March 29th Biweekly Journal

[Jiwon Kang]

Last week, Jenna and I learned fifteen new vocabulary words about the healthcare system in Korea. Furthermore, we decided on my final cultural presentation topic. I decided to research on the different holidays in Korea and how they differ from America’s holidays. I want to study the origins of the holidays in Korea and how people celebrate it. I am happy with what Jenna and I have accomplished so far in the course this semester. I have learned a lot of Korean history and it feels like a class about Korean history more than a Korean speaking class. I also started watching a new Korean drama on Netflix and it is really fun. They speak in Korean, and I understand most of it, but sometimes I read the caption to better understand what they are saying. This week, Jenna and I watched a Korean documentary about food culture in Korea. I already know most of the foods in Korea, but this documentary showed me more about the street food culture in Korea. There are many foods that are from western countries that has moved to the streets of Korea. For example, corndogs are beginning to gain traction in Korean street food markets, and it is a very popular dish. Jenna and I learned 15 new vocabulary words about popular Korean foods. I think my favorite food is Galbi, a traditional Korean barbeque food. I don’t know what more Jenna and I will cover for the rest of the semester, so I brought that point up to Jenna in this week’s lesson. We decided to learn about Korean K-pop next week. There is a lot to learn about K-pop in Korea. it is becoming a very popular genre in Korea and all over the world. I am very excited to learn about K-pop next week and how it has integrated into western countries. We only have around a month left of school, so I am very excited to finish my last semester of college. I will start my cultural presentation next week and hope to get some feedback from Jenna before I submit it next month. I will focus on four or five holidays in Korea and talk about the origins of the holiday, the date the holiday is celebrated on, and the different traditions done in Korea for each holiday.