Neela vs. Korean

I have been diligently working on learning Korean for at least two hours every day for three weeks. I'm pretty proud of my progress. I am already more than half way through the first level and I LOVE it! Sometimes I get frustrated but I keep pushing myself on. I even dream in Korean sometimes. But please don't ask me to speak anything in Korean. And if you want to speak to me in Korean, do it very s-l-o-w-l-y. Also, it would help if you could use some props to indicate the meaning of your words.

On the positive side, I can now pick out a few words in the Super Junior songs besides saranghae (I love you). And when watching an hour long Korean drama I will usually know about 3 words. And I play slug-bug while shouting out the colors in Korean. This is progress - right?

To help me with my reading, I have started following all the boys on twitter. Occasionally, with much concentration, I will be able to discern a word. Reading Korean is hard! Really hard!!! The way the letters get smooshed together makes it difficult to read. It gives me a headache. It makes me frustrated. But I press on because I just know that I will read some cute or silly or funny things by these cute, silly, funny boys. I just know it. I''m just sure of it. Or am I?

Do you remember the movie "A Christmas Story", the tale of a boy and his dream of obtaining the Red Ryder BB Gun for Christmas?  Early in this beloved Christmas classic, he is eagerly awaiting a secret decoder ring that he drank lots of ovaltine to get. Finally it arrives! Eagerly, young Ralphie listens to the 'Lil Orphan Annie radio show and with great care writes down the secret code. He makes a beeline for the bathroom, the only place in the house that affords him some privacy, and with trembling fingers manipulates the decoder ring to decipher the code. Oh the anguish when he discovers that the secret cipher is nothing more than an advertisement for ovaltine!


Horrors! What if it's the same with all those Super Junior tweets that I am ruining my eyes to read? What if they are just promoting themselves? Like this: "Watch my new show. It is amazing!" OR "Our new video comes out on ..... , don't forget to watch it!" OR "I'm on the cover of ___________ magazine. Get your copy today!" They wouldn't do that to me, would they?