It’s been a bit of a while since my last post and things have been hard but I am making some language gains, however small they might be. Living here in rural Korea has been a huge struggle for me and I am still not really acclimated to my new environment. One of the most challenging things has been the most obvious; the language barrier.
I will admit that I do not like where I currently live so my motivation to learn Korean has actually dwindled. But I have purchased a new vocabulary book that breaks the learning down into days, giving the learner ten new words per day. Even though I have only done the first two days, I think the book is actually quite helpful.
I studied the first ten words on day 1 and the very next day I was actually able to use one of the words in a situation! And when the person I was speaking to had a look of understanding on their face, it just made me feel so happy that I was able to communicate. It was a small victory, but a victory nonetheless.
Another instance was just yesterday when I went to my local grocery store. Every now and then the store will have some type of drink on promotion and when you pay for your groceries, the check-out lady will give you the drink. Well this time around, it happened to be a drink that I really like and restock on every time I run out. So when I realized it was that drink, I really wanted to tell her that I like the drink. So I racked my brain quickly then pointed at the drink and said, “촣아”. She looked at me and smiled and said, “아, 촣아요?”. I nodded and smiled then continued to pack my groceries. She then smiles, reaches back, and gives me another one! I made sure to grab the drink with both hands and bow a little bit to show my gratitude. And that was victory #2! Lol. Again, it’s a small victory, but still one nonetheless.
I guess this has made me so happy because it has been three months since I first came to Korea and these two instances were the first time I was able to communicate with people in Korean by myself. I hope that I can continue to improve and retain the new words I am learning. My hope is to become more consistent in my learning again, but it is hard when the area around me is so boring and demotivating.
But…화이팅!
speaksimply.wordpress.com 
Hello, I am a Korean university student who just started to use wordpress blog. I major English, so I was looking for someone who could do language exchange with me. Where in Korea do you live??
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Hello 👋🏾 I live in Boseong. I’m not sure I would be a great language exchange partner as I really can’t speak much Korean. What university do you attend?
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I attend Hankuk University of Foreign Studies. I live in Seoul 🙂 It’s glad to meet a foreigner who studies Korean lol I’ve never been to Boseong, what’s it like there?
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It’s pretty quiet here. The town is very small. There aren’t any malls, large store chains, or a subway.
But there are so many mountains and the sky is clear so you can see the stars and moon at night. It’s really beautiful.
The town is mostly populated by old people or kids. There aren’t many people here around our age. I’m guessing because they are away at university or left Boseong to work. Gwangju is the closest major city so a lot of people go there on the weekends. I’ve only been twice.
There are quite a few traditional style Korean restaurants here in Boseong where you have to take off your shoes and sit on the floor to eat. Thats always surprising to me since I am a foreigner lol!
But that’s all I can think of right now
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That book looks really interesting. Do you know maybe who the publisher is? Do you still like the book?
I am almost done with mine, Sungkyun Korean 1. I hope to be finished soon and write my review.
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It’s by Talk To Me In Korean. And yes I still like it. It’s very helpful!
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Man, it sucks that you don’t live in an area that you like.I hope you’ll get more used to it and keep on challenging yourself with the language! Fighting!
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Thank you!
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