Amanda Takes Off...

Last night we went to the elementary school field and played basketball for an hour. Master asked me if I liked basketball and I said, in Korean, "Elementary school, glasses" and then I mock broke them. EVERY time we played basketball in school, my glasses broke. So I was completely afraid to get the ball. Master passed it to me a few times and I went after it, I even shot (but didn't score) once. Master and the other boys would cheer for me everytime I did anything. I know they were doing that to encourage me, because I certainly didn't deserve it, but I didn't mind.

I was on Master's team and he told me to go "man-to-man" with Late Boy. So I was all over him. At one point Late Boy was trying to shoot and I was going for the ball and I SMACK! Slapped him hard right on the forehead. I started apologizing and nervously laughing and I really did feel bad. Master said, "Oh, Amanda! Get Late Boy? Good! Good!"

Ironically, I still have the bruise from playing soccer against Late Boy two weeks ago.

Then we played soccer until Brother's Studio showed up and we played against them. Master asked me to go man-to-man against his brother. I said, "Like Late Boy?" and smacked into Master. Master sucked in some air through his teeth, shook his head, and said, "Amanda, um...careful." I just grinned. He said, "Not ice hockey." Later I told him we should all go play ice hockey together. He said January or February, so maybe we will?

So while playing the game, at one point I went for the ball and completely smacked into Brother Master's leg, causing a 반칙 (foul). Master seemed to be really happy with how I was staying on his brother, which is good since my thighs were burning from all of the running.

Now, some background information before my thoughts on studying Korean and Koreans.

I've been more diligently studying my vocabulary words lately. (Read: I have been taking the time to make flashcards and actually use them lately.) I have my Sogang text words, my tae kwon do specific words, and then general vocabulary words that I draw from an incredibly handy book Michael gave me. This week I'm working on animals and body parts.

So as we were walking to the school, I asked Powerful and Studious what elbow was, since it's not on my list. "팔꿈치." I tried it, "Amanda, Amanda, '꿈,' dream! 팔꿈치." I kept trying it, finally got it, and then Studious started doing the Korean version of the song "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes". In the middle of the street. And Powerful joined in, so I did, too.

There were very few there at the start of class, and as we were walking to the basketball court I tried asking Powerful where everyone was. I asked him several times to mostly blank, but friendly looks, before I realized that I was forgetting a word. I tried it again and he said, "Oh! 몰라요." I repeated it, "몰라요?" He said it again. I looked at him blankly. He turned to Tired Guy guy and said, "몰라요?" "I don't know." Powerful turned to me, said, "OK." He put on this slightly different voice he uses when he speaks English, "I don't know," and grinned at me.

Later I was asking Powerful and one of the kids a question. Korea uses "counters." The counter for people is 명, for animals it's 마리, for paper it's 장 and the general counter for things is "개." So if you want three ice creams, for example, you say "ice cream three thing-counter give me." I was trying to find out what the counter for "points" was in the basketball game. I said, "three people, three bears, four papers, six things, OK?" Then I pointed to the basketball hoops. "One...what is it?" We went back and forth until Powerful realized what I was asking. "점! 점! 점수!" I think part of the problem is that I was using one counting system when I needed to be using the other, unbeknownst to me.

Later I was asking two other guys what the score was, again, all the wrong way. "Score, what is it." I said that sixteen times and then decided I should be using "how much is it" but I can't pronounce that word quite yet. Again, after a lot of tries, and me even growling "Oh, Korean, so hard!" a bit, they understood.

Walking back home with Master helping me with some other aspect of Korean, I was feeling so frustrated with myself and my Korean. Then I began to wonder why the boys help me as much as they do. There are the ones I go to first—Powerful, Studious, Ghost, Cocky—because they seem the most willing and able to help me, but I've gotten to the point where I ask anyone near me anything. Often the boys ask each other until they can help me, last night they did songs in the middle of the street, they teach me bad words, and help Master explain things to me.

I can't figure out why they do it.

I know that it must be frustrating as sin to deal with me sometimes (my mother is laughing right now), so why are they so helpful? Is it a sense of obligation? Do they actually enjoy helping me? Are they happy that any foreigner is learning trying to learn their language? Is it a novelty to be teaching the English teacher, to get to correct her vowels and word-mangling for once? What do they get out of it?

They are doing a LOT of work to deal with me the way they do, and I wish I could tell them how much I appreciate it. I don't want them to think I expect it from them. They don't owe me anything.

Maybe I'll bake a bunch of banana bread or something for my studiomates. Of course, I won't be able to explain why I'm bringing bread...maybe I'll just say, "I am here four months now. Thank you." Of course, I need an oven first...