...I had (of course) located the least effective way of getting myself home, thus allowing myself to be drenched in the sudden torrential downpour. As is my luck the umbrella I carted all the way from the states, the gigantic pink striped one that I adored was stolen, most likely by one of those poo throwing monkeys I call students...But that's the middle of the story.
I decided to *finally* buck up and pay for private Korean lessons. My self study is decidedly effective, i'm learning a lot and i'm able to effectively communicate basic desires now, but I realized I need to call in the big guns, aka a native speaker, to help me with my pronunciation and my grammar structures. The local expats rave about this woman named Helen so I facebooked her (i love facebook, it connects so many people for so many reasons) and was able to arrange a lesson for tonight! I met up with her at the Lotte Mart which is the local rendezvous point for anything and everything. She took me back to her apartment and we got down to business! I learned so many things, but the most important thing I learned is this: Koreans don't call people who are older than them by their names. I have been rather baffled why koreans don't introduce themselves by their names(EVER!) and this is why: if a person is older than you, you call them opa or ohni, which means older brother or older sister. If they are younger than you it's degrading to you to call them by their name because they are younger than you so you don't call them anything unless they are your good friends, then you can call them by their name regardless of their age. How difficult is THAT? At least now I know how i'm supposed to address people, what a relief! I ordered a Korean textbook with Helen and I shall see how my one night a week progresses, tomorrow i'm going into Changwon city with Brittoni to attend some free Korean classes she goes to. I think that the more exposure I get to the grammar part of Korean the quicker i'll get better at it...here's hoping!! *This is where you can insert the sad story of me trekking through the flash flooding umbrella-less*
On a less wet note, today started my second week of summer camp...It went really really well. I'm at a school that is different from my own so I, sadly, don't get to continue bonding (or torturing, it really depends on who is telling the story) with my students but that's ok I suppose. They probably want a break from me anyway. I feel like this second week of camp is going much smoother, I think i'm finally getting a hang of this whole "teaching" thing (weird). I'm going out with some fellow expat English teachers on Friday night for a "working dinner." I'm pretty excited to be able to swap war stories and game ideas with some people who have been here longer than I am and who are more experienced than myself. It's always humbling and emboldening (is that a word?!) to hear/speak/learn from others.
Anyeong!
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