Learning Korean

Today in the taxi, I was talking to the driver in my horrible Korean/English combination, and his Korean. After, Monique said something like, "Wow, that was a... conversation...well, I mean, you know..." (it was a conversation only in the most technical sense of the term, as there WERE some ideas conveyed.)

My Korean is bad, but in the past few weeks I've noticed that I'm able to use a LOT more Korean to clarify in my classes, and I can talk to kids and other teachers with a mixture of my broken Korean and their broken English. I am able to joke with the other teachers at volleyball, and have a far, far better idea of the general gist of what is going on around me than I did before. If I have to repeat myself in a taxi it, it is usually only once. I can charm children by telling them that I don't think they are are insane (michin), just a little crazy (babo).