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And then, and then

I have a couple of international colleagues at work. They are quite eager to learn Korean so I teach or correct them whenever I have a chance. Yesterday, we were going to have coffee after lunch and one guy said, "밥 먹은 다음에 커피 마셔요" It is totally correct. But we can also say, "밥 먹고 나서 커피 마셔요". Let's have coffee after lunch. 밥 먹고 나서 커피 마셔요. 밥 먹은 다음에 커피 마셔요. 식사하고 나서 커피 마셔요. 식사한 다음에 커피 마셔요. 밥, 식사, meal ~고 나서, after something ~은/는 다음에, after something 마시다, drink 마셔요, let's drink 밥 먹고 나서 커피 마셔요. bab mokgo naso kopi mashoyo. 밥 먹은 다음에 커피 마셔요. bab mokun daumae kopi mashoyo. 식사하고 나서 커피 마셔요. siksahago naso kopi mashoyo. 식사한 다음에 커피 마셔요. siksahan daumae kopi mashoyo. One of the hardest things of learning any language is the fact that there are usually more than one way of saying the same thing. But knowing different expressions for the same meaning will make your speaking more rich! Hope you don't give up!! :-)

Let's start again!

It's almost end of the long weekend. It was a good break for me since last vacation in December. I have been reading a book on the weekend which title is "What Google Really Wants" by Thomas Schulz. I am also working in IT but every time I read about their ambition, it blows my mind. Maybe what we need to ask ourselves is not how to do something but what we want to do and why. Tomorrow, I will get back to work and start working hard to find better reasons why I do what I do. Let's get started again! 그럼 다시 시작해볼까! 그럼, then 다시, again 시작하다, begin, start ~볼까, shall I, shall we 그럼 다시 시작해볼까! Gurom dasi sijakhebolka ~볼까 is used when you make a suggestion to someone. 그럼 이제(now) 먹어(eat)볼까? Shall I(we) eat now? 그럼 내일(tomorrow) 가(go)볼까? Shall I(we) go tomorrow? You probably know that in Korean, subject can be left out. So it is not clear whether the speaker is talking to themselves or talking to otheres. It is all in the context of the situation. Hope you guys ha

I am so disappointed

I am in my hometown, Busan. Since I am not a tourist here, I rarely go to tourists attractions like Haeundae beach(해운대 해수욕장) or Jagalchi Market(자갈치 시장) But when I come to Busan with my nephews, there is one place we don't miss and it is a PC cafe near my parents place. Few months ago, my nephews and I came to Busan without their parents. When I ran oit of things to entertain them, I took them to a PC cafe for the first time. Since they have been watching game videos like Overwatch on Youtube and their parents don't allow them to go to PC cafe, they were super excited about it and really enjoyed playing games on a big screen. Since then, we made a rule to visit PC cafe every time we come to Busan. My nephews wanted to go there several times during this trip, but their parents wanted to do more touristy things. So we ended up going there only once during three day visit. The younger nephew was really disappointed about it. Only one visit, how is this possible?! 한번밖에 못가다니 어

Nothing goes as planned.

A trip to Kyungju was fun. The weather was very nice and traffic was also fine until we got to Kyungju. As we expected, there were a lot of holiday people. Traffic jam in downtown was pretty bad. When we got there it was already lunch time. My sister had already done intensive research where would be the best place for lunch in Kyungju. Since we don't come this way often, she wanted to try one of the popular ones. So she decided to try a restaurant that had been featured in a food show on TV.  When we got there though, there were about 30 people queued in front of the restaurant. It was already 1pm and my nephews had no patience for it. The 14 year old one protested, "I don't want delicious food! I just want to eat a lot!!"  So we hurried into a relatively empty restaurant but the waitresses were literally running around carrying foods. We made an order to a middle aged woman who seemed to be in a complete panic mode. And of course she forgot what we order

Golden week starts!

Yay!! It finally came! It is start of the week that many Koreans have been waiting for 10 years! There are three holidays next week. Monday is Labor Day and Wednesday day is Buddha's Birthday and Friday is Children's Day. So if one can tak Tuesday and Thursday off, that's 9 days off in total!!!!! News says that national highways are already full of cars and the Incheon Airport is expecting two million people using the airport during this period. That's one fifth of Seoul population. Wow! I have decided to take only Tuesday off. And my plan is a road trip to Kyungju and Busan with my sister's. Kyungju will be a great destination for my nephews to learn some histories because it was a capital of Silla Dynasty 1000 years ago and it's history and architecture is relatively well preserved. Busan is my hometown. I will see my parents there. Since the May 8th is also Parents' Day I prepared a gift for them. A tablet. These days older people are also enjoying

I am back!

I don't even know where to begin. It has been a quite a journey personally for the last few years. There were health issues and inter-continental relocation, new job.. really a new life. I am back in South Korea for almost three years now. Living in my native environment is great. Especially being able to see my family any time I want is great. New job has been demanding though.  Many late nights in the office like many other people here. But I never forgot about this blog. And finally I feel like writing again. I feel like I can enjoy doing this again. If there are people who are surprises to see my posting, I have a great expression for you. Min is back! Is this for real? 민이 돌아왔어! 이거  실화냐?! 돌아오다, come back 실화, true story 민이 돌아왔어! 이거 실화냐?! Mini dorawaso! Igo silwanya?! According to this wiki , '이거 실화냐' expression got popular in 2015. People use it when really surprised about something. Are you surprised that I am back?

Keep your spirits high!

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Hi. I never imagined this happening. I am talking about the  #occupywallstreet protest in the U.S. And not about the protest itself, but about how the NYPD police react to this. Given that the freedom of speech is a protected right over there, I think, the police should help the protestors voice their opinion in a peaceful manner. Instead, if some protestors' claims are true, the policed tricked them on the Brooklyn bridge  so that they violate the law. Hundreds are arrested as a result. hmmm... hope this is not true. Anyway, the mainstream of society doesn't usually want a revolution. They rather want gradual changes. So this protest may not get a big support from the majority. 1987 is the most important year in the history of democracy in South Korea. That year we achieved the direct election of the president after so many years of tyranny. And the victory was possible only when the tens of thousands of office workers join the protest. We called them " 넥타이 부대 (necktie a