Baby Steps

So I did the unthinkable today: I signed up for a Korean class.

Now you'd think having been in Korea for almost two and half years (and with no present intentions to leave anytime soon) that I would have started taking a class a long time ago.

Well sir, you'd be wrong.

My running excuse for whenever a friend, family member or coworker chides me over my inability to speak the local language (one dear friend lovingly referred to me as a "cultural free loader") is that after teaching all day, the last thing I want to do is spend my down time in a classroom on the opposite side of the teacher's desk. And you know, I don't think I'm wrong for feeling that way. I need a break to vegetate and let my mind decompress if I'm to stay on top of my game. Besides, it's not like I've learned nothing while living here. I've picked up a fair amount of vocabulary and I can read the alphabet, so I can function fairly well when out and about without a Korean friend to babysit me.

Yet still. I feel frustrated when I can't have conversations with the people I see on a daily basis. It's isolating when I'm at faculty dinners and I don't know what's being said around me. I get jealous when I overhear a westerner on the street speaking fluent Korean. So yeah, I guess you could say something finally snapped in me, pushing me to be more proactive about my monolingual handicap.

Easier said than done, of course. Now that I live in the countryside, it's less convenient than ever to attend a Korean class. The closest schools to my home are in Seoul, and Seoul's not all that close. But my hunger for knowledge is not satisfied by excuses, so this past week I did a web search and emailed every school that looked legitimate. I got a few replies, arranged to take some placement tests, and now I'm enrolled.

Succinct as that sounds, I hadn't planned for everything to happen so quickly.

I wanted to visit at least two schools today. The first I went to was further from my home than the second, and I even got a little lost while looking for it. I did find the school eventually, and after greeting me the kindly staff sat me down in the front lobby with a test and a pencil so they could evaluate my smarts (I warned them not to be impressed). As I was stretching the limits of my limited Korean abilities, I overheard other students walk in and speak with the receptionist. To my surprise, they weren't speaking Korean at all. They were speaking Japanese! Later I learned this school was mainly attended by foreigners from other Asian countries, and even kept a few Japanese natives on staff. If I were enrolled, I would be the only westerner student.

I finished, my test was reviewed and a teacher interviewed me. She gave me overly positive feedback disproportionate to my skill level (I figure it's not good for business to inform potential customers right off the bat how much they suck) but was also fair in saying that I would need to begin in the lowest level class. She then quite suddenly started filling out the paperwork for me to enroll. I hadn't yet said I would commit to a class, and since I was planning to visit another school that afternoon I was getting ready to tell her to step on the brakes. As if sensing my hesitation, she informed me I'd be in a class with three girls from Hong Kong.

"So... Where do I sign?"

Jokes aside, I think this will be an interesting experience. If things don't work out, I only paid for a month of classes so I have the option to bail after four weeks. But really, I'm hoping for the best. It would be nice not to feel so out of place in the country that's become my second home.

Anyway! Remember that dog I posted a picture of in my first blog post?

Guess who had puppies!