Hitting the Wall

Today (Monday) at school,I finally "hit the wall." Combining my previous Korean schooling with diligent effort, I have managed to feel reasonably comfortable with the coursework. That ended today!

We were learning numbers. Simple, huh? Not on your life. First of all, there are two different number systems in Korean, both used regularly: pure Korean and sino-Korean. Giving the time, for example, uses both; the hour is stated in pure Korean numbers, minutes in sino-Korean. Today we were being taught only the sino-Korean numbers which are used with large numbers, including prices (so obviously are important and of use).

The second major problem faced by an American dealing with numbers is that the sino-Korean number system uses 10,000 rather than 1,000 as the basic unit, requiring the American mind not only to learn the names of the numbers but a different way of thinking about/stating the numbers. Try thinking of 135,000 as 13 ten thousands and five one thousands, and you get a bit of the idea of the difficulty. Since Japan and China also use number systems based on ten thousand, the others in the class had a much easier task, leaving me clearly at the bottom of the group, a position I DO NOT like.

So I responded by returning home and fixing a quite expensive lunch of Campbell's tomato soup and a peanut butter sandwich. -- Yes, American comfort food! I need to go grocery shopping later today so think I'll have a supper of dolsut bi bim bap (my Korean comfort food) at the food court near Lotte Mart. I'll be studying before and after that trip, so I think I deserve a second comforting meal.