Although the whole program had already ended and I am back here in Singapore, I still cannot believe that I actually had this chance to go to Seoul and study Korean despite me only knowing about this program a day before the deadline and submitting the application form on the actual day of the deadline. I had to rush through the application process and printed out all the necessary application forms and documents within a few hours while studying for my examination just a few days after the application deadline. It was so fortunate for me to be able to get chosen to go to Seoul a country that I really love and wanted to go. I also find that it was so brave of me to stay at a completely foreign country and not being able to speak and understand their language at all. The only way that most of us can communicate with is by using sign language. Communication being the biggest barrier when I was there for 4 weeks. But soon, everything was resolved when I got to know a friend from the same program who happened to be my room mate to have learnt Korean before in the past but had stopped some time and was a little rusty speaking. She was the biggest help to me and to some of the other participants as we were travelling in a group of 10 and without her, I have no idea how the other 9 of us would survive with our broken Korean.
Before the program, I had always been dependent on other people to help me with things. But during the program, most of the time I am alone and had to do and complete several task that have to be done immediately. Being in a group, communication is very important. If one communication is broken down and misunderstandings occur, it will affect the rest of the people in the group and small packs will develop. That was what happened during the program. During the 4 weeks, the 21 of us were divided to 3 different groups due to some misunderstanding with a few of them. But later it became from 3 to 2 when my group of 10 tried to get everyone to go out together.
During the program, I have learnt that in Korean, they take manners very carefully and there are 2 different ways of speaking - informal and formal. To me, it is very difficult to distinguish the difference, therefore I seldom do the talking as I am afraid that I would be acting or speaking at the wrong tone or manner to another person regardless of age. There was also even a rule that while pouring water or tea, you must pour for the person older than you first with 2 hands and giving the drink with 2 hands and that we cannot pour the drink into our glasses on our own. The Korean culture and manner are a bit too much for me to handle but slowly, I was able to get used to it.
In 4 weeks, I have learnt a lot - Korean, Korean culture, manner, the different kinds of food, the complicated subway map. I even climbed hills and stairs everyday to get to class. It was very tiring at first but slowly I got used to it and climbing was relatively easier for me. The subway station is big and may get lost. In addition, a subway station may have many different lines and if we are at a different line, we may need to go to somewhere even further or maybe even opposite the track to get to the other line. There were also not many escalators around the subway so climbing up and down stairs are very common. Even in the trains, it is different from Singapore. Koreans would queue first before boarding the train. Food and drinks are allowed to be taken and consumed in the train. Koreans care a lot for the elderly with seats reserved for the elderly and handicapped seen always empty. If a youngster sat on that seat, they may get scolded by the citizens. Koreans take recycling very importantly and they have special color coded plastic bags for them to throw their waste. It was too much for me as I could not remember the color code of each plastic bags to throw what kind of rubbish into. Just like in Japan, clearing the table after eating is a must in cafe, school canteen and fast food restaurants. I have to separate all the different utensils first before placing at the designated area.
When I was at Korea, I realized that Koreans are also more friendly to those who can speak and understand Korean. They will tend to bring them around more and talk to them and also buying them free items. Therefore, I feel that it is very important to know how to communicate in Korean first before heading to Korea for holiday or else we may get ignored.
Through this program, it helped me to understand Korea's culture and their tradition more. It also made me want to learn Korean more. Therefore, I had started searching for local schools teaching Korean so that I can continue the studying of Korean so that in the future when I go back to Seoul, I would be able to communicate better.
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