On Wednesday I had a presentation in my psychology class on language and techniques to improve language retention and memory. This was an interesting topic to present because it was very applicable. Many of the students at the SNU ISI program came to learn the Korean language and through an brief in-class survey, many of the students spoke both English and another language (mostly Korean) and others even spoke a third language.
On Tuesday, I met with Hillary Powell, a reporter from WBST who came to Korea to interview Notre Dame affiliated students and alumni who were studying in Korea. I told her about my intention to study Korean and my hopes of increasing my overall proficiency. She also asked me about NK and SK relations and my thoughts on Korean culture and society. It was nice to be able to talk about my experience in Korea thus far and why it means so much for me to be back in my home country.
This Friday we took a trip to the Gocheok Sky Dome, home of the Nexen Heroes, a professional baseball team. Prior to this day, I had never been to a major league baseball game. When you think of baseball culture you immediately think of stadium food, cheering on your favorite players, and singing the national anthem and “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.” Baseball culture in Korea is not too different. However, there is one clear difference. In Korea, there’s one very important person who leads the crowds and the other cheerleaders (typically females) in chants and songs and dances and motions to excite the spectators and encourage the players. This person is called the cheerleader/cheermaster (typically male). He directs the crowd almost like how a conductor would lead an orchestra. Cheermasters are minor “celebrities” and are popular among the team’s fans. Hundreds of thousands of people chanting the player’s names and reciting songs at the top of their lungs has to be electrifying, right? Good news: the Nexen Heroes beat the KT Wiz!!!
