[Context Is Key]

I realize that my posts are becoming more and more infrequent. It isn't necessarily because I'm strapped for time (although sometimes that may be the case). It's mostly just because there's not much interesting going on from my perspective. Most of the pictures I take go up on facebook, and I'm becoming less and less of a clutz in Korean. The opportunity for me to regale you with horrendous mistakes is dwindling. The mistakes I make now are either a result of "I didn't quite understand, but I'm gonna respond anyway" or tense errors (using past instead of future etc). I don't consider the last one to be a huge mistake seeing as most people understand anyway. I've dealt with enough people in English that are exactly the same. Obviously, I'm going to continue working on it, but writing a paragraph on "I said came instead of come" doesn't make for the best read.

The more Korean I learn, the harder and harder it is to translate it to English. I find a lot of it poetic in the way it conveys ideas. For example, "please let me know [fill in the blank]" in Korean would be something more like, "Please give me knowledge about [fill in the blank]." I am now also in the stage where I can understand a whole lot, but I don't remember quite how to say it when I speak. So, for example, instead of saying, "The people elected a president." I would say, "The people did the thing where they choose a person who is above them." Understandable? Yes. Raise eyebrows? Yes. Takes me a long time to put the sentence together? Yes. Have I ever said that? No.

I got my midterm grades back. Speaking - 88.5, Writing - 93.9, Reading - 88, Listening - 82. My teacher actually trolled me about my grades. (For those of you who may not know what "trolling" is, or why I used quotation marks there, please keep reading. Trolling is a relatively new word invented in an online context to refer to teasing or making someone's life difficult for no other reason that to obtain pleasure from it. And I don't know why I used quotation marks there.) Anyway, after we all got our grades back, she was going over certain mistakes we had made on the tests. Surprisingly, she was very open with who got good/bad grades on certain things. (I know that in college in America, a teacher sharing grades is illegal.) When it became my turn, she looked over the scores and said the following. "Hmmm. I heard from your teacher last term that you normally test better on the final [than on the midterm]. [I was kind of surprised] to see your scores [were so low].  I guess we'll wait for the final [to see if you're really that good]." I put brackets in because she didn't actually say that, but since Korean is a very high context language, I just want to make sure you get the full implication of what she was actually saying. 

After the whole class, including me, laughed for a bit (which was good because I needed time to form a retort) I responded with, "I'll show you [what I can do on the final]." Granted, not the wittiest of comebacks, but at least it has motivated me to try a lot harder. 2 of my classmates beat me in scores by a little bit, so that's also another motivating factor. I'm going to do my best to get another scholarship, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see. If I can keep listening at a B and pull the other 2 up to A's, then I should be OK.

I've finally been invited to a soccer group that plays every Thursday. Maybe from there, I can stem off into playing more days. I guess it depends if I'll be able to walk the next day or not. I've been inactive for so long, I'm not sure exactly how my body will react to the sudden demand. I just went for a run today and wasn't much pleased with my fitness. I did make it about half a mile before my mind started, "Hey, you don't wanna run past these people. It will make them feel awkward. Why don't you just walk for now? The sidewalk is too narrow here anyway."  

I'm also seriously considering trying to get a part time job working in a Korean company like a hotel or something else. A lot of companies want people who speak English to teach the staff, and it would be a great opportunity for me to practice Korean as well as make a little spending money so I can upgrade my meals from ramen to something a bit more substantial. We'll see how it goes I guess.

2 Days of Solitary with 2 Birds and a Stone

Not much new this week. I haven't worked all week, which means I had the whole week to study. And believe it or not, I did study quite a bit. This week definitely came at the right time. We've been learning so much vocabulary recently, it's hard to keep track. I find it really amazing at just how much our brains can store. If you think about the amount of vocabulary you have stored in your brain, it's kind of amazing. And then your brain remembers how to use each specific word in certain orders to convey certain meanings. Language really is an interesting study. Unfortunately, the theory is much easier than the actual day to day.

Since I now am able to have a somewhat vague thought process in Korean now, I practice using it when I can. It is definitely helping with memorizing new vocabulary. I write down example sentences with the new vocabulary I've learned. I get the examples either from class or an online dictionary. The association of the word to a situation helps the memorization as well as speaking. 2 birds with one stone?

My language blunders are definitely decreasing. I was able to have about an hour conversation with a Chinese girl in my school. The only real blunders had to do with misused transition words (so instead of and, but instead of so, etc.) I guess the biggest embarrassment is how much better she is at Korean than I am, which of course gives me renewed vigor to study even harder. It's a good thing I'm not competitive or anything.

I'm finding my overall retention is increasing as well. Now that I'm familiar with some of the Chinese roots, words in the same family come a lot easier. I'm even starting to remember things I only hear. Sometimes though, I can't get over how juvenile some of the words sound when literally translated. For example, ventilation (which my landlord so courteously taught me) literally translates to "Change/exchange machine." I was able to pick out the Chinese roots and then got stuck at "Change machine." I then pretended to get it and be on my merry way only later to look it up in the dictionary. The wave of "OOOOOOOOOHHHHHH" hit me pretty hard.

I've been sick these past two days (Saturday and Sunday). Not sure exactly what's wrong, but if it persists, I'm going to the health center at my school to let them take a look. Pretty sure it's some kind of bacterial infection due to the white spots on the back of my throat. Either way, this too has cleared my plans for the weekend and allowed me to study. YAHHH! or not.

I also got another scholarship! Once again, it was for half of the tuition cost. So I essentially have take one free semester there. The dude who gave a speech after said that we were the top 3 percent of students in the school for grades, attendance, participation, being nice to others, and something else I didn't understand, but I'm sure had to do something with just being generally awesome. Maybe most likely to rule a 3rd world country? OK, here's the Joe Lee translation. Words in brackets are guesses. "The above person during the 2013 spring semester of Yonsei language school tried very hard and showed great [improvement] in his Korean ability [through this] this excellent student is awarded 840,000 won. [Man, this guy sucks. I guess we have to give him something though.]

Even though I've made all of these strides in the language, I still feel incredibly inadequate in social situations. It's like climbing a mountain with no peak. I look at natives and realize I will never be that good or natural. This experience has really given me a great respect for those that come to America and learn the language. Some of them with no actual academic training in the language at all. I can't imagine trying to do that with Korean.

I Can't See Clearly Now... It's Still Raining

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.

Yes, I Am That Popular

Sorry. It's been a while since I've written one of these. I've been pretty busy on the weekends recently. I promise I will try to make up for it with incredible wit and style, would you expect anything less?

2 weeks ago, we had the singing competition at my school. It was actually quite enjoyable. I had to take a bit more of a major role in the actual performance due to lack of class participation, but who ever said I didn't like stage time? One of my classmates filmed it and put in on a private channel on youtube. Unfortunately, it's gonna stay private. My ego's already been hurt enough this week. I will say this about it though, when we walked up on stage, I could hear Chinese girls saying (in Korean), "Wow. They're so handsome!" and the performance ended with me throwing my fedora into the crowd. I'll just let your minds create the best situation possible from that and bury what actually happened.

I got interviewed at the end because I was the class president. I randomly met the MC last week, so he told me what questions he was going to ask me. He wasn't too creative, so he asked me to just try and be funny with my answer. The song my class did is about a certain area of Seoul, so his question was whether or not I've been there. Of course, the answer could just be "yes" and that's the end of the "interview." So I decided to go a bit further due to my performance high. I said something similar to, "Yes, and if any of you want to go contact me and we'll go together." The next day, my teacher was really disappointed with me, but I had no idea why. When I finally asked her, she said, "You didn't give out your number. If you had given your number, you would be going on a date tonight." Oh well... maybe next time

I went to a pretty interesting market the other day with my language group. You buy tokens like at an arcade, and then you go around and spend them on different dishes from different stores. It was really cool. I found my restaurant there though. Literally, the sign reads "Lee, Joe Restaurant." Normally, I would say it's just coincidence, but I've been quite the celebrity in this country recently. You never know...

On this week's episode of "Language Blunders" we have an attempt at saying, "I'll ask my Korean friend where to book a plane ticket for a cheap price, and I'll get back to you." But what ended up coming out was, "I'll bite my Korean friend and get back to you." Also, I've found out it's next to impossible to understand older people in a foreign language. Mumblers, the lot of them! I honestly can't tell sometimes if they're speaking Korean or not. So, what usually happens if an older person speaks to me is a pause, me trying to guess from nonverbals/situation, and then just saying, "I don't know" and continuing on.

I also got my hair cut/styled last week. Surprisingly, there were no glaring language blunders. The stylist wouldn't stop talking either, so I definitely got my share of practice in. She was really nice though. She asked me if I miss my family, and I told her, "I call my parents _______ a month." to which she responded, "How many times a month?" If tipping were a thing in Korea, she would definitely have gotten one. The guy helping her told me that he saw all the Spider Man movies and wondered if America were similar to those.

I also went to a break dancing contest last night. It was really cool. Unfortunately, they make it look much easier than it actually is. Last time I try that gymnastics thing where you stand on your hands and spin your legs around. Doesn't turn out so great.

 If you wanna hear what it sounds like when a Korean tries to say "wolf" listen to this new song that just came out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAal8xHfV0c

Cooking with Karaoke

This week was really busy for me. I worked 4 days, school, cooking class, and worked on an extra curricular activity. It makes me really appreciate the days off that I have. The busier I get, the more I realize how awesome Sundays really are. As a kid, they didn't really mean much to me, but now I really cherish them.

On Tuesday, I have what would literally translate to "Song Competition" but I like to just refer to it as "that thing we have to do." OK, I lie. I'm actually really looking forward to it. Any chance I can get to perform! My whole class is memorizing a Korean song and will perform it Karaoke style in front of all of the other classes in level 2 (probably around 200 people). Needless to say, I have been listening to/singing this song pretty much every day this week. We purposefully picked a more ridiculous song so that WHEN it fails, it at least looked on purpose. Personally, I just see it as an opportunity to act ridiculous in front of everyone. I'm going to have one of my friends film it so that when this launches my career as a professional singer, I can sell the original for millions. Based on my history from last year, I usually have great success when performing in front of people.

Here's the music video. It was made a few years ago for Korea's SNL equivalent.... People don't actually dress like this lest you get the wrong impression.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3N8c1t1QTDI

On Wednesday last week, my school offered a cooking class for $5. I figured why not learn something I'll never do anyway. So me and a Russian girl from my class signed up together. We actually had a lot of fun. After donning the apron that was "2 sizes too small" they brought in an actual chef to teach us (which means that she was speaking way too quickly for any of us to understand anyway). Luckily, we had a visual demonstration as well. After "listening" to the history/reasoning behind the different ingredients, we watched the demonstration and then went to making it for ourselves.

After we finished, I moved over to do the dishes while my partner was finishing up the last touches on the meal. However, I guess it's taboo for a man to do the dishes in Russia. (In the best Moose and Squirrel accent you can muster) "Joe, you know, I think dishes is for woman. You no do." To say that I argued would be a lie. The head chef ended up coming around and complimented us on our work. She said it was art (and something else neither of us understood). I'm gonna just go with something positive.

Our school had a big festival this week. For 3 straight days, there was a huge party on campus. I went after the cooking class to check it out. It was a lot of fun. They had a lot of student bands try to sing, and a few that actually did. At the end, they had an actual professional come and sing. Instead of pay for the tickets, my friends and I just sat outside the "designated area" which ended up being fine anyway. We just didn't get to mosh with everyone else :(

I did meet a Japanese guy from my language school though. He's actually going to be the MC for the "Song Competition." He spoke absolutely no English, which was actually nice for a change. Since all of my classmates speak English, that's what we speak to each other purely out of convenience/laziness/inability to speak Korean. However, speaking to Koreans can be really intimidating because they speak very quickly, use vocabulary and grammar we haven't studied, and slur their words together. So, when I meet someone who doesn't speak English, but is also learning Korean, I really enjoy talking with them. We both sound like idiots, but it's OK.

Other than that, all I've been doing this week is work and study. I had my last day teaching at a certain academy this week. One of my students wrote this on a card to me for my going away present. Really sweet. B for effort.

Honja Joe

Unfortunately (from your point of view) but very fortunately from mine, nothing really interesting happened this week. I didn't even get any pictures of anything really. So, I will just try to regale you with some of the funny things that happen to me here. I did, however, actually clean my apartment!!! Spring cleaning came a little late this year, but hey, better late than never. Deep cleaning... gotta love it. I'm staying really busy though. Between being class president, studying, and working, I have very little energy/motivation to do anything else.

They call me "Honja Joe." [ "Honja" is a Korean word that would translate to alone/solo. My classmates call me that sometimes in reference to me never really hanging out with them. Most of the time, I just have other things to do, and the others... well let's just say there's some truth to the honja-ness in me. Sometimes, I really just want to be alone. I spend all day with people, and sometimes I just wanna sit in my (now clean) apartment and enjoy some good quality time with my friends me, myself, and I.

Korean is the same. It just keeps building on itself. Learning a language at this speed is like trying to build a house of cards in a hurricane: once you've set up the base and start building on it, you realize the base vanished, and you have to start over again. Soon, I'll actually be able to go out and actually be able to speak to people. Once I get to that stage, I can start really improving my speaking. At this point, I can pretty much understand people, if they are speaking clearly that is. If they are mumbling/anything happens to impede my hearing at all, I'm totally lost. In your native language, if you miss a few words, it's OK because your mind knows what goes in the blanks based on probability and common phrases. Take all that away and you have no idea what's said. Imagine hearing, "Hey man, how's it ________?" and not knowing what goes in the blank.

As a result, funny situations occur. A wise woman once told me that learning a new language is just an excuse to publicly humiliate yourself. I couldn't agree more. 2 weeks ago, I went into the convenience store to buy a drink before I started teaching. I gave the man my card to pay, but something was wrong with the machine, so he was trying to fix it. In general, foreigners don't know a lick of Korean, so Koreans just don't even bother speaking to them. (I guess after enough blank stares, you just get tired of it.) So the man just started mumbling to himself about how the computer wasn't working. I thought I would shock him with my Korean prowess. I said, "Oh, don't worry. I have siblings too." (Really, I meant to say "cash" but I got the words mixed up. In my defense, they are somewhat similar. hyon gum vs. hyong jay.) Needless to say, the man was surprised, I just wish I knew it was at my lack of Korean prowess. So, he gave me a look that said, "um... ok." and went back to trying to fix the computer. I thought that he must not have heard me. (Sometimes, when I speak Korean, I speak a little bit too softly because I am more unsure of what I'm saying/accent/pronunciation etc.) So, after mentally checking my pronunciation in my head, I said it louder. "Um. I have siblings. SIBLINGS." The poor man didn't know what to do. Luckily, he saw that I had cash in my hand and just took it. Later on, I realized my mistake.

The speed of my thinking/speaking is definitely improving. Korean children especially have the habit of stopping dead in their tracks when they see me. I guess I'm just a little too tall and white for them. Since foreigners usually don't speak any Korean, some Koreans have developed the habit of talking about them right in front of them. Adults usually have a bit more tact, but kids are horrible with this. "Oh look! It's a foreigner!" *cue silent awkward staring* Last year, the only comeback I could do was, "Oh look! It's a Korean!" but that seems just a bit under par for me now. Last week, as I was making the walk of shame back to that same convenience store, 4 kids saw me and said, "Oh look! A foreigner is coming!" Surprisingly, I instantly thought of a response, "Why are you calling me a foreigner?" Lucky for me, right before I said it, I noticed one of their mothers standing right behind them, so I thought it probably best to just pretend like I didn't understand Korean. I knew the convenience store owner would back that story up.

This sparked a question in my mind, "What can I say to kids that do that?" Normally, just speaking anything in Korean is enough to shock them into silence/shame. However, I want something that will also shame them in their own language. So began my quest of insults. After days of pondering and searching, I just asked a Korean. Here's what I'm saying next time (when no mothers are present), "What? Is this the first time you've seen a foreigner?" The Korean that told me this said that if someone were to do that to him as a kid, he would literally have just ran away. If I'm feeling especially cranky, I guess I can pull out, "What are you looking at?" (which surprisingly translates almost directly. The Korean literal translation would be "look what?")

I don't really mind when kids do this to me. In the end, kids will be kids. When adults do it though, it's kind of offensive. Unless of course, they're of the female persuasion, and what they're saying isn't bad. As I'm dozing on the bus, I hear 2 girls across the aisle talking about me:

Girl 1: Oh, look. It's a foreigner. He's not bad. You should go try and speak English to him!
Girls 2: No! I don't know English well enough. I wouldn't know what to say.
Girl 1: You can do it! Just think of the sentence before you speak it. You can do it!
Girl 2: Nooooo! Don't make me! Stop!

I would be lying if I said a big grin didn't slowly creep across my face. Half of me wanted to just be like, "Oh, you don't have to speak English, I can speak Korean." But at the same time, that's about just as far as the conversation would've gone. I would've been met

with surprise and a whole lot of Korean spoken too quickly for me to understand. It's what I call setting myself up for a fail, and as the convenience store owner knows, I do it all to often.

Luckily, I've actually found a study buddy. One of my other classmates is actually serious about learning Korean, so we have begun studying together after classes (when he or I don't work). He has a very similar story to mine. He taught in Korea last year, liked it, and now wants to explore the Korean language. It's refreshing finding people that are more along your wavelength.

One of my classmates finally picked up on the notion that I look like a Roman, so he drew this of me in class. The artist is an 18 year old British "chap." He's taken it upon himself to be my fashion conscience. "Joe, the Roman look has been out of style for about 2,000 years now. Try changing the hair if you can't change the nose." My response, "Et tu, Brute?" Growing up with 3 siblings, it doesn't feel like home if someone isn't ridiculing you about something.

If you're into this sort of thing, here's some easy listening Korean music. This band has a pretty nice sound. Their name is "busker busker." I learned this week that a busker is a street performer. Not sure if I'm crazy or if it's just an uncommon/non-American word. Either way, I'm now wiser. Enjoy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXV7dfvSefo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SKunZTZzXc

Busy Week/Weekend

I did so much this week that I'm actually really surprised I accomplished it all. The phrase, "Time flies when you're having fun" is definitely true, but it also flies when you aren't having fun. It just flies, and when you're busy, it soars. This week was midterms for my school. I did OK, but I definitely could've done better had I "screwed on my thinking cap" before some of the exams. I did really good for a Westerner, but when I compare my scores to my Chinese friend, I realize how far I have to go. When I look at my score, "Booyah! I got a 90% in speaking!" When my Chinese friend looks, "Arrrrgh! Why did I get a 96%?" (Two different cultures)

This weekend was really cool though. On Saturday, I went to a baseball game. Not only is this the first time I've done it in Korea, but it's also the first time in a very very very long time since I've gone to one. Unlike America though, Korean baseball games are really exciting. There are cheer leaders that lead the crowds in cheers. It's very much like how BJ societies do it. Every player has their own song that the crowd chants when that player goes up to bat. The entire crowd gets into it, which makes it a whole lot of fun. 

My Chinese friend told me about a food festival that was going on today in Seoul. She went on Saturday and told me in no uncertain terms, (translating from Korean) "It's really good. Hurry up and go with your friends. The Vietnamese food is really good, so you had better eat it or else..." My initial thought to this was "of course communists are gonna stick together." I was right. The Vietnamese wasn't that great compared to the selection before me. Of the 50 or so countries represented, I probably tried stuff from about 20 of them. At this point, I'm so stuffed, that if this blog is cut off in the middle, it probably means that I exploded and hit "publish" with my last dying breath. 

I'm gonna try and recall all of the different countries I bought something from, but I'm probably leaving a few out: Vietnam, Thailand, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Chile, Turkey, Sri Lanka, Kenya, South Africa, England, Bangladesh, and a few others I can't remember. It was AWESOME!!!! I've never seen/heard so many languages and cultures in one place. It really opened my eyes as to how big and small the world is. Seeing all of these different cultures and looking at their similarities and differences was just really cool. It's probably the coolest thing I've done here to date. 

Now, I have to gear up for the week to come. I've been seeing my Korean improve a lot recently, and it's giving me more and more motivation to study. I am now able to talk to people on a very basic level if they keep the conversation simple enough, talk clearly enough, and speak slowly enough. It's a lot of ifs though... It reminds me of someone who thinks because he learns one self-defense move, he can fight anyone. "OK. Punch me. No, not like that; you're doing it wrong. You have to punch me with your right hand. There you... No no no. Aim for my face. Yeah, like that. Now watch this!" 

 FYI, the last picture is the baseball stadium BEFORE everyone got there. The game was really packed.