Feb 2nd biweekly journal

[Jiwon Kang]

This past week we focused on the March 1^st movement. The March first movement is a holiday celebrated in Korea to pay respects to the people who lost their lives during the protests on March 1^st, 1919. Back then, Korea was under Japanese colonization and there was a protest movement calling for independence from Japan. Thousands of students and civilians in Seoul protested in the city to show displays of resistance from Japan. During this holiday, people visit the Seodamun Prison History Hall to remember and pay respects to the people who fought for Korea’s independence and democracy. Furthermore, people go through spring season tours in Gwangyang and other villages to enjoy food and experience parades. Furthermore, many Koreans go to theme parks to enjoy and spend time with their family. Lastly, a lot of people go to Ski resorts to enjoy the last chance to ski before winter ends. The March 1^st movement is like Memorial Day in America. Jenna and I also learned fifteen vocab words related to the March 1^st movement. It was interesting to compare the March 1^st movement to holidays in America. Another thing I did with Jenna was talk about children’s day in Korea. Children’s day in Korea is celebrated in May and is a day to spend time with your children and family. Parents get to take the day off from work and they usually take their children to amusement parks and gardens. I think Korean culture emphasizes on family, and we can see so many holidays being centered around spending quality time with family. I am very happy I learned more about Korean culture and traditions. Jenna is doing a great job with me limiting the amount of work I have to do for this class because I have a lot of work in other classes. That is why one of my main goals for this semester was focusing on learning Korean history rather than continuing to read and write in Korean. Next week, Jenna and I will continue our lessons with learning new holidays in Korea. We decided on learning about Chuseok next week. Chuseok is one of the most popular holidays in Korea and is also commonly known as “Korean Thanksgiving.” I hope to continue to learn about Korean history next week with Jenna. More specifically I am excited for Korean politics and how it contrasts from America’s politics. One thing that didn’t work out during out lesson with Jenna was our original plan of reading an article a week. Before we started lessons, Jenna and I decided that I would read one article a week in Korean. This would allow me to refreshen up on my reading and writing skills. But after the first couple weeks, reading an article in Korean was way too much work for me on top of everything I must already do. I hope to continue to learn about the rich history of Korea because I was born there.