You saw my son in the video about the temple. He was reading my blog and noticed the questions from Ms. Youngberg’s class. He decided to answer some of them himself. He did such a nice job in the comment section that I thought everyone should see what he wrote in the main blog. The rest of this post is from my son. He even included some Korean characters. at the bottom of the post, I included some photos from a store in Seoul called Kakao, sort of like our Disney store with popular toys. To read about these characters from the photos, go here: Kakao Friends.

—————————————–

영버그 선생님의 학생 여러분, 안녕하세요!

That says “Hello, Ms. Youngberg’s 4th grade class!”

This is Mark, Ms. B’s son in Seoul Korea. Right now it’s lunchtime Tuesday here in Seoul, but the Vikings are playing (they’re winning!) on Monday Night Football right now! How can it be daytime here when it’s nighttime in Minnesota? Well, Korea is on the other side of the planet! So when the sun is shining on Korea, it’s nighttime in Minnesota! If you try shining a flashlight on a ball, maybe you can see how part of the ball is in a shadow. That’s basically what’s happening on the Earth all the time!

Anyway, my mom answered your questions but I wanted to say something too.

“How long has your son been living in Korea? ”
Well, when I was in 5th grade at Highland Elementary, I had a chance to learn how to speak some words in Russian at a weekend activity at school. I thought that was pretty fun to speak another language and be able to talk to some other people I could meet in the world. Then when I went to Scott Highlands, I took Spanish, and it was REALLY fun because there are some Spanish language TV stations on in the Twin Cities, and after a while I could watch those TV programs and actually understand it! And, from those stations, I could understand how other people in the world lived their lives differently, and thought very differently, compared to Americans and Minnesotans. Well, I love America and Minnesota, but It’s really fun and amazing to learn about how other people live and think! Sometimes you can find fun and cool things that don’t even exist in America! When I went to college, I made friends with a lot of Asian Americans, and many of them were Korean. My Korean friend was born in America and he really wanted to learn to speak his parents’ language, so he took a Korean class, and invited me to take it too. So I did! And I have been speaking and writing and typing Korean since then!

Korea is very interesting. In some ways, they have things here that come from America, for example there are pizza restaurants and they love baseball. Students in 4th grade until middle school love to play Minecraft. However, there are many things that are not in America. For example, almost no one here likes American football. (Actually almost no one cares about American football outside of America!) Also, going to the doctor is WAYYY cheaper than in the United States. And here… students in 5th grade usually have about 3-4 hours of homework every night. And many of them go to after-school academies to study math and English for another 3-4 hours after school. They study like crazy and they are too tired! And no time for PS4! Anyway, there are many things I miss about America. But, it’s really fun and interesting to be in another country!

“How long does it take for Yoon to walk to school each day?”

One interesting thing about Yoon’s walk to school is that she never has to cross a big street to get there. In this part of Seoul, which is called Gangnam (maybe some of you know the song called Gangnam Style? It’s named for this area!)… there are really huge buildings and tons of people, but the blocks are really huge compared to in Minnesota or even downtown Minneapolis. If you walked just two blocks, at a normal speed, it would take you about 45 minutes! The streets at the outside of the blocks are very busy and there are cars driving very fast, with usually a 6-lane street. Inside the huge blocks, there are smaller streets with no sidewalk, where people walk on the same street where cars are. You can see in the picture of Yoon and her father that they are walking on one of these streets and there is no sidewalk. And at that moment there are no cars. So, on the outside of the block, it’s really busy, but as you get closer and closer to the center of the huge block, it’s very quiet and peaceful. Maybe you live in a place where your parents have to drive you to the store, or to a restaurant. Well, in Seoul, you really never have to drive because there are stores and restaurants within 5 minutes from your front door. This is pretty cool and convenient… but also there are TONS of people everywhere and the city is very dense. Almost no one has a house, and almost all people live in very tall apartment buildings. It’s hard to find nature around here… that’s one of the things I miss the most about life in America!

I’m glad you guys are interested in other parts of the world! Actually the most interesting places are outside of the USA because they are so different from what you would expect! Many of you have parents who were born outside of the United States, or maybe you were, and that is just awesome! I hope you can share some interesting things about that country and culture with your classmates. And I hope everyone has a chance to try some Korean barbecue, and other foods from different countries… the taste can be unexpected but it’s really delicious! Actually there are some Korean restaurants in Eagan!

Have a good day, everyone.

마크 (Mark)