While we are in GDL, we are staying with our friend, Paulina, and her mom, Cristina. Paulina was our Spanish teacher when we were here the last time. Last night, we met one of Paulina's students, a Korean man named Sok Jae. Sok Jae is a Korean police officer living in GDL with his wife, Ji Sun, son Kang Hyun (6) and daughter Se Hyun (9). The South Korean government has a program that pays for people to travel to a foreign country for two years to study the language. To be accepted into the program, the student must first study the language of the destination country for three years. Sok Jae, therefore, is fairly proficient in Spanish, but his children are attending a school where they are learning English. When Sok Jae met our kids, he suggested that his family join us at Paulina's so our kids could play and his kids could practice their English. Chitose, another student who is from Japan, also came (
In the picture above, Paulina, Trent, Ji Sun, Denise, Sok Jae).
Since Spanish is the one language we all have in common, that's what we spoke -- even with Trent's and my limited Spanish skills. It's amazing to me that we had people from four different countries with four different languages, and we totally connected (
Above, Paulina, Chitose, Ji Sun).The tequila might have helped. Sok Jae brought back Korean takeout, which reminded me somewhat of Chinese food, although there was also Korean sushi (yum). We talked and laughed for hours. At one point, Sok Jae came up with what I would call an international party game: he gave the name of an animal, and we would each make the sound that animal makes in our language. The differences were amazing, considering a pig sounds the same no matter where the pig lives, but we express it differently.
The kids also had a fabulous time: Kang Hyun and Se Hyun speak and understand English quite well. Se Hyun demonstrated her origami skills -- impressive. Also serendipitous, as Addison's book club at school is reading "Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes", a book about a girl in post World-War II Japan who had leukemia and her friends and family folded paper cranes to bring her luck. Chitose was also touched that Addison was reading about a girl who is so famous in Japan.
While we are in GDL, we are staying with our friend, Paulina, and her mom, Cristina. Paulina was our Spanish teacher when we were here the last time. Last night, we met one of Paulina's students, a Korean man named Sok Jae. Sok Jae is a Korean police officer living in GDL with his wife, Ji Sun, son Kang Hyun (6) and daughter Se Hyun (9). The South Korean government has a program that pays for people to travel to a foreign country for two years to study the language. To be accepted into the program, the student must first study the language of the destination country for three years. Sok Jae, therefore, is fairly proficient in Spanish, but his children are attending a school where they are learning English. When Sok Jae met our kids, he suggested that his family join us at Paulina's so our kids could play and his kids could practice their English. Chitose, another student who is from Japan, also came (In the picture above, Paulina, Trent, Ji Sun, Denise, Sok Jae).
The kids also had a fabulous time: Kang Hyun and Se Hyun speak and understand English quite well. Se Hyun demonstrated her origami skills -- impressive. Also serendipitous, as Addison's book club at school is reading "Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes", a book about a girl in post World-War II Japan who had leukemia and her friends and family folded paper cranes to bring her luck. Chitose was also touched that Addison was reading about a girl who is so famous in Japan.
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