Early Night

Tonight I'm going to call it early. I have a midterm tomorrow morning at 8am, plus today was pretty busy. Also the students are leaving early for MT so I will have the dorm pretty much to myself Thursday and Friday.

Today was pretty standard despite all the excitement yesterday. I woke up and got breakfast at 8 Ho Gwan with YJS. Chicken Curry Bap is the new standard. It's basically Dak Kalbi with curry flavored rice. Good stuff. Then I headed to class early and finished up my homework before the other students and teacher arrived. Today started with a review and then an intro into family members as well as the number system used for counting.

Are there separate verbs for things like "name" and "age" and "house" and "sleep" when it comes to formal vs informal you ask? WHY YES THERE ARE! And I'm sooooooo happy about it. That's right, there's two verbs for all of those things. If you're speaking to a person above you that you need to use honorifics for you not only have to change the conjugation of the verb, but the actual verb changes too. This is gonna be a snap.

Anyways, after class I came back to the dorm. I wasn't all that hungry so I skipped lunch and got a quick nap. Then it was time to head over to the K-PACE center for the English conversational class. That's always fun because I get to interface with other English teachers here. I've met BB and her husband James for a few weeks now. They run the K-PACE English conversational classes. James plays hockey and BB is Korean-American I believe. They are extremely nice and offered to help me with anything I need. I really appreciate this! They also said they go out to dinner together sometimes. That would be a welcome change for me.

My Business Card.

I forgot to mention that they gave me 3 stacks of business cards today. It's official! I should have had them put Wang Hyung Jun on it haha. That would have been silly though having people actually call me that. I also forgot to mention that the guy taking pictures was there again today at the English conversational class. That was fun to explain to all the English teachers lol. They're all like who is this guy? And all of a sudden I have a camera man following me around.

After the English class I headed back to the dorm to see if YJS was ready for dinner. We waited a few minutes and headed out to 8 Ho Gwan. No hot dogs this time, I got Dak Kalbi. Yes I am one of those people who finds what they like and sticks with it. It's just too good and filling to not get. After dinner it was time to head back to the K-PACE center for the last singing and dancing rehearsal before the student's MT session.

I haven't talked much about the girls in the K-PACE program but let me tell you, they are a HOOT. Every morning when I walk into breakfast they all yell "Hi teacher!" and try to talk to me in English. They're loud too lol. Well one of the girls somehow learned the phrase "Look at me!" and she uses it nonstop. Oh, she also knows "You give me high five!" Classic. I don't mind it, they don't mean it disrespectfully, and YJS and I get a huge laugh out of it.

Well the reason I bring this up is that she hadn't said it in awhile, so YJS and I were commenting about it to each other. In walk the girls for the rehearsal and what do you know one of them says "Look at me!" Only it's not the girl that normally says it, its 3 of them! The "Look at me!" disease is spreading! Save me! Haha they all want high fives and then they giggle about it and run away.

Some of the sketches are getting pretty good. One group is singing "Sweet Little Kitty" by Cherry Filter which is hilarious. The song is in Korean but every once in awhile they say Sweet Little Kitty in English. (나는 낭만 고양이) Na Neun Nang Man Go Yang E is Korean for sweet little kitty. I got in there and played some air guitar and air drums to help them get into it. The other groups aren't quite as energetic, though one group is trying to dance and sing to "Growl" by EXO.

Following an hour and a half of dancing and singing everyone is tired so it's time to head back to the dorm. I am about to hit the hay, but thanks for stopping by and I'll let you know how my midterm goes! Good night from Korea!

Korean Word/Phrase of the Day: 형/누나/남동생/여동생 (Hyung/Noona/Nam Dong Saeng/Yeo Dong Saeng) Older Brother/Older Sister/Younger Brother/Younger Sister. I'm not going to go through all the family units we learned today, but that's a start so you can start calling your siblings in Korean. Have fun!

TL:DR I'm in Korea.