Korean 101

I recently started studying Korean. Properly, I mean. I tried to study on my own, but I'm a terrible self-starter and I really enjoy collaborative environments so I knew taking a class would be a better option for me. It is definitely the right choice.

First, I want to introduce a little bit about Korean to you guys because I know you're reading this and feeling pretty impressed with my mad memorization talent and language skills. First thing first the Korean alphabet is actually called Hangul (Korean's don't even actually call themselve korean or the country korea... it's a bit weird if you think about it). It was invent by Sejong the Great a Korean king. He invented a phonetic alphabet because most common people did not have access to the education of the rich. Before this Korea used Chinese characters. Chinese is still used in Korea today, but to a smaller degree than in Japan. It's mostly just used for news papers and when they wanted to save space. Lots of Korean words are derived from Chinese words because of this. Anyway Sejong the Great is on all Korean money and they even have a holiday to celebrate the alphabet. To say the least Korean's are pretty proud of their alphabet. 

Okay, so I know some of you are going wow isn't Korean like really really hard? You must have to remember so many characters, it is an asian language after all. Not the case at all. Korean is phonetic which means all it's characters combine to make different sounds, thus making different meanings, pretty similar to English. And no there are not thousands of characters like in Chinese there are only 29 letters which can be broken down a number of ways. They have consonants and vowels just like English as well. Of course, also like English vowels and consonants can combine and make new sounds which makes even more characters, but I won't get into that. In their more basic form there are 29 characters. 

The reason Korean looks sort of similar to Chinese with the block-y looking 'characters' is because you write Korean in block form rather than in a row. You also read Korean left to right like English. But Terri, what about these block things? What's that about? So basically each block is a syllable. It's easiest to illustrate using a word. I'll use the word love today because it's pretty easy with only two syllables. Love in Korea is salang or sarang: 사랑 so the separate syllables are 사 (sa) 랑 (rang/lang) if you write it out without the blocks it looks like this: ㅅ ㅏ ㄹ ㅏ ㅇ so you can see where the blocks are. Pretty neat huh? Also, when you type in Korean the computer knows when you're trying to make a block and automatically puts the characters into the correct block as you type. 

So there are some rules about blocks... it's a bit confusing and I haven't learned everything yet but basically you cannot start a word with just a vowel you must put either a placeholder or a consonant. The place holder is: ㅇ. You may have noticed I also used it in the word 사랑 in this instance it is at the end of the word. How do I know it's at the end? It's at the bottom of the block. When it's at the end it makes a ng sound, but at the beginning it is silent. For example you cannot write ㅏ (a) you must write 아 (which just means 'oh' in English) but it's pronounced 'a' not 'nga'.

Another thing you may have noticed about 사랑 is I romanized it too ways. In Korean there is no 'l' sound or 'r' sound (actually most Korean letters only sound vaguely like there romanized counterparts, but this one is special). ㄹ is the character in Korean and it can make different sounds depending what is beside it etc. It doesn't make a sound I know how to describe, sometimes you hear it and think L then in a different place it sounds more like R, but often it doesn't sound like either. It is tricky trying to romanize any Korean words or sounds because even though a lot of the sounds in Korean seem similar to the English counter part they will have more than one sound depending what characters they are combined with or depending where they are in the word. For example there is a city in Korea called Busan (부산) which used to be romanized as Pusan simple because the 'ㅂ' sound is somewhere between a 'b' and a 'p' sound, I think it also depends where it falls in the word. Sometimes you also see kimchi romanized as gimchi because 'ㄱ' falls in between the 'k' and 'g' sound, but sound different at the end of words. It gets even more confusing when you add double consonants to the mix. 

Hopefully this isn't a confusing explanation. I want to write this simply without overwhelming everyone, but there are many differences in Korean and English so it takes a little explanation. 

Okay, enough Korean lessons. I want to talk about some of the differences in mean which I think gives interesting insight into Korean culture. First hello in Korean is annyeonghaseyo (언녕하세요) which if you translate it in google is literally hello, but actually in Korean it means (roughly) are you at peace. When you say goodbye there are two ways one for the person staying and one for the person going they both start with annyong, but end differently. Their rough translation is 'go in peace' and 'stay in peace' (there are various other ways to say goodbye and hello as well, but these are the most common).

I know some of you who are familiar with other Asian cultures or other Asian languages may be wondering about polite language and yes, Korean does have polite language. The the greetings in the last paragraph are all polite language. Polite language is used in various situations. Such as, talking to strangers, talking to people who are older than you, talking to superiors at work and etc. You can talk to your friends in informal language and there is a slightly different way to say things or different words to use. Mostly I've learned polite language because it is the safest to use. In certain situations where you are unsure which language to use you should always revert to polite language (I believe). I don't know much about it, but in some instances there is very polite language. 

The very last thing I should mention, that you've probably heard about around the web is Konglish. Now from my understanding (but don't quote me on this) Konglish seems to refer to two things. 1) Badly or Koreanized English translations and 2) Koreanized English words used in Korean. And there are a lot of them. The most common one I hear all the time is 커피 romanized as keopi. Can you guess what it is? Try saying it out loud a couple times. It kinda sounds like copy, right? Well it's not copy... it's coffee! That's right! Korean's love their coffee. There is no 'f' sound in Korean so 'f' are changed to 'p'. Similarly with 'v' so if you say elevator it is 'ellibeiteo'. Another thing that happens in Korean is because you cannot put two consonants together at the beginning of words you have to add a sound in between and sounds often get added to the end of words as well. Bus because 'beosue', sunglasses -> seongeullaeseu. You get the idea. The last thing that happens is Koreans take English words and the meaning changes slightly. I learned that the word 'hunting' has a slightly different meaning in Korean. It means to pick up girls or guys. So I guess you're hunting for guys or girls, I asked my Korean friend about it and she said it isn't as common now, but it sure sounds funny to me! 

So now you (hopefully) know something about Korean. I hope I didn't overwhelm you all with all this information! This is honestly just the tip of the iceberg. Please don't think this is a guide to learn Korean by, this is simply what I know and hopefully it can give people some knowledge about some differences in the languages which makes communication, interesting at times. I want to talk more about other things, but I honestly don't know enough about them to do them any justice! I don't speak Korean well at all. I can say a few words well (which is a great way to impress your coworkers apparently) and I can understand more than I can speak. Right this second I heard my coworker saying something I understood at least two words of. Reading and learning the alphabet is honestly the easiest part of learning Korean, but don't think for a second if you can read the sounds you are going to have any idea what it says. According to my friends who've learned Korean the grammar and verb conjugations are the trickiest parts (I've barely learned basic vocab). 

Personally I think learning a language when you're living in a different country 

(and teaching English) is a great way to connect with the people there, learn more about their culture and have a better understanding of how the kids feel learning English. Also, the kids love it when I can understand their Korean. I've surprised a few kids by answering them when they said 'teacher' in Korean (seonseangee) and I really surprised them today because one of them asked if I spoke Korean in Korean and I said no I don't speak Korean. The students were pretty confused by that one! Haha. 

Okay, really wrapping this up now. I'm enjoying learning a little bit more about Korea by learning the language and plus language learning is fun and useful. I recommend trying to learn the language of the country you're living in if you ever live abroad. Seriously. Do it. Okay, really, that's it. 

Jinhae Gunhangje Festival (진해군항제)

The Jinhae Cherry Blossom Festival is world famous, and trust me there is a reason for that. My pictures do not do Jinhae justice at all. There were trees everywhere and they looked amazing.

We had decided the festival was a must to attend and it was definitely the right decision. We left early from Changwon (also a good decision) because we were (rightfully) worried the traffic would be bad. When we got to Jinhae we got off the bus a little before the downtown area on the top of a hill. You could see Jinhae stretching out before you dotted with beautiful pink blossoms poking up between the green trees and the sea in the distance framed by the land nicely (refer to my photos). It was breathtaking. I immediately took a hundred pictures (okay, not that many but I took a bunch). I was really surprised by how many cherry blossoms there were. Everywhere you looked you could see them poking up from between the green trees. All over the hills, down the road and stretching right to the ocean. I hadn't known their would be that many cherry blossoms.

We walk down to the festival and took pictures the entire time. The day was beautiful, not a cloud in the sky. My friends had bugged me about wearing my coat and scar and they both came off as soon as I got off the bus. It was warm for the morning too. A perfect day. Finally we reached the famous stream and main festival area. If you google Jinhae Cherry Blossom festival you will see a pictures of the stream. It's got walkways going down both sides, then a bank down and more walk ways along the bottom. It was very green and fresh looking. There are spots were you can cross it on a stone path. The part that makes it really spectacular are the cherry trees lining the top of the bank on both sides so you're walking right under them. It would be beautiful even when they aren't in bloom.

There were also tons of people, even though it was still before 12 pm. There were also lots of food carts lining the street beside the stream making it feel even more crowded. It was impossible not to get a person in your photos everyone was there to admire the blossoms. We walked down the stream, ate some snacks and just enjoyed ourselves. It was really nice, although by the time we got to the bottom we were all starting to get sick of all the people as the crowd was getting bigger the further we went. Finally we went to a cute little park with some really interesting art work and a cute tree fort/platform thing made of large branches (again, see my photos). Another friend who lives in Jinhae met up with us and we decided to go eat lunch. We went to a popular Chinese restaurant and had jjajangmnyeon a popular chinese-korean noodle dish. I also got some dumplings with Lori and they were really yummy and crispy, not like ones I've had before.

After lunch Min had to go to schools so the rest of us walked down to the navy base which was open for the festival. It also had lots of cherry blossoms and was huge. It's very easy to forget sometimes that South Korea is still technically at war with North Korea. There were tons of people at the base to check it out and the option to bus down to the boats and water, but we decided to walk once we saw the line for the bus.

I need to interject here about something. All week at work my coworker told me how I shouldn't go to the festival because it would be sooooo busy and that if it rained all the blossoms would fall off the tree (it did rain and have a little wind storm thursday, but the blossoms were still intact Saturday). She also warned me it would rain... I didn't really believe her that morning, but I checked the weather anyway and sure enough they were predicting rain in the afternoon so I took an umbrella just to be safe... when I got to Jinhae the prediction of rain sounded ridiculous... there wasn't a cloud in the sky. While by the time we got out of the restaurant and started walking down to the navel base there were a few clouds around.

We got down to the ocean and saw that you could go on one of the ships and there was a war memorial set up on the pier (landing strip? Not sure what you call it). There were even a few pictures of Canadian soldiers helping out during the Korean war (or at least we presumed they were Canadian's because there was a Canadian flag). When we realized we could line up to go on the boat for no cost we immediately did. And then I felt it, the first of the raindrops. It was just a little sprinkle then... barely a sprinkle even. I just felt a tiny cold spot on my face or a hand a clear indication it has started raining.

By the time we reached the top deck of the ship it was full on raining. We had really good timing though because they had a little air show just after we got up there. It was cool to feel closers to the planes like that and I hadn't seen an air show in a long time. Unfortunately only two of us brought umbrella's so we were all trying to huddle under the two of them... or some of us anyway.

Since the rain started we decided it was time to go. We started back up the navel base kinda taking our time since the rain was a little off and on. It actually stopped by the time we got back into Jinhae so we were less worried about it at that point. When we got back we attempted to find a bus stop because our plan was to bus home... apparently this was a bad plan. First off, there was an insane amount of traffic everywhere and also a lot of the streets were closed because of the festival. They were using some of the streets as parking and other streets were set up as a market so you couldn't drive down them. We quickly realized all the buses at the stop we were at said 'delayed' so there wasn't much chance of getting a bus there. Instead we decided to walk further up the road, away from the festival to see if we could catch a bus there instead (there were also lots of people at that bus stop).

It wasn't any better. The rain started when we were walking up. First gentle, then it was pouring and we tried to huddle under umbrella's. I gave up pretty quickly it didn't matter which way you went about it there were only two umbrella's and 7 of us so at least 3-5 people were going to get wet. Unfortunately this is not the worst of the afternoon, oh no. It got worse than this.

I think it was around 3:30-4 when we first start attempted to leave Jinhae. We could see the traffic was bad and there were tons of people at all the bus stops. We eventually came to one where we thought we could catch the bus, unfortunately everyone else had the same thought and it was really busy.  The good thing about this bus stop was the gas station beside it so everyone who didn't fit into the bus shelter just stood under the gas station awing. We had high hopes for this bus and planned to dash for it when we saw it turning the corner.

When the bus finally came you could see it was already pretty packed, the windows were steamy and there was definitely a large number of bodies visible. We dashed for the bus anyway, feeling hopeful (or maybe that was just me) and everyone else at the bus stop dashed too. People getting on the bus in Korea is already a little rougher than I'm used to. Korean's do not worry about pushing you, bumping into you and cutting in front of you. Well now imagine that people are stuck in the rain, there only hope to get back to Changwon is this bus and who knows when the next bus will show up, so to say the least it was a little aggressive. You definitely had to be forceful to get on that bus. I attempted at first but when i saw how full in was and how many people were literally hanging off the entrance to the bus attempting to pull themselves on I gave up. Even if I could get into the bus there was no guarantee the bus drive would even let me stay on.  I am happy to say one of our group was aggressive enough to get her way onto the bus. The last I saw of Lori that day was her green jacket getting shoved down the bus by someone else shoving their way on.

The rest of us were abandoned in Jinhae. In a thunderstorm, no less. Oh I forgot to mention that, didn't I? Not only did it start raining, but there was thunder and lightening and then showers. It was unpleasant to be in no matter how positive you attempted to be. I kept trying to cheer Julianne up because she wore a really thin jack, didn't bring and umbrella and got soaked to the bone...well honestly I think we were all soak at this point. Finally I pointed out there was no reason to stand in the thunderstorm and wait for a bus we had no idea when would come and be cold and miserable.

We decided to find a coffee shop or restaurant to sit it. For some reason the part of Jinhae seeemed to be lacking in coffee shops. I'm not sure how this is possible because there are soooo many coffee shops in Korea and you're usually not 5 minutes away from one. Finally we found a Japanese Soba restaurant and one of the girls, Mina, went to check it out.

Oh, I should also mention three of Michael's students were with us for English practice. I think they had quite the experience with the rain and we joked that it was a bonding experience for us which somehow made me feel better.

Of course the restaurant was super busy, but luckily when we walked in a table cleared. It was very steamy inside. Both from the food (mostly noodles and dumplings) and from the damp people. We got warm soba noodles which were perfect for the rain day and some dumplings (Julianne got chicken katsu and then I proceed to eat all her fruit side dishes).

We attempted to dry off in the restaurant but it was hard because there wasn't anywhere to put our wet outerwear to dry it. I think I felt a little drier after, but not that much. After we ate we debated what to do about the buses. We decided to try another bus stop (which had almost as many people and the buses were still super full).

There was an awkward moment at the bus stop where we got confused and attempted to catch a bus we thought went to Changwon, but every time we asked the bus drive they said Changwon, no and we couldn't figure it out until we realized we were trying to catch it on the wrong side of the street.

After this and seeing the bus we had been trying to catch all afternoon go by full again we came up with a new strategy which was this. We would cross the street and catch the emptier bus going into Jinhae, catch it to the end of the line and then just stay on the bus and go back around to Changwon, a long trip, but it was our only option. And yes, we did consider a taxi but they were all full. They kept coming up to the gas station when we were there (earlier) and the owner was checking, but every drive said they were full.

Things were a bit chaotic so when the bus we wanted to catch came we got on, but the Korean students didn't understand what we were doing and they check where the bus was going and then said we had the wrong bus, wrongfully trusting them (although they were right in all other cases) we got off the bus... then realized what had happened and had to wait for the next bus, which luckily (and amazingly) came right away.

Finally on a bus going the right way we were so realized. We actually had seats and everything. It was great. I think after we got out of the restaurant it was around 6:30-7 (forgive me if this time line is painfully off. I can't remember what it was exactly).  We catch the bus to the end of the line without a hitch. While on the bus Michael re-checked the buses and he realized we could catch a different bus back to Changwon rather than the one we were on. So we would by pass the craziness that was the cherry blossom festival (and yes, traffic was still bad at this point).

So we finally got off the bus and had a little confusion about were we should catch the other bus, and also were a little disappointed because we saw the bus we wanted as we were pulling into the bus stop, but then it was gone when we got off our bus. Although my rational mind knew this was a sound plan, I have to admit I was a little worried because what if the bus we wanted didn't show up for another hour and we were stuck in the rain, or what if it never came to the stop or what if it had stopped running? I think at this point getting home was almost seeming too good too be true. I should also mention we were sort of out in the sticks. There was not much around us, just a convenience store and a few other random buildings. I think one was a restaurant.

But I had nothing to fear, the bus showed up pretty soon after we got there and we were some of the first people on the bus. It also seemed like the rain was clearing up while we were at the bus stop it stopped had almost stopped raining. On the bus ride back the bus got really full so we were all happy to get on at the first stop. During the drive back there was a loud explosions sound, apparently more thunder, but it sounded closer and louder than any thunder I've heard (at least in many years) and it I thought it was fireworks near by until I remembered the rain and saw some lightening.

I'm pretty sure we didn't arrive back in Changwon until 10 or 10:30. I honestly can't remember the time. The only thing I wanted to do was change, have a long, hot shower; then drink tea and lay in bed. Julianne and I fantasied about this the whole time we were trying to get home haha.

The day was long and the afternoon was definitely an adventure, we took soo many buses to get home and it took way longer than the 15-30 minutes it should usually take (I'm guestimating here I've only been to Jinhae once before). I'd say the cherry blossoms alone were worth it, but I definitely think I would catch the train back or stay the night in Jinhae next time. It's was sooo crazy. Also, because I've now been to the main part of the festival I think I would just skip it any maybe go durning the week or on a less busy weekend and enjoy the trees, although they only have limited blooming time.

Anyway, it was an adventure worth having and I definitely felt like the group bonded because of it, also I will remember it for a long time.

So that was my latest adventure. I have much more that happened recently I want to write about but right now I'm late for dinner with my friend so I'll save it for next time!!