After a month of extended, valiant effort, combined with complete and total failure, i’ve finally managed to make it to free Korean classes in Changwon with Emily!! Woo!! Emily and I have not been slouches either, it’s not like those occasional times when you say, “Self, today we are going to Korean classes” and then you meander about, have dinner, get caught up in talking, and then miss class; or you don’t leave your apartment at all, oh no, Emily and I experienced a bus blowing up, a bad cross dresser, an hour and a half bus ride one way whenever we go, spontaneous bicycle riding, getting lost, being late, boarding the wrong bus, and being run over by a hajimama (this is what my friend Claire calls the old hajima ladies). Excellent.
Glad we finally got to Korean classes because these are amazing!!! The Koreans are here because they genuinely want a chance to speak English and teach Korean. They volunteer to show up once a week for an hour and a half to discuss the finer points of Korean grammar. In doing this, they get an hour and a half to explain everything in English. It’s a win win situation if you ask me, not to mention i’m making new Korean friends, and they will introduce me to their Korean friends, and they will introduce me…you get the picture. Networking like this is so infinitely important to success when you are learning a new language, once you make friends, you begin to be brought into the circle, hear new words, new meanings, new descriptions. You try them out, they fumble off your tongue the first time, but then the second, third, and fourth times they begin to sound natural, they begin to feel good. Then suddenly you don’t realize it, but you are speaking easily and freely. What a concept. I can’t wait for that moment of realization, until then, i’ll continue to weather the occasional bus blowing up to make it to class.
Anyeong!
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