새 학기가 시작했다

The new semester at SKS started today and I almost forgotten about it. It seems that three weeks is a bit too long to be away from class. When I stepped into the admin office this evening to check out my class, a Korean staff spoke to me in Korean but I was tongue-tied. Just couldn't reply her in simple Korean even though I know what she was saying. I was as good as dumb. As expected, there was no Advanced Two class so I have to settle for TOPIK preparation class. The class started by going through TOPIK level 2 questions. Most of the questions were simple enough but I still stumbled upon a few questions. I saw it as a worrying sign as level 3 questions will be much harder, not to mention level 4. During class, we were reminded about the different Korean action verbs that are equivalent to the English verb "wear".


모자 (hat) - 쓰다
장갑 (glove), 반지 (ring), 안경 (spectacle) - 끼다
귀고리 (earring), 목걸이 (necklace) - 하다
허리띠 (belt), 넥타이 (tie) - 매다
시계 (watch) - 차다
옷 (cloth), 바지 (pants) , 치마(skirt) - 입다
신발 (shoe), 양말 (sock) - 신다

The 반대말 or antonym of "wear" is much easier.

쓰다, 입다, 신다, 차다 <--> 벗다 (脱掉)
하다, 끼다 <--> 빼다 (拿下)
매다 <--> 풀다 (解开)


The "highlight of the day" was actually a 300 words composition in Korean on the topic "여행에서 인상 깊었던 일" (Things that left a deep impression during tour). We were only given half an hour to finish it. It was so frustrating having so many ideas in the mind and yet unable to translate them into Korean on the paper. At the end, I neither hit 300 words nor did I finish writing the composition. This is just the beginning and I am beginning to feel the heat. The teacher is not showing any sign of loosening up on her standard. She wanted us to be able to hear fast, write fast, read fast and solve questions fast. I know she is not over-demanding and I need to build up to that speed in order to have a fair chance of passing TOPIK Intermediate level.


I received my certificate and the result slip for my last semester course. I hope I have not disappointed my teacher with my result though I know she has been quite lenient with her marks. Frankly, I miss her lesson.