Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Baby Steps

An-nyong haseyo! Two events of notice today:

1) I have been eyeing the upright Swissgear 28" suitcase in bright red at the local non-Walmart. It went on sale for USD 30 off, so I bought it. The beauty is I had gift cards to non-Walmart to cover almost the whole cost. I was anxious to get this brand, mainly because I have been very happy with the soft-side briefcase I bought five years ago (which will become my laptop case). Despite considerable abuse, it is still as good as new. This suitcase seems very sturdy (I have done my share of traveling in the past) and I hope red will make it easier to snag from the conveyor. Also, I have been stocking up on antiperspirant, as it is only available at a premium.

2) The Pimsleur CDs I ordered at B&N the other day arrived. Granted, I have listened exactly once to a half-hour Pimsleur lesson, and three or so times to the Berlitz "Korean in 60 Minutes" CD, but I fear that awakening those language synapses in the brain of this 46-year-old is going to be quite a challenge. Especially since the two sources sometimes have different Korean words for the same English phrase!

In addition to CDs, I have two dictionaries and a book called Korean in Plain English. On any term I have consulted them, no two have agreed yet. This is not an exaggeration. Living in a studio apartment will be a breeze compared to learning Korean.

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