Annyeong hashimnikka!

So... today. Breakfast was, uneventful apparently, because I can't really remember it. I ate more rice, and I've come to accept that I'm just going to have to eat kimchi (spicy pickled cabbage) with every single meal, especially if the main dish is some gross whole fish that I don't want to eat. Oh right, before that... I'd set my alarm for 6:30 so that I could get up and go for a quick jalk, but I woke up at 5:30 and couldn't for the life of me get back to sleep, so I left earlier. I went a different way this morning, and saw some pretty areas of campus, including the "Professors' Tennis Courts," where a bunch of old Asian guys were grunting and shouting. I kinda wanted to watch, but I thought that might be weird.

Came back, showered, had breakfast, and then headed to my first language class! Every day we have four hours, with two hours of grammar and two hours of conversation. It's taught as an immersion class, with absolutely (almost) no English. At first I was really disappointed, because we spent the first two hours learning the alphabet, which we were supposed to already know, and which I sort of knew. So I felt like it was a waste, but hearing her say the letters and the activities will help my pronunciation, and set a better groundwork for phrases, so it was for the best. The second half, conversation, was crazy, because she just came in and started speaking Korean at us. Now, I've sort of experienced this sort of thing, when I jumped into intermediate French without knowing much of anything, but this was totally different. In two hours we learned how to say:

1. Hi, how are you? - Annyeong haseyo? -or- Annyeong hashimnikka?
2. What is your name? - Ireumi muashimnikka?
3. My name is... - Jeo neun Brittany imnida.
4. Nice to meet you - Mannaseo pangapseumnida.
5. What is your nationality? - Oneunala saramimnikka?
6. I am American. - Miguk saram imnida.
7. Where are you from? - Odi-eseo wasseoyo?
8. I am from Florida. - Florida eseo wasseoyo.

Obviously those are poor romanizations of the original phrases, because I haven't even thought about figuring out the Korean Language pack for my computer, but there you go. So yeah, it's really slow going. And my class is just for beginners, but we have to work to the weakest link, so that's why it's moving slow, but oh well. I've just got to study hard in my free time and supplement it. Just hearing someone speak Korean slowly for me is helpful. And I'm trying to figure out why it's so hard for me to get faster at reading Korean characters, but I think it's because I don't even read English anymore... I glance at words and whole phrases and just know what they are--it's not like the sounding out of phonics. I just wonder how long it would take for me to get even close to that point with Korean. Forever, I imagine.

So yeah, then I had lunch in the cafeteria, and it was actually really good. Then... a cultural primer workshop, which was pretty boring, but kind of informative. I don't know though, it was like three hours long, and I always feel like the presentations they give could be shortened by half and still convey the information, with less blah-blah-ing. But then I came back and did my homework for class and took a short nap before dinner, which was also surprisingly okay. After dinner was an optional workshop called "ETA Life," which was really just a slideshow of pictures and two current ETAs talking about their year. It was pretty interesting, and it made me more excited and more nervous at the same time. Then I forced myself to go to the KEY Club meeting (the English speaker club) in hopes of getting a conversation partner, and ended up going with another ETA Matt and three Korean guys. Neither Matt or I had our wallets, so the guys took us to Dunkin Donuts right behind the university and bought us a kiwi coolatta, which was surprisingly AMAZING. And the guys were absolutely hysterical. The one guy was obviously the leader, and knew the most English, so he just kept the conversation going, asking random questions. There were a couple awkward moments, and a million awkwardly amusing moments, so I'm really glad that I went. I was tempted just to sit in my room tonight, and to justify it by studying, but it was really fun.

I wanted to write more, I think... various deep thoughts about some of the stuff I learned today, but it will have to wait, because I need to get in bed. I'm gross, and I'd like to shower, but I'd rather be in bed sooner.

Annyeong haseyo!