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Sofie in Korea
This ought to be the title of my blog the next year, because this is exactly where I’ll be! I’ve finally moved to Seoul, and I’ve spent the past few days getting settled and adjusting to the time difference. We’ve moved into a great apartment (quite large for Korean standards) right on campus of my…
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My favorite Korean word
Granted, there are many beautiful Korean words and finding one favorite is not easy. Nonetheless, sitting on the train on my way to the airport (yes, I’m flying to Seoul tomorrow – squeeee!) I started pondering on what was my favorite Korean word. I’ve been learning Korean for exactly two years now, and one word…
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Humbled by history
Yesterday my husband and I had the honor of attending the official opening of the Jutlandia Hall exhibit at the Korean Embassy in Copenhagen. The hall is a tribute to the hospital ship “Jutlandia”, which was sent as humanitarian aid by the Danish government to the war-torn Korean peninsula in 1951. Of all the great…
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The Tale of Chunhyang
I didn’t have too much time for studying Korean this weekend, but I did manage to read the final chapter of my Integrated Korean Adv. 2 textbook, and this chapter happened to be the story of Chunhyang (춘향전). I’m not too familiar with Korean folk tales except those that have been included in previous textbook…
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When, how, and what to memorize?
Teaching is a significant part of my job and naturally, I want my students to do well when they enroll in my courses. That requires learning a lot on their own. After all, the four hours they spend with me every week is not going to cut it. I once heard a thought-provoking and even…
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Next stop: Seoul
…Well actually there’s a brief layover in Frankfurt first, but that’s a technicality. Anyway, I’m going back to Seoul tomorrow for two full weeks. I’m so excited and cannot wait to once more eat a piping hot bowl of bibimbap with a cold Cass beer and a shot of soju. I’ve compiled a comprehensive shopping list…
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A guide to proper use of Korean honorifics
I thought I had this down. Although I don’t use honorifics that much as I’m still mostly used to using the standard polite language I know how to use them and when to use them. …Or so I thought! When I was telling my language partner of my childhood Christmas which I used to spend in my…
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A Korean culture lesson
Last Friday turned into one of the longest language exchanges I have ever had. While my head was spinning at the end (for more than one reason, since it involved a fair amount of beer) it was also one of the most fun exchanges since we got around so many aspects of our cultural differences. We…
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Specialized Korean vocabulary: Legislation and politics
Yesterday’s article for my language exchange meeting was about legislative matters in Korea. I do enjoy a challenge, but OMG this one took the prize. (For interested parties, the article is here). As usual, I started reading the article out loud for feedback on flow and pronunciation. My reading of the article was pitiful and I don’t…
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How my office dinner turned Korean
Yesterday I went out to dinner with some colleagues. The purpose of the dinner was to entertain a Japanese professor who is briefly visiting our department. This is common practice at my uni whenever we have a professor visiting from abroad. Since the professor was from Japan, the talk of the evening naturally centered around cultural…
Sofie to Korea 