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buddy bradley
Joined: 24 Aug 2003
Location: The Beyond
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 Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2004 7:23 am Post subject: |
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| I don't believe it - a friendly ajumma? A dead ajumma, yes - a friendly one, no. |
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FUBAR
Joined: 21 Oct 2003
Location: The Y.C.
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| Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2004 8:06 am Post subject: Re: Local restaurant Ajummas |
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| shawner88 wrote: |
There's a restaurant nearby where the food is really delicious. I love it. I always get Kimchi Chigae or Dwen Jang. They make an ever-changing variety of side dishes which are 95% of the time wonderful. The problem is the ajumma. She is too kind but she cannot fathom I can't understand what she is saying. I've told her a hundred times I can't speak Korean well, but she keeps talking and asking me questions. Sometimes she'll even sit with me. I really wish I could speak Korean, but even when I do know what she is saying, I'm afraid to reply because I learned most of my Korean in the banmal form and my pronunciation is terrible, especially to older people and kids, they never understand me.
Well, it made me feel really uncomfortable so I stopped going there. I feel awful because I pass her place everyday and sometimes she asks me why I don't eat there. I went there tonight for the first time in ages and she was so happy. She kept telling me to come everyday, but it was the same. She sat down and started talking to me again and everyone was watching and laughing. I'm in a small town and there'snot many places to get such good food. Perhaps I should have a Korean write her a letter for me? or just eat there and feel stupid. I guess I should just learn how to speak Korean better, but that's not going to happen soon.
I thought I'd share this here because I'm guessing this has happened to other people. It's happened to me several times actually. There's also another place I stopped going because the lady there took an English class so she could talk to me, but it was always so awkward and I justwanted to eat and be left alone. |
Mi-an-ham-ni-da Hangul mal mot-hae-yo |
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shawner88
Joined: 01 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2004 8:55 am Post subject: |
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Well you should learn a little soon then.  LoL, who doesn't know how to say at least that? |
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wylde
Joined: 14 Apr 2003
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| Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2004 9:04 am Post subject: Re: Local restaurant Ajummas |
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Last edited by wylde on Tue Feb 03, 2004 5:29 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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kangnamdragon
Joined: 17 Jan 2003
Location: Kangnam, Seoul, Korea
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| Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2004 5:02 pm Post subject: |
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| Face it. Some of us are celebrities. We have to learn to deal with it. It is the price we pay for fame. |
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RedRob
Joined: 07 Jul 2003
Location: Narnia
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| Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2004 6:16 pm Post subject: |
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You really dig the food, but don't want the company of the Ajumma.Right?
This may be a bit obvious but nearly all these Mum n Pop joints deliver, why not get the stuff delivered right into your own private space and eat in peace? |
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Eazy_E
Joined: 30 Oct 2003
Location: British Columbia, Canada
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| Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2004 4:01 am Post subject: |
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| It was obvious that the language barrier was the cause of this poor bloke's problems... I would argue that trying to give directions to your house over the phone is harder than chit-chatting with the ajumma while in the restaurant. |
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Universalis
Joined: 17 Nov 2003
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2004 4:30 am Post subject: |
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In my experience there are two types of Koreans: those who will never talk to you in Korean no matter how good your Korean is, and those (like your ajjuma) who assume you speak fluently after hearing you drop some simple expression.
It's incredibly frustrating... it's just tough to find a Korean who's willing to gauge your Korean skills and talk to you appropriately.
Brian |
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Son Deureo!
Joined: 30 Apr 2003
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| Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2004 5:36 am Post subject: |
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| Eazy_E wrote: |
| It was obvious that the language barrier was the cause of this poor bloke's problems... I would argue that trying to give directions to your house over the phone is harder than chit-chatting with the ajumma while in the restaurant. |
Nah, that's easy! Just don't do it over the phone. Give the lady your address (it should be printed on your waygook card), a hand-drawn map, or just drag her or whoever does the deliveries over to your door, then pantomime a phone call and say "Sean! Take out! Take out!" Then call them and say "Yeoboseyo, Sean imnida. (Insert your dinner here) bay-dahl hay juseyo."
At least that's what I did with the local restaurants before I could figure out how to just do it all over the phone. |
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Squid
Joined: 25 Jul 2003
Location: Sunny Anyang
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| Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2004 6:25 am Post subject: |
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If you feel uncomfortable going there, don't. I'm sure this happens to most of us and we all deal with it differently. I can understand your reluctance to stop going to the place though because there's a dearth of restaurants in this country, that's for sure... NOT.
I agree with you about the gym "instructors"... they're all queer... change gym.
Pick and choose and blow off the mediocre ones, it's the only way. |
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ryleeys
Joined: 22 Dec 2003
Location: Columbia, MD
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| Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2004 6:43 am Post subject: |
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I had a very similar situation...
When I'm in the mood to talk, I roll in for some food...
When I just wanna eat and go, I take my laptop with me and watch a movie or I take my mp3 player...
Seems to work well. And I always appreciate a smile when I go into a place. |
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Toby
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Location: Wedded Bliss
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| Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2004 5:35 pm Post subject: |
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It is possible to converse with non-English speaking Koreans, especially in the case of the woman in the restaurant.
Buy the Lonely Planet phrase book. It is a BIBLE. Don't miss out on good food just because she talks to you.
Mula guess sum ni da. I don't understand.
Shill lay ha jee man dashi han man duh mal hey chew say yo?
Can you say that one more time please?
Chon chon ee. Slowly.
Give her the phrase book. It will keep her occupied for a while and will slow her down. It will also mean that you can talk to her, through the book. I bought it before I came here and it really was the most valuable thing I owned.
Don't stop eating the good food. That can be difficult to find at times, so try and converse with her.
The guy in the gym? Can't help on that one. Sorry. |
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