June 6 - June 10: I can read!

With Monday being a national holiday, this past week was a breezy four days of teaching and trying to recover from my vacation. By Tuesday morning, I was anxious for the weekend to come as quickly as possible. Fortunately, the kids were good and nothing crazy was popped on us by our increasingly tyrannical boss.

Wednesday afternoon I decided to opt out of eating lunch with the kids and went downstairs to my favorite little Korean restaurant. As I was waiting for my bibimbap to arrive, I found my eyes wandering over the massive Korean-only menu that is posted on the wall. I was delightfully surprised to find that I could read most of the items on the menu! About all the time I have put aside to learn Korean since I arrived is a scattering of ten-minute sessions with a language book over the last seven months.

Until Wednesday, I had not really even tried to read anything, but now that I know I can, it gives me confidence to learn more of the language. Not knowing much Korean is definitely one of the most frustrating elements that I am dealing with as of late. When I first arrived, it did not bother me that I knew zero Korean...I let everyone else do the talking for me and figured I would learn soon enough. However, I am going on eight months of being here, so I can no longer play the "newbie" card. Most of my new friends have been in Korea for just a month or two, and they all seem to know more of the language than I! That's all the motivation I need to get myself further educated!

Hey, if I am going to allow my English language skills go to pot, might as well replace it with some decent Korean!