art and white jeans

2 things:

I have found a community of visual artists. I'm going to an opening on Wednesday. It is so funny how comfortable the community feels. It seems that some things are universal. I'm able to move within the canadian art community (theatre) with comfort - apparently a transferable skill!

Also, if anyone has the number for the style police, a male teacher with no previous offences is wearing white jeans today. With a blue and white vertically striped dress shirt (thicker stripes), thus achieving some sort of strange 1980's preppy look. Vintage, but not in a good way. Is that back? I hope not. I'm pretty sure mom threw away all the strange 1980's preppy looking clothing we had.

it's happening

I went for dinner tonight with a Korean friend. Her communicative English skills are quite good - however, she and I still work to communicate in either English or Korean. And for the first time, it was a more balanced communication -- I was able to understand Korean words that she was using (ie. jja-da/salty) and provide her with the English counterpart! This is the first time that (without a dictionary) I've gone out with a Korean friend and we've _both_ had our notebooks out, writing down vocab and structure stuff. Usually it's just me with the notebook -- or it's me and my Korean friend and a dictionary, where we will both learn a new word (ie. cinnamon/kye-pi). I cannot tell you how fantastic this feels, like all those hours I've spent studying and trying to learn this language are finally starting to bear fruit. I've been feeling on the cusp for a while now, vocab retention has been easier, reading a little more fluent. Grammar is making sense (a bit) and I can identify words and sometimes entire sentences in Korean spoken at native-speaker speed. If I can keep going on this roll, keep my confidence up, then soon (maybe) I will actually be able to have a meaningful conversation in Korean. Is this how babies feel when they move from the two-word phase to sentences?

Also of note - I wrote an entire email in Korean the other day! And it was grammatically correct! Woot! Next big step, I think, is to actually be able to read a (children's) book. Will let you know when that happens. I'm really proud of myself for this whole thing and I'm noticing too that because they know I am learning Korean, my teachers are MUCH more comfortable speaking with me in English.

Side effect: I make high-larious mistakes. I was trying to say: "You're kidding me!" and ended up saying "Don't eat the bread!" (there was no bread in sight) Also, "You must be cold, you have goosebumps." and I said " You are cold, you disgust me." Baby steps, baby steps.

the gym...

Ok. A few things about this. I have joined a gym. I feel terribly guilty if I don't go, because it is ACROSS THE ROAD FROM MY HOUSE. I see it every day when I come home. I see it from my apartment. I am always in its shadow, figuratively and literally. It is a looming shrine to my guilt, if I do not go. That said, it's quite the hopping little community.

First of all, the Konglish term for gym is "Health Club" (pron. hel-su ku-lub). So I now say that when I speak English too.

I have bonded with the following people over my gym membership (and also, worked out with them - although I like to work out alone, but people seem to want to work out together when they run into me so whatevs):

- my friend Ellie's boyfriend (oh- I know you from the health club!, he said upon our first meeting... I totally got props from him for that)
- an art teacher at my school (we go for dinner before or after sometimes -- and she drills me on Korean flashcards while we bike)
- the manager of the local WA Bar (that was weird, running into him, he wasn't wearing his glasses and everyone looks so different in the gym suits!!)
- Tom's co-teacher (she's supersweet, but I usually run into her as I'm leaving)
- another waygook teacher in my 'hood (ditto)

So I have my little bit of community going with this... and then... my art teacher friend has decided not to renew her membership b/c she lives in a different area of the city. Sadness! But alas, no time to weep because a politics teacher has taken up the mantle of "asking Katrina daily when she'll be at the gym." Which I must say, increases the guilt tenfold, as when I'm across the river, out of the looming shadow of my gym, I STILL can't escape it. But there is some nice, strange comfort in being part of a community, which is slowly, slowly happening.

AND the trainers are not afraid of me anymore!! Well, they don't avoid me (in Korea, trainers wander around, they're free of charge, and offer advice and assistance.) That, surely is the sign of being a member of a community (for a foreigner in this country) - when people no longer avoid you or are scared of you. When you're normal enough to them that they don't hide when they see you, or smile bashfully and look away. When they actually smile without fear. Make eye contact, bow, whatever. Baby steps, my friends, baby steps.

When I was in Toronto, I think I took community for granted. It's so much easier to establish when there's no communication barrier. The longer I'm here, the more I realize the importance of those friendly faces that I see randomly, that help to make the neighbourhood my home.

I think that's enough gooshyness for today.

I am constantly amazed...

... that I can have no idea what's going on around me most of the time (well, a lot of the time) and still find so much happiness and amusement in it all!

It's been another week of the same old-same old... another week has been taught, another week has been planned. Some words have been learned, and some have been forgotten. I have continued to gather more tiny pieces of information about those who exist primarily in Korean around me, in an effort to give my world (and their existance within it) some context.

I fear I was on the recieving end of a Korean-style Euro-Mullet yesterday at the hairdressers. Regardless, I'll happily return next month to get "ee centi" trimmed off, and a "sheympoo".

Knee is good, more stable than it's been in (possibly) a year and a half. Three cheers for self-imposed rehab! I can't tell you how weird it is not to be conscious of my knee when I'm walking - I don't think I realized that it was so uncomfortable (and sometimes painful!) when that was a part of my normal.

Next Tuesday is an English teachers' lunch meeting. I have promised to study Korean all weekend in preparation for it. This made them chuckle, but I think I also got my point across. If there is one thing I teach here in Korea, it is Canadian sarcasm. (My kids get it now, too! Har!)

There is studying to do and lesson prep to do... have a great weekend, and check facebook next week for some new photos! (the cookout, the beach, and probably this weekend, too)