Hanging Out With Koreans

I have made quite a few friends here in Korea and seem I have found myself in a social circle of sorts. The friends I have made here are fantastic, not unlike the ones I have back in Ontario...perhaps thats because a lot of them are from Ontario themselves. There are a few from the states as well as some I know from England.

I'm in Korea yet everyone I know seems to be a foreigner as well. The Koreans I do know either hang out with the other foreigners I hang out with, or I work with them. To be fair, it is very difficult to make friends when there is a language barrier.

This weekend I took a step in getting over that hump. A few weeks ago on the sub way ride to a buddies for the weekly poker game I sat beside a Korean. Surprise surprise, there was a Korean on the subway! Being nosy I noticed that this person was studying English so I struck up a conversation.

The Korean could speak a little English, but it was an obvious struggle. I relayed the information about where I was from and found out we both identified ourselves as 22, although my Korean age was technically 23 (and since has been moved up to 24). We exchanged e mail addresses and attempted e mailing back and forth. The language barrier was in the way for that as well.

I had my Korean friend from the school I work at translate an email and I emailed back my cell. While in Seoul for new years I got a text in Korean. A friend I went with knows how to speak Korean half decently so I asked him what it said. He can't read it, just speak it. Well at this point, I have learned how to read it so I attempted reading it to him. He said my stumbling s sounded like I was saying Happy New Year...which actually made perfect sense.

So I replied on the weekend and tried to see if we could meet up at some point. That occurred this Sunday. I met up with the Subway Korean, her boy friend and another friend of hers. They treated me to dinner at a Korean restaurant where I had Dunkas (thats what it sounded like they were calling it) and rice.

I brought my Lap Top with me and while we waited for dinner I showed them pictures of my family and house back home. I got my brother Tom to take the pictures the day before, so the ground was covered in snow which to them was quite impressive. Unfortunately, I think it may have shocked them even more to see all the grass that was underneath the snow as grass here is so rare! If you find it in parks its roped off so you can't walk on it...let alone play Frisbee on it!

In showing the pictures I was able to pick up some Korean words that I have tried to note in my memory banks. Some comments I will share with you on my pictures were the big house and the big family. Also, how beautiful Paula and Shera are...and they commented on my no beard in the pictures I was in.

I am going to start studying Korean a little harder as i only have 9 more months to learn. I had a lot of fun Sunday despite the difficulty both parties had in trying to express to the other their thoughts. I am pretty sure they enjoyed themselves as well as I exchanged contact information with both the 2 new people I met. I imagine there will be future gatherings with more language and culture exchange.