Regardless of any external obstacles to my language learning experience, such as a pandemic, I have been regularly contacting my language learning tutor Jimin in order to keep progressing. I have recently been watching a very popular K-drama called “Itaewon Class,” and although the first episode made me unsure if I wanted to invest my time into it due to the violence and tragedy, I gave it another shot. Now, I want to watch it at all hours of the day (which I of course can’t). This drama is quite different from many of the stereotypical and predictable K-dramas revolving around love relationships. It stars Park Seo-joon, an actor whom I am very fond of due to his smooth acting. It portrays the tragic but purposeful life of Park Saeroyi after he gets expelled from school and his father is killed in a car accident, all due to the very powerful and affluent Jang family. Park Saeroyi opens up a pub and is relentless in his journey as he tries to throw down the Jang family and become the owner of a successful franchise. He has a rather refreshing and admirable way of thinking and working as the star is very faithful to his friends/coworkers and also cares about dignity and wants to make the most out of his life. I find all of the other characters are rather diverse, as there is a transgender character, an African-American who has a Korean father, and a 20-yr old genius/rebel. I find that this drama helps me learn more about Korean social culture, as it is about the restaurant culture and also revolves around one of the hottest areas in Seoul- Itaewon. Additionally, just hearing the cast speak in Korean helps me to learn and understand new slang, as well as formal speaking from the Jang family. Overall, watching “Itaewon Class” is a very entertaining way for me to improve on my Korean language learning, even in bed.
Other than watching Korean TV shows, I have also been keeping up with my language learning by visiting the Korean market called HMart in Philadelphia. I know that it is slightly risky in times like these, so I make sure to wear gloves and a mask. Although it is somewhat daunting to wear PPE whenever I go out due to stares from other people, I feel more at ease when I wear it going to HMart, as Asian people already have the custom of wearing masks whenever one is even slightly sick. I visited the Korean market twice in order to get ingredients for Korean dishes that I prepared. I ended up making ddeokbokki (떡볶이), spicy marinated pork (돼지불고기), and marinated beef (불고기). Overall, it was a success! Oh, I also picked up some of my favorite Korean snacks as well. I was able to practice speaking and reading in Korean as all of the products at the store were written in Korean as well as in English. I thought that it was a very useful way of practicing my language learning skills, as it is a skill that I would need if I were ever to stay in Korea.
Lastly, I have been facetiming Jimin on a weekly basis to discuss my future learning plans and also to do mini grammar lessons.
Comments
Hi June, I really enjoyed reading your post! I also watched Itaewon Class and it is definitely not something I would usually watch but it was really interesting to see Park Saeroyi's journey with his workers who were like family and their battle with the powerful Jang family. He is very admirable in his morals and goals but I would have liked to see more development with his character as the lead.