E Chon Pal (2008)

I've been working like a dog so it's taken me a minute to write the first blogging of 2008, but I have had a very relaxing Saturday and it is time.

I went on an epic walk today. It was chilly, but the sun was shining brightly and the outdoors were as welcoming as one can hope for on the fifth of January. I took some pictures, shopped for vegetables at an outdoor market and enjoyed not having to be in the classroom for twelve hours today. I did a big loop, passing by 7 different subway stops and covering lots of ground. After this past week (and in preparation for the week ahead) I relished the opportunity to venture through the urban jungle and do a little exploring.

At the end of the walk, I glanced into the Starbucks across the street and saw a coworker studying Korean. I went in to say hello, and after a couple of awkward sentences I realized that I had hardly spoken to anyone today. I had a lovely 30-minute conversation on the phone when I woke up and six hours later I had hardly said another word. The only other conversation I remember having was at the grocery store. It went something like this:

"Excuse me. Do you have salt? Do you know - salt? Do you know?"

"Salt?"

(I picked up the pepper and held it in my right hand.)
"Pepper."
(I motioned with my right hand saying pepper and then I motioned with my empty left hand...)
"Salt"

"Ooh! Salt. Yes."

(He led me to the salt, grabbed it off the shelf and handed it to me.)

"kamsa hamnida"
(that's "thank you.")

Pretty deep conversation. It just hit me at Starbucks how inept I was at carrying on a conversation after being inside my own head all day. It makes me so excited to think about being in a place in a little over a month where lots of people will speak my language and (hopefully) want to talk to me.

I had another funny language encounter this week. It is not the first time it has happened to me, but it always makes me laugh.

I was in the computer room at school, wasting time on a break. There were only three of us in the room: two Korean girls that are in charge of grammar books and myself. They don't really speak English, so they were conversing with eachother in Korean. In this situation I generally block out the sound - it is nothing more than white noise to me. I really wasn't even aware that they were speaking to each other until they began to whisper so I couldn't hear what they were saying. They are speaking in an indecipherable code to me - a code that has been eveolving for centuries that I have the most minimal knowledge of. They could literally say almost anything in front of me and I would have no idea. They could be making plans to murder me or they could be talking about how obnoxious they think I am or they could be talking about how much they like to make out with each other and I would have no fucking clue. Despite this fact, they decide that whatever they are saying is so secret that they don't want to take the chance that I learned their language the night before and will understand. I find it so absurd - and the funny thing is that once people whisper around me I actually listen to see if I hear a name or word I recognize.


2008 promises to be a good one. It has started of good and I have so many things to look forward to I can hardly contain myself. See y'all real soon...

Much love from Seoul