing. In another example, a female professor But still. I can't even imagine being in that situation. I certainly have to say, though, that while those sentiments may still underlie Korean Culture, I have seen very few if any inter-gender interactions which have struck me as negative or unusual. I think that especially among the younger generation, respect and equality for women is rising. But my perspective is only that of a foreigner who has been her for three weeks, so I can't say that I really have too much insight into the matter.
Here's a bit of information about what I'm actually doing here.
The program that I'm participating in is called the Global Village Program. It's made up mainly of U.S. and Korean students. Each U.S. student is paired with eight Korean students with whom they we meet every week for one hour to practice speaking English. In addition, everyone is assigned a team in which we will prepare two presentations comparing U.S. and Korean culture. All of the Global Village students are required to take Beginning Korean Conversation as well as Korean Culture Experience. We all arrived a few days earlier than the other students, so we've been able to get to know each other pretty well so far. Everyone is great!
한국말 잘 못해요 (hangukmal jal mot-heyo) - I don't speak Korean very well!
I feel like my whole life I've taken for granted the ability to understand everyone around me. It really makes everything a little more difficult when you want to communicate with someone, but you don't speak the same language and there's no translator nearby. It has often been feeling like I've embarked upon a four month long game of charades. But it has shown me how powerful body language actually is. I'm surprised at how much I've been able to interact with people without speaking.
For example, eye drops were easy to ask for at the store because of how distinct the motion is that you make when you use them. Other things, though, like "I'm not sure how to use my locker, can you help me?" Have been a bit trickier. But for the most part, there have been Korean students all around who speak both English and Korean who are happy to translate. It's very helpful and it makes everything easier, especially if we're trying to go downtown or order food at a restaurant or anything like that.
There have definitely been some Korean students, though, who come up and try really hard to talk to me even though they speak very little English. It's confusing but pretty flattering. Yesterday, I was sitting with some other foreigners when a Korean who I had met earlier came up to me and started to wave and point and say things like "photo time!" and "Hi! Hi!" mixed in with a lot of other stuttered Korean words. He ran over and grabbed a friend who told me that he was just saying "Hi, remember me?" It was lots of fun.
For the most part, none of the older Korean who work in the dorms or the cafeterias speak English, nor do most of the people who work in convenience stores. But it hasn't been too bad. I've been able to get by for the most part with just a few simple phrases.
언녕하세요! - Annyeonghaseyo! - Hello!
감사합니다 - Kamsahamnida - Thank you
안녕히계세요 - Annyeonghigyeseyo! - Goodbye (If the other person is staying)
I really like Korean food so far! And I really like the way that we eat in Korean restaurants. Whereas in the U.S. everybody orders their own separate dishes, in Korea, everybody shares the whole meal. Usually, everybody will have their own bowl of rice and maybe a bowl of soup, and then there will be like five or six side dishes that everyone will all eat from. Kimchi (김치) is almost always one of them. Nori (김) also seems to be pretty common. Maybe some fish patties, gelatin looking things, and other vegetables as well. I've eaten a lot of things that I haven't been able to identify. And everybody just eats out of the bowls that the side dishes come on, rather than taking some and putting it on your plate. So you just take one bite of rice and then one bite of whatever other dish you'd like. It's pretty cool!
And chopsticks! In the U.S., chopsticks are a sort of novelty that we play with when we get Chinese food. And they're always wooden and we throw them away when we're done. Here, they're legitimate silverware and made of metal. And forks are really uncommon and are mainly given to foreigners who look like they'll make a mess without one. It's been a little bit tricky getting used to chopsticks, but I enjoy learning, and I've only dropped food a couple of times. But it's all in good fun!
At home I haven't been eating meat for a while. That changed pretty fast. It's really hard to be picky when someone who doesn't speak your language hands you a plate of food. There's been chicken, pork, or beef at nearly every meal. On Thursday, our entire dinner was lots and lots of grilled pork with some paengi mushrooms (팽이버섯). So it's taken a little getting used to, but I've been getting along just fine. I even had squid today! You could see all the little suction cups. Wow.
Life is good here in South Korea. Every day has been a new and exciting adventure. It's been overwhelming and wonderful pretty much the entire time that I've been here. I've been here at Yonsei University for a week, but it feels like quite a bit longer. Classes are just starting tomorrow, so the last week has been filled with unpacking, exploring, and making so many new friends! I've been meeting people from all over the world: Korea, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Lithuania, Mongolia, China, Canada, U.S.A., Uganda, Ghana, and probably others that I can't remember. It's really wild to be in a place where people are speaking so many languages that I don't know. It's really an awesome thing, though, and I'm enjoying all of the diversity. I'm so excited to be able to spend the next four months here. So much has happened already and so much will continue to happen that there's no way I'll be able to write about all of it, but I'll do my best to share my experiences as often as possible.
