I'm an international student

I went to my first Korean class tonight. I found it comical as I've taught international students for the past 6 years, and tonight I sat in my first class and I'm sure my face looked lost. I laughed at myself as I realized that, yes, they were going to speak Korean, and only Korean in this class. I don't know where I got the idea that they would might use English because I was a beginner. No, the teacher didn't speak English and neither did the students. Why should they? I'm in Korea. Actually, my classmates tonight were primarily Chinese and Vietnamese. I think I was the lowest Korean speaker as I'm joining mid-session. But I didn't mind. I found it so interesting and amusing as the teacher gave a dictation quiz and I tried to write what I heard. Who knows what I wrote?! I know the Korean alphabet (which is fascinating by the way, because it's considered the most phonetic language), so I can read and write a little, but this dictation exercise was above my skills! I enjoyed the role reversal as the Vietnamese girls next to me tried to speak slowly and repeat their questions again and again in Korean to me with minimal success. They were sweet. They resorted to acting the words out so I could understand, like gym (running motion), library (holding a book in her hands), etc. It was an interesting night and I'm so thankful I can finally join a class. I've been looking for a class for several weeks. I found it discouraging as I couldn't find any in my area as I think I'm the only foreigner in my town (the majority are in the center of Seoul, and I'm outside the main city). I was frustrated, thinking 'I'm in Korea; why is it so hard to find a Korean class?!' But, actually, it's logical. Koreans don't need Korean language classes. You have to find foreigners to find Korean language classes. Also, I was getting frustrated because when I called several Korean language schools, they only spoke Korean, which means my phone call attempt at getting information was unsuccessful, because I was calling because I couldn't speak Korean well; that's why I wanted to sign-up for the class! It seemed to me that you have to know Korean to learn Korean! ...But with the help of the Korean Tourist Organization earlier this week, I finally found a Korean language class pretty close to me at a community center in a neighboring town. I'm very excited to attend the classes. And, after being lost in class tonight, I plan to make my English class a little easier tomorrow so the lost faces will feel a little less lost. (My students might be thankful I've started studying Korean!) :)