1, 3, 5, 10

I have often wondered what it must be like to be one of the many Japanese tourists in Hawaii.  They travel as a group, speak little english, and limit direct contact to those that don't speak Japanese.  Well... now I know.  

I have been frantically trying to decode and remember the Korean alphabet, Hangul.  When I was traveling with a few friends, we would pretty much stick to what we knew, and spoke primarily English.  We hadn't been in country long enough to know anything else.  We did have a couple of guide books, though.  I was sharing a story with my companions about counting in Korean.  Really, I can't.  I could say 1, 5, and 10.  Then I remembered 3.  So, I said, "Nice.  I am in Korea and now I can say 1, 3, 5, 10."  

A friend busted up laughing.  The realization came that while we were talking, most of the people on the metro couldn't understand our english.  But they probably picked up on their numbers being used.  Especially since I kept doing it.  They must have heard something like, "Jibber jabber jibber jabber blah blah 1, 3, 5, .... 10.  Blah blah blah, jibber jabber, 1, 3, 5, 10."  This was one of the funniest perspectives I have gained since being in Korea.  So fun.  I now feel so much empathy for people from other lands coming to America.

I will have to ride for a 2 1/2 hours on the metro, I'm not too excited about it.