Big Fish Small Pond

Open this link in a new window. It is track 26 from the Road to Perdition soundtrack.

We have just started week two of the night Korean class. I must admit leaving at 8:30 am and then getting back at 9:30 pm is not the best of situations, but I have wanted this for years. Off and on I want to take Yonsei's full time language program but I am satisfied with 2 1/2 hours 3x a week. I took level 1A full time before in 2003. They have completely changed the book series for the better. So to a certain degree this is review from 5 years ago and from what I have been studying everyday on the bus and in my bedroom off and on since 11th grade.

With about five years in between taking the class for the first time and the second parts of it are review but now makes so much more sense. For now I am the big fish in our little eleven person pond. And surprisingly enough when I think of that I think of the commentary for Road to Perdition. When Mike Sullivan is in his small town, he's the big man on campus. But when leaves he sees just how small he really is.

I have always done terrible in language classes grade-wise. I always walk away with a lot of information but my grades leave something to be desired. I know that my language skills are low and will be years until they are high. I also know that within the expat community I have wonderful language abilities and currently in the class I am in partaking in I seem to be at the head of the class. I would love to be there. I would love for once to be one of the guys who can answer the questions involving vocab words we haven't been taught yet. And for the first time, I am. Some of my peers have asked if I want to be bumped up into a higher class; into a bigger pond. The time will come. My pond will get bigger and my size will continue to match it.

Christmas in Korea With All of the Dayls in My Home

My Christmas week presented in bullet points with linked pictures:

-Dayl was kind enough to come to Korea for Christmas and stayed the week.
-Got some funky socks and a dancing chicken from the kind people at Grace.
-Played with my cat.
-Got to try on my new shirts.
-Spoke four languages (English, Korean, Japanese and a touch of Chinese) while meeting friends at a Chinese resturaunt with "Sichuan" spices... I wish people would use actual 'whajao' in "Sichuan" food as they do in actual Sinchuan.
-Afterwards we sang songs karaoke in three languages (English, Korean, Japanese).
-Observed a unique advertisement on the subway.
-We fought any urges to rid ourselves of any PETS at the local 7-11.
-Enjoyed a photo op at the DMZ while looking across the most heavily armed border in the world.
-And thankfully my arrest was in Seoul as opposed to being at Panmunjom.
-And I'm afraid to say that Dayl suffered a similar fate...
-We rode several bullets trains.
-We visited my old workplace which provided Dayl with another audience for his yo-yo tricks.
-Started Christmas morning with family before we entered a kimchee contest and played with the camera features on cell phones.
-We also ate some Christmas tacos and took a stroll along the stream.
-Then we took a few pictures with a lovely couple before meeting with a well known comedian after he finished preforming in a sold out local play.
-The next day we got a taste of traditional clothing before I took a new image for my background in my computer.
-Then we grabbed some quick INFO Mation before getting fresh directions and heading home.