So as much as I make fun of my Korean students and their English, this morning I write to tell you that the language fun goes both ways. Not only are we teaching English, but most of us teachers are also trying to learn Korean. Last night, as we were walking home from work, Brittany got a text message in Korean from a friend she met this weekend. His text was as to be expected, in Korean. Great. So the three of us girls huddled around the phone and collectively worked on translating the message. Brittany sounded out, "hwa... hwa hae... hwa haeyo... pri... pri...tan...ni...." and then it clicked, "oh! bri-ttan-ny! that's my name!" At that point I couldn't help but laugh. Here we were staring hard at all these strange characters and really they just said her name (the first part means something akin to "whatcha up to?") Ah, the good times you have when living in another country.
I live near a long thin park called Parque Forestal. It's really quite a nice park and it has a long stretch of a lane for riding bikes or jogging. And since I have a fear of riding bikes in this city, I jog. It's really pleasent. I usually listen to radioDisney on my mp3 player and jog along to Jonas Brothers, Beyonce, or Julieta Venegas. Great stuff. Yesterday on my jog I noticed that the trees were beginning to change. Fall has finally arrived and I am glad for the change. But as I was jogging through the falling leaves, I began to think about how much I like fall. And I had this special moment when I realized that I want to be here in Santiago, jogging through this park for many falls to come. After the past few weeks of cultural adjustment being a little more painful than normal, this was a nice thought to have.
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