5th Vlog: What I have actually been learning...

 Okay, let's get serious....  What I have actually learned about Korean culture: 

4th Vlog: Top 10 KDrama Stereotypes

Here is my top 10 list of Kdrama Stereotypes...

K is For Drama: How this All Started, Part 2

Okay, so as I have already stated, this love for Korea all started with a Kdrama... AND what I have also told you is when I was first introduced to the drama by my dad...I was merely humoring him and I didn't really like what I saw.

 

And that could have been the end of the story... or rather that was the end of the story, for two years...  

Fast forward to March of this year.   I am now happy and healthy living in a great apartment with my younger brother.  I work at a elementary school library and while I still don't have a love life to speak of... I enjoy my life and my freedom.   I thought that my life was complete... easy... normal even... 

Until that fateful day...  When the KDramas returned.  

I was hanging out with my dad, my brother, Nathanael and his girlfriend, Emily... When the subject of Kdramas got brought up.  Emily suggested that we watch one.  Now that it was two years later, PTSD gone and my second attempt with that old boyfriend over (don't ask...)  I thought maybe it was time to give "Korean Soap Operas" another chance... After all it was spring break... a time for making dumb life altering choices that you won't be able to take back later.  

We watched the same drama as before, starting over and even moving on to the second episode....  Let me tell you... It just was not the same as the first time.  

Meet my new friend... "You are Beautiful" 

"You are Beautiful" is the story of a young woman training to be a nun on her way to Rome, when a strange man approaches her, asks her to dress up as her twin brother and join Korean boy band (KPop band)  for a day.  Well, you guessed it, a day ends up being months of dodging reporters, fangirls and evil actresses who bent on finding out the secret...and of course along the way she falls for the lead singer while unbeknownst to her, the other members of the band are falling for her.  Needless to say it only took the two episodes (mind you, I only watched one the first time,) to get hooked.

I found myself enjoying the show so much that I was spending any spear time I had watching it.  (And since it was spring break, that was a lot of time)  I finished that first 16 Episode drama in less that a week.  (Yeah, yeah... I know there are some that can watch a drama in one sitting, but I am not one of those people.)  

Now I know what you are thinking... wait what about all of your complaints?  Why the sudden change of heart.  Well, I guess there was a lot of things that changed.  Turns out you get used to the subtitles...  The humor is actually fantastic if you give it more than one episode and the makeup on the guys?  Well, that's a cultural thing and I not only got used to it but I now sort of find it attractive...

Sometimes....

In the end... I have to hand it to my dad,.,,  He knew what he was talking about. 

 I admit that I was wrong about Kdramas... The are great!! 

But there was more to it than that...than just a great show.

You see a couple of years ago I was in a very deep and hard depression.  After the tornado I started to heal and become more open to bright and happy things again.  

By March of this year the depression was gone but I was still dealing with some residual effects.  When you have a big sensitive heart you learn to be cynical and calloused to survive.  But this calloused bitter person was not who I really am.  "You are Beautiful" was just a little too bright and pure and happy for my emo tastes at the time.  (Not that there aren't tear-jerker-emo KDramas.. cuz there are. But YAB isn't really one of them.)

So YAB  touched something deep inside that I thought I had lost, little girl pre-teen Bekah.  You see I don't just have a big heart, I am a true romantic. That was a part of myself that I had tried to stamp out after years of getting burned.  But to stamp it out would be to truly lose part of myself.  Everything about YAB woke that part of me... That love of beauty and romance and something a bit silly... YAB touched all of that... It was while I was watching this TV show that I started to look around... I started a Facebook album called Looking for Beauty, where I look for beauty in the everyday and I take pictures of it.  

This has changed my outlook and is helping me search for the good in where I am right now.  So did a Kdrama change my life? Actually, yes. God used it to show me beauty in the small things and that it was okay to be silly and a true romantic again.  He used it to whisper an I love you to my heart.  

So how did all of this lead to a desire to learn Korean? Well....That is another story and it involves a whole other portion of Korean pop culture. 

To be continued...

3rd Vlog: Late Night Hangul

After not having the emotional energy to work on my lessons for two days, 

I got to work and actually made some tiny steps forward.

K is for Drama: How this all started...

It all started with a drama.  Or rather... for me it all started with a break-up and a tornado... But what good story doesn't start with some action?

For you to really understand where this passion for a people group came from, you must first go back....   *Wavy flashback filter*

Two years ago, I was living in Moore, OK... My house was hit by a tornado.   It was a hard time in my life.  And I had recently gone through some relationship crises...  Needless to say when my dad showed up at my door (I was living in a temporary apartment) and asked if I wanted to watch a "Korean Soap Opera,"  I didn't take him serious.

Wait...  Are you confused?  Then let me back up.

*Wavy Flashback Filter, Again*
Yes, my father was the one to introduced me to Kdramas (South Korean TV shows, that usually have a very Rom-Com or Romantic Drama feel)...  I don't know how he got started with them... but to me it wasn't that weird for him to be watching Korean rom-com's... after all he was the one that watched Lizzie McGuire and Hannah Montana with me back in the day.

I was actually more confused by the fact that he was choosing to watch something with subtitles...

But I can see how you as an outside, might think it odd for a 50 something year old man to like a good old rom-com... but what can I say... he has a sensitive side.

ANYWAYS!!!  My dad showed up wanting to me to try this, "Korean Soap Opera"  with him and I thought he was crazy... but I humored him anyway...  I was then introduced to the world of the Kdrama...  But like a lot of love stories, mine and Kdrama's had a rocky start.

I didn't like it... It had a slow start, the subtitles were too hard... the guys were all wearing too much make up...

The humor was just weird... How was I ever going to understand the cultural differences...
To be honest I was so messed up from the PTSD caused by the tornado... I don't even really remember it. I do remember the leading man reminded me too much of my ex...

Which I guess is reason enough for anyone to NOT watch something.  

I did not want to watch more...  I politely thanked my dad, for hanging out with me...and moved on.

So in the beginning, this love for Korea... almost didn't happen...

To be continued...

Second Vlog: A little about me

Here is my an update on my happenings and a little info on who I am as a person. 

Second Vlog: A little about me

First Vlog

Here is a video update of my first two days on the journey.  :)  

"Annyeong!!  Hi, Youtube!"

The Journey Begins...

I am going on a journey this summer...a crazy idea of my own making. I plan to learn the language of Korean in one summer.  I will have no teacher, no classes and no idea what I am doing...  But I must go on this adventure or die trying.

Would you like to come along for the ride?  Hear my funny anecdotes?  And my horrible butchering of a beautiful language and culture... Listen to comical commentary on how this all got started...and the pitfalls along the way?  Sure?  Why not?  

So here are the ground rules:
I have the summer to learn a language that is thousands of years old and completely foreign to me, (up until March of this year, when I watched my first KDrama, but more on that later),

I can't take any formal classes and must only learn from online resources or by watching more KDramas or listening to KPop... But if I am fortunate enough to find a tutor...that will be allowed.

I  HAVE set daily goals, lessons and actually try to learn the language.

I have to blog or Vlog about it at least once a week.

I have to learn more about South Korea and their culture.

I have to start using Korean in my day to day life, as practice and  to watch the responses of those around me.

I must go to an event or location that is for Korean speaking people. (like the local Korean Baptist church.)

I must find someone to have at least one conversation in Korean before the summer is over.

That is pretty much it... I hope you enjoy watching this process... I hope I can actually learn something along the way... and I hope I don't make to big of a fool of myself...

And to the people of  Korea, your language and culture, thousands of years in the making... I am truly sorry.