I walked from my house to my bank early yesterday afternoon. (My school is located on the second floor of the bank building, so I walk this route every day during the week.) There is an old man who sells various things (frequently scary eel-like creatures) at the Banyawol street market, who sits along my route to work most days of the week. I haven't been able to decide if this man is creepy, crazy, or just a nice old man... he certainly has aspects of all three. Nearly every day, we have the exact same interaction:
Man: Oh, hello! [man extends hand for shaking, which he then holds throughout the remainder of the interaction]
Jane: Hello.
Man: Where are you going?
Jane: To work.
Man: Walking? [I've never been able to figure out if this is a mispronunciation due to the fact that L and R are the same letter in the Korean language, or if he is actually saying walking]
Jane: [Assuming he means working] Yes.
Man: Oh, very beautiful your earrings! [or clothes, or coat, or hat, or glasses... always some item of clothing, although he's a big fan of my crazy earrings - he also usually makes a point of touching whichever item of clothing he is complimenting, which is a tad creepy.]
Jane: Thank you.
Man: You eat lunch?
Jane: Yes.
Man: Oh, ok. See you again?
Jane: Ok, goodbye. [recovers hand]
Man: Goodbye.
This has been going on nearly every day for seven months. I am definitely going to get a photograph of this guy before I leave, although I'm not going to do so until late July - I don't want to encourage him! Anyway, he was out yesterday morning, and we had our usual interaction, except that when he asked where I was going I told him I was walking... and his response didn't vary at all. Hmmm.
Anyway, after a quick stop at the ATM, I wandered over to the subway and headed into downtown. My goal was the Daegu YMCA, in order to sign up for Korean lessons, as per a suggestion by Rob, whom I don't actually know. I wandered into the YMCA, and headed into the first office on the ground floor. It turned out to be an office of EnglishFirst, a global ESL company, which has ties with YMCA. The Korean man in the office was very nice, and after telling me that I needed to go upstairs in order to register for Korean lessons, he asked me the usual questions: Where are you from? Why are you in Korea? How old are you? Are you married? No? Why? Then he said that since I was there, would I mind looking over something for him. It was a short English grammar test, which someone (he, I believe) had completed. He asked me to check my answers, and then had me explain why some of our answers differed. Thank goodness I taught New Interchange last year, or I might have been rather at a loss as to what to tell him. Then he directed me upstairs to the YMCA office.
Korean lessons cost roughly $80, and last four months, so it's a pretty good deal. They're held once a week on Saturdays from 11:00 to 1:00, starting on March 17th. I'm quite worried about making it there on time. In fact, the entire past week I tried to get up at 9:30 every morning, and yet somehow didn't manage to roll out of bed until 11:00. I guess we'll see what happens come St. Patty's day. I'm also kind of worried about what level I'm going to be put in. When signing up, I had to select my level of proficiency in Korean in the categories of reading, writing, speaking and listening. Choices were poor, medium, intermediate and advanced. While in actuality I suppose I'm pretty poor in all categories, but as I can read/write hangeul (er, often without comprehension, but I can still do it), and as I can say/comprehend all sorts of random things, I didn't want to select "poor" all across the board. So, I chose two poor and two medium. Who knows what that'll get me. I'm paranoid that I'll end up in a group far beyond my ability. I guess we'll see what happens. In the meanwhile, perhaps I should get my ass in gear and study. Considering how much time I've spent in Korea over the past six years, my limited proficiency in this language is really quite embarrassing.
After signing up for lessons, I wandered around the outdoor shopping areas in downtown (and found some killer earrings to add to my ever growing collection of large and absurd earrings), and decided to walk through the shopping areas between Jungangno and Daegu Station before catching the subway home.
Man: Oh, hello! [man extends hand for shaking, which he then holds throughout the remainder of the interaction]
Jane: Hello.
Man: Where are you going?
Jane: To work.
Man: Walking? [I've never been able to figure out if this is a mispronunciation due to the fact that L and R are the same letter in the Korean language, or if he is actually saying walking]
Jane: [Assuming he means working] Yes.
Man: Oh, very beautiful your earrings! [or clothes, or coat, or hat, or glasses... always some item of clothing, although he's a big fan of my crazy earrings - he also usually makes a point of touching whichever item of clothing he is complimenting, which is a tad creepy.]
Jane: Thank you.
Man: You eat lunch?
Jane: Yes.
Man: Oh, ok. See you again?
Jane: Ok, goodbye. [recovers hand]
Man: Goodbye.
This has been going on nearly every day for seven months. I am definitely going to get a photograph of this guy before I leave, although I'm not going to do so until late July - I don't want to encourage him! Anyway, he was out yesterday morning, and we had our usual interaction, except that when he asked where I was going I told him I was walking... and his response didn't vary at all. Hmmm.
Anyway, after a quick stop at the ATM, I wandered over to the subway and headed into downtown. My goal was the Daegu YMCA, in order to sign up for Korean lessons, as per a suggestion by Rob, whom I don't actually know. I wandered into the YMCA, and headed into the first office on the ground floor. It turned out to be an office of EnglishFirst, a global ESL company, which has ties with YMCA. The Korean man in the office was very nice, and after telling me that I needed to go upstairs in order to register for Korean lessons, he asked me the usual questions: Where are you from? Why are you in Korea? How old are you? Are you married? No? Why? Then he said that since I was there, would I mind looking over something for him. It was a short English grammar test, which someone (he, I believe) had completed. He asked me to check my answers, and then had me explain why some of our answers differed. Thank goodness I taught New Interchange last year, or I might have been rather at a loss as to what to tell him. Then he directed me upstairs to the YMCA office.
Korean lessons cost roughly $80, and last four months, so it's a pretty good deal. They're held once a week on Saturdays from 11:00 to 1:00, starting on March 17th. I'm quite worried about making it there on time. In fact, the entire past week I tried to get up at 9:30 every morning, and yet somehow didn't manage to roll out of bed until 11:00. I guess we'll see what happens come St. Patty's day. I'm also kind of worried about what level I'm going to be put in. When signing up, I had to select my level of proficiency in Korean in the categories of reading, writing, speaking and listening. Choices were poor, medium, intermediate and advanced. While in actuality I suppose I'm pretty poor in all categories, but as I can read/write hangeul (er, often without comprehension, but I can still do it), and as I can say/comprehend all sorts of random things, I didn't want to select "poor" all across the board. So, I chose two poor and two medium. Who knows what that'll get me. I'm paranoid that I'll end up in a group far beyond my ability. I guess we'll see what happens. In the meanwhile, perhaps I should get my ass in gear and study. Considering how much time I've spent in Korea over the past six years, my limited proficiency in this language is really quite embarrassing.
After signing up for lessons, I wandered around the outdoor shopping areas in downtown (and found some killer earrings to add to my ever growing collection of large and absurd earrings), and decided to walk through the shopping areas between Jungangno and Daegu Station before catching the subway home.
The old fella on my way to work is totally going to enjoy these.
Instead of taking the main pedestrian drag, I found myself roaming the myriad of market alleyways to the east of said pedestrian drag. Along the “precious metals street” I encountered yet another old fellow who wanted to talk. This chap had remarkably good English.
Man: Hello!
Jane: Hello.
Man: Where are you from?
Jane: America.
Man: Oh, you are very beautiful. I want to be your friend.
Jane: Um…
Man: Do you have a husband?
Jane: No…
Man: Oh, good! I can be your friend. How old do you think I am? [He takes off his hat, revealing a balding head]
Jane: [I am notoriously bad at guessing ages] I don’t know.
Man: I’m seventy-one!
Jane: Oh…
Man: Can I buy you lunch? Are you busy? [The thing is, this guy didn’t seem creepy at all, and he probably could have bought me lunch without any problems, but after several unpleasant run-ins with creepy guys met on the street – mainly in Russia – I’ve grown quite wary.]
Jane: I can’t, I’m going to Daegu Station. [Well, I *was* going to Daegu Station, but only to catch the subway.]
Man: Oh, ok. Let me give you my namecard. [“Namecard” is Konglish for “business card” – He pulls one out and scratches off the business information.] I no longer work for this company, I am retired now, but this is my handphone [cell phone] number. I would like to treat you – Korean food, Chinese food, whatever you want!
Jane: [I smile, thank him, and put the card in my purse, knowing that I will never call him.]
Man: Goodbye! You are very beautiful!
7 comments:
I'm not sure if the second guy creepy, scary, or just humorous.. I'm guessing one of the first two.
You mean the guy who wanted to buy me lunch? He wasn't scary at all. Neither is the fellow I pass on my way to work every day. But creepy? Well, I never can tell.
(Or, if you meant the English First guy, it's actually incredibly common and accepted for people you just met to ask you your age and if you're married.)
'Tis better to have been called hot and run than never to have been called hot at all.
Fabulous, Jane. Just fabulous.
I asked about the different level classes as I can read and write in Korean as well. My grammar is not so super and besides lots and lots of nouns (I communicate in broken Korean haha) I don't know how to put together sentences. The girl at the desk said that I should take the first class though the first 2 weeks were the basics of reading and writing.
Did they show you the book/workbook? You can get it at Kyobo for 21,000w. I already did though lesson 4 with a Korean friend but think the beginner class will still be my level. She said the intermediate class was reading paragraphs of information and having conversations on other topics besies "Where are you from?" and "What is that? Its a pencil." haha.
See you there if you can get out of bed. ;)
Rob
No, they didn't show me the book/workbook :-( Am I supposed to have it before the 17th?
You seem to have been doing a great job of studying Korean on your own. Sadly, I have to admit that I have done very little sel-studying beyond what I need to get around. I'm hoping being in a classroom setting will get me motivated.
But the getting out of bed thing... definitely going to be tough.
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