Amanda Takes Off...

I found this draft from January 2007. I have no idea if I ever published it.

All students are 9 Korean age, starting second grade in March, very good English speakers and pretty smart kids.

Girl One: Amanda Teacher, do you have to get married?

Me: No.

One: Good. I don't want to get married. [Pause] If you don't get married does that mean you don't have kids?

Me, after thinking for a moment, this is Korea, not America: Yes, usually.

One: Good.

Boy: Unless you have sleepovers with boys.

Me: Right.

Boy: Kissing boys makes babies. [Makes kissy faces at One.]

Girl Two: Not kissing! More than that!

One, to Boy: I wouldn't kiss you anyways!

Me: Good.

One, to Me: But I've had sleepovers with Two. And I've kissed her.

Me: ...

Shy Boy: Amanda Teacher, what does 'shut the **** up' mean?

Me, hand flies over Shy's mouth: Where did you learn that?

Shy, muffled: Television.

"남편!" I yelled from the living room.

Good Man appeared, sipping coffee. "뭐?"

I read to him.

만일 십 년 이십년 이후 자신의 미래가 여전히
고통스럽고 지금보다 더 못할 걸 알게 되다면 어떻게
하겠어?

"So, does that basically mean 'if you could know that ten or twenty years in the future your life would be miserable and worse than it is now, what would you do?'"

Good Man nodded, grunted "응," and went back to his computer.

어제가 어제하곤 달라져. 어제 어제 어제······ 그렇지?
남자는 여자의 어제가 무엇이었을까가 궁금했다. 한번도
여자의 어제를 물어본 적이 없었다. 남자 역시도 남자의
어제를 말해준 적이 없었고 여자가 물어본적도 없었다. 두
사람 사이에는 어제라는 말이 없었다.

"남편!"

Good Man sipped his coffee and looked at me. "응?"

"Does that mean 'the man was curious about what the woman did yesterday. But once again, he didn't ask the woman. The man didn't talk about what he did yesterday and the woman didn't ask. In their relationship, they didn't ask each other about yesterday.' Is that what that means?"

Good Man nodded.

"Damn. 똑똑한 여자야!" I am a smart woman.

Good Man sipped his coffee and sighed heavily. "Your ego is so big it is invading Canada."

Yesterday was a planning day at work for my team. On planning days, I order out for lunch. I met the deli guy at the door.

"Is this that school President Obama came to?"

I nodded, "Yes, it is."

"Did you get to meet him?"

"Yes, actually, I did."

"What's he like?" the man said, excitedly.

"He was taller than I expected. Firm handshake, well-spoken, friendly."

"That's so neat...wow."

When we were in Minnesota, during our day trip to the North Shore, Mom pointed out the hospital I was born in. Saint Mary's. Good Man said, "Saint Mary? I was born at 성모 카톨릭 병원—Saint Mary's in Incheon."

Well, if they ever ask that question at a USCIS (INS) interview, we're good to go.

I had a flash realization about a minor point in Korean today. I asked Good Man what "murderer" was.

"살인자," he said. Salinja. "murder person person."

I thought for a moment. "[Good Man]. 인 and 자 both mean people."

"Yes."

"But it seems like 인 is more like...a person who is an object, or who just is. But 자 is more like someone who does something, who acts."

Good Man paused, "Hmmm, yes."

There are some exceptions, of course but 인/人 is used for words like Korean, foreigner, black person, and blind person. (Also some words I would consider agent words, like criminal or soldier.) 자/者 is used more often for words like winner, scholar, reader, and geographer.

I felt slightly brilliant when I realized there's a difference in the roots.

Korean: 여자는 남자의 티셔츠만 입고 있었다.

Google Translate: The man was wearing women's tisyeocheuman.

Actual Translation: The woman was wearing only the man's T-shirt [emphasis mine].

I analyzed the books I've read so far this year using Yes24 and Kyobo.

빨간 머리 앤 (만화) [1-2학년]
내 이름은 삐삐 롱스타킹 [3-4학년]
꼬 마 백만 장자 삐삐 [3-4학년]
삐 삐는 어른이 되기 싫어 [3-4학년]
이솝 이야기 [2학년]
비밀의 화원 (만화) [3-4학년]
비밀의 화원 [5-6학년]
안데르센 동화 [3-4학년]
동생을 바꾸고 짚어 [5-6학년]

I'm a third-fourth grader in my Korean reading skills (fiction). I was pretty down about that, until Diana pointed out that fourth graders know a lot. She has a point. I have been studying Korean for three and a half years, this month. I've never taken a class. Most people would've given up three years ago, but I haven't (even though I've had lulls in my progress and studies). That's something to be proud of!

I ran the rest of my books through and almost all of them left are 5-6학년, so soon enough I'll have to be a fifth-sixth grader.

One of my co-workers has a daughter my age. Her daughter volunteers at the library, and one day she thought a book looked like it might be Korean. She couldn't identify the alphabet but found that the book was published in Korea. She passed it on to her mother, who passed it on to me.

Now she can identify Korean. Every Korean discard book she comes across ends up in my hands. I have children's picture books, young adult novels, fiction and non-fiction. I have books on diverse subjects such growing plants, playing baduk, and exercising.

I show up to school and find books in my mailbox, books in plastic grocery bags hanging on my door, books on my desk. She's filling up my bookshelf! I'm not complaining! I've written the daughter (whom I've never met) a thank you note, but soon I'll have to buy her some sort of Korean treat (Peppero sticks, maybe?).

Last week I received a really fascinating-looking book called 어느 날 내가 죽었습니다, The Day I Died. I've been reading books in translation and I'd like to read a Korean-language book by a Korean author before the end of the year. This book is competing with 소나기 to be the first Korean-Korean book I read. (I'll feel like I've really reached a point in the language when I can read a book written by a native speaker, for a native speaker.)

Yesterday I came home with a new stack. Good Man flipped through them. "Novel, novel, novel, novel, novel, horror novel... This," he said, holding up a book with a somewhat abstract line drawing of a woman's body, "this is naughty book!"

It's my new indicator of fluency: being able to understand naughty books.