Amanda Takes Off...

Because I get to read sentences like this:

옛날 어느 마을에 방귀를 아주 잘 뀌는 남자가 있었어요.

-from "방귀 시합," 잠들 때 하나씩 등여주는 이야기

This sentence beats out the roasted cow one.

Once upon a time there lived a man who was very, very good at farting.

I attend the "advanced adult" taekwondo classes. Usually it's ~3nd gup and up. Last night there was one other second dan, a woman I'm really starting to like—and one 8th gup and four 9th gups.

We ended up doing a ton of basic work, which was fine, because everyone can always improve their basics. Except the other second dan and I were the only ones kiyaping. I don't expect decent kiyaps from yellow and orange belts, but I do expect some noise. Later a yellow belt adult showed up with his wild yellow belt children. Because eight year old yellow belts belong in the "advanced adult" class.

At the end of class Special Forces said the usual. "Black belts, turn around, color belts, face black belts."

The color belts turned around.

And faced the wall.

Velvet Red Flower

These are Azaleas, Right?

From the Back

Oil Painting?

Cartwheeling Blooms
(Seriously, I have no idea what flower this is, but the blooms look like they're cartwheeling.)

Anyone have any idea why the fourth one has bokeh that looks like an oil painting? Shot at 1/1250 sec, ISO 100, f/1.8. No filters. Post-processed in Lightroom using punch preset, adjusting contrast and white balance. Looked like an oil painting straight off the memory card. Is this just a case of catching the light at the right time and right angle?

"I need to learn Korean because I want to speak with your family," I said to Good Man, several weeks ago.

"OK," Good Man replied, "but you speak a lot of Korean and it is not only your responsibility. My family could learn."

I shook my head. "Your mother is old. And I met you in Korea. I am marrying into your culture because I met you in your country. It is my job to learn how to communicate with your mother. It is not her job to accommodate me."

"Well, you may know there are many foreigners married to Koreans who can not communicate with their in-laws."

"I know. I don't want to be one of them," I said.

I am really growing to adore Mother.

We had a video chat with Mother and Sister last night. For some reason I ended showing them my Hanja 100 book and Sister and Mother became excited. Then Sister held up some books.

Apparently Mother has bought three 3030 English books. The 3030 series uses the selling point Study English 30 Minutes a Day for 30 Days and You Can... She bought the Speak Like an American Kindergartener, Speak Like an American Elementary Student, and Speak Like an American Middle School Student books. She did not get the Date an American one. ㅋㅋ

I was touched when I saw that. I was so touched that I went and wrote about it in Korean. ^^

(한국어)

I took a lot of teacher classes at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts this year. I took enough to earn a certificate of studies as a level I CETA (Changing Education Through the Arts) teacher, which meant an optional dinner at the Kennedy Center last night. My costs were covered by the program; Good Man's ticket cost $75, and we decided to spring for it.

It was fun to get to dress up and go out. I got to wear a deep V-neck (front and back) cleavage-flattering, completely sexy and thus work-inappropriate black dress. I also wore my red wedding shoes. Great! Except I had two glasses of wine with dinner and the meal was fancy and thus the servings were tiny, so when we got called up to accept our certificates during dessert (some chocolate dish that was fantastic) I thought, "I don't drink enough to wear three inch heels..."

After dinner we got to see Ragtime. We had great seats—balcony A, front row, center. Shortly before the intermission, Good Man leaned over and said, "Is this thing longer than Titanic?"

ㅎㅎㅎ

I did understand his frustration. I was having a hard time understanding some of the lyrics (though they did a great job) and if they'd been in a second language?

Koreans don't use pronouns much. They also don't like using proper nouns much. Korean is considered a high-context language. Sometimes Good Man will say something like, "I think it will be good for her if she does it for her."

I will say, "Who?"

"She!"

What. The. Hell?

I am American. I like pronouns. How many pronouns have I used so far in this post? I like proper nouns. Proper nouns give context.

I just wrote a very brief story about going to work Saturday. I typed it up, posted it at Lang-8 and realized a few hours later that I didn't once use "I."

Here's the uncorrected story.

요즘 일에서 많이 바빴다. 5월에서 시험 많이 있을거는데. 그리고 화요일에 특수교육 학생들이 시험 만기가 되다. 스터레스가 많이 있다.

그리고 토요일에 동료하고 학교로 갔다. 8시부터 2시까지 일했다. ㅠㅠ 밖에 기온 23도이다. 아이고...마음의 속에서 찡찡댔다.

끝난후에 남편과 식당으로 가서 점심을 먹었눈데. 집으로 올때 남편은 랩톱을 잊오보린것을 발견했다. (!) 걱정했다.

재빠르게 식당으로 되돌아갔다. 남편은 찾았는데--햅톱이 있었다! 아휴. 마음이 가벼웠다.

하지만...아직도 토요일에 일하므로 생활이 싫아하다.

And for our non-Korean speakers, here's a translation, done mostly straight as written.

Very busy at work lately. In May will be big tests. And Monday special education student tests are due. Have a lot of stress.

And Saturday coworker with school went to. From 8 to 2 worked. (tears) Outside was 23 degress. Oh God... deep inside heart was whining.

After work with husband went to restaurant to eat lunch. When returned to house, husband discovered laptop was forgotten. (!) Worried.

Quickly went back to restaurant. Husband looked and--had laptop! Wha hoo. Heart was happy.

But... still, because work on Saturday hate life.

I wrote a whole story and didn't even consciously consider dropping the 저/나/I. I just did it! Heart is happy! ㅋㅋ