[Part 1] 182. 좀…별로

I totally didn’t feel like going to school today but I still did.
I don’t really know what went on during the 1st 2 periods because I was so distracted.
But then the 3rd and 4th periods were really interesting.

I realised that there’s more to just learning a new language. You’re also learning a whole new culture, and that’s something that I keep forgetting. It’s not just about having a sound vocabulary bank and an array of grammar forms that you can use at your fingertips. It’s about saying the right things at the right time, especially in a country like Korea, which is still quite similar to Japan. In that the people are quite indirect. Koreans never outrightly reject anyone and if they do, they try to lessen the impact and say something else to avoid embarrassing the opposite party. ~것 같아 is a good grammar form to bear in mind and so are the words 좀 and 별로. According to my teacher, you should drag the word 좀 for a good 2 seconds for a better effect i.e. for the opposite party to get what you mean without you having to say further. If you don’t really like something, never say 싫어요 because that’s way too strong and harsh. Even 좋아하지 않아요 is still strong. A best/better way will be to say 좀... 별로 인 것 같아요.
When interacting with Koreans, you should always bear in mind their feelings and how they will react to your words. The more Westernised ones tend to be of a 지구 편 which means we’re direct; whereas the Koreans tend to be more of a 돌지구 편 which means they’re indirect.
I really have to bear this in mind because I think I accidentally offended a few people with my words by being too frank. It’s all about 배려 empathy!

Today, I also almost lost something really precious to me. Frankly speaking, I don’t know what the current status is but I would still like to think that it is still intact. You never realise how much something means to you until you(’re about to) lose it. I took things for granted. Again, right? What’s new. I never learn.

Today’s also quite an unlucky day for me. I rushed down to Seomyeon after class to return my trench coat because I just can’t take the camel colour and of all days, 하필이면 오늘은…Lotte was closed ㅠㅜ I made a wasted trip to Seomyeon and decided not to make a complete waste of my trip out of school today by heading to Emart at Sasang to stock up on supplies for my food stash and our room cleaning supplies instead.

With such a horrid mood and state of mind, I was in no mood to jog and ended up having an early dinner with Jenna and making friends with her buddy.

I hope I can survive these 2 weeks emotionally.