Mr. & Mrs. Vandebilt + kids

Every once in a while you’ll stumble across the rare gem that is the English Speaking Korean (ESK). Fortunately to keep things interesting there are a few kinds of ESKs.

1. “The soju gives me confidence ESK”. This will happen almost every time we go out to a bar or restaurant in the evening. We will inevitably be approached by one or more Koreans  who want to try out their English skills. Most times they only know a few catch phrases: Hello, Nice to meet you, Where are you from are, are quite popular. The odd time they will sit down at the table and invite their friends. It’s always entertaining and usually we get some free stuff out of it.
2. “The I think I know a lot more English than I do ESK” These are the most difficult of the ESKs because you usually get stuck talking to this person who really doesn’t know enough to carry on a decent conversation. Most of the time you have no idea what they are talking about. The smile and nod is a good coping technique.
3. “The surprising ESK.” These are awesome and occur every so often. It’s always such a welcome surprise to find out that this person you’ve been struggling to communicate with actually knows English. It has happened with our friend at Pizza Etang, at the pharmacy near our school, in taxis and as Johann can definitely attest to, the Apple store in Busan.
4. “The true ESK”. And sometimes, if you are really lucky you’ll stumble upon a Korean who really speaks English. I’m talking about someone you can have a real conversation with. Someone you can call if you are having problems or can translate instructions for you. We’ve been very fortunate by meeting quite a few of these. Unless you’ve lived in a foreign country with a different language you have no idea how valuable these people are and how much we appreciate them. Gimban Man (Hur Nam Il), Joy, Yooseup, Ellie, Amy, Kelly, Jino and Gloria to name a few.

Living in a country where the language is so foreign from our own, there’s always something very comforting in getting any English spoken to us or the chance to speak any English. So to all the ESKs, thanks, you have no idea how much we enjoy it.