Sometimes life can seem like a chapter book. You look back and can see definitive moments that can be divided into situations that shaped and molded you to this point: the most current entry in the story. The chapter of my time in Korea as a student has come to a close, but the new chapter in this story begins.
I haven't posted until now because I kept my return home a secret. I told my family I would return January 7th only to surprise them Christmas Eve. I was able to arrange to take my finals early so that I could spend Christmas with my family and visit my relatives. I have returned from all those side journeys to reunite with family, so I can put up this final post.
My last week in Korea was overwhelming: between final exams and goodbyes, it was an emotional roller coaster. I finished exams on Thursday the 22nd, which was also my Birthday. It was hard to believe that I would be leaving SCH after three semesters. It was emotional to say goodbye to my teachers and office staff who I grew very close to over the course of 16 months. It was also difficult to say goodbye to my friends, both those I would leave behind in Korea and those that would be returning to their home countries. I have come to live by the philosophy of never saying "goodbye" but only "see you later." I have confidence that I will see my friends again, the question is where in the world will we meet? I then finished packing and took a bus to Seoul to celebrate with my Korean family. We had a joint birthday for me and Jinyoung, my Korean cousin who is also a Christmas baby. We each marked a significant milestone with her turning 12 and I turning 21. Pretty cool reverse age concept! We had a lovely dinner and cake followed by a see you later to Uncle Josh, Imo, Jinyoung, and Eujin.
The next day was my last full day in Korea. I went to Insadong with Kyunghye to finish my Christmas shopping and to walk the streets of markets that have drawn shoppers for hundreds of years in Seoul. After we returned home, I spent time with the Byeon family, first eating piles of Samgyeopsal and then playing games until the early hours of the 24th.
December 24th was filled with last minute packing followed by a series of Mission Risk games with Kyunghye and Seungyoung. My flight was at 8pm, so we departed for the airport around 4pm. It was very strange after 16 months of living in Korea to leave, not knowing when and under what situation I would return. Driving out of Seoul, one of the largest cities in the world, a bustling metropolis that constantly awes and fascinates me, was difficult. More difficult was coming to terms with the fact that I was leaving Korea and the Byeons.
Once we arrived at the airport, I checked in and said my final see you laters. 20 hours later, I walked into my home in St Louis, Missouri. I believe the word shocked would be an understatement to the reaction of my family!
So, what's next? Where do I go from here? Well, I will continue my studies in the USA as I begin the final semesters of my college education. I'm not sure where this next chapter will lead, but I'm confident it will be as fascinating as the last.
I feel so blessed to have been given the opportunity to have this experience. In my 16 months abroad, I studied all about Korea: language, history, modern business, and politics. I have also met incredible people from around the world, lived with Korean students and a Korean family. I have traveled to five new countries, not including the border between the two Korea's, one of the most fascinating moments of my time here. I interned with a Korean company, taught English, the list goes on. I will cherish every moment of my experience abroad as an open eyed, curious student. I am excited to see where this next chapter leads!
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Monday, December 19, 2011
The Death of Kim Jong Il
This afternoon while looking at the news online, I received shocking news: Kim Jong Il has died. He died Saturday, December 17 at the age of 69.
North Korea announced the death of the Dear Leader on the North Korean national news this afternoon. According to the news report, he had died of physical and mental over-work on a train. Most likely, it was the result of his severe stroke that he suffered from in 2008. The reporter was wearing a black Hanbok (which surprised me because traditional Korean mourning clothes are white) announced the news in an emotional address. His funeral will be next week, with this week being a time of mourning for the people.
The news came as a shock to the South. While many Koreans believed that his health was deteriorating quickly, he has been quite active, making a visit to Russia last summer for the first time in five years and a trip to China as well. He didn't look too well on the video of the Mass Games, limping up to the podium, but he was still very active in the North's politics.
The president of South Korea has set a high security alert today as we wait to see how the North reacts to the news. Many of my Korean friends were shocked by the news and seem more concerned about this than the attack on Yeonpyeong last year. I think the South understood Jong Il's motivations and reasoning for actions, so while he was hostile, they knew how to deal with him. It will be awhile until the South understands Jong Un, especially considering the fact that we didn't know anything about him two years ago.
The big question today is: What happens next for the two Koreas? With Jong Il dead, how will his son rule? I think the next few years will be very defining for North/South relations.
Kim Jong Un is not like his father. He does not appear as assertive and he is very young. Unlike his father, who slowly gained power and respect in the North's politics over the course of 10 years, Jong Un has gained ranking and influence in a very short span of time. Jong Il became the dictator around the age of 50, while his son is only about 28. As a result, it appears to most South Koreans that the people and leaders of North Korea do not respect Jong Un with the same devotion as his father. A fear of South Koreans is that the leaders of the North may not stand behind their new leader, resulting in chaos.
In addition, it appears that the people of the North are tiring of their government, especially with the recent famine this past summer. If the people of North Korea attempt to dispose of their government, I do not think Jong Un has enough dominance to contest it if he does not have his fathers advisers behind him. There could be a lot of unrest in the North if there is not unity of the people and advisers behind their new leader.
I fear that Jong Un may try to legitimize his place as leader by attacking the South at the start of next year. Of course this is just my first reactions and thoughts, so I am not making any predictions. It may be the case considering the Yeonpyeong attack seemed to be based solely on trying to unite the North when the devotion was waning.
I also worry that Jong Un may lose his grasp on power, and we will be faced with a more brutal communist leader much like the succession we saw with Lenin and Stalin in Russia. At least now we have known about Jong Un for a year, if we are faced with a new dictator, we will have to try to learn about him before we discover why he came to power by actions on his part.
I also believe that we are witnessing the beginning of the end for North Korea. I believe that the North will fall under Jong Un or his successor by brutal means. I think we will see this in the next ten years. The last time there was a pass of power, the North was in much better shape than they are now. Jong Un is not as good of a leader as his father, and to see how quickly and drastically the North deteriorated under his father is an indication of how bad things could get for the North. I pray that the South continues to earnestly protect themselves when the North attacks out of desperation and plan for unification, because I think it will happen very soon.
North Korea announced the death of the Dear Leader on the North Korean national news this afternoon. According to the news report, he had died of physical and mental over-work on a train. Most likely, it was the result of his severe stroke that he suffered from in 2008. The reporter was wearing a black Hanbok (which surprised me because traditional Korean mourning clothes are white) announced the news in an emotional address. His funeral will be next week, with this week being a time of mourning for the people.
The news came as a shock to the South. While many Koreans believed that his health was deteriorating quickly, he has been quite active, making a visit to Russia last summer for the first time in five years and a trip to China as well. He didn't look too well on the video of the Mass Games, limping up to the podium, but he was still very active in the North's politics.
The president of South Korea has set a high security alert today as we wait to see how the North reacts to the news. Many of my Korean friends were shocked by the news and seem more concerned about this than the attack on Yeonpyeong last year. I think the South understood Jong Il's motivations and reasoning for actions, so while he was hostile, they knew how to deal with him. It will be awhile until the South understands Jong Un, especially considering the fact that we didn't know anything about him two years ago.
The big question today is: What happens next for the two Koreas? With Jong Il dead, how will his son rule? I think the next few years will be very defining for North/South relations.
Kim Jong Un is not like his father. He does not appear as assertive and he is very young. Unlike his father, who slowly gained power and respect in the North's politics over the course of 10 years, Jong Un has gained ranking and influence in a very short span of time. Jong Il became the dictator around the age of 50, while his son is only about 28. As a result, it appears to most South Koreans that the people and leaders of North Korea do not respect Jong Un with the same devotion as his father. A fear of South Koreans is that the leaders of the North may not stand behind their new leader, resulting in chaos.
In addition, it appears that the people of the North are tiring of their government, especially with the recent famine this past summer. If the people of North Korea attempt to dispose of their government, I do not think Jong Un has enough dominance to contest it if he does not have his fathers advisers behind him. There could be a lot of unrest in the North if there is not unity of the people and advisers behind their new leader.
I fear that Jong Un may try to legitimize his place as leader by attacking the South at the start of next year. Of course this is just my first reactions and thoughts, so I am not making any predictions. It may be the case considering the Yeonpyeong attack seemed to be based solely on trying to unite the North when the devotion was waning.
I also worry that Jong Un may lose his grasp on power, and we will be faced with a more brutal communist leader much like the succession we saw with Lenin and Stalin in Russia. At least now we have known about Jong Un for a year, if we are faced with a new dictator, we will have to try to learn about him before we discover why he came to power by actions on his part.
I also believe that we are witnessing the beginning of the end for North Korea. I believe that the North will fall under Jong Un or his successor by brutal means. I think we will see this in the next ten years. The last time there was a pass of power, the North was in much better shape than they are now. Jong Un is not as good of a leader as his father, and to see how quickly and drastically the North deteriorated under his father is an indication of how bad things could get for the North. I pray that the South continues to earnestly protect themselves when the North attacks out of desperation and plan for unification, because I think it will happen very soon.
Friday, December 16, 2011
End of EV Regular Classes
This week marked several "lasts" for me here in Korea. I finished exchanges with my Korean exchange partners, after three semesters of meeting with over 50 different Korean students, I will not have another exchange.
On Wednesday, we had the closing ceremony for the English Program. We had a dinner with both the Korean and Internationals that live in GV. It was bittersweet to have one last dinner with everyone in the program. During the dinner, the program director gave out the end of term awards for the EV program, which includes: Outstanding International, Outstanding Korean, Best Suite, and Best Exchanges. Surprisingly, I was given the Outstanding International award, which came as a surprise to me! I was given a certificate as well as a giftcard to Mr Pizza (the best pizza chain in Korea, oh yeah!)
Today was the last day of regular classes in the EV program. This does not include my Korean class in the Chinese program. Nevertheless, this marks the beginning of the end for me as the majority of my classes come to a close. In my Korean speaking class, my teacher brought us a cake to mark the end of our class, celebrate December birthdays (me and Maiko), and wish us well as we leave SCH. My speaking teacher is one of the sweetest teachers I have had, she always tried to find new ways for us to apply the Korean we have thus far in different situations. From writing a weekly journal to her in Korean to watching Korean movies in class, she found new ways for us to learn more Korean.
In my writing class, we wrote memory notes to our classmates. It really hit me at this point that this semester is ending very fast. It was hard to write these goodbyes to my classmates, many who I have been classmates with since last semester.
After classes, we had a Secret Santa exchange with the other Internationals. We ordered food and played Christmas music, followed by a gift exchange. While this exchange was going on, we exchanged memory books for one another to sign. This made the whole "goodbye" concept to a new light. Five of the international students took their finals today and left for the States because of family emergencies. Like past semesters, it was very hard to begin these goodbyes, knowing that they will continue from here on out for several weeks. I feel like these goodbyes are more difficult this semester because I know that I will be saying more goodbyes as I prepare to leave Korea.
This coming week will be filled with studying, so I will be pretty quiet here on this blog. I hope that I can post something once I finish my exams as we approach my Birthday week as well as Christmas.
On Wednesday, we had the closing ceremony for the English Program. We had a dinner with both the Korean and Internationals that live in GV. It was bittersweet to have one last dinner with everyone in the program. During the dinner, the program director gave out the end of term awards for the EV program, which includes: Outstanding International, Outstanding Korean, Best Suite, and Best Exchanges. Surprisingly, I was given the Outstanding International award, which came as a surprise to me! I was given a certificate as well as a giftcard to Mr Pizza (the best pizza chain in Korea, oh yeah!)
Today was the last day of regular classes in the EV program. This does not include my Korean class in the Chinese program. Nevertheless, this marks the beginning of the end for me as the majority of my classes come to a close. In my Korean speaking class, my teacher brought us a cake to mark the end of our class, celebrate December birthdays (me and Maiko), and wish us well as we leave SCH. My speaking teacher is one of the sweetest teachers I have had, she always tried to find new ways for us to apply the Korean we have thus far in different situations. From writing a weekly journal to her in Korean to watching Korean movies in class, she found new ways for us to learn more Korean.
In my writing class, we wrote memory notes to our classmates. It really hit me at this point that this semester is ending very fast. It was hard to write these goodbyes to my classmates, many who I have been classmates with since last semester.
After classes, we had a Secret Santa exchange with the other Internationals. We ordered food and played Christmas music, followed by a gift exchange. While this exchange was going on, we exchanged memory books for one another to sign. This made the whole "goodbye" concept to a new light. Five of the international students took their finals today and left for the States because of family emergencies. Like past semesters, it was very hard to begin these goodbyes, knowing that they will continue from here on out for several weeks. I feel like these goodbyes are more difficult this semester because I know that I will be saying more goodbyes as I prepare to leave Korea.
This coming week will be filled with studying, so I will be pretty quiet here on this blog. I hope that I can post something once I finish my exams as we approach my Birthday week as well as Christmas.
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