Hyundai department store

I was a little nervous this morning as I remembered that I had agreed to 'teach' English to two groups of Korean kids at a culture center. All I had to do, so they said, was speak for an hour about winter. Ha! Chris drove me to the subway station where I met my guide. She didn't speak much English and I had a very hard time understanding her even though she had a digital dictionary. When we got to the destination station, I found out that she didn't know where the building was either. So we walked. And it was cold. Very cold. Because I felt I was representing America, I wore a skirt and a nice sweater. So my legs were cold.
When we found the building, it wasn't open for business, so we had to go in the back. Then up to the 10th floor. We were early, so we had some time to sit and admire the view. We found ourselves in a conference room. Then 15 first and second graders came and sat. They wanted to talk about Christmas, so we did. And winter, and snow, and warm clothing, and New Year's Day, Groundhog Day and Valentines Day and St.Patricks Day and anything else I could think of. When I invited questions, they asked how old I was and if I had children. Their English was quite good.
After they left, I was treated to lunch in the employee's cafeteria. There was Lunch A, and lunch B. I couldn't read either menu, but the sign indicated that both lunches had almost 800 calories apiece. I asked for whatever was traditional Korean. What I got was 4 kinds of kimchi, rice, and a soup that was mostly broth. Where did they hide 800 calories in that? One kind of kimchi had little bird eggs in it. After lunch, we stopped by the restroom to wash hands. The hand dryer looked like a microwave because of the hellish red light it put out. But it was just blowing hot air. After that, we went looking at 9 floors and a basement of merchandise. I thought to ask for pickled onions in the grocery section. Tina had been looking for them. But my rendition of spicy backfired. They were showing me RedHots and Altoids, etc. Even with her digital dictionary, it didn't translate.
So back upstairs for the second group. There were 3 4th and 5th graders. I had to cover even more territory to fill the time. When there was 10 minutes left, I asked for questions. One child asked me to tell her American history. In 10 minutes? Turns out I only know 10 minutes of history. I mentioned 1776 when we declared independence, 1864 when Lincoln freed the slaves, 1914 and WWI, 1929 and the Great Depression, and 1941 and the bombing of Pearl Harbor. I couldn't think of anything interesting past that so I dismissed them. (Later my daughter suggested 9-11 and I said "Oh, yeah!". No one has ever mistaken me for a history teacher.) When I finished, I was given a jar of pickled onions by the person in charge. Cool.
I thought the day was over, but my guide took me to a cafe on the 9th floor to exchange languages. I had a hard time hearing her words and she was not satisfied until I had pronounced each one correctly. It tired me out quickly, but she kept going. Finally I had to say "Subway, we go home." But on the way back, she kept drilling me on the phrases she'd taught me. And she made an apointment with me to exchange more phrases. I will bring Michele with me then, so she can help me interpret the sounds. When I got back to post, I called Tina and she drove me to her house. We ate a lot of chocolate and talked a good bit. Then she drove me home. I have been on the computer ever since. I think I shall sleep well tonight.
Soom cha da - short of breath
tahm tongue cha - person in charge
il gop she - 7 o'clock
ta zo tie - 5 months
Ha poom ha da - yawn
noon gam ta - close eyes