my korean grade

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I had to write up something about myself for my school's newpaper. Here's the first draft...

Many people ask me why I came to Korea and my response is usually one of the three: (1) make/save money, (2) learn Korean, and (3) get to know my family and culture.

Have I accomplished any of these “goals”? Not exactly, but I try to justify them for my peace of mind.

Let’s start with number one. I think this is a pretty common goal among most teachers here in Korea. But is it working for me? NO. I don’t know where my money goes, but it just slowly disappeared each month. I have to keep trying though, so I made changes. Step one; I decided to move away from the posh district of Gangnam into the “ghetto” of Seoul (aka Itaewon). That right there put an extra 400,000KRW into my pocket. I’ll see if the money stays or if it continues to disappear. Grade: C

Number two. I have to give some credit to my previous employer for putting me out in the country side of Daegu for four months. This is where I learned a bulk of my Korean. Good thing I didn’t pick up their crazy accent! I have to say I was pretty excited when my parents came to visit last summer and were impressed with my improvement. But then again they are my parents, so I’m not sure how reliable that source is. Grade: C+

And finally number three. Although I don’t spent as much time with my family as I would like, I still make it out to their place every now and then for those special holidays. It’s always a treat conversing with my uncle as he tells me stories of my family’s history. But it’s my latest accomplishment in learning the old game of Hatu that I’m most proud of. I’m fairly new at it, but that is what is going to impress my parents when they visit this week. Grade: B

Overall grade: B-

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Comments

[Rick Vaughn]

money, where does it go?
I had the same problem when I was in Korea, my money just seemed to disappear.....

[kalpesh]

maybe you forgot one?
Maybe this wasn't a goal, or maybe it became one along the way, but what 4) discovering yourself and learning your limits and pushing beyond. Because lets be honest you went there, with not a ton of knowledge and you survived, created a network, learned a "new" culture and have become a seoul-ite. Pretty impressive. All along the way learning about yourself, and how you deal with ups, downs, things in your control and of course things out of your control... an all important set of lessons. :) -kj

[kalpesh]

maybe you forgot one?
Maybe this wasn't a goal, or maybe it became one along the way, but what 4) discovering yourself and learning your limits and pushing beyond. Because lets be honest you went there, with not a ton of knowledge and you survived, created a network, learned a "new" culture and have become a seoul-ite. Pretty impressive. All along the way learning about yourself, and how you deal with ups, downs, things in your control and of course things out of your control... an all important set of lessons. :) -kj

[joie]

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Great to finally find your blog here- thanks for the posts. It sounds like you're doing well- and these are good goals to re-evaluate. I am sure that overall you have grown and changed and learned so much through your time in Korea. We're visiting Korea in 10 days, so I'll write you an email... we'd LOVE to see you if possible! :)