Korean Love

Man, I love living here.

Today, I had Korean class. I was about 15 minutes early to class (I try to leave early because I never know when the bus will get to the bus stop, and because I can get some extra studying in at TalkHouse, wear I take classes beforehand). My teacher was there, but none of the rest of the students were there, and she started talking to me about my neighborhood and my experiences before coming to Korea. She is from the same area I live in now (she graduated from the middle school I currently teach at), and so she knows how boring it is out here. haha. Also, she asked me what I studied at university, and when I told her English and Spanish she said, "ah, yes, I can tell you have a talent for languages." YAY! I think I am starting to get Korean, and I'm moving along at a pretty healthy rate, especially now. We are moving really really fast, and the verbs are mind-numbingly difficult to learn, because we are learning present, future, past and conditional tenses simultaneously, and that has been a REAL challenge. It is very Korean to present a tremendous amount of information and basically just say, "learn it," so I'm doing the best I can to succesfully learn things. Honestly, I'm beginning to be able to pick out words and phrases in other people's conversations, which is really AWESOME.

Also, after leaving Korean classes, I went to my usual kimbab place for a light dinner of cheese ddeokbokki (a rather boring recipe video here, but it provides a recipe nonetheless. If you live in Gainesville, go to the Korean market on Archer & 34th. TRY THIS DISH, IT IS SO DELICIOUS), and the ladies were very nice to me (as usual), and my ddeokbokki was delish (as usual). After finishing and paying for my meal (2500 won, or about 2 dollars), I went outside to the bus stop. As it so happened, I left the kimbab place the very moment three high school boys were walking by. They all looked at me, mouths agape, and said, "oooooh, HELLO!" I said hello back, of course, as I always do. Then one turned around and said, "oh! So beautiful!" I said thank you, as I always do. The a different one asked me "aaaah, ki, ki, (ki is height in Korean) how tall?" And I said, 186 cms, indicating also with my hands 1-8-6. They, as people always do, stopped in their tracks and said, "ooooooooooooohhhhh, woooow!" and then proceeded to giggle like 6 year-old girls as they walked by me, gasping out a "goodbye" as they passed. It was hilarious and adorable and it kills me everytime.

Also, tomorrow is Peppero day, another wonderful reason to love Korea, but more on that after the holiday has officially been celebrated by yours truly.

xoxo,
A