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Subject: amah
Date: Wed, 12 Mar 2008 06:32:43 +0000
dear mom and dad,

things are going so great this term. we're about a month in and i really love my classes. i got exactly the schedule i wanted, exactly the classes i wanted to teach, and i have a lot of fun w/the kids. im feeling really lucky/happy these days.

i think i told you w/the warming weather, i've been trying to explore more. i went to insadong recently. this is an area of seoul that's big w/tourists. lots of art galleries, and antique stores, stores that sell old books, pictures and calligraphy, and a lot store that sell traditional Korean ceramics pots and such. was nice. lots of people. meh. by the way, a week or so ago, i got the package with the magazines and newspaper comics in them. Thanks so much, getting the mail means a lot to me.

oh, i finally went to korean class for the first time on saturday! it was so wonderful! the classes are broken down by level, so i was in beginner. there were maybe a dozen people total. i learned a couple simple phrases which i of course forget now, i learned how to count, and was able to say my cell phone number in korean! it was so exciting! i look forward to next week, and every week after. even after this one lesson, i felt so good leaving class realizing what "o-bec-won" meant. it's a 500 won coin. it's all so clear now! :)

speaking of words and meanings, i think i told you about the kids using "konglish?" Like instead of saying A+ for the grade, they say "A-pull," as their abbreviation. For A-, they say "A-mah" or "A-minor." i pointed out to them that A minor is a musical note, and that they should make efforts to use proper pronunciations. but loving their abbreviations so much, they instead try to think of a replacement...

kids conversing:
"Teacher say no A-minor."
"oh, ok."
"A-mah? Teacher, can we say A-mah?"
"oh, A-mus? Teacher?"
"Oh, oh! Teacher! Teacher, Anus? Anus? Teacher? Anus?"

true story.

~Daughter