*Languages: Korean
I grew up between the neon lights of Las Vegas and the quaint buildings of Alhambra, California. A thirty-minute drive from my grandma's house took you to Olvera Street or to Little Bangladesh. And yes, while it was also a thirty-minute drive to Disneyland, some of my fondest childhood memories were exploring those little towns with my family. My grandmother and family members taught me the importance of loving the world outside of the neon lights and quaint buildings, fostering my love for languages. My high school unfortunately only offered two languages. I enrolled in French, but my brain constantly reminded me of a language I loved to hear and see whenever I went to California — the Korean language and culture fascinated me, and I could not let that go. If my school did not offer Korean, I knew I had to start teaching myself.
I started learning Korean around June of 2017. I started with learning the Korean alphabet system (called Hangul/한글), then moved on to listening to podcasts and taking notes. A few days into learning, I spoke with a native Korean speaker to help with my pronunciation, and she suggested I listen to K-pop and watch K-dramas. What a genius idea! Listening to K-pop and watching K-dramas integrated entertainment into learning. I even had the pleasure of finding my favorite band in the midst of all this new material. I loved everything I was being introduced to, and I was excited to wake up every day during the summer to learn more. I knew more Korean by the end of that summer than all the French I learned the previous year at school.
"BTS & Me" (Amanda Tresca)
At our school’s Arts and Culture Festival, my math teacher stopped me as I walked by to ask if my family would like to host a foreign exchange student. To our surprise, the coordinator matched us with a student from none other than South Korea. I was excited and curious to see how this new opportunity would be. Hosting a foreign exchange student is really an exchange: it’s an exchange of culture and ideas, beneficial for both parties.
When the student first arrived, I kept any knowledge about Korea I had to myself because I was aware of how much I did not know. In fact, it was six weeks before I said something in Korean. I wanted to work on my pronunciation and he wanted to extend his English vocabulary, so we made an agreement. Each day I taught him a new word (thank you, AP English), while I was given a sentence to say out loud. A lot of times I was given a poem, so I enjoyed learning artistic words and expressions that textbooks leave out.
When I was little, I was upset that my parents would not buy me an Easy Bake Oven for Christmas. However, that changed as they instead encouraged me to bake in a real kitchen. As I grew up, I loved being in the kitchen and appreciated my parents for their decision. I’ve had my fair share of Korean BBQ and food, but I had never cooked anything Korean myself. Neither had my Korean exchange student really, so this was a learning experience for the both of us. A call to his grandparents and a trip to the Korean Market later, we attempted to make songpyeon (송편), a rice cake with various, usually sweet fillings mostly eaten around the holidays. We tried our best, but they certainly were not what his grandparents could make. What matters though, was that it was fun and different than anything I have ever baked. We made the infamous kimbap 김밥, a seaweed-wrapped roll of rice, vegetables, and meat. This dish was substantially better, and we were impressed with our skills. Another favorite of mine is when we made hotteok (호떡), which is like a pancake with a sweet brown sugar and nut filling. And we made it (dramatic pause) without the mix! It was enjoyable to make, eat, and take pictures of it with a little Korean flag his parents sent. Cooking is a huge hobby of mine, and I was amazed how many new spice combinations, flavors, and dishes I was shown.
Pictured above: Hotteok; Making Kimbap; Chuseok Dinner (taken by Amanda Tresca)
The songpyeon (송편) we made, was actually for a celebration. I was stoked to be invited to celebrate the Korean Autumn Festival Chuseok (추석) with a friend of mine, who is also from Korea. I honestly did not know what to expect, or even what the holiday was about, but I took this opportunity to find out. The night we went to her house, I was informed about the holiday’s meaning and was pleased to be celebrating with friends and family. Of course, we did not celebrate the exact way I heard they did back home, but we were all together appreciating the holiday regardless.
I am forever amazed by how much I have learned and how much there is still left to learn out there. I hope to know more languages in the future, but the Korean language and culture will always have a special place in my heart. My whole life, I have been told to love the differences around me and seek to understand them. Around the world, we may speak different languages, cook with different spices, or celebrate different holidays, but we all have the ability to grasp those differences and grow from them. We all share the ability to connect our cultures.
Meet the Writer!
Amanda is a high school junior attending Arbor View High School in Las Vegas, Nevada. She is President of her school's National Honor Society and is Historian of Key Club. In her free time, she enjoys art, learning languages, and cooking.
After reading Amanda's article, you must be craving Korean food right about now! Thanks for reading, and check in with us next week for more language pieces!
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