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January 27, 2005
Closing time
Tonight I saw some broken down bikes in the bike Rack near Walter Library. I really cannot understand why someone would just leave his or her bike there. Maybe it’s too much of a hassle or they don’t know what to do with it. Maybe it’s just not valuable enough to worry about. They walked away from them and didn’t look back.
Also, I found out tonight that liquor stores close at 8pm. I don’t usually go to liquor stores because I rarely drink alcohol but my Korean Language Partner had to buy a farewell present for someone and wanted to buy a good bottle of vodka. We tried the liquor store in dinky town, but they must have closed a few minutes early so we rushed over to the one by Hong-Kong Noodles and they were just about to close but we made it with about 15 seconds to spare. They locked the door behind us. It was very kind of the woman working there to let us in. Why do liquor stores close at 8pm on weeknights? It’s some city ordinance. We got the bottle gift wrapped and headed back to the U. I guess I never knew that we had such a law. I knew about the state law that keeps them closed on Sundays.
My Korean Language Partner is leaving on Tuesday. He’s going back to Korea. It’s a sad day. I know I am better for having known him. So he kept asking me when I would visit Korea, and I had to tell him I won’t be able to go this year. Now we are planning on it for the summer of 2006. I’ll have to make a commitment to it if I ever expect to go. That will be an expensive trip. Also, since he is leaving, I’m going to miss the Korean conversation and having dinner with him weekly at various restaurants. I really enjoyed that time with him. Now I won’t have a weekly dinner meeting with a friend. So yes, that does kind of make me a little sad. If there are any Koreans reading this, I wouldn’t mind having another language partner to practice with. If you are interested, send me an email.
I promised my language partner I would send him an email at least once a month. I don’t know if he’ll really miss my company, but while we were meeting, he worked really hard to help me with my language skills. He really wanted to help me learn and it shows what kind of a character he has. He graciously offered to let me stay with him when I go to Korea in 2006 also. I think going there will be a great motivation for me to keep learning Korean.
Tonight I talked to him about my lack of motivation for learning Korean and we talked about what it is I really liked about Korean. Contemplating this, I came up with a few things that I really liked about Korean. Some of the things that turned me on about Korean in the first place were, King Sejong the great, the ingenious Hangul Alphabet, Korean art, pottery, Pan-sori storytelling, traditional drumming, traditional Korean houses with the heated floors, the rich religious and scholarly history and the idea that Koreans had moveable type before Gutenberg. That is interesting to me. So, I’m going to find some Korean history and architecture books and read more. Next week when I’m at the U, I’ll have to see what is available at the library.
Closing time. On Saturday morning he’s coming to see me race my bike on ice. That’s one last meeting with my Korean friend. The Vodka won’t ever be enough to say goodbye. Keeping in touch via email won’t be the same, but all things change and in the end we are changed.
Posted by carl1236 at January 27, 2005 10:49 PM | Life