5

HIYA!

Boy, had I gone to Japan, I would not have nearly the communication difficulties I now have. Oftentimes here I hear and see Japanese writing. More often than Japanese writing I see Chinese writing, which is similar enough to Japanese that I fairly often understand the meaning. I occasionally speak Japanese with people. Usually older people who were required to learn Japanese when Japan colonized Korea from 1910 to 1945. (Lots of things happened all over the world in 1945.) I feel funny though because it's a language they were "forced" to learn, and with all the enmity these days that many Koreans feel for Japan, for me to speak it with the older ones feels funny. But there have been a couple of times when I haven't been the one to introduce the Japanese language into the conversation. One time I asked some teenage girls directions to the airport. One of them spoke a fair amount of Japanese. More than English. We used Japanese to get my directions. Worked well. I remembered lots. More every day.

Sometimes I see something written in Korean and say to myself that the word is the same as in Japanese just spelled in Korean. A few days ago I was walking home, past a parking lot where you can park your vehicle, apparently, for free. The sign said, in Korean letters, mu ryo. In Japanese this is "free". I suppose it's the same in Korean. And there have been other instances like this.

A language book I bought just today is good for Japanese and English speakers. The vocabulary is written in Korean, English, and Japanese. YES! I'm able to brush up on Japanese vocabulary! Very nice.

I've decided to really get an understanding of this language. It'll be so helpful in daily life to understand Korean. And, a bit deeper than that, it'll be a way to tweek how I see the world. I understand that Koreans express themselves in very different ways than we do in English. More feeling-expressive than thought-expressive. These are my own terms. I don't know really how others say this difference. To learn how to express feelings differently than the way I've learned to up to this point in life seems a valuable thing to do.

I've got an iPod that broke a while back. So I couldn't do anything at all with it. I tried so many of the troubleshooting tips that I got sick of it and finally brought it to a shop. My boss brought me to an Apple repair center. They said they'd replace it for free if they determined that I didn't damage it. It'd be ready Monday, October 9th, they said. They called that day and said they'd replace it. They called again on Thursday and said I could go pick up the new one. I was gonna go today, Saturday, but couldn't get there in time so I'll go next week. I wanna use it for language study. Listen again and again and again to recorded conversations in my textbook. I listen to people talk, which is sort of enjoyable. But I don't understand but a few words here and there. Gets a little old after a little while. It's a neat way of meditation though. Just pure listening! You can do the same with listening to foreign language songs with singing. Never mind the meaning. The voice is another instrument.

Troy.