Español

Rie studies English at the local university twice a week. The class is made up entirely of Korean housewives whose husbands all earn enough money for them to spend their days having fun. They frequently go out to lunch together after class and Rie has made some good friends there. One of her classmates went to Europe and enjoyed it very much, especially Spain. She is interested in learning Spanish, and somehow, Rie volunteered me to teach her.

In Hak came over for her first Spanish lesson on Thursday. Rie also took my Spanish class. Rie started to study Spanish a little bit last winter when we lived in Kansas. Now, more than ever, I would like for Rie to become fluent. In the U.S., when we want to talk about someone in public, we use Japanese. In Japan, we use English. But, here in Korea, there are so many people who speak English or Japanese, that we have to be careful. For this reason, Spanish would be useful for her.

When we first came to Korea, I was reluctant to speak Japanese in public. Japan colonized Korea in the first half of the last century and were not the nicest overlords. I was afraid that there would be some resentment if I tried to speak Japanese. It turns out, that despite their several millennium of antagonism and continuing differences at the international level, the Japanese and Koreans have a connection and interest in each other at the personal level. Many Koreans have studied Japanese and worked in Japan. So often, if we can't make our selves understood in English, we find success in Japanese.

Anyway, the first Spanish class went well and I am looking forward to the next one.