Linguistic gaps

Well, it’s been six months or so, that I am in Korea… so, I’d better speak a little bit better Korean right ??
Well, as you all may know, I am one of the very lazy student when it comes to study Korean language. An overload of work was a pretty good excuse in Jan, Feb, March, when I was stuck in the nice quantitative/qualitative nightmare for my research job… But now, I do not have that good excuse any more…
Anyway, as you may know, my two main informal ways of learning Korean are watching Korean dramas, and reading Korean children books (but that’s also part of my job… Now, I know all the name of the animals from the farm? What? Useless?? Kss kss kss). So, I’m pretty good at “saranghae, chyuwayo, pogoshippoyo” (love u, two versions, and I wanted to see you/I miss you, which are kinda the same in Korean?), “I know what’s inside your heart but I cannot accept it” (all quotes from Spring Waltz), practised these sentences a few times (souris on a heart breaker mode). There were also the “pabo”, “tarmori” (all meaning stupid, all quotes from Full House), that I use a lot to nag my friends…
So, my level of survival Korean has improved pretty well. Those people like Mr Kim (my boss’s brother) that haven’t seen me for a while, got impressed (souris, on a proud mode). Was fun, because I know he was craving for asking me the magic question, “did you improve your Korean so well because of a Korean man?”, but, being himself in a strange position (my boss’s brother, after all. Though my boss would not hesitate to ask me that, even sort of suggesting juicy things you know…. Yuk). So, played the naïve stupid one, he kept on wondering why my Korean would improve so much though technically speaking I do not study it… The magic of learning Korean like a tourist (as would say my Latin teacher. You are a poor student because you do not learn your grammar. You understand the Latin language as if you were a tourist. Work harder, he said, to the poor mouse who had all the dictionary pages printed on her cheeks, out of fatigue).
Being involved in what you may call a intercultural relationship (well, if I quote my boss, the intent of the workshop was to “mingle” nationalities whatever the options are… As far as I know, it resulted in two inter-cultural couples… Won’t say the names, but…), I know the ups and downs of misunderstandings through languages. A challenge, I guess, that’s –I hope- worth the play. Sometimes, it ends up in laughers, sometimes, in raised eyebrows, but anyway, I accept it. After all, if there weren’t people like “uri” (“us”, in Korean. The warmest word I know in Korean. Souris, on a romantic mode), experiencing that before, I wouldn’t be charming/annoying so many people in this world, right.
Sometimes, not understanding Korean is a good thing. I play the three monkeys from Nikko (never seen it, never heard it, never talked about it), and that can be useful…
Even though, until now, I am still alive, did not get lost in Korea, did not experience weird dangerous situations, there’s one big hurdle I have not managed yet to overcome. The hairdresser… How can you explain them… That I really hate my ears. That I want to hide them for my whole life. So, today was my third time going to the hairdresser in Korea. First time, it was in Gwangju, there was my friend and colleague Hanna who could speak Korean, but seems that the hairdresser was dumb to that only demand from me. The result was pretty nice except for these overwhelmingly indecently naked ears. My second time was at Luz hair dresser in Hyewha, recommended by Hanna because there were supposed to be some English speaking staff there. I guess that the day I came there, they were all on strike… So, I used my poor Korean, shouted in Korean the verb “hate, hate”, with meaningful grins, showing the two culprits on my face (I can even accept a fringe/bangs since a bad-skilled hairdresser introduced that to my hair last year against my will. When it’s done, it’s done. But still, “hide thy things I dare not see” on a Tartuffe mode…). The hairdresser smiled, cut… The result was nice, except for these poor ears exposed to the freezing cold in the winter… Third time, today. Well, if all the hairdressers in Korea have decided not to speak Korean, so, I shall try my luck in one of these hairdressers that looks funky in Hongdae. There was a cute one, painted in fresh green, that I wanted to go. So, checked out in the dictionary how to say politely, in a civilised manner “I do not like my ears so please do not show them to the rest of the world…”. Well, still, the result is OK. But, damned… I thought the hairdresser understood what I’ve told her. But… Know who are the two culprits that seem to clap hands over my face??? Grrr. I have to live with it, the idea of having ears visible to the rest of the world. Anyway, got it? Don’t even try to express any opinion at a hairdresser in Korea, they’ll just follow their instinct, which seems to be universal: unveil the indiscrete/spy like mouse’ two weapons…