A former student stopped by, today. Her English name was Irene. She was possibly one of my first Korean students, among that group of middle-schoolers I inherited from the very famous Gary-teacher at Tomorrow school in 2007. She was in 7th grade, then, and I taught her through the time at LinguaForum, in early 2008. Well, she is starting college in a few months at Seogang University [update: my friend has informed me that the correct spelling of the name is Sogang University, but this violates the official revised romanization standard as established by the South Korean government – the Korean spelling is 서강, which is unambiguously romanized as seogang; the spelling sogang should be reserved for the Korean 소강 – I'm not sure if this is a word or name or not]. I remember her well – she was an excellent student, so her going off to such a good university is hardly shocking. But I felt very old.
I realized I have been in Korea for a long time.
Unrelatedly, a smart-alec kid named Kevin said the following in debate class, with respect to the proposition: "My soul is PRO, but my body is CON." The proposition was a sort of "joke proposition" such as I sometimes do: "Night is better than day."
What’s the difference between a host and a guest? This question reminds me of how you have known and lived in Korea. Your 5 years in Korea is not short at all. It means you deserve to be one of those who are invited to this far-eastern Penninsula.
Feliz Navidad y Anyo Nuevo Prospero. Vamonos juntos. Yo vo in Suncheon, cerca de Yeosu harbor.