This last year has been an odyssey of Korean culture as it slowly unfolded through kdrama. I had to sort through what was for dramatic effect and what really occurred on a daily basis in Korea.
This past year I've been piecing together Korean culture through this experience:
At first I thought that amnesia was the number one illness in Korea, that all people in Seoul live in a roof top apartment with a great view of the city for very little money, and that it's commonplace to chase a car, bus or train on foot, but you only catch up to it if you're Kwon Sang Woo. As I've watched more and more, I think I'm starting to understand more about the relationships of people within this culture and what role status and family relationships actually play. I'll be excited on my first trip to South Korea to see how well it lines up with my imagination.
Unlike American dramas, where people never actually eat anything, the people in kdramas actually eat a wide variety of delicious foods. This made me curious about these tastes and so this last year has been an adventure as I learned to make a variety of kimchi including Oi Sobaggi (Cucumber Kimchi), and Kakdoogi(Radish Kimchi). (Eunsoo makes it in "I'm Sorry, I Love You." I then used this Kimchi to make Kimchi stew. I learned to make Bulgogi with my marinade sauce made from scratch and my family's favorite, Jjajang Myun first seen by me in Coffee Prince. I also had to try Soju, which I admit goes well with any of these dishes. I never got drunk, or had to be piggybacked anywhere, however.
But because we are American I branched out. We had Kimchi Pizza recently made with a red pepper paste and kimchi juice sauce, and topped with kimchi and pork belly slices. This was so delicious! My family loved it. Hence the idea for Kimchi Pot Pie. A Korean friend recently told me that baking at home is sort of a new thing in Korea, and that's what made me think of Kimchi Pot Pie. This would be a great translation of Korean food to Western baking.What could be more American, yet more Korean.
I've been taking korean lessons online at KoreanClass101.com for a while now, and my dream is to be able to watch the dramas without subtitles. I'm starting to recognize when things aren't exactly translated sometimes and have been helping with simple translation over at viikii.net
I've put together a spreadsheet detailing what makes a kdrama and showing examples from the ones I've watched. I've been busy watching current tv shows such as Cain and Abel, Gourmet, and Stars Lovers but have watched just about everything I can back to about 2001. I ordered 2 disk sets online but was so disappointed at the subtitles and realized that the fan subs are far superior to the ones that the DVDs are released with. I'm slowly working my way through "Be Strong, Geum Soon" by ordering it one disk at a time from netflix. I think there are 28 disks in total. It's the longest show I've ever watched other than my very first which was "Here Comes Ajumma." I've never seen the first 26 episodes and would still love to see them if I ever can find them. I ordered "Stairway to Heaven" and "My Lovely Sam Soon" from the local library. I'm always happy to find a new series available, or an older one that suddenly shows up for that matter "Terms of Endearment" is slowly showing up on mysoju.com and I think I'm up to episode 41 with a long way to go.
I want to go to Korea and teach ESL to Ajummas by discussing their fave dramas in English. We'll see if that works out in the near future.
I am happy to be able to share Korean culture with other Koreanaphiles.
Kamsamneda,
--Linda
