My Korean Corner Turned 3!

My Korean Corner turned 3 last January 18 without me realizing it. Well, afterall, I haven’t posted much this past year (unlike the first two years of this blog when I never missed a month without posting anything).

And it makes me sad. ㅠㅠ

I missed the days when I get to write regularly. Writing has been a good friend to me. It relaxes me. It calms me down when I get to write thoughts that are running wild inside my head. It comforts me when I get to jot down feelings that are brimming in my chest. However I’m prone to getting overwhelmed easily. When thoughts became too many and when emotions gets too strong, I can’t write. Ironically, just when I have so much to say, that’s when I can’t write a damn thing! It seems like thoughts, ideas, feelings were all rushing widly towards my fingertips and I can’t seem to determine what to write down, how exactly I should write them down and most of all, how to begin writing. I guess I have to learn how to organize my thoughts better.

I’ve also been busy. No. Scratch that. I was not REALLY busy. I didn’t enrol so I don’t have to go to school. I don’t have to attend classes. I have no readings, assignments, exams or papers. And even though I’m working full time, all I do is go to the office and work for 8, 9 hours 5 times a week. I still have lots of hours a day and 2 full days for myself. I just deliberately made myself busy because I was (and still am) running away from… I don’t know what exactly… reality perhaps?

Many things happened. No! Something happened that resulted to many many MANY other things.

In summary: I fell in love for the first time in my life and got my heart broken to million pieces instead. And it was too much for an amateur like me to handle.

I dreaded sitting down in front of my laptop because I know I’ll just end up thinking about someone I shouldn’t be thinking of anymore. So instead I went out with friends, I went out alone, I travelled, I went to the gym, I watched Korean, Japanese, English, Filipino dramas, movies, whatever I can grab online. I studied Korean. I want to be dead tired everyday so that when I hit my bed, I’d immediately fall asleep. I don’t need the luxury of free time because free time to me is time to overthink – and that’s the last thing I want to do. I did everything that doesn’t involve too much thinking. Things that doesn’t involve opening myself up – like writing.

The result – abandoned blog, thousands of unread emails (3,000+ as of writing this), hundreds of Facebook notifications and requests, outdated me!

I acknowledge that I’m still not okay. I wonder when will I be okay. But now I want to be okay. I may not be okay and I may not know when will I be okay but I’ll try my best to make myself okay from now on.

And I feel like writing once again just like how I used to write before. I’m glad finding myself writing this way again and I’m hoping I can sustain this. I missed blogging so much and I missed all my blogger friends. I also missed fangirling over Kim Sun Ah. I’ve been outdated about the blogs that I’ve been following, about Kim Sun Ah and about the latest Korean dramas. I guess it’s time to go back!

Despite minimal posts last year (that were dominated by heartbroken rants), cheers to My Korean Corner‘s 3rd year!

I forgot how to write

It seems… ㅠㅠ

I think this is the longest time I’ve been on hiatus since I started writing this blog.

I just spent 51 days in Korea. I was initially planning to blog everyday – but not only did it not materialize, I also haven’t written a single blog entry either! Things just got busy. REALLY busy! Many things happen: good things, problems, happy things, heartbreak, more problems, exciting things, more heartbreak, funny things, disappointments, satisfaction, heartbreak and well… HEARTBREAK.

My heart was filled with different strong emotions each of the 51 days. Emotions and feelings that are just too strong (too happy or just too sad) that I can’t find the energy (and time) to put them down into words. And during my lowest points I chose crying myself to sleep over writing.

And now that I am back (and suffering once more from a severe case of withdrawal syndrome… and oh! not to mention…yes… heartbreak still), I guess I better resume writing to keep myself sane. My thoughts are still cluttered in my head. And it’s been like that for quite some time now. I guess (and hope) that writing (again) can help me better sort AND handle my thoughts.

I will try my best to recount wonderful experiences in Korea (even if I am not even done recounting the experiences I had during my summer stint there last year). And of course, write more about learning Korean. But as early as now I’d like to warn my readers (gasp! readers?!) that I might write nonsense posts about uhm… love(!). I’ll try to limit it and will just probably rant more about it on my Korean blog.

Too many things to do… too many things to restart, reassess rethink… too many things to fix and to salvage… One by one… one at a time… 천천히… 하나씩 하나씩… 한걸음…

[Audio Blog] 더 파이브

Desperately trying to improve my speaking skills, I tried doing some recordings. I still can’t do an impromptu recording in Korean, so I just read what I have written in Sunaforever a few days/weeks ago.

I’m quite proud with what I have written. I actually don’t know how I was able to write this well. I’m not saying this is something good but in my writing level it’s one of the best ones I’ve written so far. Usually when I have strong feelings over something and I wrote about it in Korean (right away) I do better than how I usually write. I wrote this just after reading the webtoon while still teary-eyed and all. The other time, I opened my heart and talked about my 짝사랑 to an 언니 and I was able to write a 5,000-character email in one sitting! And I also did well when I wrote about the snack event we prepared for Kim Sun Ah because I was so happy after meeting her again.

Anyway, this is already the corrected version. There were some corrections made by people from lang-8. My pronunciation is still really bad and I made some mistakes. Urgh! I’m just reading it and I still make mistakes! Too lazy to do it again so just enjoy picking up the mistakes. Feel free to leave comments, suggestions and corrections. I’ll appreciate them! 🙂

발음… 발음아… 우리 앞으로 잘해보자!

더 파이브 잘 읽었어요!

한국어를 잘 못하는 저는 만화를 전부 읽어본적이 없어요.
뭐… 틈틈이 시간 나는 대로 한국어 연습을 위해 어떤 유치한 만화 1, 2 장을 대충 읽은적은 있어요.
근데 당연히 저는 더 파이브에 관심이 많고 너무 궁금해서 읽을 기회 나타나자마자 곧바로 읽기 시작했어요!
자신 없는 저는 그 만화를 이해 할 수 있는지 없는지 모르겠지만 끝까지 읽어보고싶었어요.
너무 궁금해서 그래요.
생각보다 너무 어렵지는 않았어요.
물론 읽으면서 네이버 한영과 국어사전 많이 쓰는데요 ㅋㅋ
100% 이해못했지만 (특히 사전에 찾을 수 없는 사투리과 욕도) 아마 80~90% 이해했어요.
저한테는 그만큼도 너무 소중해요.
그리고 읽으면서 한국어도 많이 배웠어요.
뭐… ‘젠장’ 같은 것? ㅋㅋㅋ
ㅋㅋ 농담이에요.
욕말고 좋은 단어과 문법도 많이 배웠어요.
믿어주세요~ ㅋㅋ

밤마다 12시까지 알바를 해야 돼요.
알바끝나자마자 새벽 4시까지 읽었어요.
3일 동안 그렇게 열심히, 천천히 읽어봤어요.

처음엔 너무 슬프고 불쌍하다는 것을 느껬어요.
읽을수록 더 궁금하고 더 떨리고 떨리고 떨렸어요.
어떤 공포나 스릴러 영화를 볼때마다 아무리 무서워도 손으로 눈을 가리기까지 해본 적이 없는데
결국에 이 만화를 읽으면서 두 번 손으로 두 눈을 가렸어요! 비명이 나오는 것도 참았어요! 떨렸어요. 진짜 떨렸어요.
그리고 고은아씨를 끝까지 응원하고 싶은 마음이 들었어요.
결말을 바로 알고 싶어서 빨리 읽으면 좋겠다고 생각했어요.
그런데 10장 남았을 때 부터 계속 읽고 싶지 않았어요 ㅠㅠ
고은아씨에게 좋지 않는 일이 생기면 마음이 견딜 수 없을까봐…
그리고 빨리 읽으면 다 끝을거예요.
드라마 보는 것처럼 격한 감정이나 느낌 있어서 그리울까봐 계속 읽고 싶지 않았어요 ㅠㅠ
당연히 너무 궁금해서 못 참았어요 ㅋㅋ
마지막 회를 읽고 에필로그동영상을 볼때 눈물을 흘렸어요.
또한 동영상을 끝나고 10, 15분 지나도 눈물이 계속 흘렸어요.

이게 뭐야?!!!
원래 제 생각에는 복수에 대한 스릴러이라면 미국 스릴러 영화랑 비슷하지 않아요?
스릴러가 다 그래요.
연쇄살인범 1명 있다. 주인공은 그 미친 놈을 잡아야 된다. 물론 그건 쉽지 않다. 아무리 힘들어도 결국에 그 놈을 죽여버린다. 축하한다! 끝!
근데 이 만화를 읽은 다음에 보통 만화… 보통 스릴러아니란 걸 깨달았어요.
눈물 흐르고 너무 놀라고… 소름(이)끼치는 느낌부터 감동 까지 느꼈어요!
물론 이 만화는 2010년에 한국콘텐츠진흥원에서 우수상을 받고 대한민국에서 유명한 만화이래요.
그걸 알지만 생각보다 더 훌륭해요
읽으면서 만화 읽기아니란 걸 느꼈어요.완전 영화 같아요!
영화이라는 말이라면….
이 만화가 영화로 볼 수 있는 것 더 좋죠!
그렇게 좋을지… 아니… 더 좋을거라고 믿어요.
읽으면서 머릿속에 선아언니를 상상했는데…
현실에서 우리 김배우님이 보여줄 연기가 더 좋은것이죠!
얼마나 기다려야 돼요? ㅠㅠ
저 같은 외국사람은 누구보다 더 많이 기다려야 돼요 ㅠㅠ
영화권에 가서 볼 기회도 없고 DVD 나오기 전 까지 많이 기다려야 돼요 ㅠㅠ
뭐… 한국에 가지 않는다면….. ^^;;

제 처음 읽는 만화는 다 파이브가 돼서 좋죠!
만화중에서 명품인 것 같아요.
아직도 못 읽어본 사람들, 이 만화를 사서 읽어 보세요.
끝까지 다 못 읽어본 사람들도 빨리 읽어 보세요.
후회 안될거예요!

My Korean Corner turns 2!

I can’t believe my blog is now 2 years old! Although a big chunk of posts consists merely of my various rants, still, I find it an accomplishment being able to blog consistently (Now if only I can be consistent in real life as I am with this blog… OTL). As I’ve mentioned last year, I made some attempts in keeping a blog before – a personal blog, about Korean Drama, about Kim Sun Ah, etc – but nothing lasted after a month’s worth of posts – so I was not really expecting anything when I started My Korean Corner. But here I am, 2 years into blogging, 120,000+ hits, 300+ posts, 100+ drafts (:P), a thousand comments (more than half of which were my replies ㅋㅋㅋ) and 100~200+ followers (gasp!).

I’m just a bit surprised with the numbers. But actually they don’t really matter to me. My Korean Corner is, and will always be, my… well… uhm.. Korean corner (XD) where I can prattle away my thoughts, experiences and rants with anything and everything Korean (and sometimes even not related to Korea/n).

So, what’s new after 2 years? Nothing! Haha. I just made some cleaning and updated my pages. I’m not good in tagging so I left it as it is, but I somehow managed to organize my categories (and I didn’t know that I can have them display in hierarchical mode!). I hope it’ll be easier to search for previously written posts now. I also updated my cobweb-filled pages (About Me, Dramalist, Korean Study Materials and my Bucket Lists) and added sub-pages under Korean Study Materials (K-drama Scripts/Transcripts & Audio Files and My Android Apps). Drama Quotes will still be filled with cobwebs until I find time to update it and lack of content for Korean Study Notes and its sub-pages only shows 2 things: I’m not studying much and/or I’m too lazy to take down notes!

Organizing all previous posts for the little clean-up I did made me realize many things. I realized that for the past 2 years I made improvements with my Korean (no matter how little and how slow), made lots of friends, made dozens of serious, gloomy and futile rants that only made me laugh today and had lots and lots of lovely and unexpected experiences to be thankful for.

To all my readers and… (gasps!) followers and fellow bloggers, thank you! You all made not just blogging but also self-studying Korean more fun! Cheers to more years of blogging, friendships, Korean study, K-drama watching and Kim Sun Ah fangirling. Cheers to more years of My Korean Corner!

– Dia

2012 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

19,000 people fit into the new Barclays Center to see Jay-Z perform. This blog was viewed about 97,000 times in 2012. If it were a concert at the Barclays Center, it would take about 5 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

Korean Learners’ Blogs

I just went through my list of Korean Learners’ Blogs. I’ve been too busy these past months and I’ve missed both writing and reading blogs. Somehow it’s sad to see some have cobwebs on their blogs and haven’t updated in ages. But it’s sadder that some blogs no longer exist – especially those with real good stuff on them. It makes me wonder if those fellow bloggers have completely given up learning Korean? If so, why? Were they too busy to blog? Do they still find time to study even if they are no longer blogging? Or have they achieved their goal in learning Korean (ie watching show without subtitles or getting a TOPIK certificate or being fluent). I’m not really questioning why they stopped. I’m just curious.

Anyway my heart skips whenever I see one with a recent update. And of course always happy to come across new blogs too. 🙂

[Announcement] buzzKOREA calls Korean Culture Bloggers! Last day of submission today!

You’ve all heard of the Asian On Air Program of KTO and Korean Air, right?

If you haven’t submitted an entry yet, today’s your last chance! Don’t miss this opportunity to share what you want to do, see or hear in Korea. Who knows, this may be your chance to experience it first hand!

 

Korea Tourism Organization (KTO), together with Korean Air, is now accepting applications from bloggers in Asia for participation in the Asian On Air Program.

The Asian On Air Program is a special offer for bloggers from the region to experience and write about Korean culture. Successful applicants will be invited to visit Korea for 5 days (October 22-26, 2012), and attend a K-pop dance class, visit a traditional market, go rail-biking in Yangpyeong, etc.

In order to apply for the program, simply produce a blog entry or video clip telling what you want to do, see, or listen to in Korea, and post it on the Buzz Korea Event page by September 23rd. Winners will be selected by the KTO after a thorough evaluation of applications. Furthermore, applicants who promote the Asian On Air Program online via social networking sites and other communication platforms may receive bonus points.

More Info 

< Asian on Air Program >
☞ Application Period: September 10 – 23, 2012
☞ Eligibility: Bloggers living in Asia
☞ Application Method: Buzz Korea Event Page
☞ Number of Winners: 20
☞ Winners Announcement: September 28, 2012 on Buzz Korea Homepage
☞ Homepage: www.ibuzzkorea.com (Korean, English, Japanese, Chinese)
☞ 1330 tt call center: +82-2-1330 (Korean, English, Japanese, Chinese)

SOURCE: Official Site of Korea Tourism Org

 

[Announcement] Calling for Korean Culture Bloggers!

Korea Tourism Organization (KTO), together with Korean Air, is now accepting applications from bloggers in Asia for participation in the Asian On Air Program.

The Asian On Air Program is a special offer for bloggers from the region to experience and write about Korean culture. Successful applicants will be invited to visit Korea for 5 days (October 22-26, 2012), and attend a K-pop dance class, visit a traditional market, go rail-biking in Yangpyeong, etc.

In order to apply for the program, simply produce a blog entry or video clip telling what you want to do, see, or listen to in Korea, and post it on the Buzz Korea Event page by September 23rd. Winners will be selected by the KTO after a thorough evaluation of applications. Furthermore, applicants who promote the Asian On Air Program online via social networking sites and other communication platforms may receive bonus points.

More Info

< Asian on Air Program >
☞ Application Period: September 10 – 23, 2012
☞ Eligibility: Bloggers living in Asia
☞ Application Method: Buzz Korea Event Page
☞ Number of Winners: 20
☞ Winners Announcement: September 28, 2012 on Buzz Korea Homepage
☞ Homepage: www.ibuzzkorea.com (Korean, English, Japanese, Chinese)
☞ 1330 tt call center: +82-2-1330 (Korean, English, Japanese, Chinese)

SOURCE: Official Site of Korea Tourism Org

Selfstudykorean.com

Recently Shanna of Hangukdrama launched a new website, selfstudykorean.com.

Selfstudykorean.com is made up of a group of bloggers and contributors passionate about Korean / Korea. We primarily talk about learning Korean, but this site is an amalgamation of all things Korean.

Right now there are 10 main bloggers and I’m greatly honored to be one of them. And I’m so excited today because I finally managed to publish MY FIRST CONTRIBUTION to the site:

Is there anything better than starting off with how I learn through K-Dramas?

I will try my best to make regular contributions to selfstudykorean.com. I’ll primarily be writing about my personal experiences in learning Korean. I’d also like to share some fun ways on self-studying because self-studying doesn’t necessarily have to be a lonely path.

Although I’m excited to write, I’m actually more excited to read from different Korean learners too. So, if you want to join us either as a blogger or as a contributor, CHECK THIS PAGE OUT.

All my gratitude to Shanna for coming up with a wonderful idea like this; for bringing together Korean learners; and for welcoming me to be a part of this awesome community.

I’ll still be active on this blog too and will continue blogging my personal Korean language learning journey, fangirling and tons of randomness about anything and everything Korean. So please support us in selfstudykorean.com and continue supporting mykoreancorner and other language learner’s blog.

다시 시작 할께요

I have a Korean Blog but after a few entries last year, I never continued. Lately I’ve been trying to buff up my comprehension by studying many new words and grammar points. But I realized I haven’t been giving much efforts on applying them in writing or speaking. I’ve been trying to talk to myself / think in Korean recently when I realized I DO have a Korean blog that I’ve abandoned. So I thought I guess I should restart writing in Korean.

I’m taking pressure off in writing in my Naver blog. I guess I stopped writing because I lack things to say or writing in Korean exhaust me. I’ll just write what I want to write. Sometimes I’ll use a dictionary, a textbook or a grammar book, but sometimes not. I’ll just write what I want to write or rant about. I’ll make mistakes. Tons of them. I will not mind it. At least not right now. Maybe in the future, once I’m better, I’ll start writing more carefully and with better stuff. But for now, my goal is to just keep on writing. Hopefully there will be people correcting my blog entries. But if there aren’t I won’t care. I’ll use lang-8 if I really want corrections. I will just write in Korean. Write. Write. Write. Until I get the hang of it. ^^