Special Opportunity for GW Students: Tour of the East Wing of the White House

TRIP TO THE WHITE HOUSE

The Student Association, in conjunction with the White House, have the opportunity for 1,500 GW Students to take a tour of the East Wing of the White House. If you are interested, please send the following information to WhiteHouseVisit@gmail.com.

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Graduate Student Internship Opportunity with the Freeman Chair in China Studies at CSIS

The Freeman Chair in China Studies at CSIS is seeking current graduate students focusing on China and defense/security studies for a fall internship. The internship is paid and will require a 30-40 hours/week commitment. Strong writing skills are required; intermediate to advanced Chinese language abilities preferred.

If interested, please send resume and writing sample to Bonnie Glaser at bglaser@csis.org.

2011 Korea Summer Fellows - Reflection

As I write this post during my long layover in Tokyo Narita Airport, it definitely feels bittersweet to be heading back home. I think that what usually makes a person fall in love with a place is the people, and before arriving in Seoul this summer, I had no idea how close I would become with so many amazing people. I came with the primary purpose of improving my Korean language skills and didn’t expect much beyond that, but not only did my language skills improve considerably as I hoped and expected, but I also learned a surprising amount about Korean culture that I somehow missed or overlooked before.

As for my Korean language learning, my speed, listening and speaking skills improved dramatically, which is what I was really hoping for. Sogang University lived up to it’s name and everything I heard about it. While it wasn’t an immersion program, Sogang’s Korean language classes force students to interact with each other repeatedly and immediately after learning a new grammar structure. They were also quite strict about their Korean Language Only policy inside the class. Also, the vast majority of students at Sogang were dedicated, disciplined, and serious about their studies. That system coupled with living in a Korean household made for a great combination. On all of my tests in each class, Comprehension is what I scored highest in every time. I myself noticed my sharp increase in comprehension and was surprised at how it came so suddenly and passively. For all future Korean Language Fellows, I highly recommend considering Sogang University’s program.

As for what I took from my experiences with and in Korean culture, one clear lesson I will take away from this summer is how different of an experience one will have if they purpose to immerse themselves in a foreign culture, as opposed to merely living in another country and sort of dipping into the culture from time to time when one “has the energy” or finds it convenient. I found that I am much more inclined to be privately judgmental of things I don’t understand or agree with when looking in from the outside “as a foreigner”. It’s another experience altogether to spend all of your time, day in and day out, with Koreans, and to naturally begin viewing things through their lens. No doubt, it can be exasperating at times when differences seem so sharp in certain moments and all one can do is accept it. There were several times where I couldn’t (or didn’t want to) comprehend why something was being done a certain way, convinced that my way was superior somehow. In reality, maybe I was right in some way and some of the time, but what does “right” mean? If everyone in this country says that I’m wrong while everyone back home might say I’m right…then I think it simply comes down to “When in Rome….” Fortunately those moments were far outweighed by overwhelmingly positive ones. Time and again I was touched by how much my Korean friends and “family” were willing to share with me. I almost feel like the secret mission of every Korean person I met was to give me the best possible experience and best possible impression of their country. In that, they certainly succeeded.

I am so grateful to The Sigur Center for making these kinds of opportunities available to my fellow classmates and I. Before this summer it had been a very long time that I had wanted to seriously take up Korean language studies again, but both the time and money were never there. Because of The Sigur Center’s generous grant, it enabled me to realize this long-time wish of mine. I am now even more encouraged than before to continue my Korean studies, and to continue pushing to refine my Mandarin skills as well. Besides accomplishing my goals for language study this summer, my life was personally enriched. Right now I can’t imagine not having done it all.

Caleb R. Dependahl

Double B.A. Asian Studies and Chinese Language & Literature 2012,

Sigur Center 2011 Korean Language Fellow, Sogang University, South Korea

Korea 2011 Summer Fellows: In Retrospective

My trip to South Korea was amazing. Not only was I there to experience the crazy rain and flood during the Monsoon season, but I have also learned more about Korean culture living there than I did by reading textbooks. My summer in South Korea has left me a stranger in my own land. I am still in the process of re-intergrating back into American society. I need to constantly remind myself, that I should not bow or say annyeonghaseyo when I greet people, and that almost no restaurant in DC is open passed 10/11pm--so I should eat a lot earlier or cook at home because eating out in DC is a lot more expensive and less satisfying than having a delicious full blown out meal that cost only $5 in Korea.

In retrospective, my summer in Korea has been by far the best time of my young adult life. Though I am happy to be back home in my comfort zone, I miss Korea very much. I miss the new friends that I have made there, my host family, the curious ajummahs (older women) that made me food at all hours of the night, going to noraebang (karaoke rooms) on the weekends, the crazy shuffle dance young Koreans do, the massive comatose that comes after most meals, the efficient subway system, the catchy K-pop music, and the Korean lifestyle in general!

I can definitely see myself in 3-5 years working in Korea. It is also interesting to note how most of the foreigners that I encountered in Korea are English teachers. The demand and trend to learn how to speak English is ridiculous. I am not saying that I too want to be an English teacher, but I would like to find a different position there working with Koreans and development in Korea. And I feel that my intensive language program at Seoul National University has prepared me for Korean3105. Prior to studying in Korea I was nervous about going into advanced Korean without having a strong foundation in the language. Now I am starting the semester ready to tackle Korean business jargon. Bring on the heat Professor Pak! :]

Julianna Ngo

BA International Affairs and Asian Studies 2013

Sigur Center 2011--Korean Language Fellow

Seoul National University, South Korea

Taiwan: 2011 Summer Fellows – Taipei

Taipei, the city I spent most of this summer in, is the capital of Taiwan . Although the city does not represent every aspect of Taiwan, understanding the everyday life of Taipei people has a considerable meaning to the study on contemporary Asia; it demonstrates us, the future of Taiwan, as the most developed area of the country and model of harmony between Western and Asian culture as one of the most Westernized place in Northeast Asia. This blog post will introduce you to the general life among Taipei people and provide some useful tips if you plan on visiting Taiwan.

Food
If you are planning a trip to Taiwan, you do not have to worry about food, thanks to a variety of cuisines. Taiwanese food is arguably one of the world’s most enjoyable foods. Using various ingredients and spices, Taiwanese cooks make diverse flavors in dishes that can satisfy all tastes. Even if you do not enjoy Chinese style cuisine, you may also have a diverse alternative. There are so many choices you can have due to Taiwanese people’s open attitude toward foreign culture. For instance, I saw German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Thai and Vietnamese cuisine specialty restaurants in the National Taiwan University area.

In addition, Taipei is a vegetarian heaven. Because Buddhism is the most popular religion in Taiwan (some people believe that eating vegetables brings them peace of mind), there are quite a few vegetarian restaurants in Taiwan; you can enjoy a variety of vegetable cuisine. Regular restaurants usually serve some vegetarian dishes on their menu. Because chefs usually use small amounts of spice and sweetener, these vegetarian foods have light flavor. They might be less delicious in my opinion, but taste healthy.

Furthermore, it would be pointless to discuss Taiwanese food without mentioning their exotic fruits. Taiwanese fruits are well known for its heavenly taste. In Taipei, you can enjoy various fruits such as pineapple, mango, papaya, litchi, dragon fruit and many more unique fruits, with a cheap price, too. Besides fresh fruits, you also can have numerous snacks or drinks made from these fruits including fenglisu, a delicious pineapple pastry; dried fruits ; lattes; and sorbe. If you visit Taipei during the summer months, you should not forget to try mangguobing, it is an amazing dessert of shaved ice with sliced mango.

Transportation
Like most highly populated cities, Taipei’s traffic is congested. Streets are fully filled with automobiles during commuting times. That is why numerous Taipei people own scooters. Although, public transportation of Taipei is well developed such as the Massive Rapid Transportation (MRT) system, which is quite fast and clean. If you ever choose to ride the MRT train, never eat or drink there. If you do, you may be slapped with a huge fine and there are no excuses for foreigners. Besides MRT, bus lines are also well organized.

What you should keep in mind is that drivers in Taipei do not respect pedestrians very much. Some automobile and scooter drivers do not stop their vehicles at crosswalks, even when the traffic sgnal is red. Policemen also consider auto traffic flow first rather than pedestrians when they control traffic. My Taiwanese friends always warned me to beware of autos when I cross the street. It took several weeks to adapt myself to such an environment.

Night Life
As any country in a tropical region, Taiwanese people enjoy a rich nightlife . People usually leave their houses after dawn since it is too hot and sticky to be outside during the day. There are night markets in almost every single town in Taipei. They sell various foods such as oyster pancakes and stinking tofu. One night in Taipei takes you through an ordinary person’s life living there. But watch out, some popular night markets are extremely crowded!

Interestingly, Taiwanese people seem to not like drinking alcohol. It is quite difficult to find a bar or pub on the streets and most restaurants are closed before midnight. There are, however, areas around the city hall where large numbers of clubs and bars for foreigners are clustered. For more specific information, you may ask Kazu.:)


Language study in Taiwan was quite productive and delightful. As a future expert of Asia, I equipped two precious instruments for my future research. My Mandarin Chinese made huge progress, and I was able to gain further understanding of Taiwan through numerous direct/indirect experiences. I want to express my gratitude to the Sigur Center for granting such a wonderful opportunity through this blog post and want to encourage students who are interested in Taiwan or Mainland China to apply for the 2012 Language Grant in Taiwan!


Seung Joon PAIK
Ph.D. Political Science, 2015
Sigur Center 2011 Chinese Language Fellow
National Taiwan University, Taiwan

2011 Korea Summer Fellows - Working In Korea

One of the most interesting learning experiences I’ve had has been working at a major think tank here in Seoul for the summer. As one might guess, the working environment as well as professional business culture in East Asia is world’s apart from what most of us are used to in the United States. There is more than enough room for miscommunication, misunderstandings, and frustration. A good deal of my experience was no different! Korean culture in general was no great mystery to me, but I was surprised to find how differently things really work. However, I slowly became aware of the ins and outs of what was expected of me as I asked multitudes of questions and learned when and to whom I could ask them.

Korean culture in general is very hierarchical and male-dominated, with one’s status and position depending more upon family background and the name brand value of your university than work ethic, ability or intellect. As the old adage goes, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” While I’ve seen this to be true to a great degree in Washington, D.C., it seems to ring even truer here. Nearly all of the senior researchers and administrators at my workplace had incredibly interesting family histories and were tied to some of the most powerful and influential people in Korea. These are the people that run things in Seoul. While we see some degree of this from time to time in the U.S. such as in the Kennedy, Clinton and Bush families, it seems to be much more long-lasting, tight-knit, and intensive in Korea.

When I began working at this think tank, I was struck by the large array of titles I was expected to memorize. From President, to Manager, to Researcher, to I don’t even know what, anyone with any amount of authority had their own title (in Korean, of course), and they were usually addressed by the title only, even if they weren’t present! If I was talking about one of the senior staffers with a group of fellow interns, they would only talk about the person using their official title. In this structure of titles, authority and workload trickled down directly. Mid-level managers seemed quick to delegate the tasks given to them to a group beneath them, and I’m pretty sure that’s what happened above them and resulted in them being “given” the task in the first place. To me, it all looked very hectic and disjointed, with not a lot of communication going around. There were no clear directions or channels for information sharing. Someone gives you a job, you ask as few questions as possible, and you just do it. I seldom felt as if my suggestions or comments would have been welcome or considered valid.

Another thing I found curious was how workloads came in unpredictable waves and never from the same authority. There would be times when we would have an incredible amount of work, and then nothing for days. However, when we didn’t have anyone delegating work to us, my fellow interns encouraged me to pretend to be working. I ask them why, and whether or not we should go to offer our help to our immediate superiors. I was firmly told, “No! If we tell them we aren’t working or don’t have any work, then they will scold us and ask us why.” I scratched my head and followed suit. It got stranger one time when around 6:30 in the evening I found a group of interns sort of hiding in an office. They were waiting anxiously for the President to leave so they could then go home. They didn’t dare run the risk of him finding out that they had either left to go home before him, as that would mean they didn’t have enough work or weren’t working hard enough.

One of my more awkward experiences was when I was scolded for having my hands in my pockets during a conference. During one of the major conferences that we held during the summer, I was handling a microphone for the Q&A session. Apparently, at one point I had put a hand in my pocket. After the session was over, I was immediately taken aside and told that that was extremely disrespectful as it showed carelessness or a lack of attentiveness. “Interesting”…I thought.

While I can’t say I personally enjoyed every moment of working within the Korean system, I can honestly say that I was thrilled with the ever-present awareness I had that I was learning and experiencing much. I now have a much greater appreciation for the brain-wracking work that diplomats do. It is easy to imagine how a lot of hard work could be undone with the slip-up of a misplaced word, expression, or look. I can now see how there is tremendous value in purposing to take the extra step to ensure that your counterpart fully understands you, why you do something, and even why you have your particular line of thinking supporting what you do. These are not givens or easily guessable when dealing across cultures – especially when the two are literally on opposite sides of the globe.

Caleb R. Dependahl

Double B.A. Asian Studies and Chinese Language & Literature 2012,

Sigur Center 2011 Korean Language Fellow, Sogang University, South Korea

Korea: 2011 Summer Fellows: Saying Goodbye

In just the past 3 months, my conversational skills in Korean had increased tremendously thanks to the program that I was in. I agree with Caleb Dependahl in that I highly recommend people who want to learn Korean to take it at Sogang University in order to improve their speaking skills.

And now the time has come to say goodbye to my classmates. They definitely made my experience in Korea very unique and special. I will miss those times that we studied very hard in memorizing dialogues and trying out restaurants and dessert places in the area. We had a farewell dinner last Wednesday and ended the night Korean style by going to a "noraebang", which is a karaoke room. In a "noraebang", you have a private room with disco lights and musical instruments that you can bang with such as tambourines. We also were able to eat ice cream for free; however, not all places give out free ice cream. We only payed for 2 hours but they gave us about 30 minutes more to sing. Each hour was equivalent to about $24. We had a big group but typically each hour in a noraebang is about $13 or even less. It's better to go in the daytime because it's cheaper and often times they'll add more minutes for free.

In the book "Korea Unmasked" by Won-bok Rhie, it said that "noraebang" came to Korea around the 1990s and appeared in Japan in the 1980s. So noraebang is fairly a recent phenomenon in Korea, and there are at least one or two on everyblock and sometimes there is a microphone projected outside of the place to lure in customers. They'll choose a room to advertise, but from my experience by being caught off guard by walking past one, they usually choose the room with the worst singers.

One of my favorite experiences that I had with my classmates was going to a Korean pop concert about a month and a half ago. Famous k-pop stars such as 2pm, F(x), 4minute, No Brain and much more came out to sing. The crowd consisted of overly excited middle school kids holding up signs of their favorite groups and families. If you like catchy dance music, then you'll love k-pop. The concert was free which is always a good thing. It's hard to catch a free show like this because they usually put it together the very last minute. One of my classmates who is into k-pop was on top of things when it came to k-pop concerts so we were able to check it out.

One thing that I'll miss about Korea is their coffee shops. There alot of cute and unique French-style coffee shops. Alot of the shops are 3 or even 4 stories high and is filled with people on the weekends. I will miss drinks that I could find only in Korea such as iced sweet potato latte. I have been desperately trying to find a place that sells sweet potato latte in VA and Breeze Bakery in Annandale, VA sells it, thank goodness!! I'd have to say that one of the most unique cafes that I had ever been to was going to a cat cafe. It's a cafe but you can play with cats at the same time. Don't worry dog lovers, there are also dog cafes around. At the cat cafe that I went to, we had to pay $7 as an entrance fee and we got one drink free. The selection wasn't too bad, and I ordered an iced caramel macchiato. There was a list of rules that they showed us, and one was that we were not allowed to hold the cats. They had pictures of them on the wall with their names and ages.

I am very thankful to have given this opportunity to learn Korean and travel there once more. I definitely made so many memories and discovered new things about the culture this time around.

Susie Greenbaum
MA Speech and Language Pathology 2013
Sigur Center 2011 Korean Language Fellow
Sogang Unviersity, South Korea