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Attending the Korean Student Association (KSA) general meeting was an enriching and enjoyable experience. The event centered around people pairing up with their "bigs" or "littles," a mentorship tradition, to build gingerbread houses. This activity fostered a sense of community and creativity among attendees. As I engaged in building the gingerbread house, I learned about the importance of harmony and teamwork in Korean culture. The intricacy of the gingerbread house design reflected the attention to detail prevalent in Korean art and craftsmanship. Throughout the event, there was an atmosphere of joviality and warmth, characteristic of Korean hospitality. We also discussed various Korean traditions and customs, enhancing my understanding of the culture. The event was a perfect blend of cultural exchange and fun. Everyone was eager to share their experiences and knowledge about Korea. Making the gingerbread house became a metaphor for building cultural bridges. The laughter and conversations created a memorable and lively atmosphere. I was impressed by the KSA's effort to create an inclusive and educational environment. The event concluded with a showcase of the gingerbread houses, highlighting everyone's unique artistic expression. Overall, the KSA event was not only a fun activity but also a valuable cultural learning experience. It left me with a deeper appreciation for Korean culture and the joy of shared experiences.

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For my first culture pass event, I attended Professor Pil Ho Kim's lecture "K-Pop: A Century in the Making". It was a really fascinating lecture, tracing back the history of K-Pop and the various influences that affected it's rise. As an example, the influence of traditional Korean music on current day K-Pop could be seen through performances such as BTS's Arirang Medley in 2016. The earliest traces of K-Pop came from the Jazz age in colonial Korea, coming from the U.S. and American Pop in the 1930s. Primarily through the presence of the American military in Korea, western pop music took hold and evolved throughout colonial and post colonial Korea. An example of the first K-Pop girl group were the Kim sisters, promoted in the Ed Sullivan show. It was super intriguing to learn about the over 100 years of development that K-Pop went through, being affected by both Japanese and American influences, culminating into a transnational hybrid music culture. As someone who's been interested in international relations, it was really refreshing to see an analysis of the interaction between Korean, American, and Japanese culture in a way that I've never thought of before. Overall, I really enjoyed the lecture and I'm interested in learning more about Korean history and the external and transnational cultural influences that have affected Korean culture.

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For my first culture pass event, I attended a reading of Kim Junghyuk's "City equals a skateboard". I attended the event with Jayden and we listened to the author's passage. I found it interesting that the event had a large number of students who translated this passage and found that the translation was quite interesting. There were quite a large number of people who attended and at the event, korean snacks like choco pie were given. During the reading, you were able to see even humor being translated from Korean to English. This was also the first time I read/listened to a Korean passage so it was a new experience. When he was reading, I could understand only a handful of sentences but the translation from the students came in handy. I also learned that the students of LK 460 created the word "scraffiti". This word is a mixture of scribble and graffiti. They created this word because they could not directly translate the word "naksa". I do plan on reading more Korean passages both for the story and to improve my korean. I remember during the Q&A, the author as a joke said that after hearing the audiences reactions, he was content with the work he created. Overall I thought that this was a unique experience. Reading a passage that is not in English is not something I would've thought to do. I hope to attend more events in the future because I really enjoyed this one.

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For my second culture pass event, I attended the K-wave presentation. I thought it would be interesting to learn about the impact that Korea had over the past years. The speaker explained the influence of Korean culture throughout Asia. He specifically focused on Korea's influence on Thai media where the Pan-Asian beauty ideal was emphasized due to Korean media. He explained how the beauty standards changed due to the large popularity in Korean dramas and celebrities. Not only that, but he also talked about the media’s influence on Asia’s conservative society. He referenced the famous drama “Coffee House” and how that was one step to introducing homosexuality in the media since it was restricted before. I thought it was really interesting to hear about the impact of the media as well as celebrities because the genre is often seen as entertainment rather than something that can change societal norms. I also didn’t realize how large of an influence Korea has in Asia. I was aware of the popularity of Korean beauty and K-pop but did not know how big it was. I realized that Korea made a huge advancement in their position both in Asia and globally over the years from being known to having one of the most influential positions. I think it’s interesting to see different perspectives on Korea whether it’s positive or negative because it shows how different cultures affect your way of thinking. For example, the speaker talked about the beauty standards in Asia and how there are whitening products advertised to women to feel beautiful. Although this ideal was from the past, it is still believed today and supported. But I believe that the growth of Asian influence worldwide helped change the conservative views on this issue and made it less prevalent than before.

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For my first culture pass event, I attended the Chuseok festival and Korean major launching party. There were a variety of games from 딱지 to tuho. There was also a variety of snacks like rice cake and plum tea. Before the event, I knew of some games like ttakji before but forgot about them because it isn’t commonly mentioned or played anymore. But I was surprised to see how many people from different cultures were playing the games and learning about them. I thought that it was really interesting that they were all playing the games even if they were not aware of the origin of the game and why it’s played. Since our family lives in America, we don’t celebrate Chuseok as much as people in Korea so I forgot a lot of the customs and foods of the holiday. I think it was a good opportunity to be reminded of the holiday. Also, I realized how each culture has their specific holidays that are unique but also connected in some way such as Chuseok and Thanksgiving. Although they are different holidays and different countries, their essential idea and purpose is similar, which is to show gratitude and be together. I learned that many of these customs focus on the idea of gathering with your family and friends to celebrate. It essentially highlights doing activities together whether it’s cooking or playing games. I was aware that Chuseok is a way to show gratitude to your ancestors but I think in the present, it’s celebrated to show appreciation to your family and spend time together. I also think it would be fun to have similar events where instead of games, there can be traditional food making events. Since every traditional holiday has a certain meal that is made, it would be interesting to learn the origin of it and why it is important for that holiday.

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For my second culture pass event, I went to the Chuseok festival. Chuseok is something that my family used to celebrate every year. I think it was more of an excuse to just get a bunch of food and eat but I was familiar with most of the foods and the activities that were present at this festival. There were alot more people than I expected there to be at the festival. I liked how diverse the group of people present was but had the same care and appreciation for Korean culture. I really enjoyed the snacks and the food that was present at this festival. I went with one of my roommates who is American. She enjoys Korean food and wanted to learn more about Korean culture. At the festival, we both ate took and sikye. The tteok tasted really good and it was nice to eat something that I had not had in so long but loved. I've never really liked sikye and by trying it again I was reminded how much I did not enjoy its taste. There were also many Korean actives. I really enjoyed gong and jegichagi. These were things that my parents taught me how to play at a young age so it was nice to be able to do it again. I also really enjoyed teaching my friend how to play and then me being much better than her at it. In all I really enjoyed this event. I found it refreshing and comforting to be participate in activities that I grew up with in a much different environment.

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For my first culture pass, over Thanksgiving I went to The National Museum of Asian Art in Washington D.C. We come almost every Thanksgiving because all the museums are open and there are not alot of people. This was my second time going to this museum. This museum was split into different time periods and different countries. In the area of Korean art, the art was displayed in different time periods. I thought it was really interesting because in each time period there were very prominent similarities. I could tell what was important during that time- for example war, religion, power, and the differences in the materials and patterns that were used. This photo is of a sculpture made my Nam June Paik. This name is one that I am familiar with because of my interest in abstract art. I have been his pieces in many different museums including the MOMA in NYC and Nam June Paik Center in Yongin-si. He is known as a pioneer in performance and technology based art. He was one the first artist to show abstract forms on a television. Many people may be unfamiliar with his name but have seem his arts, including his most distinctive ones with use of stacking multiple televisions. This sculpture was called "Ugly Buddha and Ugly Television". The Buddha is often is display in many of his pieces. He was a longline practicing Buddhist and he created art to question the role of self within age that intersected spirituality with technology. Overall, I enjoyed my time at this museum and learning more about asian art, specifically of artists I like. I would like to find and check out some more of his work because I like the abstract and unique nature of it.

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For my second Culture Pass Event, I joined Memento, a photography club consisting of korean international students who are passionate about photography. Originally joining the club in order to make more friends in the international community, I quickly had to pick up on all the social norms that Koreans upheld. For the first meeting, 18 out of the 20 members of Memento, led by Kim Minhoon (QST 24’) met at Boston Common, where we all introduced ourselves in Korean and talked a little bit about our journey with photography. I used the content learned from the first unit of LK116 to talk about majors and school with the other members of the group. Then we split into teams of 4 or 5 and walk around downtown, making our way to chinatown and the harbor in front of the tea party museum. During this walk I got to talk with the members and the president of the club and learned about their lives in Korea. I also learned more useful mannerisms, slang, and ways to talk and text that is trending in Korea these days. After the photography walk, we met up back at the president's house for hweshik, a get together dinner with korean food like soondubu jjigae and samgyupsal.

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For my first Culture pass event, I went to go see the readings of excerpts from author Kim JungHyuk’s, C1 + y = :[8]: (city equals a skateboard). It was really interesting to see the perspective of how the author views the skateboard as the perfect technological achievement; simple yet useful in so many different ways. The students of LK460 assisted in the retelling of the story, as they had jointly worked on translating not only the plot but conveying the emotions that pushed the author’s original intent. With nearly 20 students in the course, each student had the task of translating a short passage from the excerpt which they read aloud. Then Kim JungHyuk would read the translated passage in its original korean form. I will not lie there was a bit in the middle where they started talking about monkeys and the jungle which I didn’t really see the connection with the rest of the story about the skateboard. But the story of how trying to fit in with the kids in the city as a middle aged man in a skateboard felt both sad as a reflection of how society divides the younger generation and older with the social norms set in place but also the environment of learning in Korea. Also the event had hot apple cider and matcha chocopies which were a godsend on a cold winter night like that.

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For my second culture pass event I went to the Korean section in the Museum of Fine Arts. I was excited to go since I had never gotten to before. There was an Arts of Asia section of the museum and in the corner, there was a room that had showcases of traditional Korean arts. I saw there were a lot of sculptures of vases. There was a portrait of Priest Samyeongdang from the Joseon Dynasty. There were also vases towards the entrance of the section of more contemporary works. However, I saw that some of the vases were mixed with the traditional Korean art style. There was a large showcased vase made by the artist Yeesookyung in 2011. In its description, it said the vase was “meant to hold nothing” and I thought that was interesting. I liked how the room presented the different time periods of art and transitioned the works from old dynasties to modern art on both sides. I was surprised that there was an entire section dedicated to Korean art, since many other art museums do not have as much. I saw that there were a lot of artworks from the Joseon and Goryeo dynasties. I learned more about the type of art that was made during these periods. Based on the amount of vases, I assume that this type of work was common back then. I am glad I was able to view this exhibit and it made me have a better understanding of the art in Korean culture.

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For my first culture pass event, I went to CAS to go visit the Chuseok Festival. I was surprised to see that there were many different games going on in the room. I tried the sikhye drink and tteok provided by the Korean Department. I liked the sikhye a lot because it reminded me of the times I would drink it at Korean saunas. We were told that if we completed each task we would receive a prize. I went to this event with my friend and we started to go to each section. First, we make a ddakji card out of paper. Winning the gonggi took me a while because it was hard. However, my friend got it done on her first try. Then, we played a round of jegichagi. I think that this game was the hardest out of all. Afterwards, we wrote our names in Korean on a bookmark. The last section was a game where we threw a bow inside a cup. I was able to get it done on my third try. At the end I got a Kakao keychain as a reward. Overall, I felt like I was able to learn more about the fun traditions of Chuseok!

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Chelseigh Bond

For my second culture pass event, I visited the Korean art section of the Museum of Fine Arts. The gallery was predominantly made of celadon moon jars and vases, a traditional Korean art form born from the Goryeo period. Here you can see a sculpture made from an assemblage of celadon jars by the artist Yee Sookyung, titled "Translates Vase". The sculpture is composed of discarded shards of pottery, link together by a gold border. This use of gold bordering is used as a form of pottery repair (originating from Japan). While this work of art stood out to me in particular, many of the other works were equally as beautiful, typically dating back to the Goryeo or Joseon periods. Other artwork featured in the gallery included paintings, sculptures, and various smaller works. It was interesting but unsurprising to see religion incorporated into many of the works. In the art, you can see allusions to Buddhist and Confucianism, religions popular during the time of the artist. They were all incredibly beautiful, and I highly recommend this section to anyone interested in Korean art or beautiful pottery work.

I thoroughly enjoyed visiting this section of the MFA as it was not only my first time there, but also one of the few times I've had to chance to truly appreciate traditional Korean art. Interestingly, it was difficult navigating our way to this section wedged past the Chinese art. The entirety of the collection was contained in one small, rectangular room as well, adding to the hidden-away nature of the gallery. While I wish I could have seen from the Korean gallery, I was happy to see Korean art represented in the MFA. I will likely be returning to this gallery to hopefully spend more time studying the art!

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For my second culture pass event, I went to the Museum of Fine Arts and looked at the display of Korean Art. IOne memorable part was learning about the Joseon Period. I learned that it's commonly referred to as the Yi period as well, and that during this time period, there were three classes: the elite yangban, the commoners, and the slaves/base people. I saw what a sarangbang and a chaekgado looked like from this period. A chaekgado is a type of Koeran folk painting and a sarangbang referred to a gentleman's study. I also saw displays of art by Korean artists, and learned about how contemporary art in Korea has been influenced by Western culture. I saw a Buddhist temple bell from the Goryeo dynasty which was used to summon monks to service in temples. I was surprised by how many Korean displays there were at the MFA, and it was interesting to read the different descriptions to learn more about Korean culture, which I'm not very familiar with. This was my first time visiting MFA and I would like to go back again and look at other displays from different countries. I think this experience was good for me as I got to connect with my roots and learn and see pieces of Korean history.

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I attended the event about K-Pop, presented by Professor Pil Ho Kim for my first culture pass event. I've listened to some K-pop but have never really thought about its cultural effects on a bigger scale. I learned about the history of pop music in Korea, starting from Kim Hae Song and Lee Na Young and AFKN. He explained how Korean pop evolved when Korea was under Japanese colonial rule, and how Korean pop was a form of entertainment for American troops as well. He connected this history to how it embraces cultural nationalism and BTS today. He explained how BTS is a signature K-pop group today and connected it to its similarities to the beginning of Korean pop. He also played snippets of the first recordings of K-pop, sang by Kim Hae Song and Lee Na Young. This event made me think about how Korean pop music is a reflection of Korean culture and how its emerging popularity represents Korea as a nation.

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I attended the reading of C1+y=:[8]; (The city is a skateboard) by Kim Junhyuk. Kim Junghyuk was accompanied by LK 460 students who translated parts of his book into English and read them shortly after Kim Junghyuk read it in Korean. Each LK 460 student read a certain part of the book that they translated into English and then Kim Junghyuk would read it in Korean and this cycled on until the end of the event where there was a Q&A. I had class that conflicted with the first half of the reading so when I came in for the second part, I was a little confused. Why was this middle-aged Korean man saying the word skateboard so much? The whole reading was centered around the skateboard and Kim Junghyuk’s experience with riding his own skateboard. I am pretty sure there was a lot of symbolism involved but I couldn’t put it together it as I missed half of the reading. The main parts I do remember though, is his exasperation with the kids he was learning to skateboard with and how they wouldn’t help him or interact with him. Although this is frustrating, I would expect nothing less from teenagers who are interested in skateboarding as I’m sure interacting with a random middle-aged man is not near the top of their priorities. He also talked about how during Chuseok, the city was empty, and he finally felt a little comfortable riding around in public with his skateboard. I found this really relatable because I too feel extremely self-conscious when I am learning new things. He then talked about how he followed a graffiti sign to a strange skatepark looking place where he saw one of the teenagers who he was learning skateboarding with sitting alone. He had a nice chat with her before leaving and stating that the park was demolished very soon after. An observation he made while following these directions was that he was going through random alleyways and found that he was traveling much quicker than if he were to use the main roads. This all made me think about the title of the book: The city is a skateboard, and how this might depict that. Could it be that he was relating the city’s characteristics to skateboarding culture where you might take paths that others would not and judge you for, but you obtain different advantages. Could it be about how the city and skateboarding show a disconnect between people of different generations? Where most people use the main roads, the skateboarders use these alleyways and although they use different paths, they all can end up at the same direction, showing how skateboarding and the city can connect all different kinds of people. I think I need to explore this book a little more to truly understand the message he is trying to give through his analogy.

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I went to the Chuseok festival event for my first culture pass event. I have never really celebrated Chuseok so I was really excited and curious as to how the event would unfold. When I got there, a lot of the food was already gone, but I got to try some tteok. The tteok was good but certainly not my favorite. It was also surprising to me to see a lot of non-Korean students present. I was aware that there would be students from other Korean classes other than ours but I did not expect the turnout to be so good. I then made my rounds to the various stations in the event room. The first one I went to was the ddakji folding station which was very packed. This was very familiar as I have folded a lot of ddakji before to play with my family. The same is true with ggongi, with my mom teaching me when I was young. Ggeongi used to make me so frustrated because I just simply couldn’t get how to coordinate grabbing and then catching the pieces but over time, I became more skilled. Jegichagi was also something that I was comfortable with as I have played it before with my family and also because I used to play soccer. Foot coordination is something that I believe is hard to develop so I believe playing soccer makes playing jegichagi a lot easier. All of these games and activities made me feel nostalgic of my childhood and spending time with my family. I saw the last activity, tuho, but did not try it as I had to go to a meeting and the line to play it was a bit long. I am a little disappointed though because I missed out on the Kakao friends key chain that I could have gotten if I did all 4 activities.

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For my second culture pass event I visited the Museum of Fine Arts and explored the Korean art section. Something I noticed immediately was that the Korean art on display there tended to be made up of more physical items such as pots and sculptures rather than visual pieces such as paintings. The Korean art pieces were made over a range of 2,000 years. Much of Korea's artistic traditions tended to change throughout history to reflect the influences of the social and political beliefs and values in a given time period. This made me wonder what types of art forms are most popular in Korea today. By reading the descriptions next to the art pieces, I learned a number of things I didn't know. Some items, such as a brush holder from the Joseon dynasty era in the 19th century, were specifically emphasized as items that, at the time, belonged in a "gentleman's" study or room. This emphasized to me the heavily prominent disparities between men and women as there were no items tailored specifically just to women. Even items such as an octagonal wine bottle from the Joseon dynasty in the late 18th century were specifically described as something that would have been used by a scholarly gentleman. There was another description which explained that a number of objects on display were typically found in a sarangbang, a gentleman's study. A sarangbang was also the focal point of a traditional Korean house, where men could spend time with other male guests while being doted on by women. Something else I noticed was that the art pieces were obviously catered towards the elite class within society, particularly during the Joseon period from 1392 to 1910. The elite class enjoyed these extravagancies as decorations. Something else I learned was that during the Japanese and Manchu invasions during the 16th and 17th centuries, many prisoners, including potters, were taken to Japan which then influenced the development of Japan's porcelain industry. Before visiting the MFA, I also did not know that Buddhism was a prominent religion in Korea. I had previously thought that Catholicism and perhaps Christianity was the dominant religion, largely because of my personal experiences. Visiting the MFA was not only fun for the art I got to see but because I feel I was able to learn a lot about my Korean roots.

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I went to the Chuseok event hosted by the Korean department of Boston University. There were different Korean snacks, drinks and games. There were many students that were taking Korean classes that attended the event. It was very busy and very fun! I was able to meet a member of my lab at the event who I did not know was taking a Korean class. I was able to eat tteok and drink some sikhye. I have a pine nut allergy and I thought that the tteok I had chosen had pine nuts so just to be safe, I had to throw it out. I’ve tried sikhye when I was younger and I did not like it so I thought when I tried it now, as a college student, my taste buds would have matured but they did not. There were also different games; I was able to play ddakji and jegichagi. These games were familiar to me because my church would play them whenever we had a gathering but only the adults tended to play. I realized that I am not good at these games because my hand-foot coordination is not good and I am just unlucky for ddakji. It was very fun to see the different Korean traditional games and it was very fun to play them with other students. This event made me realize that Korea has a really deep and rich history/culture. I am glad that I attended this event because I am now more interested in what other traditions that Korea has for different events. I hope to go to other events that showcase different holidays and their traditions.

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On 11/29/23, I was able to attend the reading of Kim Junghyuk’s C1+y = :[8];. This event was with the CAS LK 460 students who translated Kim Junghyuk’s writing. How this event was operated was Kim Junghyuk read his essay in Korean and the students read it in English. They took turns until all students had their part of the essay. There was a Q&A session after the reading. The only Korean book that I have read was Pachinko, however this was by a Korean-American author. Therefore, I do not know a lot about Korean literature.

This was my first time learning about a Korean author’s work. The first couple sentences really intrigued me. When Kim Junghyuk said that the most perfect device was a skateboard, at first, I was confused. I thought that it did not make any sense because there has to be something else that is more perfect than a skateboard. However, as he was explaining it, I could understand his perspective and I started to agree with him. No matter what you change to a skateboard, the original skateboard is very much made perfectly. I also thought the students of CAS LK 460 making a new word, “skafritti”, was quite funny. It was also funny how Kim Junghyuk, someone who seems like an epitome of a Korean ahjussi, learned to ride a skateboard from a couple of kids. This event has piqued my interest and now I would like to learn more about Korean literature.

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Me holding the wrapper of the green tea flavored choco-pie

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For my second culture pass event, I went to the reading with the author Kim Junghyuk event. There, Kim Junghhyuk read his story, C1+y = :[8]:, or “city is a skateboard”, from his book 1F/B1, or “first floor ground floor basement”. I was curious to learn more about Korean literature since I don’t read a lot of Korean books, and I found that his writing style was a lot more fun and interesting than I had expected. For instance, from just the titles of his works, I initially had no idea what C1+y = :[8]: was supposed to mean, and it was really cool to realize that it could be seen as the words, “city is a skateboard”. The story itself was written in a very interesting style as well and had a unique narrative. The story begins in the jungle with the narrator getting saved by a monkey from falling off a cliff. From then, it transitioned into the narrator looking at graffiti, or “scraffiti”, and eventually learning how to skateboard. While the topics seem impossible to relate to one another, Kim Junghyuk was able to connect those two ideas to create a surprisingly fun story. I thought it was also really cool to see the students who were translating the story. I didn’t know that there was a Korean translation course at BU, but it showed me how much interest there is in BU about learning Korean, which also surprised me. Also, I got to drink hot apple cider and try the green tea flavor of choco-pie, which I am holding in the picture. The choco-pie tasted like any other choco-pie, and I could only taste a bit of the green tea flavor in the aftertaste. However, it still tasted good, and the hot apple cider was really nice considering the cold weather outside. Overall, I had a lot of fun with this event, and I thought it was nice to experience some Korean literature. I would like to check out some of Kim Junghyuk’s other works in the future because I am really interested in his unique style.

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On Friday evening, 10/27/23, I went to Taekwondo and K-pop Dance Night hosted by BU's Korean Program and Global House Korean Cluster. I was interested in attending this event because I was curious about what kind of demonstrations they might do and was finally available to attend one of the Global House events, which I have been wanting to do. I was also interested in connecting with other Korean students over the snacks, since it has been a while since I've been able to eat Korean snacks. It was held at Myles Standish dorm building in the English room. When I first came in, I was surprised to see students that were not Korean but appreciated that there were other people that were interested in Korean culture.

The event was split into two parts for each topic. In the first half of the event, there were two students there to teach everyone some basic taekwondo kicks. We began by doing some light warm-ups and then continued to do rounds of kick exercises (roundhouse, axe, front kicks). At the end of this part of the event, the teachers did a demonstration, where one impressively was able to hit the paddle with a backflip kick. During a brief intermission before starting the second section, everyone had some refreshments that were provided, which included Jeju style juice and choco-pies. In the second part of the event, there were two other teachers that were going to teach us how to dance the chorus section of NewJeans' 'Super Shy', which I happy about since I like the song. It seemed that although everyone was also shy at first to dance, they eventually became more comfortable and were having fun.

It felt good to be immersing myself in Korean culture and reminded me of my hometown, where there are a lot of Korean people and culture around. It was nostalgic to see the taekwondo uniforms and kicking exercise paddles. The dancing also reminded me of kpop performances that the girls from my high school would do for talent shows or culture fests around town. All in all, I had fun.

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Eating miso soup, kimchi, and beef and rice stir-fry in front of the festival at Castle Island.

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Chelseigh Bond

10/14/23 – I visited Castle Island to participate in the Kimchi Festival hosted by Chang's Tae Kwon Do America. The event featured booths sharing elements of Korean culture, such as food (bibimbap, kimchi, etc.), Kpop and dancing, traditional clothing (hanbok) and music, taekwondo, and folk games. All proceedings went to the Korean American Society of MA.

I had a great time immersing myself in Korean culture shared both by Koreans and non-Koreans alike. To my surprise, several attendees wore traditional Korean dress and accessories. Many of the vendors also only spoke Korean, so I was surprised to find myself using much of the vocabulary and grammar discussed in class. While food made up most of what was sold, hanboks and traditional Korean medicine and ingredients could be seen lining tables run by older folk. While I had to keep myself from splurging, treating myself to radish kimchi for the first time in a little over a month was wonderful. Near the end of the event, a raffle was held for several Korean goods. Items included a heated blanket, rice, and Korean snacks, among other things.

During the event, there were many large drums lining the festival area. I came to learn these drums were called buk (북), and are used to play Korean folk music. While I'm familiar with the Janggu, I had only seen buk in traditional events and hadn't known the proper name until now. I would love to participate in more events held by Koreans to share a piece of Korean culture. Particularly in a place characterized by diversity like Boston, it was refreshing to see many of things I saw so often in my hometown.

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I went to the K-Wave Event and didn't know what to expect going into it. I assumed that the speaker would focus on Korean media but he spoke about the merging and integration of different Asian medias throughout the industry, specifically focusing on the mixing of Korean and Thai media. Prior to attending the event I wasn't aware that blended Asian medias were all that common. I learned at this event that it's not only common but that this genre of Asian media poses and perpetuates a number of different social and cultural conflicts. Within these mixed Asian medias, particularly films and shows, rivalry amongst different Asian countries becomes evident. More often than not there is usually an overarching theme that one country is inherently better than the other because of x, y, and z. There's also the matter of tourism destination movies. This is when an Asian country, typically South Korea, is presented as an idyllic Asian country to visit. This representation can be incredibly harmful because it enables viewers to gloss over the very real and prominent issues that South Korea faces, just as any other country does. Something I thought was particularly interesting was when the speaker of the event pointed out that South Korea as a whole tends to be used as a tool in media. More specifically, it either serves as an example to look down upon or as an example to aspire to - with very little variation in between. I thought that overall the speaker did a good job in explaining the nuances of intermixed Asian spaces. I think the topics he discussed are applicable to daily life here, as Korean media and culture gains popularity. These are issues that I wouldn't have been aware of if I hadn't attended this event, especially since Asian media, or South Korean media, in the U.S. is very polarizing. I hope to have the opportunity to attend a similar event in the future.

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For my first culture pass event, I went to the Chuseok festival party because I wanted to learn more about BU’s Korean community and maybe get to eat some Korean snacks. I was able to do both of these things since I met a lot of new people that were also in Korean classes, and I got to eat tteok and sikhye. The tteok tasted really good with the only downside being that I could only have one. I also participated in a lot of traditional Korean activities such as folding ddakji, gonggi, and jegichagi. I was not new to these activities since I had experienced them several times before with my family and Korean friends. However, it was a cool experience to see people of so many different backgrounds all enjoying the Korean culture that I grew up with. While I was already familiar with most of the games, I also learned about new ones, such as tuho, which I had never done before. The game, which involved throwing arrows into a basket, was a lot more difficult than it seemed, and I wasn’t able to get any successful throws. Despite my failures, I had a lot of fun, and I would like to try tuho again to see if I can do any better. By doing all of the activities available, I was able to choose between a prize of a Kakao friends keychain and a choco pie. I decided to get the choco pie because I was feeling hungry. Also, I learned that BU is introducing a new major in Korean. Although I probably won’t be doing that major, it was cool to see that there was enough demand for the language that a major was launched. Beyond just the major, I learned how much interest there was in Korean through the surprising variety of people I saw during the event. Overall, I thought the event was a lot of fun because I was able to experience and learn more about Korean culture regarding Chuseok, and I would like to attend another similar event in the future.

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For my first two years of college, I was very interested in participating in any Korean community since I didn't have many chances to do so back home. That was when I found KSA. After meeting a few members, I was very interested in being involved with its activities. Sadly, because this semester is going to be very busy I decided to leave the E-board and focus on my studies instead. However, I still do find myself going to the events and chatting with new members as it still does feel like family. Last Wednesday, KSA had its first general meeting (which is always the biggest). Expecting a big turnout, the members are always very stressed about this event. Hopefully, my showing up and giving everyone advice on how to run the event helped ease their nerves. In this general meeting, we focused mainly on getting to know everyone and creating an environment where people can feel comfortable to collaborate and mingle. They first went over the schedule and how we're going to have more events (many involving food) in the future. Near the end of the meeting, we had a jeopardy event where the audience was separated into teams and had to come up with Korean names. A lot of the names were really funny but most were about alcohol which was also very amusing. The members were given questions regarding KPOP, Kdramas, Korean culture, common Korean knowledge, etc. The highlight of the night was when a freshman dude had to sing the Korean national anthem. He sang his heart out and in perfect pitch so I was honestly blown away. I was so happy to see such a fresh, ready-to-learn freshman class and I hope they will attend more of our events in the future!

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Students will attend two Culture Pass Events organized by WLL or cultural events held in other departments or in the Boston area this semester. This assignment will count 2x2%=4% of the final grade. You will write two separate postings for two events you participated in. Students will be asked to write a 15-sentence report (in English) describing the event and what they have learned from the event. Please also take a photo of yourself attending the event and upload it together with your report. When you upload your posting, please do not forget to add your name so that I know whose posted it is and give you a credit. Both culture pass reports are due by the last day of class, which is December 11th.

Good luck on participating in the event!

I'm excited to hear all about them.

Prof Roh