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One of the best ways to learn a new culture is by looking at their art, the way that society expresses in literature, visual arts, cuisine, and so on. Thinking about this, I decided to bring Heo Nanseolheon (허난설헌). She is a poetess who lived during the mid-Joseon dynasty in Korea. During the Joseon Era, Confucianism was the main religion and the predominant way of thinking. Confucianism preaches a clear division of the roles of women and men. For this reason, during the Joseon Era, it was not common to see women dedicated to reading and writing. Heo Nanseolheon appeared, then, as an exception to the rule. At the age of eight, she wrote a poem that impressed her elders and came to be called a prodigy. She is also the sister of Heo Gyun, the alleged author of one of the great classics of Korean literature: Hong Gildong. Her brother started to market her poems in China. These poems became popular in both China and Japan. Despite this, due to Confucian beliefs, their poems did not gain notoriety in Korea. She only began to be recognized as an artist after the Joseon period.

At the same time, Shin Saimdang was the role model woman, exalted by Korean society. She was seen as an artist, but mainly as a good mother, able to raise a male child with dexterity. A woman considered ideal by the standards of Korean society at the time was a woman who never left home, just caring for the home and children. Women always had to obey a man, being first their father, then their husband, and lastly their male child. Heo Nanseolheon, for breaking all these patterns, has been frowned upon throughout her life. She was married when she was 15 years old and she died at the age of 26. None of her children survived and she has never got along with her husband and her in-laws. After her death, all her drawings were burned, leaving only one. Many of her poems were kept due to her brother's zeal and their commercialization in China. I recommend to my colleagues to watch the video below, where I got a lot of the information. It contains interesting reflections on the life of Heo Nanseolheon and also tells a little bit about Shin Saimdang. Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=G29uPDxFcus&feature=youtu.be

I would like to present one of her poems: Poor Woman Chants (빈녀음)

"Though my countenance is as good as those of others,

Also are knitting and weaving skills,

As I grew up in a poor family,

No matchmakers come to me.

Though cold and hungry, I never appear to be so

But weave next to the window all day.

Only my parents think of me with sympathy,

So what neighbors will sympathize with my feeling?

Though the night is deep, the weaving hand does not stop,

The sound of loom tinkers lone.

This one garment weaved from the loom.

Of which bride would this be?

As I cut the garment with a pair of scissors,

The fingertips are breathed on in a cold night.

Though the wedding garment takes day and night,

This body of mine sleeps curled every year."

- Link: https://m.blog.naver.com/PostView.naver?isHttpsRedirect=true&blogId=globalkorea7&logNo=90143529631

It is really interesting to learn more about Korean history and also about Korean women. In a predominantly male story, it's important to look carefully at people who appear and who don't appear in the history books and why. We know a society better by knowing the kind of exalted people and the kind of people who were disowned. While researching the subject, I found that a ballet group created a creative performance inspired by the story of Heo Nan Seol Heon and another important figure in Korean history. The performances were from the 7th to the 9th of May and unfortunately, I wasn't in the US at that time. (Link: https://washingtondc.korean-culture.org/en/1134/board/897/read/108303)

I will continue looking for more information on the subject. This week, I combined art and history to learn a little more about Korean culture.

        Food is unarguably part of a culture that is unique in its taste, presentation, and experience. There are different variations of one dish across cultures such as 炸酱面 (zhazhangmian) in Chinese cuisine is a version of the Korean dish 자장면 (jajangmyeon). They both contain thick meat sauce tossed with noodles, but it’s the combinations of certain ingredients that is unique to that culture. Many people know that kimchi 김치 is at the heart of Korean cuisine because kimchi is a staple fermented side dish that pairs wonderfully with many meals consumed in Korean cuisine. There are numerous kimchi recipes, but the one common ingredient they have is napa cabbage. Napa cabbage has fluffy, crinkly, green leaves with a white base or head. It is native to eastern Asia and usually harvested during the mid-summer. According to “Why Kwang Hee ‘Mama’ Park is the Queen of Kimchi” video, Ms. Park has been making and recreating kimchi dishes for around twenty years. Ms. Park was awarded the title “Master of Kimchi” in a kimchi making contest in the early 2000s, and her kimchi career started from there. She believes the best kimchi is made by hand and not using machines. She grows her own napa cabbages in the mountains and picks chili peppers from the mountains as well.

        The kimchi process can be broken down into three processes: growing the napa cabbage/other vegetables, preparing the seasoning, and fermentation. Gimjang 김장 is the process Ms. Park referred to as preparing kimchi before fermentation. Salt is used religiously to pickle the napa cabbage and extract the water out of the leaves. Ms. Park prepares a broth that contain ingredients such as onions, anchovies, and kelp. This broth is later used to mix in with the big bowl of seasoning. The seasoning mixture consists of bean powder, salted shrimp, anchovy sauce, sugar, garlic, chili pepper, cabbage, and daikon radish. After the seasoning mixture is prepared, Ms. Park marinates each leaf of the salted napa cabbage well, and the kimchi is store in cool temperatures to allow fermentation to take place.

        After watching this video, I learned that making kimchi is a long process and requires many ingredients to create its delicious and irresistible taste. My diet mainly consists of Cantonese cuisine, which is flavorful, yet, bland, so there are not many spicy and pickled dishes that I consume on a regular basis. I have tried store bought kimchi once, and the taste was very sour. I wasn’t a huge fan of it, but after watching Ms. Park showing the kimchi making process, I feel compelled to try it again. One interesting kimchi that Ms. Park created was called “Dandelion kimchi”. Just like the name of the dish, she scavenged for dandelion stems in the mountains and marinated them in her seasoning to create this popular kimchi in her area. I found it interesting because dandelions are common weeds in America, but Ms. Park utilizes the dandelion’s abundance to create a delicious new kimchi dish.

        Kimchi makers each curated their own recipes to produce a tasteful side dish that pairs well with meals, but the process itself is quite time consuming. However, I believe its long process is what makes people appreciative of this dish because the scrumptious flavor stands out due to the quality fermentation and seasoning. Kimchi is delicious dish savored by many Koreans, and the wonderful taste of kimchi is being shared to other parts of the world as well. A sample of kimchi is a sample of Korean culture.

Manto, F. [Eater]. (2021, January 16). Why Kwang Hee “Mama” Park is the Queen of Kimchi – First Person. Youtube.com. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TI949vGM4JM&t=45s

In Korean food culture, kimchi (김치) is one of the most crucial side dishes because it is included in almost every single meal Koreans eat. Kimchi is created from salted, fermented vegetables (generally cabbage or radishes) with a paste made from chili powder, garlic, sugar, fish sauce, and more (can depend on who makes the kimchi). There are many hundreds of varieties of kimchi, however, there are ten main types of kimchi that almost Korean knows about: 배추김치 (napa cabbage kimchi), 백김치 (white kimchi), 깍두기 (cubed radish kimchi), 총각김치 (ponytail radish kimchi), 오이김치 (cucumber kimchi), 나박김치 (red water kimchi), 동치미 (radish water kimchi), 갓김치 (mustard leaf kimchi), 파김치 (green onion kimchi), and 보쌈김치 (wrapped kimchi). 

The history of kimchi starts from the period of the Three Kingdoms. When Koreans first utilized agriculture, they faced problems with the weather because of the extremely cold weather in the winter. Because of this, they preserved all different kinds of food using salt. When the cabbage and chili pepper arrived in Korea, families prepared and fermented them to preserve them for the winter. This was when the kimchi recipe came to be. Finally, in the Joseon Dynasty, the kimchi recipe continued to get more diverse. As one can see, the need to preserve food to survive in the winter started such an important traditional food in Korea. 

When Koreans made kimchi in the winter, they stored it in a 옹기 (oongi),  which is an earthenware fermentation storage container. The 옹기 (oongi) would be stored in the ground, which would help prevent it from freezing during the winter months. It also helped keep the kimchi cool to slow down the fermentation process in the summer. If the kimchi is not stored underground, there is another option called 장독대 (jangdokdae). 장독대 (jangdokdae) is an outside space that is used to store and ferment food as well. The most frequent space people use would be a terrace. 장독대 (jangdokdae) would be filled with rows of 옹기 (oongi) which is shown in the picture below. Now, since times have changed and became more modern, Koreans store their kimchi in kimchi refrigerators, as they have a more consistent temperature, more humidity, and less moving air. It is crucial to properly store the kimchi because it could cause food poisoning from the fermentation process if it is not properly stored. However, it is also important to point out that kimchi has so many health benefits, such as heart protection, improvement in digestive health, nutrition, and support in the immune system.

Koreans even have a word for describing the collective practice of making kimchi: 김장 (kimjang). 김장 (kimjang) reaffirms the Korean identity because this tradition of making kimchi brings together many people to turn cabbage heads into food and nutrition. UNESCO even added this tradition to the list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity because of how crucial it is to Korea’s identity.  

Kimchi is so essential to Korea's culture that 1.5 million tons of it is consumed each year, and even the Korean stock market reflects the kimchi obsession. They call it the “Kimchi Index,” which tracks Napa cabbage and other ingredients such as chili, carrots, radishes, anchovies, and more when they are at the best prices. To Koreans, kimchi is not just a normal side dish. It embodies and identifies the nation as it has become one of the most important symbolic resources for the Korean people.  For more information and pictures on kimchi, I have provided some resources and pictures below!

https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/08/22/489805398/how-south-korea-uses-kimchi-to-connect-to-the-world-and-beyond

https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/kimjang-making-and-sharing-kimchi-in-the-republic-of-korea-00881

This past Thursday, I met up with Rachel, my language partner, to discuss our lesson plan for this semester. I told her that I mainly wanted to focus on improving my reading and writing skills. I felt like I did not do enough reading assignments last semester and mainly focused on just writing diary entries and improving my speaking and listening skills. I also got assessed on vocabulary words, but I felt like this is not the best method for me in the long run because I tend to forget words that I do not use very often in my daily life. When I talked to my mom, I told her about my Korean language learning journey, and she complimented me on how my speaking skills in Korean improved. However, she still hopes for me to improve my writing skills, so she suggested that I should do more reading in Korean. So, instead of trying to improve every skill all at the same time, I am going to mainly focus on reading and writing since they tend to go hand-in-hand. After this conversation, I told Rachel during our session that I want to focus on reading and writing this semester, but I was not sure how I could focus on this. Rachel suggested that I should read Korean webtoons and write a summary about what I have read. I was very happy with her suggestion because I feel like reading webtoons fits my reading level. I was also thankful for her suggestion because webtoons would help me stay excited and interested during my Korean language journey. For writing, I will practice my writing skills by summarizing what happened in the story and my thoughts and reflection on the plot and characters. This will challenge my writing skills more than last semester since I won’t be talking about my daily life anymore. Rachel will also provide me with a couple of webtoon stories for me to read, and I am going to choose my favorite one and stick to it until I finish and continue this process. To challenge myself a little more with reading, I am going to read some newspaper articles in Korean. I will most likely find these articles on the Korean search engine called Naver. Although the news articles may be at a more difficult level than I am used to, I hope this will challenge me to advance my reading skills. Reading the news will not only help me learn the Korean language, but it will also learn about the culture and what is happening around Korea.  Additionally, because of the less strict COVID-19 restrictions on campus, Rachel and I have planned to go out to different Korean restaurants in Richmond. We plan on trying different foods that we may have never eaten before, talk and order in Korean, and speak in Konglish (Korean and English) as we eat. I am excited about this because I have not been able to explore Richmond because of COVID-19 restrictions. Although my main goal is to improve my writing and reading skills, I don’t want to completely ignore improving my listening and speaking skills. When we meet up for our sessions every week, I hope that we can continue talking in Konglish and get more comfortable speaking in only Korean. When Rachel and I watch Korean shows and movies, I will continue to watch them without subtitles to improve my listening skills. I am very excited about this semester and my Korean language learning journey. I feel like I was able to set a more specific goal this semester, which makes me feel more confident and excited to see how my journey goes. 

I am an exchange student from Brazil and I will be here for just one semester. I started learning more about Korean culture at the end of 2017 when I watched my first Korean drama and also became an "Army" (BTS fan). Since then, I have joined in several Writing Contests related to Korean politics, literature, and entertainment. I have already worked as a waitress in a Korean restaurant. All of those things helped me to learn more about Korean culture and increase my interest in the country. My favorite Korean foods are Jaeyook Bokkum and Haemul Pajeon. I have already been in a K-Pop concert in 2019. I am always trying to find new things related to Korea in my own country.  At the moment, I work in a Brazilian-Korean magazine, which focuses on bringing news about K-Pop, K-Drama and K-Sports to its audience. I am majoring in Film Studies and planning on working on a mass cultural series, maybe as a screenwriter.

I have been studying Korean since 2018 when I decided that I would try to get a scholarship to get a Master's degree in South Korea. The most difficult issue about studying Korean in my home country is that I did not know any Koreans with whom I could practice. Also, I had to focus on my studies from university and on my work. Because of that, I did not dedicate too much time to practicing what I had learned. I hope that having Korean as a current class here will help me to focus on strengthening my speaking skills. I will focus on reviewing the main grammar points using the "Grammar in Use" book trilogy. Korean dramas will also be an important tool for my learning. I will watch some series` episodes, write down some words and expressions that I do not understand, and also rewatch the same episode how many times I think it is needed. With my Korean partner Vivian and my Korean friend Yujin, I am going to try to speak casually in Korean about everyday topics.

The most difficult thing in the Korean language for me is the sentence order. Portuguese sentence order is "subject+verb+object", while the Korean one is "subject+object+verb". It can seem easy at first sight, but in a long sentence, it is really difficult to reformulate the order's sentence. The various ways to end a sentence are also something that makes me confused when speaking. We have to use some specific types of words depending on the formality of the speech. So when I am speaking to my friend, I need to say 나 instead of 저 if I am not being formal. I must also use the 아/어요 ending. Because of that, I sometimes say 나 and use the ending 아/어요 and vice-versa. It is really difficult to speak to an older person because I do not know any Korean who is older than 30 years and wants to speak Korean with me. For this reason, I will try to reach out to some of the Korean-American friends I have met here to see if they know a place I can practice speaking formal Korean 높임말.