I've been trying to decide if I will continue my monomaniac effort to post to this diary each and every day, after I cut myself adrift. It will be less convenient to continue doing so — I imagine a search each evening for a PC방 (Korean internet game room) or the local equivalent wherever I am. I've never been good at keeping up habits in the face of inconvenience. One of the favorite creative bits of language I've ever run across in any of my EFL students' writing was Ella's "inconvenience is the mother of invention." So what would I invent? No need, here. I can always "post date" / "pre date" my blog entries. But that kind of feels like cheating. Well, it's of no major consequence, actually.
Yesterday I had a student giving me a long, drawn-out excuse for unfinished homework, involving diarrhea and visits to the doctor, apparently. I would have preferred the abridged version, to be honest. But it did expose me to some unexpected vocabulary in Korean, and thus, as tends to be the case, I made it into a "teaching moment." I don't know it it was appreciated. But whatever.
Not-so-random notes for trying (still trying, only trying) to learn Korean
자신 = self-confidence, confidence -하다 to have self-confidence
할아범 = old man (according to dictionary)
할아범탱이 = not in dictionary, my students tell me it means senile old man
전염 = infection
변비 = constipation
설사 = diarrhea
모든 = each, every, all, whole