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The Korean college test is called Soo Neung (수능). This test is basically a test that will determine your future career. Many more factors are considered in U.S. college application process such as SAT, ACT, extracurricular activities, volunteer activities and personal essays, but in Korea, this one raw score will determine which college you are able to go. It is a cumulative test for everything up to high school and it is like a national event in Korea. Testing areas’ local work time is delayed so that minimal traffic is present before the test start. Rush hour period is extended from two to four hours. Bus and metro gaps are shortened so that more rounds are completed. During the English listening section, all airplane takeoffs and landings are prohibited to remain silent. Also, police forces are near the testing areas to help students who are late to arrive on time and only public transportation is allowed near the testing area. After the test, there are lots of retail discounts with the admission ticket used for the test. 

Like SAT and ACT, the test consists of several subjects including math, English, Korean, and history, and If you are late to the test, you are not allowed to take the test and will have to wait another year to take it. It is very common for students to wait multiple years to study for the same test again to receive a higher score, so gap years are common and recommended if the score turned out to be low.

This is my personal favorite Korean soup entree called Sul lung tang. It is an ox bone soup made from ox bones, briskets and other cuts. The soup is usually served without being seasoned and the actual seasoning is done at the table once it is served. You can season it with salt, pepper and chopped spring onions. It is commonly eaten with kimchi and the best type of kimchi with this soup is the radish kimchi. Sul lung tang also has glass or rice noodles within and you generally eat the soup with a rice bowl on the side. Some people eat the noodles first then dump the rice in and others put the rice in and have both rice and noodles in one bite. I personally add kimchi sauce into my soup, but usually that happens as you eat it with kimchi anyways.

I always get this dish when I go to Grandmart. It's a really good dish and I hope everyone can try it when they have a chance. It's also really good when it's cold outside.

In my final meeting with my language partner my partner went over all I have learned through my 4 semesters of SDLC. This being my last semester I realized how far I have come and how much I learned. I enjoyed this last lesson the most because I came to the realization that I am now at a point where I can compare and contrast my Spanish and Portuguese as apposed to just being confused and mixing languages when trying to speak one or the other. 

BTS is a seven-member South Korean boy band formed by Big Hit Entertainment. This is one of the most popular K-pop groups in Korea and around the world. Their second full album, Wings, was ranked at #26 on the Billboard 200, which marked the highest chart ranking for a K-pop album ever. They are also the first K-pop group to perform at the American Music Awards, raising their profile internationally. They've also earned two consecutive awards from Billboard Music Awards, making them the only Korean artist to be nominated for and win the award two years in a row. BTS is a big movement for Korean music culture as it is bringing global attention to K-pop. 

Many countries have their own traditional dress. In Korea, hanbok (한복) is the traditional dress. The term literally means korean clothing, but hanbok today often refers to hanbok of Joseon Dynasty and is worn as semi-formal or formal wear during traditional festivals, celebrations, and even weddings. Modern hanbok does not follow the exact style used back in Joseon Dynasty. Most Korean household will have a pair of hanbok to be used occasionally. If you have a chance to visit Korea, you can try these hanbok in tourist locations like Gyoengbok palace and have a photoshoot yourself! You didn't have a complete Korean culture experience if you didn't try these hanbok on. 

Kimchi is a traditional Korean side dish that is known around the globe. Kimchi is a dish from 7th century and is known to be one of the most healthiest foods in the world. Many people don't know that there are different types of kimchi, but generally they are crunchy, tangy, spicy, and sweet. The classic pickled cabbage kimchi is served as a side dish in breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Many Korean entrees use kimchi as its ingredient as well. Kimchi is so profound in Korean culture that around two thirds of Korean people eat kimchi every day.  

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Turkish Delights are a well-known confection around the world which, as the name would imply, is produced in Turkey. Interestingly enough, the origin of Turkish Delights is debated, with some sources claiming it was originated in the Ottoman Empire, but others claiming it may have been in the Persian Empire. There is no contention, however, that Turkey itself is the heart of the Turkish Delight industry, and it has been the main producer of such delicious confections since the 1700s.

Turkish Delights are almost like gummies, but softer in consistency when bitten into. I really love them! Many times they are flavored with rosewater, which I find to be absolutely delicious. When I would visit Iran as a child, I loved going to the local market and buying Turkish Delights imported in from Turkey. There were even special Iranian spins on Turkish Delights that were sold. I have also seen Turkish Delights being sold at cultural events in Washington D.C. It’s interesting seeing a piece of Turkey and Turkish culture being distributed everywhere all over the world!

Indonesia is the #3 exporter of coffee in the world, and its many islands produce countless varieties of coffee with unique flavor profiles and processing methods. I actually never liked coffee until I began to drink coffee in Bali, and now I'm fully in the throes of addiction! :) :) :)

Coffee in Bali is usually sold as an extremely fine powder, finer ground than even espresso coffee. To prepare Bali coffee, one pours a tablespoon of this powder directly into a mug and fills it up with boiling water. After stirring for a while, one then lets the coffee sit for a while so that the grounds settle to the bottom of the cup, building up into a small layer of sludge. It is usually served without cream, but with a generous helping of sugar. 

Kopi Luwak, also called Civet Coffee, is a type of coffee made from partially-digested coffee berries ingested and defecated by a small mammel called the Asian palm civet. It is one of the most expensive coffees in the world, with prices as high as $700 for a kilogram. This is largely considered a novelty as I have heard it does not actually taste good at all. While I was in Bali I considered trying it, but stories of battery-farmed civets force-fed the berries to produce the coffee made me decide not to. 

In this post, I'll be talking about Seollal, the Korean celebration of New Years.  It takes place on the first day of the lunar calendar and lasts for three days, the day before, of, and after.  Many Koreans travel to their hometown, similar to during Chuseok, to celebrate with their family.  The popular main dish is tteokguk, a soup with sliced rice cakes, beef, and vegetables.  Gift giving is also a common activity, most of them include money or gift cards to start off the new year, and for parents or older family, people give ginseng and health related items to care for them.  There is also a bowing ceremony to honor the elders called sebae. 

The remainder of the day is spent playing traditional games and sharing stories.  The most popular game is yutnori in which involves throwing four sticks with marks on one side and moving a pawn based on the number of sticks with the marks facing up you get, similar to rolling dice.  It is a simple and easy-to-learn game so that every family member can play regardless of age.  The team to get their pawn around the board first wins.  

One of the most interesting parts about Seollal is that everyone turns a year older on the Lunar New Year's Day instead of on their birthday.  This is symbolized by eating the tteokguk soup and is also why someone's Korean age is different from Western ages.  

http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/ATR/SI_EN_3_6.jsp?cid=941952 ;

https://www.thespruceeats.com/korean-new-year-celebrations-2118611

If I were to undertake a linguistic study in Indonesia, I would begin working on conversational Bahasa Indonesia as existent in central Java. After gaining proficiency in Indonesian, I would like to focus on the Javanese poetry that accompanies gamelan music, both the lyrics of the pesindhen (singer) and the gerong (male chorus) as well as Bawa Sekar Ageng, sacred vocal music used to introduce long gendhing pieces. 

My initiative to learn Bahasa Indonesia would allow me to undertake this study with cultural bearers in their native language, allowing them to share cultural understandings in their own words. 

I would incorporate elements from the SDLAP by transcribing the Javanese texts, possibly in IPA, and would like to learn the Javanese alphabet as well. 

Languages, due to their close connection to culture, can go extinct when an ethnic group assimilates to a larger surrounding regional/national culture, when young people do not learn the language and instead learn this more popular language, and when the elder speakers of the language are unable to pass on the tradition and pass away. These processes are unique to specific languages and circumstances; sometimes this process can be more or less "organic", as in there aren't institutional power structures at play that oppress an ethnic group and suppress the use of their language. However, the much more sinister process of language erasure, as occurred to many native American languages in the 1800s and 1900s, can result in a total loss of connections between one and their ancestors. 

Language extinction is deserving of much attention today due to the fact that almost half of the currently existing languages in the world are in danger of extinction. K. David Harrison highlights the necessity of action to prevent this by presenting a hypothetical in which half of the world's great monuments or half of the world's species would go extinct. He believes that progress can be made by first presenting the digestible notion that languages are disappearing rapidly and that these languages hold much cultural value that is lost with their extinction.

Harrison argues that one of the most important dynamics that must be addressed is the idea of specialization in the sciences: when scientifically-inclined people choose a discipline such as chemistry, biology, physics, etc. they tend to sequester themselves to this field and not do much "cross-field" collaboration or discourse. Extended to the world of the "hard sciences" as a whole, Harrison identifies a mindset of 'discovery' that has western imperialist undertones that makes collaboration with anthropologists, linguists, etc. much more difficult because of this perceived lack of self-reflection.

While many languages have already entered the sands of time and will be lost forever, it is not too late to try to save endangered languages by interacting with these cultural bearers and recording their speech and language expression, so that it can potentially be learned, practiced, or simply appreciated by future generations.

Turkish coffee is a very notable and unique cultural food in Turkey that has its own tradition. Turkish coffee is prepared differently than the standard coffee that is drank all over the world – having a unique taste and consistency. During gatherings at someone’s home, Turkish coffee is almost always served, with tea being served otherwise.

Our language partner, Merve Hocam, was nice enough to make us a cup of Turkish coffee in her own cups (fıncan)! Being able to have a nice cup of Turkish coffee felt like a nice way of experiencing what people in Turkey experience every day. I did not know what to expect in terms of taste when I drank this, but it was definitely different from any other coffee I have ever had before.

Spices are very important in Turkish food! Turkish food is plenty flavorful, and in order to create such fantastic flavors, Turkish people incorporate multiple different spices into their foods. One of the biggest areas of spice trade in Istanbul, the capital of Turkey, is the Spice Bazaar. There, several spice shops are set up selling the vast number and types of spices that Turkish cuisine is known for. Turkish delights and other confections are also commonly sold in the Spice Bazaar.

The Spice Bazaar has existed since 1660, and its architecture has largely remained the same even through reconstructions. Because of this, the Spice Bazaar is a unique look at the blend of the old, traditional Turkish world in the modern age, a special concept seen a lot across Istanbul and an important & fascinating part of modern Turkish culture.

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Brief Presentation Summary:

I first looked at the different types of gamelan in Indonesian, namely, Javanese and Balinese gamelan. More specifically, I explored how they differ musically. I then looked at gamelan's role in both cultures. I noted that gamelan is often performed at important events, like religious and ceremonial affairs. I then talked about which gamelan type I prefer. I prefer the Javanese type because it is softer than Balinese gamelan but equally powerful.

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I think that this semester was the semester I learned the most.

I appreciated the activities Seong Hye planned for us, such as vocabulary games, mini quizzes, and other fun assessments of where we were in our learning. I think that that is what I enjoy about SDLC; I enjoy the autonomy of how we are able to tailor what we are able to learn with the combination of a teacher who is able to teach us that. 

This semester was the semester I became most confident about my ability to interact in public with Koreans. I think that I am generally uncomfortable speaking in Korean due to the fear that I will offend someone by not using formal language or vice versa. However, by being able to learn about certain situations where we learned how to specifically use the language and when to differentiate between the two, I became more confident in my ability to thrive in such an environment. 

I think that I am looking forward to what I will be learning next semester. I think that I will be tailoring my language plan to help me learn the societal and language expectations for a variety of situations. I am happy that this semester I got to learn how to address cashiers, waiters, my grandparents, my parents, my siblings, and strangers.

I think that I improved in every area of Korean this semester. I improved in my ability to speak, and maneuver in social situations. I learned how to differentiate when to use formal and informal, a topic that I struggled with.

I improved in listening and understanding Korean with the various listening activities we did with our classmates. By being able to hear a variety of Korean level speakers, I believe it was helpful to learn and build upon those interactions.

Lastly, I would say that the only area where I don't see as many improvements is in writing. I think that while I have improved in my ability to form sentences more proficiently, I still am not very good at spelling. Therefore, that will be something I will ask my teacher to focus on for next semester. I think that it is difficult for me to differentiate when a certain way of speaking is just in its enunciation or if it applies to the spelling as well. 

Overall, I am happy with my progress this semester. I am proud emotionally the place I have come with my bicultural identity, and learning Korean acts as a solidifying factor for me in my Korean identity. 

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In my cultural project, I discuss my experiences living with a bicultural identity. I first share about the basics and origins of biculturalism, and what the formal definition is. I explained how biculturalism often leads to the formation of new cultures. I also share about the pros and cons of being someone with a bicultural identity, and I share my experiences with these pros and cons in depth.

I then go onto discuss my experiences specifically, highlighting specific moments where I felt like my worlds were clashing. However, to end on a good note, I share some tips I found online that I thought were beneficial and healthy for individuals who struggle with multicultural identities. I think that while it is a challenge and struggle to be both Korean and American, taking Korean at UR has greatly benefited me to develop this bicultural identity by allowing me to study in depth about Korean culture and learning my heritage language. 

It is empowering to see Koreans/ Korean-Americans who are proud of their identities, and I list a few in my slides, such as Chloe Kim and John Cho. Seeing them embrace their bicultural identities and being recognized for who they are also empowers me. 

I am proud to be Korean-American, and I am trying my best to be understanding and patient with myself when I experience internal clashes.