The past two days I have just been hanging out with Paul and his friends, doing what they do. Here are some stories. They are titled with vocabulary words I have been learning. I apologize if you aren't Korean. Not just because not being Korean is something to be sorry about, but also because you might not understand everything written here.
일차, 이차, 삼차.
Last night we went out to dinner with about bunch of elders from Paul's church, then out for 과일 빙수 (flavored shaved ice with fruit) and then went to see the movie 21.
장가가다/ 시집가다.
So, Paul and I are good acquaintances, but we aren't like bff. I just needed a place to stay before the dorms at Yonsei open and Paul was kind enough to oblige. To other people though, it looks like I came half way across the world to visit my "학교 친구" (school friend). So last night at dinner with the elders, Paul had to explain that we are not in fact dating. Also weird was that I wore my Think NK Freedom t-shirt for my airplane ride, and when I got here, Paul was wearing his shirt too. We looked like we were on our honey moon or something. (Korea couples often wear matching clothes- perhaps one of the only aspect of Korean culture that I'm not sure if I want to adapt.")
똥통.
At the ice cream place, the bathrooms were in the ground. Now, I'm pretty chill with most bathroom situation, its just that I wasn't expecting it. Also, I don't think I've ever had to squat indoors before. Afraid of getting pee on my pants (I didn't trust my ability to judge the angle at which it would come out) I just took them off.
반말
So, it turns out that I have the unfortunate habit of using 반말 with elders. I was eating lunch after church with Paul's grandmother and she was counting to ten in several languages. After counting to ten in English, I said "Oh! 잘했어!". She looked and me pointedly and said "요." Realizing my mistake I quickly bowed my head and said "미언아다." Which really didn't help. I also keep saying "응" instead of "네" and forgetting to put "언니, 오빠" after peoples names when they are not around. I am getting better at bowing to practically everyone I see and saying all of 안녕하세요, 안녕히 게세요, 안녕히 가세요 instead of just the casual "언녕" that I am used to from Binghamton.
간호사.
I'll write about this later.
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5 comments:
HAHAHAH! sorry to laugh at your awkward moments, they're really funny! you'll get the hang of it!
oh katy...haha
my computer doesn't recognize korean so all i see are ??? on this post. HAHA i hate those toilets!! they were everywhere in beijing. if you squat, it'll naturally come out at liek.. a 45 degree angle and it'll go in the hole in the ground/toilet - no worries!
and i'm glad you're having fun over there :)
hehehe oh the beauty of the motherland. lOl squatty potties... :P i'm glad you're having fun katy. those are all memorable experiences! :] and yeah, elders are mad crazy about respect/ respectful words, but a lot of korean kids these days use impolite form which just seems a little whack to me. lol.
hahah oh man...i just refuse to use those toilets. haha kudos to you for taking the initiative to do something like that.
haha oh and good luck with the 졶대말..i think i totally spelled that wrong. oh well.
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