My reading level

I planned on writing about Dubai, but since I got back I've had a lot of spare time at work. I've been using it to (illegally) photograph a lot of books in the library. In the past I would buy books, but then I realized that if I just take pictures of them, then I can have them on my computer. And, since my reading level stinks, the books are only 8-12 pages long, so it's not too much work.

Such is the case with this book. I haven't gotten it translated yet, but to the best of my knowledge, the title is "Darongee Hid" or something like that.

"Ok, Darongee can't be seen."
"Where would he be?"

"We were going to eat him
for breakfast."

My Korean continues to improve, but very slowly. Every day at lunch, I sit with a couple co-workers and we only talk in Korean. I might have written about this before. Anyways, when we first started, I had absolutely nothing to say. Most of the 20 minutes were spent in silence. But now, I'm averaging 5-10 sentences.

To top that off, I'm almost finished the study book that I bought over a year ago. I never thought I would finish it, but somehow I've made it to the last of the 20 chapters. Actually, I thought that when I finished it I would be speaking excellent Korean. Such is not the case.

Just to give you an example of what I'm learning, here are a couple phrases/words from my study book:
1. It looks good on _______. = _____씨한테 잘 어울려요.
2. Can/May I ______? = _____도 돼요?
3. heart/mind = 마음
4. It doesn't matter./I don't care. = 상관없어요.
Fun fact: Korean has at least four ways to say "put on/wear" something, depending on the article of clothing being talked about. If you're talking about main clothing articles, you'll use "입다." If you're talking about shoes/socks, you'll use "신다." And then there're other verbs for hats/glasses and a watch. Lucky me, there's only one verb for "to take something off."

So, I've been here a year and four months exactly. What do I have to show for it? The ability to talk in the three main tenses, a vocabulary of about 1000 words, and an ability to barely communicate in 2-3 word sentences. Sometimes I get discouraged that I haven't amassed more, but, it's not a race; it's just something constructive to do with my time.


"Darongee! Get plump and juicy!"