Illiterate

I don't know at what point it happens, but learning to read is one of the greatest blessings in life. To communicate through written word is unlike anything else. Scratch a pattern of markings onto a surface and another person with a code to your pattern can decipher the message's contents in their entirety. Simply Amazing.

There is one very important key to it all. Someone else must know the combination to your pattern code, otherwise your scratch is nothing more than a chicken's.

Why is this relevant? Hangul. Hangul, Korean language, is a pattern that Lauren and I are in the process of unlocking. "Learning a new language" is a nice term, however I prefer "code busting". "Learning a new language" to me sounds difficult, but the feeling I have trying to understand Hangul isn't that it is difficult, rather that it appears to be a daunting task that discourages me before I begin, but if I bust the code to that, my oh my, the relief I will have.

There are a few things working in our favor though. First, we're hungry. Go to a restaurant when you're hungry, open a menu, and read this: 김치 김밥. Oh, what's wrong? Don't know how to say it? Bummer...how are the hunger pains coming along?

Exactly -- Motivation #1

We've also heard that Hangul is wonderful once you learn it because it is very easy and logical. It isn't like the Chinese's Mandarin with a different symbol for every word. Rather, it is a phonetic alphabet similar to English. Not only that, the written word is broken into syllables (could be very help for those pesky pictionary games -- 1 or 2 syllables?).

So far we have learned a little bit. We are getting to the point where we can begin to sound out words very, vuh, ehh, rrr, eee, sss, sslll, oooo, slowww, llll, eeee, slowly, slowly! Very slowly!! (See how exciting it is?? Am in Earth class?) We know most of the letters and know it is written in syllable blocks left to right, top to bottom.

Syllable blocks??

Take Bulgogi (one of, if not our #1, favorite dish so far in Korea).



Bulgogi has three syllables. Written in Hangul: 불고기

First syllable Bul. B = ㅂ , U = ㅜ , L = ㄹ , organized into a block 불
Second syllable go. G = ㄱ , O = ㅗ , organized into the block 고
Third syllable gi (pronounced like gee(k)), G = ㄱ, i =ㅣ, organized into the block 기
So, brought together with all three syllables 불고기.

Hopefully that makes sense and wasn't too confusing. It goes (obviously) a little deeper than that, but unless you want to team up with Lauren and I and take Hangul head on, I'll stop there.

Another thing. You might be wondering to yourself or aloud "Well, that's great you can sound out a word, but what good does that do you without knowing the meaning?"

Well now, that depends on how hungry you are (we've tried some interesting things so far... WHO KNOWS what they were?!)

We recently found out from a friend and co-worker, Molly, that a University here offers multiple levels of Hangul classes every Saturday for a few hours for virtually nothing (1000 won = 71 cents right now with the current exchange rate). So hopefully we will be starting the beginners course here shortly. I am so glad I am not doing it alone.

"The man who finds a wife finds a treasure and receives favor from the LORD" Proverbs 18:22