Birthdays, BTS, and Banchan

Never thought I’d be celebrating a birthday in another country, let alone one where I’m living for a year. Yet, my 24th birthday rolled around and here I was in South Korea. I thought it would be a big deal, but it really wasn’t that different from being in the States. I had to work on my birthday. However, my co-teacher bought me a cake and wrote me a sweet card, which almost moved me to tears (I held back though—didn’t want to startle her). I went to a pottery class later that evening with some friends and made a plate!

As you can see from the picture to the right, it looked like I was seriously questioning my life choices. In actuality, I was just extremely confused on how to complete the next part of making the plate. I finished the night off with my free drink at Starbucks and cake! Hehe I love that there’s a Starbucks in my city! A couple days later, I went to Seoul to visit a friend and finally went to a cat cafe! I was in desperate need of some feline affection.

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On October 26, four of us EPIK teachers took a day-trip to Seoul to see our favorite men: BTS. We went to the first night of a three-night tour for their last concert series, Speak Yourself. Before the concert actually started, we grabbed some food, got some cool merch, and met so many nice ARMYs (‘ARMY’ is an acronym for BTS fans)! People were handing out free things and the girls sitting next to us at the concert gave us snacks and cute stickers they made. It was also my first concert with an ARMY bomb [pictured below], which is the official lightstick for BTS. You wave it around during songs and they change colors! Sitting on the third floor of the venue gave my friend, Becca and me a beautiful view of the ARMY bombs. BTS put on an amazing performance as always. What was very different was when they started their speeches during the concert. Obviously they spoke in—you guessed it—Korean! So Becca and I were constantly wondering what was going on, but luckily there were many translators on social media that kept us up-to-date with what the boys said. It was a surreal moment, being in Seoul at a BTS concert and being minorities there. Yet, I didn’t feel out of place. Everyone at the concert was there for BTS, and even if we didn’t speak the same language, we shared the same love for the group and that’s what mattered.

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You’d think I would be tired of Seoul after going to the concert, and would want to take a break from it, right? Well, you are somewhat correct. Seoul does tire me out, and yet, I was there two weekends ago again! Five of the EPIK teachers and I left for Seoul early Saturday morning and spent the night there. We shopped ‘til we dropped! We started in Gangnam, went to Hongdae, went to Myeongdong, to Itaewon, then back to Gangnam! There were a lot of people, but I didn’t feel too overwhelmed. I think I might be used to the number of people there since this was my fourth trip to Seoul. Or maybe I was just in too good of a mood to worry about the people. It was a super fun trip with my friends. We went to the BTS Pop-Up Store in Gangnam and oooooooh it was so cute!! Way smaller than anticipated and full of people, but so adorable! The amount of work that went into making the place look as good as it did must have been staggering! [pictures galore below]. 

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Life in my city is quite nice. I take a 15-minute bus ride to my main school and a 35 to 40-minute ride to my travel school (once a week thankfully). The students are fun to work with. I teach at two elementary schools, one in which I teach at four days a week and the other once a week. My students are grades third through sixth. It’s fun to learn more about them and see their English progress. Lately, I’ve had several students huddle around me at my desk before class starts, trying to communicate with me in English. It’s so heartwarming to know they actually want to talk to me. I’ve been learning some Korean when I can and trying to use it with the kids. Turns out it’s much much harder to learn Korean on your own than I thought it was. I wish I could just download the language into my brain. It’s also getting quite chilly here, and for a desert girl, I’m constantly cold. I bought my first winter coat a few weeks ago and have worn it once during a very cold and windy evening. I feel comfortable in my city, but still out of place sometimes. Obviously, I’m a minority here and don’t speak the language, so that’s tough. But most of the times, I feel like I’m in any city in the States. I don’t talk to most people anyway, and I use what little Korean I know at the stores. What’s different is that I have more of a social life here than when I was living in the States. I see my fellow EPIK friends almost every evening and I’m usually out with them for a few hours each time. It’s nice to have that little community here, even if I’m not getting the Korean practice I (so desperately) need. They are very sweet girls and I enjoy getting to know them better.

The food here is also really delicious! The picture to the right depicts an enormous amount of banchan (반찬) or Korean side dishes some of us got at one restaurant! Filled the whole table once we got our main course!

During my winter vacation, I’m hoping to travel to Busan and maybe a couple other places in South Korea. Do you have any recommendations for me on what I should do or see? If so, please let me know!