Amanda Takes Off...

Friday Night Lookouts and Soju

I didn't go to taekwondo Friday night because there was a test and class was too early. Instead, I ended up going out to Bukak Skyway and 북악 팔각정 with Master and his family.

Huh?

Back on White Day, Master invited me to go out with his family on a Friday night. But the Fridays since then have all been very cloudy, so we've always said "next week."

Friday I wasn't supposed to be in class because they were testing on an early schedule. But midday the weather was gorgeous, so I texted Master and asked if he would be going out. He called me back and said yes. Even though it became cloudy later in the afternoon, he told me to come to the studio.

I showed up to the studio during the last five minutes of class, when he was handing out poome and dan grade certificates. Most people knew I wasn't supposed to be there, so of course they were curious, though nobody would ask any questions.

Nobody except Crybaby Gold Medal Girl, who came downstairs to say goodbye to Master (fairly normal) as we were getting ready to leave. She asked if I was going with them. "Yes," said Master.

When he was loading up the car she asked where we were going at least six times. I answered her truthfully: I forgot the name. Master had told me and had even sketched out an imaginary map with his finger on the table, but I couldn't remember the name because I hadn't written it down.

We took Bukak Skyway, a road that winds up Bukaksan, to 북악 팔각 (Palgakjeong Pavilion). From the pavilion you can see downtown Seoul, Bukhansan, and major landmarks like palaces and Namsan Tower.

On the drive up the mountain ridge, Master would point things out and say, "Today, today I am your tour guide! Look! Look, Amanda, Seoul!"

Master's Wife, who was kind enough to sit in the back of the car with the kids while I sat in the front, would laugh, "She is looking!"

Of course, he taught me a bunch of words, ranging from "lake" to a word used to describe hitting your students. "Amanda, do you hit your students? Here, teachers hit their students."

On the drive up, he talked to two different people on the phone. The second time he was using the honorific form. But when he was using my name, he didn't explain who I was.

So I sat there wondering. Who could he be talking to where he'd use the honorific form, and they know me?... His father?

He hung up and said, "My father says 어떻게 지내세요. You know?"

"Yes, 'How are you?'" I switched to Korean. "Master, every time I meet your father I think, 'annyeonghashimnikka?' But every time, I say 'annyeonghaseyo!'" (The former form is the very polite form, the latter is technically honorific, but it's the standard way to greet people so it's not really honorific.) I hit myself on the forehead, "Arg! I think, 'Next time I will use -shimnikka!' But I always forget."

He repeated back what I said to make sure he understood and started laughing. I said, "One day! I will say -shimnikka!"

It was really beautiful to look out over Seoul at night. The clouds were high enough that we could still see everything. In a few directions, you weren't allowed to take pictures. Master brought his camera, but I didn't, so I don't have photos yet.

Master's Daughter grabbed my hand as soon as we got out of the car and started dragging me around. She spoke Korean to me of course, which was interesting. At one point I was holding her, dancing with her, muttering in Korean, "We're dancing. Cha cha cha." She'd lean in and whisper, "Cha cha cha!"

At the pavilion there was one other Westerner in a large group of Koreans. Master said, "Oh, Amanda! Look! A foreigner!" I just laughed. But we kept eying each other. He had a wife or girlfriend it appeared, and you could tell he couldn't figure out what the heck I was doing with Master's family. Too old to be an exchange student, but walking around with a married couple my own age and their two kids...what? You don't often see a single Westerner hanging out with married Koreans. (The Fulbright Program has American teachers come teach and live in home stays. Frankly, I couldn't deal with a home stay at my age.)

Master took a ton of pictures and kept saying, "Amanda, 한번도..."

I laughed and said, "Always one more time. 'Side kick. One more time. Side kick. One more time.'"

He grinned and teased me, "Amanda! Pal Jang! Shijak! Go!"

In the car after leaving the pavilion, Master told me who the first person he'd talked to on the phone was. It was his best friend of 20 years. He was going to meet us and we were going to have dinner near my home. While we were waiting for him, he talked to another friend. He got off the phone and grinned. "My Haan Dong Friend. I tell him we take you to Skyway." Two points for me, because I had guessed it was him!

I mention the phone conversations because listening to them was interesting from a studying Korean viewpoint. In the course of the evening, I heard the standard -yo form that I'm used to, the honorific -seyo form, and the low banmal form. I am learning to distinguish the forms, but I rarely hear the honorific form except in standard, stock honorific phrases. So it was good for my Korean ear.

His friend met us and amused the heck out of me by having some idea of where Minnesota is by asking which sports teams we have in Minnesota. "And which soccer team?" I screwed up my face, "I don't know, America doesn't like soccer."

Master said, "But Amanda likes soccer!"

Master told me to look up his friend's name, and that it means "helmet" and is a very famous name. Helmet is a student, and his sister is studying to be an English teacher. "So, Amanda, chance-maker, maybe you meet." Knowing Master, we probably will.

We had dinner together near my house. In fact, across the street from the little corner grocery store I shop at. Near the end of dinner, Master introduced me to the owners of the restaurant and told them it was my first time there but that I'd be back and they should take care of me and how he knows me and on and on... I was appreciative; he tries so much to help me understand and fit in this culture. ("Amanda, you need Cyworld page." "Amanda, go Naver Andre Kim." "Amanda, you know 만세?" "Amanda, you meet my 선배.")

Dinner was wonderful. I don't know the food words yet, but it was one of the meals where you grill meat (in this case pork) at the table. You then dip it in a little oily sauce and eat it or wrap it in lettuce and/or sesame leaves with some hot pepper paste and other vegetables on it. Master told me how to eat it. I didn't bother telling him that I knew how to eat it.

Helmet and Master's Son
(You can see a typical soju bottle on the table.)

Master's Son, Showing the V-Sign Korean Thing at a Very Young Age
(You can see a typical soju bottle on the table.)

Master asked if I wanted soju or beer. Soju is Korea's most popular drink, and one I haven't had much. It's a strong drink to me, both in taste and knock-you-overness. But I prefer it to beer. He asked how many bottles I could drink—a standard question—and I just stared at him. "조금." A little.

Normally, when you cheer (건배/geonbae), you put your left hand below your right armpit. You "건배!" every shot, and of course you down it in one shot. Or, in my case, you down one shot in three drinks. Master would say, "Amanda, 천천히, OK..." He didn't need to worry about telling me slowly. I was wasn't going to bother trying to keep up with Master and Helmet!

Master said that the next shot of soju would be the last shot, so I drank it like you're supposed to.

"Oh! Amanda! One! You are Korean!"

Of course, in traditional 한번도 fashion, we had two more "final" shots after that.

Near the true final shot, Master was really grooving on in English. I was confusing my Korean verbs left and right, but Master's English was improving drastically.

We were talking about soju. He asked if I liked it. I said I did, and that I liked the flavored ones, and Master said he didn't because they make his head hurt. I said, "But they're delicious."

"I know! So I drink a lot, and then my head hurts!"

I laughed and asked if his "eyes come undone," (눈 풀렸다) which is how Koreans describe your eyes after drinking. Helmet—whom I didn't even know could speak English—started speaking in English and Korean. "Yes, but 정신력! Mental strength, good!"

"Is it Chinese?"

Helmet said, "정신, Chinese, mind. Mind?" I nodded. "력, Chinese, strength!"

I laughed, "Always Chinese!"

Master said in English, "Amanda, the reason so many words from Chinese is because before Hangul, you know Hangul?"

I stared at him. I don't think I've ever heard such a complicated sentence from him. "관장님, 네, 알아요." Master, yes, I know.

"Before Hangul, we write Chinese."

"네, 알아요."

"Then, King Sejong make Hangul."

"네, 알아요."

Master's Wife laughed and started teasing Master, "She knows about Hangul!"

I laughed, "한국 역사 책 읽어요!" I read books about Korean history.

He nodded. "Oh, that's right!"

"Master, your English is really, really good! You drink soju and speak a lot of English!"

Helmet and Master's Wife laughed. Master sat up a bit taller and looked surprised. "Amanda! You drink soju and are Korean! I drink soju and I am American!"

Master's Daughter, Who Had a Way of Clinging to My Neck,
Master Being Freakishly Blurry,
and Me

Sleepy Daughter, Master, Me

It was raining when we left the restaurant near 1 AM. Master was worried that I would get wet and wanted to drive me home. I said, "No, it's a 2 minute walk."

"OK, you run."

I was a bit dubious, but I ran home because I wanted to beat them starting the car up. I called him. "집에 있어요!" I am home!

Saturday Afternoon Coffee

Yesterday afternoon I met YJ for an exchange session. I wrote Master a thank-you note before our session and she helped me fix it. There was a lot to fix, but she understood what I was trying to say, which is a big step! And I did all of the writing in Korean rather than writing a note in English and then trying to translate, so that's good.

I think on the one hand that it sounds too much like I'm an 8 year old. "You speak slowly to me and use easy words. So I am not nervous to speak Korean with you." Were I writing the letter in English, it would be wonderfully eloquent. I'm not going to let my embarrassment over my Korean level stop me from giving him a thank-you note. What Master and his family did was very generous.

I have read the second story in my Once Upon a Time in Korea reader several times ("The Red Fan and the Blue Fan"), so I felt comfortable with the story. I recorded YJ and myself reading it together. We alternated reading paragraphs while I retold each paragraph in English.

When I read Why Cats Hate Rats, I ignored a lot of what I didn't understand. This time I understood different verb endings more easily. And I'm starting to understand more of the sentence structure. It feels good to understand, even if I had to read it several times to do so!

Usually YJ brings a magazine with brief English articles and dialogue exercises in it. It focuses more on conversational, colloquial English. I like working on it with her. "Why do you say it like this?" We were talking about "an 18-year-old girl" vs "she is 18 years old."

I'm sure there's some special grammar rule, but I don't know it. "I don't know. We just do."

"OK."

A while ago, I read some good advice. Learn the structure of a language, but don't fret about why things are different than in your native language. This is not to say you shouldn't ask questions, of course you should! But there is not necessarily a logical reason for the way a language works. Accept it.

Saturday Night Dongdongju

Saturday I went out with H. I edited a paper for him and he also looked at my thank-you note. We started at a cafe but they closed, so we moved to a pub, where we drank 동동주 and ate some sweet and sour pork.

Dongdongju Served in Bowls

We practiced some Korean. I practiced what I learned this week, the must/should/have to/ought to form and the "do you know how to do..." form. I also learned how to make sentences such as "It's hard to practice Korean," "It's easy to drink soju," and "Taking photos is nice."

I learned several new verbs, two of them irregular ㅂverbs. "H, are these irregular?"

Blank stare.

"Do you drop the ㅂ?"

Blank stare.

"Is it 즐겁어요? Or 즐거워요?"

"Oh! 즐거워요. Oh..." he said realizing my question, "is that irregular?"

This is why I like having language partners. Since they're native speakers, they just speak. They don't bog things down with grammar rules or terms. It's simply "yes, like that" or "no, like this." Also, since there's no book to follow, I learn new grammar forms and vocabulary and cultural points when I need them or want them.

While at the pub, we played a game of chess.

The waitress could not figure us out.

H, Studying the Chess Board Before Kicking My Butt