111 Biweekly Journal #2

[Seokjoon Han]

For this semester, I have been studying Korean with the help of my language partner, Rachel Kim. We did not know each other very well when we first started. However, that has changed a lot through the conversations we have been having in Korean during our language partner meeting sessions. We have had great conversations about our previous lives before coming to the University of Richmond. It’s actually very pleasant to talk to someone who is of similar age as me in Korea because I am able to talk casually which is something I find myself not doing too frequently as the only people I talk in Korean with is my family in which I am the youngest. It turns out Rachel has a younger sibling who likes to play basketball. During one of our sessions, we actually shared photos of our friends and family and talked about all of the sentiments behind the memories that are attached to them. In fact, I showed pictures that were from ancient times… Before 2010! These photos were from back when I was in Korea and I was a little young fella. I am glad I have a community language partner that I am comfortable with sharing my background! Anyways also during our meetings, we have watched several modern Korean entertainment television shows together, of course virtually. We have seen this TV show called Crash Landing on you which is about a wealthy female CEO from South Korea who somehow landed in North Korea through a paragliding accident caused by a weather storm. The tv show, although saturated with cheesy romance just most K-Dramas, highlights the poverty and the income inequality that is a reality in North Korea. It definitely forced me to question and reflect on my own privilege. It not only showcased the lack of wealth in North Korea but Crash Landing on You also brought attention to the lack of human rights North Korean citizens have. I always did wonder what my life would have been like if I was born in the other Korea… Life would definitely be harsh. In fact, I could not be able to watch Crash Landing on You in North Korea since watching a South Korean could give me several years working in a prison labor camp.  Yet oddly enough, there were no mentions of Kim Jung Un in all of the episodes of Crash Landing on You. My guess is that the writers did not want North Korea to believe that South Korea was somehow mocking their leader or using his name to spread anti-North Korean propaganda. But maybe not including his name suggests that he is irrelevant??? Anyways I enjoyed watching Crash Landing on You as it was the first Korean Drama I have seen in a while. I shall give it a 7.5/10 as a rating. Here are some goals I will set for myself to achieve until the next language learning journal: I want to start listening to Korean music throughout my day. I also want to find new Korean artists to listen to since my playlist is getting kind of stale. Hopefully, I’m able to find some Korean Rock artists. Until then.