KoreanClass101.com Blog

Occasionally I will get a strange phone call. If I don't recognize the number, I always answer in Korean, and usually it's someone who dialed the wrong number. Sometimes, just hearing my 안녕하세요 is enough to make them simply hang up. Other times I'll hear something along the lines of "김민수 헨드폰 안이에요?" Isn't this 김민수's phone?) Anyway, I recently received a strange text message, so I responded...here's the transcript. I left the Koreans messages exactly as they were, so you can get a feel for the oddities of txting in Korean..and any mistakes I made ^^ 그녀:안녕하세용ㅎ싸이에서봤어용ㅎ친구하자해성ㅎ Her: Hello, I saw you on Cyworld, let's be friends 나: 근데 누구시죠? Me: But who is this? 그녀: 컴터하다싸이에서봤어용..ㅎ;;은국?! Her: I was using the computer and I saw you on... Show more

this past week, harrie/증진 (the boy i tutor) graduated from my preschool, and i will now only see him on wednesdays when i tutor him at his house. sad. i didn't see him for a whole week and i was so excited on my way over to his house today, but when i got there, he was in an awful mood. he did not want to study, he did not want to play an english game, he did not want to read the book i brought with me, he kept saying "i no play you (i'm not playing with you)," and pouting. he even told me to shut up and called me stupid! his mom had to come over and talk to him, but he still didn't listen to her. finally, he broke down completely sobbing and we had to stop for the day. after that he wouldn't even eat dinner! a little while... Show more

Shoes off. You could ask an eight-year-old what's the difference between Koreans and Westerners and receive one of two answers: 1) 몰라 2) You have to take your shoes off inside. It's funny to me because this seems so simple. Just take them off. But perhaps there's more to it. Oh there's about a million blogs, polls, forum posts, wikipedia articles, and freshman-level essays on the subject and history of taking shoes off, but what about the dilemma of when to take them off? Is it possible to offend someone by taking your shoes off when it is simply not necessary? Oil and wax papered floors are gone. Steam carpet cleaners are in. Why do we still do it? For that matter, flip flops are also a hot little topic, aren't they?... Show more

This has been an interesting week. Last week we sent Michael home. He was ready to go. As soon as he got home he was headed for a week long field trip to 제주도. We Skyped with his mother before he left. She missed him a lot but it looks like she had to wait another week before she got to see him. We, on the otherhand, just sent our oldest daughter to Korea. She will be there for the next seven weeks. She is doing a "service project" for school credit here where she will be volunteer teaching at an elemetary school, helping out with English instruction. Her first day will be tomorrow. She is feeling a bit overwhelmed with the lack of English interaction already. Not understanding anything that is said around you can be headache inducing,... Show more

I've been a bit of a lousy orphanage volunteer these days. I am taking a class 3 nights a week, and buy with some other appointments on 2 days, so I haven't been spending the kind of time I used to at the orphanage. In a way, that's OK since I will be leaving in August, and to kind of gradually make my exit it probably the healthiest and safest thing for those kids. But on the other hand, I've really missed them! During a recent long weekend, I planned to spend the whole day with the orphans. They were going to some nearby beach. However, my friend Josh and I had to leave separately, and subsequently got stuck in a enormous traffic jam. Because of the holidays that week, the roads were absolutely jammed. We left the center of... Show more