1 Language to Rule Them All!

The author walks like Gulliver among the giants. The buildings here seem to notice the writer just the same. How’s that for poetic? This lackadaisical, lethargic lycanthrope—wait, doesn’t that last one mean the writer is a werewolf?

I wanna talk about the English language aka the current lingua franca of the WORLD. What an incredible tool that can make or break everything. When I was taking Korean classes we weren’t supposed to be speaking in English (or any other language for that matter) but English eventually rose to the top and was used by instructors and students of all nationalities to discuss vocabulary and points of grammar despite some detractors. At one point we had a Chinese guy, a Russian guy, a Japanese guy, and English guy, a Colombian guy, a German girl, a Canadian guy, and me (the Amurkican). English was used! (Though one time the CoIombian, the German and I used Spanish to communicate so that our teacher didn’t know what we were talking about because she didn’t enjoy us using English to discuss Korean grammar.

The other night was the aforementioned Colombian’s farewell party. So I met the German girl and the English guy at a club to see him off. I found out that a Colombian friend of his was in the room and was looking as bored as I was, so I went up to talk to him and see if I remember any Spanish. Well, I did and it turns out that he didn’t speak any English. He really wanted to go dance with the girls but was afraid that without English he wouldn’t be able to really do much. Point in case; to dance with the ladies: you should know English. Also I want to ask if it’s legal to throw down a semi-colon and a colon in the same sentence like that. I’m looking at you, English majors.

On the other hand, one night while on the bus from Korean class, my friend Sean and I were mumbled/yelled/shushed at by an elderly Korean man for speaking in English. The irony is that we were discussing Korean grammar.

Also English is on everything over here. It’s on street signs, menus, and products. If you don’t have a basic grasp of how our alphabet works and you then probably have no idea how to read Hangeul then you’re SOL. I like to tell my students that with English they can use it anywhere. I may not be 100% right but it helps give meaning to what I do and to those English teachers here who just want to have a gap year where they don’t have to worry about much. (Also you can't read awesome blogs like mine if  you ain't got the skills.)

Speaking of English being used everywhere, this Friday I went to Ocean World with the kinder kids and got to play in all the shallow water they had! There were some awesome looking waterslides but since we were the kids… nothing. Weird stuff included the need to wear any kind of hat while in the water, life jackets for just about anything, and when we were done Andrew and I were asked to scrub down all of the boys’ arms, legs and scalps with soap and then dry them off. I have now scrubbed down most of the kinder program at my school.

Also, the world cup happened and you all know about that. But I went to city hall a couple times and it was nuts. I have some weird insights into East Asian group-thought but that will have to be for another time.

All in all, I’m here for about 2 more months. And I’m going to probably try to eat and do a few more stupid things before I’m done. Please comment too! Especially if you’re a friend from back home and you made it this far!

안녕!