Saturday, September 24, 2016

Calm you shall keep and yes hmm...the perfect shirt
While Chris was here, I slacked a lot on my Korean.  It is so hard to settle for a meh translation when you can have someone tell you the exact meaning!  There is also something intimidating in speaking Korean in front of Chris!  Maybe it is his perfectionist side or that I know he will correct me?  Anywho, with him back in the states, I've been speaking more as I kind of have to! Chris' uncle made plans with us to have dinner last night and even called me to make sure I knew which subway exit to get off on.  I got off the phone, hopped on the subway and got to the station that we were supposed to meet at. It wasn't until we had waited for a little bit that I had this thought. Did he say to go to Jeongpyeong station or that they were at Jeongpyeong and would come to Sinmae station to meet us? The Korean sentence structure is kind of the opposits of English so I was suddenly doubting myself!  I did what any potentially lost American would do.  I found the nearest bakery and bought us treats so we could think clearly.  Kidding.  Before that, I messaged him. And he didn't respond.  I finally got ahold of family and discovered that we were at the right place!  Phew!  Next time I am on the phone, I am going to be less quick to assume meaning and repeat back plans.  And dinner was at Chris' aunt's  삼겹살 (pork belly BBQ) restaurant, which means tons of delicious carmelized meat served with different sauces and side dishes.  Basically, I regretted using any stomach space on that darn pastry.  삼겹살 is always better.   We got to bring home Yeju for a sleep over afterwards as a bonus! The girls have loved having a friend over here and always look forward to seeing her on the weekend.  I wish they knew some of the neighbor kids. They are so darn shy that they will go to the playground and play next to other kids without saying a word.  (And I think the Korean kids are equally shy) We actually had some middle school girls say hello to us as walking past and then crack up as soon as they passed.

Side note: there were two guys at the restaurant from England and Illinois so I got to speak to them a little.  They have both lived in Korea for more than 10 years as they teach at local universities.  I'm a little jealous.

Side note 2: we have been enjoying a historical kdrama that is airing right now, Love in the Moonlight.  It's about a crown prince and his Eunuch that is a girl but disguised as a boy.  Monday and Tuesday evenings are looked forward to and this drama made touring Gyeongbukgung palace much more exciting for a certain 12 year old.  Historically accurate? Maybe a little.  Fun to watch? You betcha.  If you're watching it with subtitles, I would maybe selectively edit episode 7 at the very end. We don't have subtitles here.

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