You Only Go Once (Y.O.G.O.)
Cheryl and Eileen explore different topics around the limited time we have on this earth to create a fully layered life. Because...You Only Go Once!
You Only Go Once (Y.O.G.O.)
Crossing Cultural Bridges with Tara Siano: A Journey of Learning and Living
When the melodies of K-pop first enchanted Tara Siano, little did she imagine that this beat would lead her on an odyssey to the heart of Seoul, pursuing a master’s degree in Korean culture and communication. Our latest episode chronicles Tara's gripping saga of adaptation and personal evolution, as she navigates the thrills and spills of life in a dazzling metropolis during the pandemic's peak. From quarantine conundrums to cultural epiphanies, Tara's reflections on building a community in the midst of towering skyscrapers and teeming streets are as heartening as they are enlightening.
Imagine mastering a language as intricate as Korean, where every syllable is a step closer to the soul of a nation. Tara shares with us the vertiginous highs of decoding the script and the trials of achieving conversational fluency, painting a vivid picture of her linguistic rollercoaster. Her anecdotes serve as a tapestry of tips and triumphs for language learners everywhere, providing a glimpse into the delicate dance of immersion while maintaining a sense of self among a sea of non-native tongues.
As Tara turns the page on her academic chapter, she looks out onto a horizon rich with travel aspirations and cross-cultural connections. Her stories weave through historic Kyoto streets, animate the festivities of Korean holidays, and recount her plans to repay her parents' unwavering support with the gift of globetrotting. Each tale is a patch in the quilt of Tara's journey, showcasing how deep immersion in a culture leaves indelible marks on our identity and propels us toward a future infused with gratitude and boundless curiosity. Join us as we traverse the landscapes of learning, living, and longing in a world that's beautifully smaller than we think.
Hello, I'm Tara Ciano. I hope when you look back at your life, you have the chance to experience another culture, because you only go once.
Speaker 2:Hello friends, welcome to another episode of you Only Go Once. I am Aileen Grimes and I am here with my amazing and wonderful friend and co-host, cheryl Cantafio, this podcast. We explore stories around the limited time we have on this earth to create a fully layered life, and we are so excited to have the guest we have on tonight. I just can't wait. I have so many questions, but I will let Cheryl introduce before we jump in.
Speaker 3:Cheryl, to you. Thanks, eileen. Tara Siano is a recent graduate of Yonsei Graduate School of International Studies, with a master's degree in Korean culture and communications. While studying in Seoul, south Korea, she focused on Hallyu 2.0, also known as the digital spread of Korean media, along with East Asian communication strategies and technologies. Currently, tara has relocated back to the United States and has a communications specialist position at Guided Wealth Management, handling external communications. Everybody, please, welcome Tara Siano. Tara, it's so good to have you here again. Welcome back, oh, my goodness. So just for the audience's knowledge, eileen, tara and I used to Korea to get her degree. So, tara, what was the impetus behind your interests with Korean culture and communications?
Speaker 1:Everyone always asks but it's like really long and deep. So I'll tell you kind of like the quick version. But basically ever since I was really young I was really interested in like East Asian cultures. Like I remember like age appropriate things, like I really liked anime from Japan and I learned a lot about Chinese tea ceremony my mom and I used to go and and things like that. So just from when I was young I had like the like interest and even like in high school I would write papers about like the Chinese Civil War instead of like what my other classmates are studying, like American Wars and things it just always. And then I kept liking things like like I love K-pop. Most people know that about me within like five minutes of meeting me.
Speaker 1:But I also went to a communications conference in Chicago when I was in undergrad and while I was there I listened to the Korean American Communications Association's presentations and they had a lot of different Korean scholars presenting and they just seemed like really far ahead of the American presenters, I felt. And actually Korea has a higher literacy rate and a higher Wi-Fi accessibility rate than the US and their people are much more adaptive to new technologies. So because of that they tend to like. When LinkedIn drops a new possibility on the platform, maybe, like they tried Reels for a little bit, koreans will use that immediately. They'll just go for it, but a lot of American businesses will hold back and wait to see what other people do. So I think it's it lends itself to studying these technologies better.
Speaker 1:And anyway, when I wrote my thesis in undergrad, all of the professors of research I was pulling. They were all Korean names. So I was was like it seems like this is the best place to go to study. Plus I love k-pop, plus asian languages. Uh, like hangul is the easiest to learn that the korean letter writing system. So I decided to learn that one because I didn't want to have to learn katakana or like Mandarin, like it was too difficult. It's really easy so, comparatively. So that's why I picked Korea.
Speaker 2:That's amazing. So how long ago was it that you came back?
Speaker 1:I only came back like a little less than a month ago.
Speaker 2:Wow, wow, wow, and we were talking a little bit before the before we started recording. But what, what has that been like? I mean, what was it like to go there and transition, and then what's it been like then to transition back?
Speaker 1:So when I first went, it was COVID and they had a like, if you, if you enter the country, there's a mandatory. It was two weeks when I was signing up to go, but it changed to 10 days like a week before I went. So I had like 10 days of quarantine in like an Airbnb and then, um, I was supposed to go right to Seoul, but instead I ended up um having like three extra days, and Incheon is the city that you fly into and um, first of all, I had to like get in a taxi, um in quarantine, to go to like a COVID testing site. I also couldn't get any food because I thought it would be easy, but it wasn't. So my neighbor at home is Korean and she had to like send food for me to my Airbnb so I wouldn't starve. Oh, wow.
Speaker 1:Oh my goodness, my Airbnb so I wouldn't starve. I had to find a way to like hail a taxi when I'm not allowed to leave my house except for my COVID check-in. So it was really scary. And then the first day I was allowed to leave I was like scared to even buy anything because I just was anxious at that point. Like what if I try to buy like this Onigiri or well, it's not Onigiri in Korea, it's Samgak Kimbab. It's like a rice triangle, like I want the rice triangle for lunch. And I was like what if my card declines and I have no money in Korea? Like I don't even want to know if that happens, like I'm not going to buy it because I don't want to know. I don't want to know yet if there's a problem. So it was really stressful.
Speaker 1:And then the next three weeks I lived in a new Airbnb while I was apartment hunting, but this time in Seoul. And like, when I entered the city I drove through this area called Hongdae, which now I love. It's like my favorite part in Korea and like I would go there every weekend to have fun with my friends. But it's like a really busy kind of nightlife area and there's like this main road that's really fast, and I just saw so many people outside and all these like stalls selling like hair accessories and I don't know like other tchotchkes, and I was like so stressed out I couldn't leave like 24 hours.
Speaker 1:But then, well, actually I won't say it was so great at first, like I remember there's this one restaurant and every time I pass it I remember sitting in there and crying because they play a lot of like slow Troye Sivan songs. I would always just like lose it. But eventually I found an apartment and then I found like a church and I met my best friend from Korea. Her name is Emma, she's actually from the Netherlands and like yeah, we met really early on and so like ever since we've just done everything together like she's the best. So, yeah, mostly because of her. Actually, we always tell each other like if it wasn't for you, I would have left, but we were like close right off the bat.
Speaker 2:It's amazing how those relationships can definitely make a difference. I've said that to Cheryl about a lot of things before, but really having those social supports is incredibly helpful and when you don't have, I mean not the same obviously. But you know, I have moved many times, even, you know, in adulthood, and you know living, lived in Washington for a while and then moved down to San Francisco Bay area and then moved over to Philadelphia, pennsylvania, and like to uproot yourself, right and no, nobody is already a huge thing to do, let alone with a very new language and you know cultural differences and things like that. Like that's a huge shock to the system and I now, having understood more sensory things, like to have all of that input that you're seeing right as you're in this. Like that's a a lot to deal with and that's just a lot to even try to like process what's happening. I would have also probably just stayed inside I needed, like I needed a reset.
Speaker 1:I was like there's a lot of you know, also like neon signs and like, like, like korea's very built um, like vertically. So sure really tall buildings with like many stores going up, so it's like layered, so you're sitting in one place, but it's like a whole like town around you, just on one block corner.
Speaker 1:So yeah, it was intimidating at first but I love it now like it's my favorite, and my family actually visited and they had me as their guide so they loved. Like they they're kind of rebranding the area it's called the red road and it's always been a red road that you can walk down and go to all the like little Hongdae shops and the karaoke rooms and stuff like that. But yeah, my family, like they loved going out on the red road and like going shopping and seeing everything and getting street food. So yeah, I highly hongdae area but okay, it was scary at first yeah, no.
Speaker 3:Did you find it more difficult to write in korean versus speak in korean, or was it the reverse?
Speaker 1:the reverse. It's so easy to write actually okay, writing in Writing in Korean is very easy. Reading in Korean is very easy I mean spelling aside when I forget how to spell words. Sure, even speaking is not so bad, because Hangul is sometimes on lists of some of humanity's best inventions because of how fast the literacy rate improved in korea after its invention. And the reason why it's so awesome is because the letters are shaped like the way that your mouth is shaped when you make the sound. Oh yeah, so um, like the m is kind of a square, because your like lips make almost a square shape when you make a sound.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And yeah, so on and so forth. The N sound is like Nian. It's like your tongue kind of touches the top of your teeth when you make that sound. So it's shaped this way and yeah, anyway, it's really interesting, so it's really easy to pronounce it. There's like people who say you can learn how to speak Korean out loud within like five minutes because it's really fast to learn the letters, but the listening is impossible for me. Like, even taxi drivers try to talk to me and I'm like, can you say that again? Like, or I say like slow, I need you to slow down.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean it's. I just just that's what anyone learning learning English Like. I can't even imagine that being a second language to come into and try to get. I don't even understand the complexities of it. Sometimes, luckily, like being a native speaker obviously has put me at an advantage for that. But I mean, if you which, which is which, like that's just mean Sure, so mean Yep, right, and there's a lot of beauty with it too. But geez, louise, it is. It is a complex one to learn. So, yeah, I just and it's such an amazing gift to be able to speak multiple languages Did you go so when you were going over there? Did you go through a program to learn the language? Or how? How did you sort of approach that?
Speaker 1:with um. Okay, there's like a program called topic guide and I'm gonna be honest with you, it was kind of a bad omen, but I did really poorly on my topic. Is that it's test of proficiency in korean t-o-p-i-k. Oh, okay, okay, um, I took my topic exam before I went and I did not do well. I really, um, like I kind of I like I've never experienced like choking during a test before, kind of you see someone freezes and their hand is just shaking, but that really happened to me, like, so I did do well on that test, but anyway I was.
Speaker 1:I felt like I could read some and it's true, even when I first landed, I would be in the convenience store and I knew the food at the convenience store based on the wrapper, what type of flavor it was, or something like that. Sure, or I'm going down the street and I'm like that's a pharmacy, that's a grocery store. I could read enough to get by and I could say hello and thank you and things, but I couldn't. It was like survival, korean, not conversation. For my major you have to get to the topic scores out of seven, so you have to get to four to graduate. So I got to four, but I stopped studying my last semester because it's hard to like do my graduate research and learn korean at the same time and also like have a job. So I am not destitute.
Speaker 3:I was like I have to pause small things, yeah yeah, I would imagine, as you know, we worked with, um uh, folks from Japan and it was always interesting to see them pause and then answer a question, because we would ask a question in English and how it was explained to me was they would hear it in their language and then they would translate it into English and then they would say it. You know, they would give the answer in English. There was always like a small delay for people just coming over to the United States and I, I would imagine it's the same way. Right, you're translating. You know you're hearing something in Korean and you're like what does that mean? And you're you're translating that in your native language and then you've got to respond in Korean and it's probably like I mean, I know, and this is such a lame story, but I was in Paris for like five days and I felt like it felt very claustrophobic to me initially because everybody spoke French and I massacred the language, but I still tried to do it.
Speaker 3:But I remember being on their Metro and somebody was speaking English and I thought, oh, say more, please say more, because you miss it. Like there's sometimes where you miss it. Did you have those moments where you missed hearing um.
Speaker 1:You know your own language there's kind of like a phenomenon that happens where, like when you first move there, like you hear other english speakers and you're like a possible friend and you get really excited but, then it's not just me.
Speaker 1:It's like a, like a psychological thing where, like immigrants if you count me as an immigrant, I'm like a student visa holder, but you know what I mean they tend to start avoiding people of their own kind once they feel like they've acclimated to the culture.
Speaker 1:So by the end, if I heard English, I was like they better not be looking at me, like I do not want to help them get wherever they're going. Interesting, yeah, yeah, my day. But it's like, um, kind of like a, a survivalist thing where you're trying to fit in and also, um, it goes in with that idea, like, if you've suffered something, you're not empathetic to those who are going through the same thing as you, because you're like I got out on my own, like you figure it out anyway. But yeah, at first I would hear english and I would really want to go talk to those people, but they would like avoid me and then I think I probably ended up that same. I really tried not to be, but like, sometimes I would be like no, I'm really trying to get somewhere, like I'm not on vacation, yeah, right right, so it would just depend but like um, there are like more tourist areas in seoul.
Speaker 1:And if I was there and there are like more touristy areas in Seoul, and if I was there and there were like girls next to me like talking about their trip, I'd be like you have to go to this place and like my favorite spots. So it just would, I think, more depend on like what I was doing. If I'm like trying to go to work, it's one thing, but if I'm hanging out at a cafe with my friend, then I'm more excited to talk to new people.
Speaker 3:Sure, yeah, sure.
Speaker 2:That makes sense. Did you always have the I don't know, I mean like to go you went by yourself, right, you didn't know anybody there. Have you always sort of had that independent mindset streak of like wanting to do things like I mean like that takes a lot of courage to to go out somewhere completely new by yourself and explore this whole other new place? Has that, has that been sort of a lifelong thing for you? Or like what got you to even being able to feel like you were ready to go do something like that?
Speaker 1:able to feel like you were ready to go do something like that. Actually, when I was in like high school, I went to summer camp for like a week and I've never had a migraine before or since. But I was so stressed out that like I thought my head was splitting apart and I could only like lay on my mom's lap and cry. I was really scared to go to summer camp. But this summer camp they purposely like want a lot of surprises so they don't tell you much about what you're doing. But my mom had been at the campus like a like a adult guest once. So she told me like ABC, like exactly what would happen each night and I I ended up going. But yeah, I was like never one even like vacation. I was like, can we not stay home?
Speaker 1:But then in college I really wanted a study abroad experience and my friend Lisa had done this thing called semester at sea and it's where, if you've watched like Suite Life on deck, it's just like that where when we're at sea we study and then when we're in a port we can like explore a new country. In a port we can like explore a new country, and I didn't know anybody on that trip and actually I was really scared, like even for like a week I was like really anxious and shaking like whenever I like just just paying for it that week, give them the money. I was like really freaking out. But there was this girl in college who I didn't like and she said, oh, tara's never going on that. Like can you imagine like someone like Tara doing a trip like that, as if? And I was like, ah, that's it, that's right, challenge accepted. So I did.
Speaker 1:And then ever since I've been like once, once you're at sea with no, you can't, there's no Wi-Fi or like phone plan in the middle of the ocean, so like you're really cut off. So even like when I was planning to go to the next country on that trip, like I couldn't really plan that much because the only thing we had access to was Wikipedia. So you just kind of like land and have to find like a cafe with internet and like a like Myanmar or something and then make your plans or you have to like do it while you're traveling the last country. So anyway, after that I'm like, whatever I can do, anything like that was, I did that like what's the next thing?
Speaker 2:oh, that's incredible. Yeah, I love that. I always love the idea of that the semester at sea. I just get very seasick. So, um, I'm glad you enjoyed it and um, like I said, I would love to do it, but I know that I would just be terribly sick the whole time.
Speaker 1:Um, not do it. You could do the same trip for like a third of the price, without semester at sea.
Speaker 2:So which is totally fair, um, what? So, of all the places that you got to visit during that, what was, what was the most interesting for you, or what was sort of the, the one that you know sticks in your memory the most?
Speaker 1:um, I always say, like my first favorite was japan, because I watch a lot of anime. So when I was there, like I was in kyoto and I watched a lot of Kyoto animations, shows and they, they do something called rotoscoping, which is where they like take a picture and then trace it so they can have the back anime like Sure.
Speaker 1:And so like I would be on the train and I would be like I know this train, that was really exciting. Or like my favorite show at the time is the show called haiku. It's a volleyball show and, um, they eat like meat buns after practice and I was walking and I saw like a meat bun stand and I was like we have to eat there. So that one I really liked. But then my number two and number three are I liked Vietnam and I actually really liked Myanmar, which is I'm really sad about what's happening there now. But yeah, vietnam was great because it's really cheap. Massages and spa care, okay, okay, yeah, and I did a lot of art tours in Vietnam. So I think I like that.
Speaker 2:Gotcha, okay, I've heard amazing things in Vietnam. So I think I like that, gotcha, okay, I've heard amazing things about Vietnam. Um, like, my brother and his wife went at one point and they just had an amazing time, so, um, they recommended it. I, uh, I also enjoy some anime and my son is very into anime as well. So, um, japan is definitely on his list of places that he really wants to go and visit. And I, I mean, like I don't know a lot, I don't, but I, you know, I used to. I grew up watching Dragon Balls and I always liked, like Sailor Moon and stuff like that. So, but anyway, yeah, so that's definitely on our list, cause he was like, and like he loves Pokemon, so, like, wants to go see where all of this stuff is from and, um, yeah, I think it'd be a lot of fun to take him at some point too. So that's on our list for traveling.
Speaker 2:Uh, so, so, with your, with your studies I don't know what's sort of the having now lived somewhere and you're back for just a month, right, what? What do you hope to take from that? Obviously, the education that you got from there. Um, but what are some of the things you think you might be maybe translating from, from that experience into what you might want to do in the future, or, um, obviously you don't have to have a plan that's the worst thing to ask somebody, I think but I know what were some of your learnings just from from being there. Um, and what are you bringing back?
Speaker 1:Um, I really like being in an international community. Not everyone is great at like international, like cross-cultural, like communications and relationship building, so I really it's more like a soft skill that I learned at that school and on semester at sea, but I would really like to be able in the future with my work Like I work in communication, so it seems like possible but I love to help like bridge countries together, especially as the world's becoming more globalized. But I'd really like to do that also in a really like thoughtful and ethical manner, because something more like academic I studied is how globalization like affects um, like they they like to say like central and periphery states differently. So, yeah, I would really like to use my skills to benefit everybody, I guess, and have a like more harmonious world, at least my, my little part of it. So, yeah, that's something I'd like to do. And then I would really like I think I lost my train of thought, but I worked with kids when I was there, so I just really care about young minds too, I guess.
Speaker 1:And it's really interesting like how kids are different in every country and like they all have really different struggles.
Speaker 2:So I don't know some.
Speaker 1:Some part of me is thinking like maybe I should work for a nonprofit like a global health organization or something to like help kind of remove some of the difficulties that I see with kids all around the world. I don't know about that. That's kind of very niche goal to move forward towards, but it would be a really nice fit for me as well.
Speaker 3:Sure, and I could see you working with kids too, like I think you have. You know, you have that energy and that spirit, and also you know the fact that you can, you know, talk up a storm about K-pop and you know, like all the anime stuff they would be like I'm hanging with her.
Speaker 1:This sounds great that happens all the time at work. Like I know the names of the members of this band called TXT and the kids are like really, and then we talk about TXT forever. There's this girl group, it's called New Jeans and they have a song called Super Shy. That was like super big. I mean it's still really big, but like I know the dance to Super Shy and when it comes it comes on all the time. So whenever it comes on, all the like seven year old girls are like dancing and I join them and they were like what?
Speaker 3:So cute, that's great. So when you were in Korea and you're going through your study and you're going through the process of learning the language and understanding the culture and meeting friends and all of that, was there anything that was for lack of a better term was there anything that was like ah, I'm in the right spot, like, was there any particular experience that you were like yep, this feels good?
Speaker 1:Yes, I think I would be remiss to talk about my experience and not mention like my closest like family friends. I would say, now they're, my friend calls me her my mom. She's like, because my friend calls me her my mom, she's like, I'm your mom, tara, but she's really close to my age, but anyway, yeah, so I worked at this company called Carrot World and they do like programming for kids, but just in English.
Speaker 1:So if you're learning English, you can practice in a really casual like environment, like we go to museums or we do crafts, and they can practice english without like doing memorization study yeah it's like a soft, practical skill, kind of yeah, um, but anyway, one of my co-workers was her name is putam and her son is wani and they like are such a safe, happy place for me. So, yeah, whenever, like, um, whatever, like we would be together, I would feel like everything was fine and it's. It's actually kind of funny because she started working at my company like the same week that I met my now ex-boyfriend. But, um, like, basically I met Wani, the five-year-old who loves me, and Jahun, my ex-boyfriend, at the same time and they would always be competing. So, like on white day, which is like kind of like valentine's day, like Wani gave me chocolate first. So I'm like Jahun, you better get me chocolate, because Wani and then like oh my gosh when a cherry blossoms bloomed.
Speaker 1:I happened to give a tour of this one park with wani, so we saw them together first, and I'm like you better see these with me, jahoon. And then um for my birthday. Like I actually tutor wani on that day, so like he gave me a present and I'm like you better have a present plan for me, jahoon. He just would get eked out like a little bit by wani. So, anyway, like I'm hoping they'll come visit me in the us, but I stayed with them like my last week there. So they were like a really like nice. They like came to my graduation, um, her and her husband.
Speaker 1:And also just a funny note my favorite k-pop idol is kim taehyung. Like most people know that about me, but, um, her husband's name, coincidentally, is also kim taehyung, so like whenever she would buy dinner she'd hold up his card and be like kim taehyung is treating or like I was. I was um texting my friend like oh, don't worry, kim taehyung is driving me to the airport and she's like Kim Taehyung is driving you to the airport and I'm like I wish that one, but no, my friend, yeah, anyway. And then I also have like some other good friends, like I have like students from school like Binnie and Eileen and yeah, like I think, and even like when I was leaving I was saying goodbye to all the cafe workers on my street, because I have like four cafes that I like kind of go between.
Speaker 1:Koreans drink three cups of coffee on average per day. So I'm like drinking a lot of coffee and going to a lot of cafes on there. But they all like gave me presents, like they were all sad that I was leaving, like one of them even cried. So I really felt like at home on my street, I guess.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I love that yeah, I even have a fishmonger.
Speaker 1:Oh, because I live next to a really old style like market and I would always buy my fish from him and like we took a picture together, I'm like I'm leaving you Like no.
Speaker 2:That's great, like no that's this is not surprised me at all that you would have just developed these relationships with people and made such an impact on them like you were. You were just such a light, I mean even when. I mean like we didn't even work in the same you know area or department, but you were just always such a light whenever we got to to interact and it just it's. For you to have built those connections while you're there is not surprising in the least and just so wonderful to hear too well, that's really nice.
Speaker 1:I like I felt really surprised actually when I was leaving about like the people who would be sad that I was going. But, um, yeah, I'm hoping, like I was always like it's not my last time there, like I will definitely go again, obviously. And yeah, putum's always like, come back, you can stay in my guest room, like yeah.
Speaker 2:I love that.
Speaker 1:So how long were?
Speaker 2:you there? How long was the entire stay for you?
Speaker 1:Like a little over two years.
Speaker 2:Okay, wow, yeah, that's amazing. I, I don't know, cheryl, you haven't have you. You've never gone anywhere done any like traveling like that, right?
Speaker 3:no, no not not anywhere, for you know, if it was a week that was lot. So that's two years is amazing. Yeah, you know I applaud you because you really followed your passion and you really went for it. And you know, I did take a sneak peek at your Instagram and you did have a moment to kind of say, hey, I'm really proud of myself. So I think it's a lovely, it's a lovely post. So would you mind sharing with everybody what you walked away from, what you walked away with rather in terms of academics, because I think it's really impressive.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I have my master's in Korean. Well, it's technically called Korean Studies, but, like my branch of it was korean culture and communications and with that I can now speak conversational korean, which is like a huge deal to me personally, because I've never had strong language skills, like I always would get my worst grades. Like I tried to learn french I don't know anything now in high school and then I switched from french because I was so bad at it in college and took Spanish and I I remember like like studying the hardest I've ever studied and getting like an A minus, which is not like me. So it was like really, really amazing for me personally to learn Korean. And then I also like I'm really proud of myself because I like maintain two part time jobs while I was working there, so I didn't go into debt because of it, which is like a really big deal for me because I have a lot of financial anxiety. So I'm really proud of myself for that, because it was not easy to do both at the same time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I was able to learn from some like really amazing professors. Like some of them advise like the president in Korea. And then one of my professors is amazing. He's like one of Korea's only five chess masters and he has like a celebrity citizenship there and he has like a million world records. His linkedin isn't gosh. So every semester I'm like I must take a dr high on class, like I need to learn from him. So and um plus, I was able to make like international friends from like all different corners of the world and just like in general, I think it I'm pretty proud of myself because korea is very homogenous. So, like anytime I left the house I just looked completely different from everyone and like, even if I'd been living on that street longer than anybody else, like I well, not anybody, but a lot of students live in my area, so even if I've been living here longer than them, I look like the odd one out. So yeah, just like acclimating. In those ways I was really proud of myself.
Speaker 1:And yeah, and I'm also proud, I made so many halabuchi friends in the park. That's grandpa, grandpa friends, because I live next to um this like like memorial park, um like uh, it's like donglimun park and it has a like prison, like kind of like a like sad, but like a korean concentration camp that the japanese had set up when they invaded. So, anyway, there's a lot of um, there's a lot of like older korean people who frequent that park and like either kind of reminisce on all of the different wars that have been fought in Korea or they because also like during the Korean War, there were like different like free kind of thinkers kept in this prison. So, yeah, there's a lot of veterans there. So, anyway, but my, my neighbor told me to just like smile at all of them and bow, and so I did, and then now they give me free candy, which maybe I shouldn't accept, but I'm still glad we made friends.
Speaker 3:That's very sweet.
Speaker 1:That is so sweet.
Speaker 3:I love it. I love it, oh my goodness. So, Tara, when you returned to the US, what was the first thing you did?
Speaker 1:Well, that's a good question. I mostly went straight to sleep Because it's like 26 hours to get from where I was staying in Seoul to my house I think like 18 of those. So it was really exhausting. But this time I'd actually been home for like a week for christmas, so there wasn't like anything that felt like really pressing, like I have to have this now I will say I really missed mexican food, so mexican food was really high on the list.
Speaker 1:And also, um, like seeing my grandma and seeing my best friend here. Well, one of them, her name is Kim. Actually, her first name is Kim, her last name is Kim. So Kim Kim and she came to my house and we ended up both falling asleep. I was jet lagged and it was after her work week and she like well.
Speaker 1:So she just passed out and me too. I'm like neither of us could wake up. So yeah, I guess seeing a few people. But the last time I came home I was so sad because I wanted a spicy chicken sandwich from Chick-fil-A like so unbelievably bad, like I would be dreaming about it. But after spending like two years in Korea, the spicy chicken sandwich is like not at all spicy to me. I literally thought it was the normal crispy sandwich and was like this is the spicy one. So anyway, it's ruined. But yeah, that was the other thing I was really craving.
Speaker 3:That's great.
Speaker 2:Do you like the spice now Like, do you miss that from being over there?
Speaker 1:Yeah, because right now I'm staying with my parents because, like, I just moved home and I'm looking for a fine position, but neither of them really eat spicy food and they also don't really like pickled food very much, which is kimchi yeah, kimchi, but like they have many types of kimchi.
Speaker 1:So there's like the typical cabbage one you're thinking of, but, um, like I like a radish one a lot, and there's like a green onion one, like there's so many, and there's like white kimchi, red kimchi, like, etc. And even their pickles are a lot different. It's like a bread and butter pickle, but, yeah, I really miss pickled things and I really miss spicy things. But it hasn't been too long and my, my, my neighbor actually is Korean, so like we'll eat together a lot. She really likes spicy food, but she, she's scared to give me spicy food and I'm like, no, jen, I can do it now.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's funny. Oh, my goodness. Um, so I'm curious, cause you were talking about how there's like a Valentine's Day. That's over there. What are some of the other holidays or you know things that you got to learn about or celebrate while you were there that were obviously different from what we have in the United States?
Speaker 1:Yes, so they have like some cute ones like they have. They have Valentine's Day and I can't remember exactly, but I think it's like girls give boys chocolate on Valentine's Day I made my ex-boyfriend chocolate, I just can't remember which day it was but and the girls usually make it. Then a month later, on March 14th, the boys reciprocate and they give white chocolate, usually, or like a gummy fruity thing, to the girls, if they don't make it, because they're losers. And then another month later, april 14th, they have black day and there's this korean noodle dish called jajangmyeon and it's made with um, like black bean, kind of like okay, kind of like very creamy. Lo mein is the best thing I can compare it to. Okay, but it's black. And so the single people cry and eat jajangmyeon alone on that day. Okay, got it. We hadn't broken up by that point, but I did eat jajangmyeon that day because it's like the big thing to do sure. And then there's a, there's a snack, it's called pepero, and they and they're like like Pocky, pocky, pocky sticks, oh sure.
Speaker 1:Yep, yep, yeah. And on 11-11, it's Pepero Day, because it looks like four little Pepero sticks and yeah, my friend gave me Pepero and I remember being like, well, I saw the Pepero on sale today. Like every convenience store had like and like get this and like big gift sets, but yeah, and then then they have something called two sock and it's like Korean Thanksgiving and you go home and usually you like it's it's for the veneration of your like ancestors, sometimes like Christian families if they're like monotheistic, because it's a little Koreans. Korea has a culture of multiplicity with religion. So even if you think of it as a monotheistic religion, they might practice like a few, but Christians tend to not want to do that. So, anyway, it's debatable if it's secular or not like, but regardless, um, the they have this thanksgiving day and they eat like some typical cultural foods.
Speaker 1:So I got to have that with one of my friends, um, her name's atira and she lives in a hanuk, so that was like a traditional house, so that was really cool. And then, um, also they have a new, it's called solal and it's a new year's celebration, and then I didn't really participate in that one because I don't have any. That that's when they bow to their grandparents and get money and I don't have any grandparents in korea, gotcha, yeah. But last one was actually buddha's birthday, which I went to the the lantern celebration for buddha's birthday they have like a parade, so yeah, anyway, there's a lot of cool, interesting holidays there yeah, I just I find that stuff amazing and fascinating, and to be able to take part in that and be a part of that while you're living in that is just incredible yeah, I really thes were amazing.
Speaker 1:Like it was really cool to see them walking down the street and all that. The Korean traditional outfit is called a hanok. Okay, oh, my gosh, I'm sorry that's the house Hanbok. Anyway, it was really cool because they all wear their hanboks and hold their lanterns, so that that holiday was really excellent to see. And actually the second year I was there I forgot it was Buddha's birthday. And where I go hiking I usually hike through like a temple, because temples are usually really high on the mountain. So I accidentally went to like a really big ceremony with like singing and incense and I'm like, let me get out. I don't mean to interrupt, but yeah.
Speaker 3:Oh man, that's funny what an amazing experience you had. I mean, it's I don't know. I hope you can find a way to kind of like decompress and really reflect on the time, because it's, you know, we've obviously asked you a few questions, but you know, two years is a long time to be anywhere and to experience such, you know, such a different culture from, from the United States and everything like that. It's, and it sounds like the things that you participated in were absolutely beautiful and I love that you had all these great experiences with people from all different ages and it's just, yeah, it just it just sounds like such, it's such a great vibe. It just, it's just a beautiful thing that you've done. And I guess I'm going to hand it over to Eileen, because Eileen has a famous question that she asks all of our guests, because you've had quite an experience and you're kind of coming back, you know, to your hometown and figuring out some of the things. So, eileen, why don't you go ahead?
Speaker 2:and ask your famous question. Yeah, so you know, we kind of talked a little bit just in terms of what you're bringing back and you know what you're thinking about wanting to kind of do with that. But so this is happening. Right, it's a statement that we make. I make more specifically when I have fully committed in my heart to knowing that something is going to exist in this world. Right, it's a podcast, it's the book that I wrote. Like, I just know that, whatever it is, I have made this determination that something is going to be happening in my life. Um, whether from this experience or just how, now being back, being back, is there anything that you're feeling like is on your heart, that you know that this is going to be happening anytime in the near future, long future, any of that, but this is happening for Tara.
Speaker 1:That's a good question, because I feel so like adrift right now. I've had like such a clear goal that I was working towards and now I've graduated and completed it, but it's maybe it doesn't sound like a big goal for now, but I have two kind of two kind of small goals other than, like, getting a job and maybe being married one day or something. But, um, the small interim ones that I feel kind of more control over, I really want to go on. Well, I want to take my mom on a trip in canada. It's a, it's a train and you don't sleep on it, it's a sightseeing train, but it goes from um, uh, I, literally it goes from banff to vancouver and it looks amazing. It's very expensive to go on it, but, um, that is like one of that's dream. Number one is to go on this train, like and see. You get to see, like the canadian wilderness and if you go the right time of year, you can see salmon migrating and yeah, it looks gorgeous. So I would really like to do that.
Speaker 1:And my other goal where I'm like this is happening is, um, my poor father. He picked me up in Germany when I finished semester at sea and, like, if you know my dad, he's like Italian American, like, trust me, he has no interest in going to Germany. Like he is, like he knows what he likes and it's it's Italy and here. So anyway, and then he came and visited me in Korea. So I'm really grateful for him and I really want to take him to Italy. So as soon as I get a job, I'm making the savings account and, like I will be taking him.
Speaker 1:Like he has done too many stupid trips he doesn't want to go Well, he loved it, but like trips he doesn't really want to go on. So I'd like to on one he like that's been like a lifelong dream of his, especially cause my grandparents both immigrated from Italy when they were like kids. So I guess maybe their their parents did, but anyway they lived like like my grandpa was a tailor and had eight kids, so no money, and it's like a miracle that my dad like was able to work and study and get to the position he is now. But like for any of them to be able to travel internationally like based on their upcomings, like any of his siblings, it would be really incredible. So I really want to take him. Yeah, he probably doesn't need me to pay for him. He could, he could definitely pay for it himself, but I want to do it. It's like. It's like the, the, the principle, so yeah, that's happening that's lovely, that's really.
Speaker 2:Those are big, I mean those are big, that's not small no, not that they have to be big, but those are big, yeah. Or for people, maybe for some people that don't move all the way to South Korea, but those are big. Learn a language.
Speaker 1:Right, true, that's true. Thousands of dollars, like compared to. I had to stay for my tuition so it was like a lot more, but yeah, anyway, it's small compared to moving somewhere. I guess that's fair. Yeah, that's true, that's true.
Speaker 2:I've heard. So I'm. I live in Washington state and have been to Vancouver, love it dearly. I've heard Banff is just amazing, so I can't wait to see pictures and things of that trip happening and it sounds like something my son would be very interested in because he loves trains, so I might have to check that out.
Speaker 1:Or if you want to send me some stuff on that, I would love to see that, because that sounds amazing. There's a lot of options, because the one I'm thinking of is like a two day trip, but you could also do like much shorter trips for less for less. But the reason why it's very expensive is there's this like gold, platinum member or something like that, and they give you little canapes and like free drinks and like really fancy. So, yeah, that's why I'm like it has to be that one, like we're going. So I'm like oh, I need a job so I can pay for this, so we can go.
Speaker 3:That's so wonderful. Oh my goodness, tara, how do people connect with you? How can people connect with you?
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, my Instagram is probably the best way, although if you're Korean and you're listening, you could connect with me on Kakao. I'm Tara Siena, with no space on Kakao, but then on Instagram I'm Tara Gracie Lacey. My middle name is Grace and that's what my dad calls me Tara Grace Lacey.
Speaker 3:Lovely. All right, everyone. I can't believe we're at the hour with this, but, tara, it was a pleasure and I'm so glad we had the opportunity to catch up. We wish you continued success and travel adventures, and may the world be your oyster, because you have done so many things and we're, you know, as work alumni, as you and Eileen are work alumni, I'm super proud of you, folks. This concludes our episode of you Only Go Once. On behalf of my lovely co-host, eileen Grimes and myself, enjoy your evening and we'll talk to you soon. Take care Bye.
