5 Things I Learned Hosting a Korean Exchange Student

Five South Korean students and one teacher came to Shenandoah Valley Governor’s School from January 16-26 as part of an exchange student program. The students stayed with American families, all with students who attend the Governor’s School. The Korean guests are from Korea Science Academy, which is associated with Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology.

This is a personal reflection on what I, as a high school student and journalist, learned from hosting Gun Kuk.

1.  Just a few words go a long way.

One of my passions, aside from Journalism, is definitely learning languages. I hope that my language skills can one day help me to be able to interview all sorts of people, and help me better understand any situations on which I report. I have Korean friends, and they helped me learn some Korean. It has been very fun to talk to all of the students about the Korean words I know and let them teach me even more words and phrases.

The first night Gun was with us, we picked him up after his 14-hour direct flight from Seoul and a long day of traveling around D.C., and we were all extremely tired. We took him to the local grocery store just to get some snacks and any kinds of food he may want to have. I was happy to take him around, help explain American junk food… When I took him down the isle with Ramen (which is pronounced “Ramyeon” in Korean, and is as common in Korea as Easy-Mac is in America), I explained how American Ramen is nothing like it is in Korea (sadly). He smiled when I said “ramyeon” correctly (pronounced "rahm-yoon"). It’s fun to know small things about other cultures.

My family was honored to take the Korean teacher, Mr. Hahn, to dinner one night. We went to the Depot Grille in downtown Staunton, and had a wonderful time discussing South Korean culture and American culture. I was able to talk to Mr. Hahn more about my language studies, and also his past work in research and teaching Chemistry. It was a wonderful conversation, a wonderful meal, and an honor to have that time to spend with him.

2. Food is universal.

A really fun thing to learn about, no matter what culture interests you, is food. Food is something easy to talk about, it’s a way to explore different places very easily, and it gives insight into history and traditions like nothing else. Among other things, one thing that Gun and I were first able to talk about most was comparing Korean, American, and even Japanese food. There are a lot of small, but distinct differences.

One of the most fun nights we had was with Krysta and Dong Jin. After a day of exploring downtown Staunton and Gypsy Hill Park (and Gun beating all of us his first time bowling), we went back to Krysta’s house and Gun and Dong Jin prepared a wonderful Korean meal.

Kuchoelpan- This is pickled radish that you wrap around various vegetables of our choice (the wrap can look like a taco)

Pulgogi- meat prepared in a sauce of many flavors (pear included)

Chabche- noodles with vegetables mixed in- it tastes similar to lo mein at Chinese restaurants

Rice

Kimchi- pickled cabbage with peppers and other spices

3. People will always surprise you.

After spending a week with Gun, I thought I knew him pretty well. I know he lives in Seoul, studies in Busan, loves Chemistry and Biology and Computer programming (especially with Java). I know he doesn’t like cheese, but definitely likes noodles with soy sauce, and prefers to eat with chopsticks at every opportunity he gets. He’s nervous about his English speaking at times, but is very excited to talk whenever he can, and loves to watch all sorts of British and Korean sit-coms (we watched some together). I had no idea that he had traveled around the world as much as he has. He went to Italy, France, and Switzerland with his sisters, and went to Nepal with his school for volunteer work. I couldn’t believe all the stories he could tell about working in Nepal and trying to order food in France while not speaking any French. As a want-to-be world traveler, I couldn’t help but enjoy the stories, but I was also always surprised. I never knew that he had been so many places. It just goes to show that nothing is always as it seems. No matter how well you could know a person, there’s always something that will surprise you.

4. Common ground is not so hard to find.

Krysta had to warn the Korean students about me before they met me. In the weeks leading up to the arrival of the Korean students, I had been practicing my Korean language skills, reading up on Korea, and helping Krysta prepare “Welcome KSA (Korea Science Academy)” posters. I was my normal self- jumpy and excited (maybe a little overwhelmingly so). Krysta told the Korean students that I would try to speak Korean with them, and would always be interested in what they had to teach me.

I have to admit, it has been worth it- reading long books about Korean culture and understanding the intricacies of the language. I have a better understanding of where they’re coming from, and it’s helped me to show them a little more about this area, and maybe relate it to what they’re used to. Gun and I could talk about Seoul and malls and style and even sit-coms that we both enjoy. My understanding of Korea gave us something to talk about, and helped to start more conversations about comparing American and Korean life.

5. Teenagers are teenagers, no matter where you go.

Anywhere in the world, teenagers are all the same. Dong Jin (another Korean student), Gun, Megan (a senior at Shenandoah Valley Governor's School), Krysta (Dong Jin's host, and a senior) and I all went to Gypsy Hill Park to enjoy an afternoon. There’s no better way to see how similar people are than to bring everyone to a playground and then to walk around the duck pond. Dong Jin told us stories about ducks that he despised because they ate his hot dogs when he was little, and he even joined in when Krysta and Megan were throwing small snowballs at each other.  He joins in with sarcasm and laughter, and we all enjoyed our bowling game. It was Gun’s first game and he beat all of us!

The world is a huge place, with all different kinds of people and all different kinds of languages and customs and religions. We’re not as different as politicians make us out to be. We always have differences, but the world is always a better place when people come together.

Shenandoah Valley Governor’s School was honored by the presence of the Korean students and teacher, Mr. Hahn, over the past week and a half. Their contributions to our school and their kindness will never be forgotten. We hope to have shown them a little bit of our life, just as they have shown so much to us.

캄사합니다. Thank you.