We got a new couch! Maybe not exciting to anyone else but I was pretty freaking pumped. If you have been to our house in Colorado you know that all we had in the living room area were 2 bean bag chairs and a papasan chair, that was all. So while I don't like the couches that were lent to us temporarily I was also not especially looking forward to getting our seats either. So we took a train trip to the Yong Sung Army base on Saturday and were able to find a couch at their PX that we liked and bought on the spot. Daniel was hurting having to pay for it but I think it was worth it myself, I mean we take it with us when we leave so we'll have these for years to come. It was delivered yesterday and I am sitting on it as I type this now :-)
So the purpose of this post is to share about our interaction with the men that sold us the couch. They were Korean and spoke broken English but well enough that we understood mostly everything. Super nice older gentlemen. When we were paying for the delivery I handed one of the men my card and observed him take it using the 2 hand proper way I was taught about here. The thing is that Koreans, when one is giving or receiving an item, or even shaking someone's hand, use a two handed way to go about doing it. If I am receiving something in my right hand I place my left hand flatly under my right wrist. That is also how I am supposed to shake someone's hand.
I forgot about this because I have not really been paying attention but once I realized it I appropriately received the card back. Another man observing was impressed with my knowledge of this after only having been here for 3 weeks so I was pretty happy with myself too, lol.
Daniel has been much better at remembering to say "thank you" in their language. I automatically say "thank you" after someone does something, then when I hear him say, "kam-sa-ham-ni-da" I say it too. There is also "an-nyeong-ha-se-yo" to greet people coming and going which I remember to say sometimes but not often enough. Here are some other basic words...
"no" is "a-ni-o"
"yes" is either "Ne" or "Yi"
Those are pretty much the only ones that I know. I am learning some others and should be practicing more than I am but I am on the base most of the time so I don't really think about it much until I need to journey out.
Since I don't really have any new pictures to share here are 2 candid pictures from Daniel's phone... & a couple of relevant pics from online :-)
So the purpose of this post is to share about our interaction with the men that sold us the couch. They were Korean and spoke broken English but well enough that we understood mostly everything. Super nice older gentlemen. When we were paying for the delivery I handed one of the men my card and observed him take it using the 2 hand proper way I was taught about here. The thing is that Koreans, when one is giving or receiving an item, or even shaking someone's hand, use a two handed way to go about doing it. If I am receiving something in my right hand I place my left hand flatly under my right wrist. That is also how I am supposed to shake someone's hand.
I forgot about this because I have not really been paying attention but once I realized it I appropriately received the card back. Another man observing was impressed with my knowledge of this after only having been here for 3 weeks so I was pretty happy with myself too, lol.
Daniel has been much better at remembering to say "thank you" in their language. I automatically say "thank you" after someone does something, then when I hear him say, "kam-sa-ham-ni-da" I say it too. There is also "an-nyeong-ha-se-yo" to greet people coming and going which I remember to say sometimes but not often enough. Here are some other basic words...
"no" is "a-ni-o"
"yes" is either "Ne" or "Yi"
Those are pretty much the only ones that I know. I am learning some others and should be practicing more than I am but I am on the base most of the time so I don't really think about it much until I need to journey out.
Since I don't really have any new pictures to share here are 2 candid pictures from Daniel's phone... & a couple of relevant pics from online :-)
Our first time in Seoul, just walking around aimlessly.
So a friend back in Colorado reminded me of these yummy snacks. She said they were made here in Korea which we then pondered about because Koala's are in Australia not Korea so yea...? I snacked on some while here anyway :-)
At the palace.
This is an instant coffee mix that has just the right amount of cream and sugar. It might be back in the USA but I didn't know about it until I got here, yum :-)
SHOUT OUT, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAMA :-)
Love always,
Camille
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