Sure when travelling you expect to come across different languages. So it also stands to reason that you are going to come across those people who take time out of their days to learn these languages. And I am somewhat jealous of these people, who have the time to study. I mean just trying to open a bank account, get a cell phone contract and basically order anything at a restaurant has been somewhat of a nightmare.
The later one regarding the restaurant has actually been an adventure of sorts. In the first few weeks in Korea, I don't think I had the same meal twice. Not for lack of trying, but I just for the life of me could not remember the names of the dishes. So it was a sort of point and hope. Vegetables, beef, pork, plenty of soups, chicken, shrimp, clams, fish and my worst live octopus. Those were some of the ingredients that made appearances and for the most part I was happy with it. So maybe it is better if you want to dive into the culture, not know anything at first. But I am trying to learn, with no real success.
However there are some special cases when no matter the amount of Korean lessons you have, you still just can't seem to communicate. Now this happened this weekend, while out in Seoul, we had wandered around, club/bar hoping for sometime and we thought it was time to find the perfect place. But how on earth were we going to ask someone if we don't speak Korean? Ah never fear, a friend of ours (he shall remain nameless, but his name rhymes Pordan....) has been taking Korean lessons for 2 months, 2 times a week, at about 20 000 won a pop, I think I could be wrong on the price. But anyway that is not he point.
We had come to believe and I am sure J...I mean Pordan himself had come to believe, he was starting to get a handle on this language. He can read Korean, he knows far more then I do, and it always seemed he knew what was where and what was going on around us.
So as I was saying, out on the town, my friend Mike Saffa (calls himself a Saffa, but has a British accent, don't really know the deal there, but I am sure he has his reasons) and I wanted Pordan to ask a local for us, where the club with all the hot girls was. So in steps Korean master Pordan....this is how his conversation went....
"Wherea isa theu clubba witha alla the hotte girlsss Juseo".......NAILED IT....juseo is a polite way for asking for something (I think, I am no expert, that is J...a a a Pordan)
Needless to say that ever since we have taken it upon ourselves to make sure Pordan knows how much we appreciate all those lessons he is going to. I now know if I need to ask for something...lets say the bank, all I need to say is this...."Wherea isa theu Banke Juseo" Yip it is that easy to communicate. Well if you can believe that, then ok.
The pic below is just pure Pordan.
To be fair to Pordan he does know more Korean, then all of us put together, but hey if you can't laugh at your mates, then they not your mates.
No comments:
Post a Comment