Korean lessons

I had my first Korean class today. Mostly it was on the Hanglu alphabet, and the korean numbering system. It's a bit confusing - there are different ways of countain for almost any sort of thing you care to name, and if you use the wrong one you look like an idiot. I'm learning slowly, but I think if I want to have any level of fluency and be able to hold a simply conversation by the time my year is up, I'll have to find something a bit more intensive than a once-a-week free class.

Learning Hangul offers many opportunities for quiet amusement. For example, I've just looked at an empty carton for a mushroom-shaped cookie/chocolate snack, and read the Korean characters spelling out "cho-ko-suh-nak". The GS 25 convenience store's Hangul lettering reads "chee-eh-suh". And my Easy-Off ("ee-chi-oh-puh") cleaning spray has a Hangul character on the label which, read aloud, sounds like "bang!"

Once again, out in public, I've experienced a little bit of the uniqueness of being a waygook in Korea. A bunch of teenage girls were talking and giggling as they walked past me, and then one of them broke away from the flock, extended her hand, and looked at me expectantly. So I shook her hand - something I've not done for a while in this bowing culture - and she ran off and rejoined her friends as they screamed with delight at this strange foreign novelty. I felt almost like some kind of celebrity - it's either that or a sideshow attraction, and I prefer to consider the more positive image.