So this weekend was promising to be neat at worst. I had plans to go and spend the weekend with a friend of mine in Ulsan. Ulsan is a smallish city in Korea, with a main Hyundai car manufacturing facility as well as an SK refinery and several several other heavy industrial businesses. In other words, there are plenty of stuffs going on there in Ulsan (factory wise, anyways).
So on Friday we headed out to the house. I was INCREDIBLY nervous about meeting the parents because of the whole politeness thing and my Korean ability, and if we could communicate, and if they would even like me, and about ten other reason why their dad would just throw me out of the window of their really nice 21st floor house (and believe me, if I had scrubs-esque fantasy powers with this blog, you would have got a hilarious version of that thought). Seriously, I wasn't even nervous, I was downright scared.
We arrived at the house, and I met my friend's siblings, but the parents were nowhere to be found. Turns out they were down in a restaurant having chicken and beer (I love Korea). They were soon in coming, though.
I definitely met them, but I was so nervous my Korean was terrible and I could barely say anything really. My friend's mom was really a nice woman, and her father largely silent (which was awesome, since his voice was deep and I couldn't understand a lot anyways).
We all got past the whole awkwardness of meeting, and then they asked what we were going to do. When we said we kind of wanted to go out for food and drink, they first asked if we wanted watermelon (I love Korea). We declined, and then they asked if they wanted some chicken and beer and watermelon (I really really love Korea). There isn't many things in the world which really make everything better, but I've gotta say those three things combined could drive away any unhappiness ever. Not saying I'm some kind of alcoholic or anything, but only every once in a while I let myself experience the treat of some beverages.
So we went out and had a good time (with some old Korean people asking me to babysit/teach english to a group of possibly 25 little kids. Unfortunately (ha!) I didn't get to do that. We came back and I went to sleep. I had a bed and the dad and mom had a bed, but all 3 kids stayed in the living room on the floor. I felt really bad, but they wouldn't have anything but me having the really nice bed. Before bed, all the family got together and really enjoyed each other's time.
Which brings me to my next couple of points: money and Korean.
Firstly, Money. During this trip, no matter how I protested, they wouldn't let me pay for anything. It was pretty different I must say. Coming from my southern upbringing, I couldn't imagine being the man and having an older lady pay for me. It happened, though, and several times over. We had nice meals, went places, enjoyed Ulsan, all on their tab. I felt really burdensome. It really goes to show what hospitality means in Korea, though. As a guest in their house I was definitely given super preferential treatment. It felt kind of uncomfortable sometimes, but it's part of the culture that the guests are treated. I know that if my friend or her family ever comes to Murray I will definitely treat them to everything I can.
Secondly, Korean. WTF. Here I was thinking that I was really progressing in my studies and really doing good at the whole learning a second language thing. False.
Before I got here to Korea, I studied Korean independently. I used the Rosetta stone, and it was great. I felt like I was doing so good. I was listening to native speakers and everything and answering questions. Then I came to Korea. I couldn't understand anyone. It dragged me down for the better part of 2 months to know that for all intents and purposes, I had social ability of a 3 year old (mind you, I'm a little taller and slightly more coordinated). Things got better though, and since the Murray kids came to campus, it was like a door was opened for me in Korean and I just kind of started using it and being able to understand it, and impressing people. With the knowledge of my soon departure I felt pretty frustrated that I had to leave just as I was getting a grasp of the language. Grasp might've been too strong of a word, though.
I sat there in the house this weekend trying to make sense of the communication I was hearing. Explaining just how different Korean can be between people is hard to do. In english, we have some polite words and semantics with which we can flatter someone and show them respect, but is really simple in comparison to Korean. In this language, you have several different verb conjugations, different nouns, different verbs, and even different voice stressing if addressing someone in a polite way. Not only that, but there are varying levels of politeness. In my class, I'm learning a pretty moderate level politeness system. In the house this weekend, since my friend and her family are very close (obviously I know) they don't have to use the polite style of speech.
That being said, the Korean I heard in the house was COMPLETELY different than what I hear in class. I was dumbfounded, and kind of sad that I couldn't understand even the most basic of sentence. All weekend I did my best to understand what was going on, but when I listened to a sentence and was then asked to tell what the person said, I consistently got the meaning of the speech wrong. Every time. It's really humbling to have all of your suppositions about yourself crushed in a day. While the actual experience of being a speechless child in the house really wasn't that fun, it really made me realize something. I'm not going to be fluent in 6 months, much less 4. I can't convince myself I am getting the language if I couldn't understand anything this weekend. Why should I be upset to leave now when I have so much farther to go. If I had 9 more months and hung out with Korean people the majority of my time, I feel like I could definitely become fluent. However, I don't have the time. Because of that realization, I feel like I've come to peace much more with leaving than I was before.
Well, on Saturday we had a lot of stuff planned. First, we went to the sports complex for some exercise. It was fun, especially since Korean exercise equipment is pretty interesting. Anyways, after the exercise we had breakfast. It was a full meal with plenty of Kimchi and related type foods. It was really god, even if it wasn't what I was used to. There were a lot of sour foods and there wasn't anything which I could say I had for breakfast before (just kidding, we had rice). After the breakfast, we headed out to a park by the sea. The park was GORGEOUS. I had never seen the ocean like that, and I will never forget it. There were giant rocks with waves crashing over them, and along with that, people were perched precariously on rocks, trying to catch the night's dinner or the day's wages.
After the park we visited a duck restaurant for my friend's cousin's birthday. She was only like 13 and it was funny to see her and her brother interact with the older kids in my friend's family. That night we took the birthday girl out to eat some japanese food and take a ride in the tallest ferris wheel in Korea. It seemed like she had a really good time.
Also, we played some arcade type sports games that night. We hit in a batting cage and shot some hoops. It felt so good to hit a baseball again. I know how to hit a baseball. I don't have to worry about picking up that skill, or wondering what to do in a certain situation. It's definitely nice to just get to enjoy an activity I'm actually really good at.
We came back home and went to sleep, again with me in the bed and no other kid had one.
Sunday same and we had breakfast again. It was the same thing, and all the sour tastes definitely grow on you after the first time. It made me feel healthy to be eating it for breakfast, and I definitely wasn't bogged down afterwards. Breakfast was finished, and then it was off to take me to the bus terminal. I met one of the student assistants from last year's Discover Korea program for about half an hour before my bus left and then came back to campus. It was a really nice, full weekend.
For now,
Aron Huckaba International Vagabond
