#survival korean

[a-pop-of-korean]

Semester in SK Masterlist

My semester abroad in Korea is from February to June of 2023--here is the masterlist of the content I created while there!

Click here for my full masterlist!

Nami Island (남이섬)

Things to Buy at Daiso

Shopping Phrases

Ordering Coffee

Signs in Korea

Ordering at a Restaurant

Riding the Seoul Subway

Things at the 편의점

Korean Curse Words

Etiquette in South Korea

Drinking Culture

Hanja in Real Life

Holidays in South Korea

Korean Cuisine

Concert Ticketing in South Korea

K-pop Comebacks in Korea

Summer in South Korea

What I Learned

[timetravellingkitty]

idk how joe rogan is going to manipulate words like "north koreans have to push the only train in their country to get anywhere" to smear her image when the usamerican right fucking loves her. she is not a victim she was part of the elite in the dprk and is now a symbol of the usamerican conservative movement. be serious that is a grown ass woman who knows what she's doing

[becauseimanicequeen]

My Semi-Coherent Thoughts About Let Free the Curse of Taekwondo So Far (ep. 1-6)

This is a response to some asks I got after this week's ep. 5 and 6, and some additional thoughts from me. I'll mostly throw some random points out there because I've been living in right-brain-land for most of this week (or weeks? What's time anyway, eh?), so being coherent seems like too much of a challenge right now, lol. But this post needs to be written so I can stop thinking about it and focus on something else.

Let's start with two Anons who dropped into my inbox with comments of the same context: that Dohoi was an asshole and that I wouldn't be able to defend him anymore...

Clearly, Anons, you seemed to have completely missed the point of my previous posts where I said I was neutral (I still am) and refused to go into a discussion about taking sides because that's not where the interesting bits are (not for me, anyway).

I'm on both their sides and on no one's side.

Juyeong and Dohoi have both made mistakes:

Juyeong lied about Dohoi's dad abusing him

Dohoi pretended to not know about it

Juyeong chose to stand up to Dohoi's dad even though he knew that man was a violent piece of shit

Dohoi called the police, afraid he wouldn't be able to focus on his exam, but he couldn't focus anyway

None of them communicated any of this to the other in the past

Etc.

To say that Dohoi is the asshole while Juyeong is an angel is completely ignoring an important point: nothing is ever black or white. (Yes, this is just fiction, but it's a realistic piece of fiction that shows this very point.)

Also, to think that only one of them has/does suffer is a very one-sided way of looking at it. To be fair, it's easy to fall into that trap since we're getting a lot of Juyeong's pov at the moment while Dohoi's story is still kept in the dark.

But imagine how much of a self-sabotager you are for choosing to push away people who love you because you inherently believe that you will never be good enough or will never be worthy of love. Dohoi has been in so much pain for such a long time it's familiar to him. It takes years, decades, maybe even a whole lifetime to climb out of a hole like that. And he might've been able to do that on his own if Juyeong hadn't shown up at the funeral and reminded him of all the things from the past once again.

One of the Anons then proceeded to list all the ways Juyeong was abandoned and that Dohoi did the exact same thing to him, which made Dohoi even more of an asshole...

I can't help but wonder if we've seen the same show.

Because Dohoi was abandoned too.

They’re both dealing with abandonment issues.

None of them had present parent growing up

Juyeong was adopted, which will always be a wound for him (and being adopted by those kinds of parents didn’t make it any better)

I can’t quite remember if they mentioned that Dohoi’s mom died or left but, either way, both can lead to abandonment issues (especially when a child is forced to go through it)

Then we have Hyeonho who turned from Dohoi's friend to his bully (again, Dohoi was abandoned)

When shit went down in the past, Juyeong left with his parents, and while that was a valid reason, it was yet another person who left Dohoi (which, to be fair, made Dohoi indirectly responsible since he called the police)

And then Juyeong was abandoned by Dohoi who went radio silent for years

They are both dealing with abandonment issues. Just because the show, at this point, is mostly focusing on the effects of Dohoi abandoning Juyeong doesn’t mean Dohoi wasn’t abandoned as well. Because he was. It’s mentioned and shown in subtle ways throughout the show.

Being abandoned can be a huge trauma for a person (especially for kids who don't have the tools to deal with important people leaving or dying). And we all have different trauma responses, which I think is another interesting point of this show:

Juyeong’s trauma response is to fight (he did so when he stood up for Dohoi against the bullies in the past, when he chose to stand up against Dohoi’s dad, but also when he physically punched a teacher)

Dohoi’s trauma response is flight (he tried to ignore that Juyeong was abused by his dad, he never put up a fight even when he was beaten by the bullies, he left after he threatened his dad with a knife, etc.)

None of those is a "better"/"worse" response

These characters are both traumatized for fuck's sake

And, the thing is, we've seen time and time again that the last thing Dohoi wants is to fight. He reacts even to the mere mention of it.

Juyeong fighting (even though it's never physical with Dohoi) won’t give him the results he wants from Dohoi.

And Juyeong, who was abandoned by his birth parents, adopted by a couple who didn't seem to want him anyway, and might think that no one ever fought for him, will always be hurt by Dohoi avoiding things.

They are each other's opposites even though they're dealing with a similar type of trauma.

And they won’t be able to be happy with each other (or with themselves, which is, honestly, more important) until they deal with their own trauma.

(Also, I don’t know about you, but Hwang Daseul choosing to use these contrasting trauma responses for these boys is fucking genius to me because there's so much potential for angst, which we've gotten a whole 3-course meal of. I'm well fed at this table and I won't be leaving any time soon, lol.)

One of the Anons also briefly mentioned Dohoi's old home and how he should just sell it to Juyeong because it was the only place where Juyeong was happy, and I...

*Sigh*

I'll have to admit that this was the first time in the show that my neutrality was tested because... If you can watch the following scene without feeling empathy for Dohoi, you're (no judgment) colder than me (a certified ice queen):

Imagine going back to the place where you were abused all those years. Dohoi took one look at the place, and his past traumas and emotions about what happened came pouring back. I'm not surprised he wants to sell it. Hell, if I was him, I'd want to decimate the place. But, instead, he has to deal with Juyeong wanting to buy it even though Juyeong knows what went down in that house.

If Juyeong wants to keep it "as is" to make sure Dohoi doesn't regret selling the place, Juyeong is delulu. If he wants to buy it and build something new, that's different. But we don't know what he wants yet. We don't really know why he's so intent on buying the place (other than not wanting Dohoi to regret it).

Either way, that whole situation made me feel a bit weird about Juyeong. Buying the place where the person you loved experienced trauma? What the actual fuck? And I'm not surprised that Dohoi is feeling some kind of way about it (and if he still thinks it's because Juyeong feels some kind of loyalty or guilt towards his dad, that's so fucking sad).

I do think the place is important to the rest of the story, though. It's the place where theirs began. It's the place where they loved and lost and were abused. It's the place that contains the events they both need to reconcile and deal with before moving on.

Which leads me to my speculations of where this might be going in the last two episodes. Because I think Juyeong will take Dohoi to his old home. Especially since the search history on the GPS in the car he rented included it.

That place will always be an open wound for them until they deal with the past, so Dohoi can stop running from it and Juyeong can stop living in it.

It was also the place where Dohoi's walls crumbled for the first time since the time jump, so Juyeong might think that's the best place to deal with the shit once and for all.

Walden Law Firm was also in the GPS search history, which is where Hyeonho works. My guess is that Juyeong has already gone to see Hyeonho when he meets up with Dohoi at the end of the 6th episode. Whatever might've gone down in that meeting (Juyeong saying Dohoi broke it off again, Juyeong demanding to know what happened with Dohoi during the past 12 years, Hyeonho spilling the beans, or whatever), it might be the reason why Hyeonho called Dohoi to say they needed to talk.

Then there's the biggest question of all the questions I have, which is about what happened to Dohoi during those 12 years. If Dohoi didn't graduate (at least not as an architect), how did he gain everything he now has?

In regards to college, I don't think it was anything more dramatic than him not managing to have the right results on the entrance exam. Math is an essential part of architecture, and we've already seen that math wasn't Dohoi's forte.

About his apparent wealth, though. As I mentioned before, I can't remember if they mentioned whether Dohoi's mom died or left. But, if she left, there might've been some inheritance if she eventually died, which could also be how he and Hyeonho met (since these things, more often than not, require lawyers).

If that's true, feeling that his wealth was "unearned" might be a reason he lied about the floorplans to that house. (Btw, I can't believe Juyeong didn't call Dohoi's bluff because I would've called him out on his bullshit so fucking fast, lol.)

I think it's also a part of his facade to pretend that he was okay all those years even though he was suffering (which I'm sure we'll see more of in the coming episodes).

But I also feel like there's something more. More to the reason he didn't study architecture and more to how he gained his wealth. And definitely more to what was going on between Dohoi and Hyeonho and how involved Hyeonho has been the past 12 years.

There's still so much of Dohoi's story to be revealed, and I can't wait to see it all unfold.

[rusquared]

imagine reading a novel about the apocalypse and how fiction can save your life in both an ordinary and extraordinary tragedy... and two years later watching the novel wrap up in the middle of a worldwide pandemic ??????????????

[zeewhatiwrote]

My Liberation Notes

Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop - Hwang Bo-reum

[rotburger]

video man

[yaoigoddess9158]

I just realized that, if I ever transmigrate into any novel/manga I’ve read, I’d be doomed because they’re all from different countries with different languages…

[darlinguistics]

a mindset that helped me a quite a bit in the past and still presently whenever studying a language gets really difficult or overwhelming or you feel like you are making no progress/not retaining anything or that its all pointless is that 1, there is literally nothing wrong with slowly learning a language. and more importantly, 2, sometimes shit needs time to sink in! i remember finishing korean 101 feeling genuinely like i had learned basically nothing and still struggled with the most easy concepts but! when 102 came along suddenly focusing on new material made me realize that the old stuff became intuitive! and that same pattern happens over and over, where a concept seems so awkward and complicated and impossible to grasp and then a few months later while focusing on an entirely different concept i realize the old confusing things are somehow now the 'easy' part that comes naturally! so i guess basically what im saying is i learned to MOVE ON! let yourself zoom out from this one little piece of the language and see the pieces surrounding it and overlapping with it! if a lesson was hard, good! it should have been! you probably wont feel confident in it during or even right after! but the work and energy you put into it isnt a waste just cuz it doesnt immediately pay off, sometimes you have to look away and just move on and trust that the knowledge will settle itself comfortably into your brain while you work on other things, especially if you keep reinforcing it here and there. consistent work will never be a waste even if you dont get immediate payoff. and one day youll wonder when the hell you got so quick at reading or when you memorized a rule or when you learned something you literally were never taught but just observed with your own intuition. so much of language learning is trusting yourself, and trusting this invisible force and process of learning thats bigger than you. it isnt all up to conscious studying and conscious effort and learning, you also need to give yourself time to unconsciously internalize things. and that takes much much longer than a week-long grammar lesson!!

[marymekpop]

⟢ scenes & themes: flex x cop - confused lee gang-hyun ⟣

[neuron461]

Tittle:How to Survive as a Maid in a Horror Game..

[neviayue]

so, stay alive | By Nevi Ayu E.

다들 그냥 살아. 의미를 붙여가면서, 의미를 찾아가면서, 정신 승리 오지게 하면서. 대단해지려고 너무 용쓸 필요 없어 살아내는 것만으로도 이미 대단한거니까. 근데 혹시 모르잖아, 그리고 궁금 하잖아 아직 긁지 않은 복권 뒤에 어떤 행운이 숨어 이쓸지. 또 어떤 이야기들이 남아 이쓸지.

Dialogue from Korean drama Twinkling Watermelon (2023) episode 10, written by Jin Soowan.

This dialogue aligns with a repeated dialogue I liked in Tomorrow (2022) where they go: There will come a time when you will realise "It was all for today."

[gomzdrawfr]

International followers are yall okay, specifically to the *takes scrolls out* Polish, Korean and Indonesian

[magpiesbones]

ALSO. I KNOW IM GOING HAM ABOUT AMATONORMATIVITY RIGHT NOW. BUT THE AGENCY OF WOMEN IS ALSO SUCH A BIG THING THAT I AM ALSO THINKING ABOUT.

like!! The thing that gets all of them out is Jeha’s refusal to see chaerin as a romantic object. The insistence that chaerin and huisu are NOT in fact interchangeable even if they’re in the same body/running the same story because. Fundamentally. They are different people. And ALSO because. You cannot love an object like a person. And a fictional character can never be anything but an object.

but also! The way it acknowledges that not only is it fucked up to be put in a romance story and then forced to play along for a happy ending (I can and am making allegorical comparisons to real life here) it’s also. Fucked up to have the person you were in love with replaced with someone who is not the same amount of real person as you and ALSO completely dependent on you for their happiness.

hm the! Interconnectedness of misogyny and amatonormativity and the insistence that women can be and are social currency (if you have read Ace by Angela Chen: chapter five and the deconstruction of performative sexuality wrt male gender roles and incel culture DOES apply here!) as well as the idea that you can ‘win’ life by achieving a heterosexual marriage (your romantic life is also social currency) and the way that that concept is so carefully thematically decimated.

[nickolashx]

White Day: A Labyrinth Named School (2015)

White Day: A Labyrinth Named School, known on mobile platforms internationally as The School : White Day or The School - White Day, is a 2015 survival horror game developed by ROI Games (also known as Sonnori) and Gachyon Soft.

It's a remake of the 2001 game of the same name.

Notorious cult-classic Korean horror.

Sneak into school at midnight to return your sweetheart's diary and get caught in a terrifying game of cat and mouse. Explore haunted hallways, solve classic survival horror puzzles and escape the clutches of a killer Janitor who is out for your blood.

[mamawasatesttube]

I have a hot take that you may not care about but you are the person who's superman media takes I trust the most and I GOTTA talk to somebody about it so

anyways. Lois Lane. from My Adventures With Superman. the one that everybody calls a tomboy? is not a tomboy. not in the slightest

like?? she wears makeup! and earrings!! and the things she wears are still fairly feminine!!! "oh but she wears pants" pants aren't inherently masculine!!! this isn't the 1800's!!!! and also the pants she wears are very form-fitting and high-waisted which are traditionally feminine cuts of pants!!!! "oh but she's feisty" LOIS LANE HAS ALWAYS BEEN FEISTY AUGH WHAT. FEISTY AND FEMINIE AREN'T INHERENTLY OPPOSITES. THAT'S LIKE THE WHOLE POINT OF HER CHARACTER.

anyways. I haven't seen this show. I'm sure you don't give a single shit about it. I just keep seeing this take and then looking at this Lois and going. No. That's Not A Tomboy I'm so sorry. short hair + brown skin + feisty personality does not. make her a tomboy. she is still Very Feminine words have meaning sometimes. please

SLDKFJDLSK i didnt know this was discourse but no youre right. i did watch maws and i thought it was overall pretty cute, like i have my nitpicks but it was a fun show to watch with my friends yknow?

but yeah maws lois isn't particularly tomboyish/not feminine, she just has short hair? jksdhf you're right about this i just genuinely did not know this was a thing people are saying. help. im so sorry

[ameliafuckinjones]

I have such a strong repulsion toward American men as a whole right now that the very thought of them disgusts me, literally makes my skin crawl. And this is the last thing I'll say about this election.