[Books] This is Korea: All you ever wanted to know about Korea

 

Written by CHOI Jung-hwa and LIM Hyang-ok (2011)

Another recently published book, this is more of a travel-guide book. Although it covers roughly the same grounds as CultureShock! Korea (read my review here), this book is not nearly as detailed. This book introduces the things that Korea is famous for, and by introducing I really mean a short paragraph or two about the subject. Hence, if you are looking for details, this is not really your book. However, they do cover a broad range of topics from korean food to korean art so if all you are looking for is something easy to digest and brief, this is the book for you.

One feature I liked about this book was the fact that they used hangeul in the book. All chapters in the book had titles in korean as well, and this was useful for learning vocabulary. While covering the korean zodiac (which is same as the chinese zodiac), every animal had an idiom related to it in the book. (I will write another post on these idioms when I get my korean keyboard stickers, so lets keep it at this for now.)

I finished this book in 2 hours so you can tell how short is is – good read for a boring flight. Not nearly as detailed as I’d like it to be, so if you want to know more, you may want to stock up on other books that provide more information.

[Books] CultureShock! Korea - A Survival Guide to Customs and Etiquette

Written by Sonja Vegdahl, Ben Seunghwa Hur (2011)

Written in 2011, this book is probably one of the most up to date out in the market – perfect for someone looking for a 101 guide to etiquette in Korea.

NOTE – This is not a travel guide, but rather it is targeted more towards foreigners (or westerners) who will be working in Korea in future/are already there. Nonetheless, it is an interesting read even if you, like me, are just interested to find out about the culture in Korea without having to step out of your home country.

This books starts off with much generalization about the korean people and culture, and the unique differences between the western and korean cultures. Examples would include things like koreans never wearing shoes in their homes, how physical contact between close friends (eg. a close friend’s arm resting on your thigh) is normal, how different groups of foreigners are viewed by koreans etc. I am not sure how much of it is actually true, so take it with a pinch of salt, but keep in mind that most of these are just generalizations of the culture and I’m sure not everyone behaves according to what is written in the book.

Then, the author writes about how to settle in and manage culture shock in Korea. This is the part catered more towards expats moving to korea and it details how to find accomodation, transport, internet etc. Very helpful even for students going there for a study exchange in a particular korean university.

The next part of the book is would be similar to a normal travel book – introducing places/sights to see, the drinking culture in korea and the list goes on.

However, the most unique part about this book is that it introduces the business culture in Korea – in detail. Of course for the most part this is mostly generalization again and the old traditions and customs are rapidly changing, but it is still very useful to keep in mind, especially if you are or you’re planning to do business in Korea.

Overall, I really liked this book because it was exactly what I was looking for. The author was really detailed when delving into the culture part and covered most of the situations an average foreigner would encounter in korea and how to deal with those situations. I found that particularly helpful to note as it is extremely different from how I’d normally deal with those situations (in Singapore), and I would expect it to be even more so in more westernized countries. However, this book did contain much generalization so do take everything with a pinch of salt.

Very informative book overall and I would reccommend it if you are looking culture101 on korea!

My first encounter with koreans

I am an introvert by nature. I have a small fear of meeting people, but still I try. But the people I am most excited to meet… are koreans! (no points for guessing why)

Today, we (a couple of school-mates from the school’s korean cultural club and I) met a group of middle/high school students from Korea and brought them around singapore. It was a first for me in terms of proper interaction with koreans who could barely speak english. Thus I was forced to speak korean (or whatever little I could muster!)

I must say, it was an amazing half a day.

The only time I ever speak korean to ANYONE is in my korean language class at Daehan, because I always feel so self conscious when speaking korean and it just sounds all wrong when it comes out, even though it sounds fine in my head. (hmmm…) I’m sure I’m not the only one with this problem. Anyone, due to the lack of practice, speaking korean today was a struggle for me. I’d like to qualify that some of the students could understand simple english, and they did an awesome job of translating, but I spoke whatever little korean I could to some of the younger students who weren’t very good in English.

Challenge #1

What to talk about?

You know in dramas when they have this.. “…” sign to signify awkward silences?

Well, it wasn’t so much of an awkward silence, but imagine a tour guide who could barely speak Korean leading a group of Korean students who could barely speak English. There were times when I couldn’t think of anything to say while they chattered in Korean among themselves. I felt a little left out, or maybe guilty that I wasn’t entertaining them properly.

Challenge #2

How do I say it in Korean? (ponders for a really long time, before giving up and just saying it in English)

And the thing about not speaking in Korean frequently is that you kind of know your stuff but you take really really long to extract it out from your brain, and out of your mouth.

One of the more embarrassing moments..

[when I needed to leave]

Me: (to friend) I need to leave!
Me: (to korean students) 가.. 가.. 가야 돼요.. (in a super unconfident voice..)
Bubbly korean students: 가야 된다구요? (before I could finish my previous sentence)

Anyway, I stopped at that and just replied 데 because I didn’t know what to say and I was embarrassed that such a simple 4 words took so long to come out of my mouth, even though my brain was working on overdrive trying to find the right words.

Challenges aside, this experience is one that I will definitely treasure.

1. I made new friends – they have both facebook and kakaotalk (hooray for SNS and technology!)
2. I had lots of fun – we even endured hardships (the sweltering hot sun) together
3. Learnt new things – apparently Korean muslims pray on Saturdays while Singaporean muslims pray on Fridays. Is this right? Someone please enlighten me!
4. Spoke korean for the first time outside of class – miserable attempt, but attempt all the same!
5. First korean to wish me 화이팅 personally!

One of the baby steps you take when you learn korean (or any language, really), is to force yourself into a situation where you would have no choice but to speak the language, whether it be visiting the country, or hosting an international friend.

I will definitely be doing this again!

On a burning hot day…

You are craving for something cold, something refreshing, something like… ice cream?

But WAIT! Ice cream? In a drink packet? This looks suspiciously like that jelly drink we used to buy in primary school. I used to love that (grape flavoured!). but back to the main point…

THIS HAS GOT TO BE THE MOST AWESOME “CONVENIENT STORE” ICE CREAM EVER. Actually no – this is actually supposed to be a milkshake. But seeing as both are frozen/contain ice cream, its pretty much the same. STILL AWESOME.

Let me give you 3 reason why.

1. It’s got a cool CF. (which I found randomly while searching for information about this product) Se7en is in it! I think he has a really cool name btw, would have never thought of turning the v around to become a 7 (or the other way round).

2. It comes in a REALLY COOL PACKAGING. When have you eaten ice-cream in drink packet form?! Granted it comes out a little melted – it needs to fit through that tiny hole at the top to go into your eagerly waiting mouth – but nonetheless SO WORTH THAT FLAW. It IS a milkshake anyway, so I guess given that, being a little melted is okay.

3. It comes in all sorts of awesome flavours!! In the CF, it’s milk, strawberry yogurt (I would kill to try that!!) and coffee. But in Singapore, I’ve only found the milk, coffee and cookies and cream (THE BEST!).

And the most brilliant part of it all is…………….

This lovely little thing costs a mere $1.60! Yes, no kidding! Compared to premium ice creams like Magnum and Cornetto, this wins the award for value-for-money HANDS DOWN!

You can definitely find it at all Shine Korea supermarkets (in the freezer of course). Unless I’ve bought them all to stock up in case of an unforeseen flood or something.

Hooray for my newfound favourite ice cream!

A day in the life of Domo-kun

So my birthday just passed not too long ago, and FIDES (SMU’s catholic community) decided to be the sweetest bunch of people I’ve ever met and buy me a HUGE-ASS DOMO. Check him out!

Amazing right! Sorry if the gif image gives you a headache. I was just bored and decided to make it (the pictures were also too tempting).

Him being the newest addition to the family, I decided that he deserved a little camwhoring session!

As you can see, I currently have three different domos! The smallest one is a camera case and the medium sized is the one that I hug to sleep every night. I love them all to bits!

Fooled around a little bit more with domo, he was way too cute, giving the same reaction in every photo. (the :o face)

And lastly, the photo I’m most proud of…. (Photo credits AND idea goes to my sister actually.) My keepsake photo forever!

I really want to thank FIDES (and Max!) for making my 20th birthday such an awesome one! Much Love!

My Bucket List!

1. Swim with dolphins
2. Go whale watching
3. Fly in a hot air balloon
4. Skydive
5. Bungee Jump in Macau
6. See the Northern Lights
7. Visit Machu Picchu and walk the Inca trail
8. Climb Sydney Harbour Bridge
9. White water rafting
10. Walk the Great Wall of China
11. Ride a camel to the pyramids in Egypt
12. Gallop a horse along a beach with my loved one
13. Visit Niagara Falls
14. Fly in a helicopter over the Grand Canyon, Colorado USA
15. Visit Walt Disney World, Florida USA
16. Visit Las Vegas, Nevada USA
17. Ride a husky sled
18. Visit a volcano
19. Visit a castle in England
20. Visit the Louvre and see the Mona Lisa
21. Be fluent in a new language (in progress - Korean!)
22. Study in a foreign country
23. Work in a foreign country
24. Achieve my ideal weight
25. Run a 10k Achieved: Dec 2010 - Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 2010
26. Run a half marathon
27. Run a marathon
28. Resign from a job I don't like
29. Make a difference in someone's life
30. Sing a song to an audience
31. Witness a solar eclipse
32. Go Stargazing
33. Get a complete makeover
34. Be able to play by ear on the piano
35. Win a lucky draw
36. Go backpacking across europe
37. Go on a road trip
38. Pack my bags and set off for a random location with no itinerary planned
39. Learn to cook
40. Live in a different country for at least 6 months
41. Act in a film (self production or otherwise)
42. Knit a scarf
43. Fly a kite
44. See Cherry Blossoms in Japan
45. Hit bullseye on a dart board
46. Fall in love
47. Get Married
48. Have my own professional recording track
49. Have 2 (or 3) children
50. Learn to wakeboard
51. Get a turkey in bowling
52. Learn to Ski
53. Learn to snowboard
54. Ride a snowmobile
55. Learn Karate
56. Teach English in a foreign country
57. See Neil Zaza live in his own concert
58. Hear Joshua Bell play the violin
59. Hear Andrea Bocelli sing opera in Milan
60. Learn to ballroom dance
61. Visit the wreckage of the Titanic aboard a submarine!
62. Swim in the largest swimming pool in the world - off the coast of Chile.
63. Go Fire Walking
64. Ride the Orient Express
65. Walk through a corn maze or a Labyrinth
66. Learn to drive
67. Ride a dune buggy in the desert
68. Go Zorbing in New Zealand
69. Experience Zero Gravity
70. Visit the Serengeti, Tanzania
71. Witness a meteor shower
72. Visit the Parthenon in Greece
73. Visit Venice
74. See the Stonehenge, UK
75. Enter the Sydney Opera House
76. Visit the Nazca Lines, Peru
77. See the statues of Easter Island, Chile
78. Visit St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City
79. See the Pope
80. Visit the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris
81. See the Colisseum in Rome
82. Visit the Taj Mahal in India
83. Visit the Metropolitan Art Museum, New York
84. Visit the Guggenheim Museum, New York
85. Visit the Egyptian Museum in Cairo
86. Visit the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam Holland
87. Visit the Smithsonian Museums in Washington DC
88. Go on a pilgrimage
89. Visit all 7 continents
90. Visit the Eiffel tower
91. Stay at the ice hotel in sweden
92. Visit Auschwitz and visit a Nazi concentration camp
93. See the Berlin wall (or whats left of it)
94. Go island hopping in the Carribean
95. Visit harajuku in Japan
96. Watch a sumo wrestling match in Japan
97. See the statue of liberty
98. See the empire state building
99. Visit the Hershey Chocolate Factory in Pennsylvania
100. See the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco
101. Ride a tram in San Francisco
102. Visit Pike Place Market in San Francisco
103. Drink beer in Oktoberfest in Germany
104. Attend the Carnival in Venice
105. Attend the Songkran Festival in Thailand
106. Release a heavenly lantern in Taiwan
107. Learn the art of brewing coffee
108. Solve the Rubik's Cube
109. Have a collection of Snowglobes
110. Visit a vineyard in France
111. Visit a tea plantation
112. Get a Masters
113. Get out of debt and achieve financial freedom by 50
114. Shop at Harrods, London
115. Charter a yacht
116. Have High Tea at the Plaza Hotel in New York
117. Fly first class
118. Have a rose bush in my garden
119. Build a Habitat for Humanity home

TOPIK Intermediate

& thus begins my forage into the unknown~

I've been studying Korean for about a year and a half and I've finally decided to try my luck at the TOPIK Intermediate! So today, my friend and I went down to the Singapore Korean School to sign up :D Cost us $80 bucks! Motivation to study hard for the test so as to not let that $80 go to waste.

I must say, as of now, I am extremely unprepared ):

So I enrolled for the TOPIK Intermediate Preparation class in Daehan Korean Language school, and just had my first lesson. When I stepped into the class, it was a complete culture shock. Students there could converse fluently in korean, and I felt like a complete noob ): Of the 5 students in the class, I could safely say that I was the worse ):

When we were going through the questions in the book, I was totally stumped!! Never seen so many unfamiliar words in my life. It somehow reminds me of Chinese (when I was still learning it), except that I am much much more motivated when it comes to Korean (which is a really good thing!)

So this is the book I'm using now! It's called Complete Guide to the TOPIK (Intermediate), by Seoul Korean Language Academy (Publisher: Darakwon).

From what I've seen so far, it's a pretty good book for preparation for the TOPIK! The first part of the book introduces you to the different type of questions, and explains why the answers are the way they are!

For me, the vocabulary is extremely unfamiliar (highlights and purple words are those that I'm seeing for the first time). But the good part is that the tips below explain the question and sometimes the grammar and sentence structure as well, which really helps noobs like me!

Because there's a listening section in the TOPIK as well, for those who don't have the audio CD or cannot catch what they are saying, they have included the listening transcript at the back of the book, complete with english translation!(omg life saver!!)

As of now, I am really worried for listening ):

If you guys have any tips on how I can improve my vocabulary fast or how to further prepare myself for TOPIK Intermediate, do not hesitate to comment below :) Help much appreciated!