This past week has probably been my busiest one yet. I worked a full week in addition to school/minimal study. I can't imagine having to do this every week. I would only be able to retain about half of the info I need. I now have a renewed compassion for those that work full time and do school. At the end of the day, your motivation to study is far surpassed by your desire to sleep. Especially when learning a language. There's not much reasoning that goes on; studying involves pretty much just straight memorization. It's kind of hard to get excited about studying, unless your geeky like me. I'm beginning to see patterns in different words (etymology) but it can be really frustrating at times. It might be a Chinese root or a Korean word, and I have no real way of knowing... So at this point, it's still just memorizing.
My Korean is getting much better though. If the person is patient enough, I can have a conversation with them. (Tell stories, my opinion on things, etc.) Normally, I like talking with other Asian classmates because they are in the same boat as me but have the Chinese background advantage. Nothing too deep of course, and it takes me a while to be able to actually switch languages in my head. Basically nothing translates from this language to English. It's really tiring, but a new way of thinking.
My biggest challenge is still speaking. When I write in Korean, I have time to think, but when speaking, that time is greatly reduced. Since the languages are so different, I can't think in English and speak in Korean or else my brain might explode. So it forces me to think in Korean as I speak. However, I find that when I think in Korean, it is like my brain is enveloped in this nebulous cloud of mist. I'm literally not thinking anything. There's only this nothing-like blankness. The more I practice, the less hazy it gets, but it's definitely a long way to sunny days.
This week during teaching, I surprised two of my students, and the look on their faces was priceless. They came early to class as I was setting things up. They were talking in Korean about where they wanted to sit, and I finished preparing and just sat down and listened. "No, I don't want to sit there. I want to sit here. I hate it over there." At which point, I decided to jump in in English with a "Why?" Both of them just turned to me and were stunned out of words. After about 10 seconds of staring, one asked in Korean, "Teacher, do you speak Korean?" At which point, a Korean staff member walked in. They went crazy trying to explain to her that I spoke Korean, but I pretended like I had no idea what they were saying, and I just was doing some work on the computer. The Korean staff member told them they were being silly and to sit back down. I've never seen so much confusion on the face of a children before.
Apparently, I can hang with the Asians when it comes to playing ping-pong. After tutoring one of my students yesterday, he invited me over to his house to play with him. His house ended up being a mansion in the middle of one of the richest sections of Seoul. There was a fountain and everything in his yard. (I instantly thought that I was undercharging him.) He beat me 5-4, but I did have a small handicap due to the fact that he had only one good paddle. Next time, I won't be so generous.
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