Language Barrier Issues on the Rise

I spent last weekend (23-25 September) in Daegu with a bunch of friends from TaLK Orientation. Took the one-hour bus to Gwangju with Joanne and spent Friday night with our fellow G6er, Rebecca. For dinner, Joanne and I eagerly consumed a bowl of udon & sushi for only $5 followed by ice-cream from McDonald's. We give off the impression that we are deprived of food back in Mokpo, which is relatively true because we eat the same things everyday and then indulge ourselves on the weekend. The next morning, the three of us woke up early to catch the 3.5 hour bus to Daegu. Split a delicious coffee ice-cream patbingsu with Joanne at Paris Baguette. Met up with friends from Group 1 at Travelers Bar later in the evening. Ate lunch at a Western restaurant the next day called Lazy Diner. The customer service was definitely lazy; it took them ages to bring all of our meals out, and most of the people at our table just ordered eggs, sausage, and French toast / pancakes. I ordered a smoked salmon & caper sandwich on a bagel, and it came on a blueberry bagel with a vinaigrette dressing salad inside. Not the most ideal combination, but I was starving and ate the whole thing.

En route to Daegu

nom nom nom nom

Coffee ice-cream patbingsu

My other friends shared a fruit patbingsu

Chili Cheese Fries at Travelers Bar in Daegu

Smoked Salmon Bagel with Fries

In more recent news, I came down with a cold / flu 48 hours ago. Teaching sucked because I felt like my head was in a bubble, and I had a sore throat. Luckily the Pharmacy / Hospital chapter of my Korean phrase book covers those bases: "I think I have a cold" and "I have a sore throat."

When I am sick, I have little tolerance for things that I normally have a lot of patience for. In Korea, that would be the language barrier. I appreciate that the staff at school are doing their best to reach out to me or feed me Korean words, but I just wasn't feeling it this week. It takes 50x's as long for anyone to tell me anything that I could tell another person in a 5 second sentence.

YESTERDAY'S LANGUAGE BARRIER [mind you, I was really sick / tired]

INTERIOR CAR

Passenger: Tomorrow ....... early ...... take picture ....... you come ....... 10 o'clock

Me: Come early ..... at 10 o'clock?

Passenger: graduation ...... take a picture ...... all take a picture ......for graduation .... 10 o'clock

Me: Okay ...

Passenger: Go home ..... take picture ..... come before 10 o'clock

Me: Take a picture .....?

Driver: come at 10 o'clock

Me: Okay...

*The driver makes a phone call to my mentor teacher and hands me the phone*

Me: Hello?

Mentor Teacher: Hello Kristine. Tomorrow you come to school at 10 o'clock ...... take a picture.

Me: Ne (yes) okay...okay thank you....bye

Passenger: morning ..... you rise

Me: Ne (yes) .... I will go to school at 10 o'clock

Passenger: you rise .....morning ..... time

Me: oh, what time do I wake up?

Passenger: *nods*

Me: 9:30

Passenger: *nods*

And our conversations continue like that.

NEXT DAY

I show up before 10am, put my stuff in the English classroom, then go down to the main office at 10am. I approach the vice principal.

Me: Am I supposed to be doing something now?

VP: Please wait *gestures for me to sit down*

Me: Okay

VP: Take a picture ..... after ......you lunch

Me: Okay ... take a picture after lunch?

VP: Come here ...... take picture

Me: So come back later?

VP: after here ..... take picture .....

Me: So I should wait upstairs?

VP: here ..... after lunch ...... come here .... take picture

Me: Okay .... so take a picture after lunch? Huh?

VP: Follow me.

So she takes me to take my individual photo in one of the classrooms. Everyone was wearing their best suits and ties, and I dressed like a country girl with my red plaid shirt and my hair tied back. I clearly missed the memo where they wanted me to dress up. I thought that we were taking a group picture when the administrator said, "all take a picture .... for graduation," but now I know that he meant that everyone was taking a portrait photo for the yearbook.

Car Final Translation: You will be taking your yearbook picture at 10am, but come before then.

VP's Final Translation: After you come to my office, go take your yearbook picture, and have lunch afterwards.

So that's a typical day in my life. I've gotten into the habit of intentionally misinterpreting their English because it's fun to piss people off, and it's frustrating enough on my behalf to try answering the question. Let's look at today, for example.

TODAY'S LANGUAGE BARRIER [mind you, I am still sick and impatient]

LUNCH TABLE

Principal: Kristine Chong, *KoreanKorean*

Me: What ...... ? *looks at the VP*

VP: Why ...... you ..... Korea?

Me: Why Korea? 

VP: Why you ...... come Korea?

Me: Why did I come to Korea?

VP: Yes

Me: To teach English

VP: No ...... *thinking*

Principal: W-H-A-T

VP: What ..... you ..... Korea?

Me: What am I doing in Korea?

*blank stares*

Most of my conversations go just like this at lunch. After more prodding, I think the Principal and VP were asking how I felt about my life in Korea and if it was interesting *blank stare*

More language barrier issues:

- Today the Principal made an announcement over the loudspeaker. I never understand what he is saying, but they usually mean that he is informing the staff about a teachers' meeting after school. Today he told everyone to go home early (~4pm instead of 5pm). I missed that memo. I also missed my ride home, and no one came up to tell me that everyone was leaving early. I took the bus home.

- I have ventilation issues in my apartment. At least one of my neighbors smokes in their unit and the secondhand smoke filters into mine via the sink/shower drains in my bathroom. I close my bathroom door, so when I have to use the bathroom or take a shower, I basically walk into a transparent ashtray. I wanted to complain to the guy manning the office downstairs, but when he is in, I don't have a friend who can translate....and when I have a friend to translate, he isn't in. He also happens to be a smoker -- go figure. So I went on Google Images, found pictures of No Smoking signs in Korean, drew my own signs, and posted one by every door in my hall with a piece of chewing gum. Bastards.

Please do not smoke in this building.

No Smoking Propaganda

- I won tickets to the Hallyu Dream Concert, which is a huge Korean pop concert taking place on Monday evening in Gyeongju. This weekend is a 3-day weekend; however, Gyeongju is about 5 hours away, and the first bus out of Gyeongju won't get me back to Mokpo in time to teach on Tuesday. I asked an English-speaking teacher if she could ask my Mentor Teacher about using Tuesday as a vacation day. She spoke to him, but he never brought up the issue to the vice principal because he thought that I left early today (Wrong!) She told me that it might not be possible to take Tuesday off because I did not give 1-2 weeks notice, but it is not my fault because I just won the tickets 2 days ago. I decided to call my Mentor Teacher directly -- screw the language barrier -- and tried to ask if it was possible to take Tuesday off. He said that we already decided that my vacation days would be in December (this was all in broken English by the way -- I'm just speeding up the dialogue), but I pushed and asked if I could use one of those vacation days next week. He said that he would call the VP tomorrow (Saturday) and call me back. I am not a huge fan of K-Pop, but I know enough to say that going to this concert would be a huge cultural experience. The concert features Girl's Generation, 2PM, SHINee, GD&TOP, miss A, Sistar, T-ara, and a bunch of other artists that I haven't heard of (but everyone else has). The fact that I won tickets is huge, and I know other people who won, so it's not like I would be going by myself. I also have a spare ticket under my name, but I haven't decided who to invite yet. Read more about the concert here.

I won 2 tickets to the Hallyu Dream Concert via Facebook. I'm winner #47 !!