Friday, November 21, 2008
What do you do after work?
One of the teachers asked me this. She was worried that I am lonely living in a small town where I don't speak the language. Well, luckily there is something to do every day where I can use my love of the international language of games to get by without deep conversation. I have discovered the baduk (go), taku (table tennis), and badminton (badminton) clubs in town, and I can go to whichever one I want almost any evening I choose. There are some seriously high quality players at all three, not that I like to generalize by race, but the Koreans do seem to take their hobbies quite seriously, and are surprised by how various my interests are (I had to teach them the phrase Jack of all trades, because I didn't want them to call me "know it all"), but there are also some people I can evenly compete with, and some beginner as well. I guess there is not much to say about it, but suffice to say that I don't worry too much about having free time. Indeed, it is a great place to live for me if only I could fluently communicate, have a job that I was sure had the potential for long term satisfaction, and was closer to my friends and family. Uh yeah, so maybe it is only a great place to live for a year or two, but my point stands.
Ultimate in Korea
I took a trip to play an ultimate tournament a few weekends ago. It was a lot of fun. Nice fields, good quality games that left me walking stiffly early the next week. It was great to get the chance to play, and also nice to meet some more young native English speakers. It is a drawback to living in a remote smaller town that I cannot do either more often, but I knew what I getting into, and don't consider that something to regret .. yet.
After the games on Saturday there was a party at a bar downtown. Being the day after Halloween it was a costume party. I should have taken more pictures because there were a lot of really good costumes. Perhaps the best was a couple who came as Obama and Palin. The costumes were very realistic; this girl makes as good as Palin as Tina Fey ever could, and never have I seen a more tastefully done blackface. Anyway, what put them over the top was a little skit where Palin offered Obama a little "Alaskan hospitality." So she blindfolded him and then stripped off his pants. With a flourish she tore off his shirt and an Arab gown unfurled as the blindfold turned into a turban and the outer layer of his "Yes we can!" campaign sign was stripped away to reveal the socialist truth behind this secret muslim. Good luck America, I'll be over here until we get Sarah to pull us out of this mess in four years.
However the weekend was not all fun and games. I had some struggles getting home. The games were done, and I was ready to head back from Deajeon to Hadong, at about 5:00. It is a two hour bus ride to Jinju, and another hour home for me, so I assumed I should get home at a reasonable hour. Unfortunately most everyone who came to the tournament traveled by train, so I could not split a taxi. Well, they are not too expensive, so it is no big deal. What was a big deal was my lack of knowledge of the city. It turns out there are two bus stations on opposite sides of town, and one of them only travels to Seoul (which is in the wrong direction for me). So even though I thought I explained to the taxi driver that I wanted to go to the bus station to go to Jinju, maybe he only heard "bus station" and couldn't understand the rest of my feeble Korean. At least the cashier at that station spoke English and could explain to me the problem, and what, exactly to tell the next cabbie.
Unfortunately, by now it is almost 6 o'clock, and I have to get across town during Sunday rush hour, yes such a thing apparently exists. After interminable idling, I told the taxi driver I had to get there by 7. He took an illegal u-turn, sped down some streets closed for construction, then weaved at high speed through some lighter traffic, and eventually I made it to the station just in time to catch the 7 o'clock bus.
But this was not enough. It arrived at Jinju at 9:03, just minutes after the last bus to Hadong has pulled away. Not sure what to do now I decide to check the train station; I thought the last train was also 9:00, but maybe it is 9:30. But two or three taxis outside the bus station play dumb and refuse me service. So I decide to use a public phone to call some co-workers to see what they suggest, maybe they even have a coach or guest room I can crash on. But I can't get the phones to work! they seem to be the same as one's I have successfully used in the past, maybe just broken. I'm starting to think I'm stuck here when I see a Westerner, a girl with blond hair, come out of the phone booth I tried using a short while ago. I explain to her my troubles, but she just looks at me with a blank face and says "Russian .. no talk English." My fate sealed, I find a cheap motel.
After the games on Saturday there was a party at a bar downtown. Being the day after Halloween it was a costume party. I should have taken more pictures because there were a lot of really good costumes. Perhaps the best was a couple who came as Obama and Palin. The costumes were very realistic; this girl makes as good as Palin as Tina Fey ever could, and never have I seen a more tastefully done blackface. Anyway, what put them over the top was a little skit where Palin offered Obama a little "Alaskan hospitality." So she blindfolded him and then stripped off his pants. With a flourish she tore off his shirt and an Arab gown unfurled as the blindfold turned into a turban and the outer layer of his "Yes we can!" campaign sign was stripped away to reveal the socialist truth behind this secret muslim. Good luck America, I'll be over here until we get Sarah to pull us out of this mess in four years.
However the weekend was not all fun and games. I had some struggles getting home. The games were done, and I was ready to head back from Deajeon to Hadong, at about 5:00. It is a two hour bus ride to Jinju, and another hour home for me, so I assumed I should get home at a reasonable hour. Unfortunately most everyone who came to the tournament traveled by train, so I could not split a taxi. Well, they are not too expensive, so it is no big deal. What was a big deal was my lack of knowledge of the city. It turns out there are two bus stations on opposite sides of town, and one of them only travels to Seoul (which is in the wrong direction for me). So even though I thought I explained to the taxi driver that I wanted to go to the bus station to go to Jinju, maybe he only heard "bus station" and couldn't understand the rest of my feeble Korean. At least the cashier at that station spoke English and could explain to me the problem, and what, exactly to tell the next cabbie.
Unfortunately, by now it is almost 6 o'clock, and I have to get across town during Sunday rush hour, yes such a thing apparently exists. After interminable idling, I told the taxi driver I had to get there by 7. He took an illegal u-turn, sped down some streets closed for construction, then weaved at high speed through some lighter traffic, and eventually I made it to the station just in time to catch the 7 o'clock bus.
But this was not enough. It arrived at Jinju at 9:03, just minutes after the last bus to Hadong has pulled away. Not sure what to do now I decide to check the train station; I thought the last train was also 9:00, but maybe it is 9:30. But two or three taxis outside the bus station play dumb and refuse me service. So I decide to use a public phone to call some co-workers to see what they suggest, maybe they even have a coach or guest room I can crash on. But I can't get the phones to work! they seem to be the same as one's I have successfully used in the past, maybe just broken. I'm starting to think I'm stuck here when I see a Westerner, a girl with blond hair, come out of the phone booth I tried using a short while ago. I explain to her my troubles, but she just looks at me with a blank face and says "Russian .. no talk English." My fate sealed, I find a cheap motel.
Hiking
I was hoping to go on a serious hiking trip up a local mountain, but my guide, a Japanese teacher with a lot of knowledge of the parks, had to cancel at the last minute because his father was sick. So, having nothing to do that Saturday I hopped on my bike and headed out with no plan in particular.
I followed the river north for about an hour then turned off towards the hills. Passed through a tiny town then chose a road that seemed to go straight up the mountain. 30 min, and maybe 5 km later (yes it was steep!) the road has changed from asphalt to concrete and I am getting passed by a little truck with two horned goats in the bed. The driver saw my red perspiring face and gave me a big grin and a thumbs up, so I guessed I was near the end of the road.
Indeed, a short while later there was a collection of a handful of houses, and just beyond them the path changed from concrete to dirt. This is where the picture "bambootrail" was taken. As I climbed the foliage and terrain changed, see "trekkingtrail." It was quite a nice hike, some rocks to climb in a nice steep trail with footing that definately made it a hike rather than a walk; some good views too. I had almost forgotten how much I like hiking. Even though there are options around LA, I rarely took advantage of them, and when I did never really appreciated the desert climate anyway.
So I will take that trip to the bigger mountains some time soon, I hope. Maybe once before it gets snowy at the top, and again afterwards.
I followed the river north for about an hour then turned off towards the hills. Passed through a tiny town then chose a road that seemed to go straight up the mountain. 30 min, and maybe 5 km later (yes it was steep!) the road has changed from asphalt to concrete and I am getting passed by a little truck with two horned goats in the bed. The driver saw my red perspiring face and gave me a big grin and a thumbs up, so I guessed I was near the end of the road.
Indeed, a short while later there was a collection of a handful of houses, and just beyond them the path changed from concrete to dirt. This is where the picture "bambootrail" was taken. As I climbed the foliage and terrain changed, see "trekkingtrail." It was quite a nice hike, some rocks to climb in a nice steep trail with footing that definately made it a hike rather than a walk; some good views too. I had almost forgotten how much I like hiking. Even though there are options around LA, I rarely took advantage of them, and when I did never really appreciated the desert climate anyway.
So I will take that trip to the bigger mountains some time soon, I hope. Maybe once before it gets snowy at the top, and again afterwards.
Traditional korea villages
The remaining pictures are from some trips I took to local traditional style villages. One interesting thing about Korea is the speed with which it has become a developed nation. So these villages are like a Colonial Williamsport in that they display a historic architecture and way of life, but they are preserved by the living memory of the older generation for whom this was simply the way of life. It was interesting to tour around, hopefully you can get a decent idea of what it was like from the pictures.
Since it didn't fit into any of my other posts, let me also use this one to tell you some bad news. My first attempt to make some beer ended in failure. It seemed all the Korean websites that sold brewers yeast were sold out, except for one. But when my order showed up this dehydrated yeast had an expiration date of Oct 2007. I didn't really have any other options, so I cooked up the hops and grains and hoped for the best .. turns out the expiration date is to be trusted in this case, so I wasted some time and some ingredients. More importantly, I don't know where I can get good yeast from now.
Since it didn't fit into any of my other posts, let me also use this one to tell you some bad news. My first attempt to make some beer ended in failure. It seemed all the Korean websites that sold brewers yeast were sold out, except for one. But when my order showed up this dehydrated yeast had an expiration date of Oct 2007. I didn't really have any other options, so I cooked up the hops and grains and hoped for the best .. turns out the expiration date is to be trusted in this case, so I wasted some time and some ingredients. More importantly, I don't know where I can get good yeast from now.
More pictures
check out my flickr stream for an undate with some more photos.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/48705722@N00
I know it's been a while since I rapped at ya, but it's been because I've been busy rather than having nothing to say. So to increase my post count, I'll turn this update into several topical posts instead of one long catch-up.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/48705722@N00
I know it's been a while since I rapped at ya, but it's been because I've been busy rather than having nothing to say. So to increase my post count, I'll turn this update into several topical posts instead of one long catch-up.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Learning Korean II
I should also mention that on the plus side, although it is tough for a native English speaker, Korean is easy!
1. An almost completely phonetic alphabet. There are some occasional exceptions to the rule, but the number of sounds is small compared to most other languages. Unfortunately there are some tonal things where a native english speaker cannot distinguish or make some sounds (example: ryeo - one syllable; and two different hard "O"s I can lip read, but not hear the difference between them!) the only downside to this simplicity is that it makes it too easy for a native speaker to speak too quickly
2. Regularity. Much fewer irregular verbs. And even those that are "irregular" only seem to differ in one extra syllable and one different vowel compared to a regular verb.
3. Some things are just amazingly efficient and easy. Some of my favorite examples: water = mool, meat = gogi so fish = moolgogi ; neck = mok , hand = son so wrist = sonmok. so easy!
1. An almost completely phonetic alphabet. There are some occasional exceptions to the rule, but the number of sounds is small compared to most other languages. Unfortunately there are some tonal things where a native english speaker cannot distinguish or make some sounds (example: ryeo - one syllable; and two different hard "O"s I can lip read, but not hear the difference between them!) the only downside to this simplicity is that it makes it too easy for a native speaker to speak too quickly
2. Regularity. Much fewer irregular verbs. And even those that are "irregular" only seem to differ in one extra syllable and one different vowel compared to a regular verb.
3. Some things are just amazingly efficient and easy. Some of my favorite examples: water = mool, meat = gogi so fish = moolgogi ; neck = mok , hand = son so wrist = sonmok. so easy!
Learning Korean
I'm not gonna beat about the bush - I'm struggling. There are a lot of chips stacked against me. Foremost is the extreme difference between Korean and English; for those of you who have only studied European languages it is hard to explain how much more difficult it is to deal with the completely different phonetics and grammar. At first, even when I could get the speaker to slow down to a syllable at a time, I could could not distinguish the sounds they were making; even after a month+ of total immersion I still have trouble simply hearing and repeating regardless of if I understand or not.
Another difficulty is my position as English teacher. Most people who talk to me are quite eager for the rare opportunity to practice their English often to the extent of overriding / ignoring / not understanding my requests for Korean translations or to help me practice listening by speaking Korean slowly. Part of the problem is that when I try to speak Korean my accent is so heavily English, and their understanding of English so poor that most people assume I am speaking English words that they don't understand; so it is hard to get lots of feedback of my book learned pronounciation.
That being said, I think I'm finally starting to hit the first point of inflection on the learning curve. Within the last week or two my listening cognition has been skyrocketing and I've been better able to convince the people that know me of my earnestness to learn how to speak the language.
My goal is for my last blog post to be a summary of my year, written in Korean!
Another difficulty is my position as English teacher. Most people who talk to me are quite eager for the rare opportunity to practice their English often to the extent of overriding / ignoring / not understanding my requests for Korean translations or to help me practice listening by speaking Korean slowly. Part of the problem is that when I try to speak Korean my accent is so heavily English, and their understanding of English so poor that most people assume I am speaking English words that they don't understand; so it is hard to get lots of feedback of my book learned pronounciation.
That being said, I think I'm finally starting to hit the first point of inflection on the learning curve. Within the last week or two my listening cognition has been skyrocketing and I've been better able to convince the people that know me of my earnestness to learn how to speak the language.
My goal is for my last blog post to be a summary of my year, written in Korean!
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