There : Boys and Girls, Visiting Prof., Blood, Ne means Yes

Guys vs Girls

There are a lot of girls at Sunlin College. I suppose the fact that it is known for its nursing program is the main contributor. As such, even though there are two 5-story dormitories, one is full of girls, and the the other is half full. The remaining 3 floors of the far dorm are for guys. That’s where I’m at.

Forming even cursory relationships, with either guys or girls, is a bit hit and miss. Many times people will be quite friendly, but their vocabulary limits them to a few quick sentences, then they leave. Girls travel in packs, and often get called back to the group if they try to stop and talk long. Guys sometimes have a quite disdain, which seems less offensive than it sounds, but keeps them from so much as making eye contract. Girls, again, don’t want to be left alone with guys (which is understandable), which makes initial conversations difficult unless you’re the type that dominates group conversations. Finally, I’m sure there are a host of social practices I don’t know.

Even so, I’ve managed to make a good mix of guy and girl friends here. The girls seem to be more forward, but less personal, the guys seem to be the inverse. Over time, the relationships seem to normalize to something that I would call more-normal.

Visiting Professor

A professor from Northwestern Polytechnic University came yesterday. It hasn’t stopped raining since he got here. At least things cooled down. He is Chinese, but speaks English well, so Jared and I met up with him and showed him around Pohang. Being from California, he was not as impressed by Pohang’s downtown as Jared and I first were. But he still had fun and seemed to take it in. I was again reminded of how cheap it was to have fun in Korea. A meal was about $5 each. Then we went to a DVD Bang, which is a series of rooms where you can watch DVDs on a rear projection TV. It was a room big enough for 3 comfy chairs, and we had a wide selection of movies. We watched Babel, which was, well…I dunno. But the event ran about $4 each. It was pretty fun, really. I understand that it’s the place to go with a girlfriend.

Another interesting thing about taking him out was the reminder that I had in fact progressed. The Professor didn’t speak any Korean, nor could he read any. This isn’t a slight on him. He speaks English and Chinese with great skill, which is more than I can say. But it did remind me that I’d learned a lot. I am more confident than I was a month ago, I knew more and, maybe most importantly, I knew how to act in certain situations. I’m far from a native, but at least I’ve taken a few, now noticeable, steps away from Fresh Meat.

Korean Blood

To a degree, no matter how good I get at understanding Korean culture, speaking Korean language and doing the things Koreans respect, I will never be as respected as even a fresh from America, culturally and linguistically illiterate genetic Korean. I can accept this now, but it is the kind of thing that will probably wear on me over time.

Ne means Yes

One of the parts that was most difficult to deal with when I first started talking in Korean was the idea that the native “yes” sound was “ne”. Sure, you can use “ye”, but not everyone does, and frankly, you just have to get used to it. To anyone who hasn’t considered it, or doesn’t come from a heavy English Background, “ne” is a negative sound in English. No, Negative, Not, Never, etc. In German, Nein is no. In Russian, Nyet. No is No in Spanish. It just seems to be one of those things where the sound itself seems negative.
No in Korean is Ahniyo, which is serviceable. The hardest thing to remember is to use Ahniyo instead of Ne for no. It’s much easier to remember to use it for yes. Of course, your body language plays the biggest role. If you shake your head and say Ne, most people will get that you mean no.