March 18, 2025
Bows and Bingsu
A lot has happened since winter ended, and these past few months have been an absolute blast. Looking back to January, I was talking about how I switched families. Moving to a new host family has been a great way to see how much my Korean has improved. I remember when I first arrived in Korea with my first host family, everything felt a bit overwhelming. The questions they asked me were all basic intro stuff—what you can eat, what do you like to do, and so on. I hadn’t learned yet and spoke so much faster than I was used to. Google Translate was basically my lifeline, and I had to ask people to slow down after almost every sentence. Now, with my new family, it’s a whole different story. I’m not fazed by the speed anymore, and my answers flow easily. I still pick up a new word here and there, but I just make a note of it and learn it later. My Korean has grown so much that getting comfortable with my family is easier as well.
January was school break, so I spent a lot of time hanging out with my siblings. One of the first things I did was go to the library with my sister, Doyeon. She introduced me to some of her friends, and we did makeup and had fun chatting. Another day, we went out for a meal at Yummy Maratang, a Chinese dish that’s really popular with Korean teens. It’s like a stew, and you can choose what goes in it. My sister also gave me some pins for my rotary jacket (she was an exchange student too). On another day, my friend from school came over with his mom, and it turned out our families are really close! We went bowling and ate Korean Fried Chicken—seriously, it’s the best. We also did some classic sibling bonding activities like the tortilla slap challenge, playing old video games, or just chilling in front of the TV, watching whatever our parents put on. One day, when my brother, Donguk, had to go to his private study, my parents, my sister, and I went to the Ecorium, a zoo that’s divided by different biomes. It had all sorts of unique plants and animals. Afterward, we had gelato, played the lottery, and ate barbecue—total win.
At first, it was just me and my immediate host family, but soon I met my uncles, aunt, and cousins, and they were all super welcoming. My aunt on my mom's side lives closest, so we spent some weekends hanging out with her and her sons. One of the first things they took me to was a bath-house. These places are huge, with showers, hot tubs, and wellness services. At first, I was a little uncomfortable with the idea (showering in public, you know?), but they told me it’s totally normal for foreigners to feel that way. Once I got over the initial awkwardness, it was actually a really fun experience. The hot tub was super relaxing. Afterward, we put on the bath-house clothes and hung out in the communal area, where there’s a heated floor, saunas, and plenty of snacks. My aunt, my sister, and I played card games and went in and out of the saunas, and it was a blast.
That all happened in the early weeks of January. Towards the end of the month, we celebrated Seollal, the Lunar New Year. The first place we visited was my host dad’s parents’ house, where they cooked an amazing meal. We sat around the table, said a prayer, and ate together. After the meal, my siblings and I performed a bowing ritual for our parents and grandparents to show respect, and they gave us money for the new year. My dad’s siblings couldn’t make it due to bad weather, but when we saw them later, we did the ritual again.
The next day, I went to my maternal grandmother’s house. There, I met my aunt’s family and my uncle’s family. We all went to my aunt’s apartment for another bowing ritual. This time, my brother came up with a creative way to earn a little extra pocket money: a 15-second TikTok dance! Somehow, it worked, and we got more money. After that, we ordered pizza and fried chicken (obviously), went bowling, and hit up a PC room to play video games. Spending time with them felt so familiar and reminded me a lot of my cousins back home.
I also went on a trip to Yeosu with my host family’s church. We spent two days and one night there, touring the city and visiting places with Christian history and landmarks. We even ended the first day with a cruise around the city, complete with a fireworks show. Back at the hotel, the other church kids and I shared a chicken and coke meal, and later we all pitched in for some Bingsu (shaved ice dessert). We stayed up late watching ghost stories on YouTube before finally falling asleep. The next day, we rode the bike rails, which was so much fun.
That was my last big trip so far. Other than that, I’ve gone to a few movies, using some coupons my school gave me. Highly recommend Hitman: Agent Jun (1 and 2). They’re both hilarious, and that’s saying a lot since I watched them without subtitles!
Winter break ended and school started again. I have a new classroom, teachers, schedule, and classmates. This year, I was able to choose whether to focus on math and science related classes, or humanities and writing focused. I chose humanities because it was more relevant to my exchange and future career. And I am glad I did because the classes are a lot more interesting than last year. My favorite classes are: Society and Culture, Exploring social Problems, Ethics and Ideology, and Travel geography class. It is interesting to see the world through an eastern perspective. This year I’ve started to take notes that combine Korean and English. Reading the textbooks has drastically expanded my vocabulary. However, ethics and beliefs isn’t a topic of everyday conversation, so every afternoon me and my host mom have a long conversation during dinner time. It usually is just random topics but the longer the conversation the more I learn.
Overall, I am grateful to have the experiences I had in the winter, and I can't wait to see what the spring will bring. Thanks for reading! See you next time.