한 국 Day One

어 제 한 국 에 가 기 위 해 서 공 항 에 걨 어 요.  지 금 저 는 여 기 에 있 어 요!  오 늘 은 학 윈 에 가 요.  그 후 에 약 속 이 없 어 요.  나 는 여 기 에 서 좋 습 니 다.

Indeed, I'm quite glad to be here.  I look forward to learning Korean, and so far, have demonstrated a willingness to count the - financial - cost.

I ran some errands yesterday, all of which required some financial expenditure; and I quickly realized, to be sure, that there is a high price to pay to set up in any city.  First I ran around searching for an open bank because my landlord only accepts payment in cash.  Unfortunately, all the banks close promptly at 16:00, which left me out in the dark, without sufficient Won to cover my stay; until, however, someone recommended I try a global service ATM, to which I availed myself, successfully withdrawing enough money to cover at least one week at my current residence in Seoul.  My next task was to secure a phone number in Seoul.  Surprisingly, unlike Hong Kong and England, Korea does not make use of a simcard system; they follow an American model, it seems, where phones are inextricably tied to service providers.  Crestfallen at first, seeing how the most convenient mobile phone solution had just been dashed before my eyes, I determined to seek alternatives, the best of which, I found, was to rent a phone at the SK-Telecom world - apparently, only foreigners can purchase this service, and at one location alone in Korea, no less!  Having procured both the cash and the phone, I was satisfied.

Learning, thankfully, in Korea can be free.  At the airport, I consumed the myriads of Konglish words on signs, posters and pamphlets.  They are without a doubt the easiest source of lexical nutrition since I can not only read them aloud but also associate these loanwords with their original, English counterparts.  For example:

카 트

택 시

호 텔

The Korean people, as always, have been very kind to me.  The most first case of someone going out of their way to help occurred yesterday as 나 는 식 당 에 서 돌 솥 비 빔 밥 을 먹 었 어 요.  A bumbling fool, I  was using a slick metallic chopstick to stir up my meal, when a swarthy looking man, arrayed in a racer jacket and baseball cap, motioned with his hands towards the spoons in the center of our table, and then made a turning gesture, imploring me to take a spoon undoubtedly and mix up my 밥 as he suggested.  I thanked him for his kindness.

Finally, these shall be my only observations about Korean girls:  they are impressive physical specimens; and I believe the uniformity of their features - tall; round face; single eyelids - renders them so attractive.  Both exemplary nutrition and artificial enhancement have done wonders for the females and males of this southern race, who, I believe, possess significant physical advantages over not only their North Korean brethren but also the Southern Chinese, to whom my ethnicity belongs.