Meeting #2

이번 토요일 2 번 째 만났고 재미있게 지났습니다.  아래에 클릭 하시면 우리 사용했고 나왔던 어휘 볼 수 있습나다.
This Saturday we met for our second meeting and had a great time!  If you click the link below, you can see all the vocabulary that used.

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddbdf329_36gmbcbdcq&hl=en

다음에 재미있는 한국 영화 보려고 합니다.
Next time we are planning to watch a Korean movie.

A bit of calligraphy

When I lived in Seoul, I spent a few months learning 서예, or calligraphy.  I never progressed beyond the basic stroke you see here, but I really enjoyed it.  To read this, start in the upper right corner, and read down each column, from right to left.  There is no spaching; you must insert them as you go.  The 작품품 (piece of artwork) above says “오늘 배우지 아니하고 내일이있다고 말하지마라.”  It’s an old Confucian proverb.  I translate it as “If you don’t learn today, you cannot (or will be unable to) speak tomorrow.”

새 해 복 많이 받으세요! Happy New Year!

Well, New Year’s Eve is approaching quickly, even more so if you are in Korea.  They will celebrate several hours earlier than we will here on the west coast of North America!
Now that the holiday season is just about over, and the snow has melted, we are planning another group meeting for early January.  If you’ve been reading this blog and want to join in, but haven’t e-mailed me yet, or left a comment, please do so!  I will send you the details.

일주일 잘 보내시기 바랍니다!
Have a great week!

A letter from Korea! (한국에서 보낸 편지)

Last August, I finished 2 years of teaching at an elementary school in Seoul.  I was the first foreigner than most of those students had ever met.  One of the teachers at that school just sent me a scan of a letter a student wrote the other day.

You might not be able to read his handwriting, so here’s the text of the letter so you can practice reading some Korean.

오스틴 선냉님께

안녕하세요? 저는 6학년 김승래입니다. 원어민 선생님이 처음 오셨을 때는 처음 오는 외국인이라 무섭기는 했지만 선생님이 저희에게 친절하게 영어를 가르쳐 주셔서 선생님과 친해지면서 영어 수업을 받았어요. 한국까지 와서 영어를 가르쳐 주셔서 정말 고맙습니다. 아직은 영어 실력이 매우 부족하지만 새로운 선생님 수업 잘 들어서 나중에 만나 자유롭게 영어로 대화해 볼 수 있도록 노력할게요. 선생님! 영어 수업은 정말 즐거웠어요. 저는 앞으로 영어 공부 많이 해서 외국인 앞에서도 당당해질게요. 언제 한국에 다시 오시고, 건강하세요.

Cute, right?!  ^^고마워 승래야!

Click below for the translation (not word-for-word literal):

A first meeting

Satruday was the first official meeting of a group of people interested in practicing Korean in Portland, Oregon.  Like many things these days, it was the internet that really brought us together.  Some of us have lived in Korea, others haven’t, but all of us have a strong desire to continue speaking a language we love.  This blog will be a way for members of our community and the greater Portland area to join in.  Sometimes we might blog in Korean, or maybe we’ll post some interesting thing we’ve been learning.  Either way, we hope that you might be interested in the journey.  Most of us aren’t fluent (except for a few Korean members^^) we just have fun speaking Korean and don’t want to lose the language.