Skip to main content

Interpreter




Korea …Korea …Korea. It’s always my passion. That day my youngest brother’s school had some guests from South Korea, 무안 처등 학교 (Muan Elementary School). As always my sisters and I got really curious to meet them, just to check our skill. Our intention was just to get to know them. When we got there, out of sudden, we were thought to be the interpreter by the school. Shocked, that’s our reaction. We told them that we were just visiting our brother to check his program with the school from the Korea. The teachers insisted that we should be the interpreter for a time being because the real ones hadn’t come just yet. We were dumbfounded. What do you expect? Our skill is still mediocre. Hihihi…we were speechless for many times because we didn’t get a clue of what they were saying. Some words might be understandable but the rest…blank. Still they wanted us to assist them, so they could communicate with their guests from Korea.
We couldn’t go anywhere. We had to be with them. My sister and I were separated. I was asked to assist the other teacher. And when the headmaster came, I was summoned to be their interpreter, so the two headmasters could communicate. There’s some intense moment when the guests were unwilling to follow the schedule because they assumed it was too tight. In the end it was solved by the real interpreter. Phew! What a relief.
The second day we came there in hanbok. The guests were amazed seeing us in that attire. We were still asked to assist the students in explaining about the food they made. Again for the second time most of the time we were dumbfounded for we could hardly understand what they were saying. Somehow we could grab some of their words therefore we still could communicate using our clumsy Korean. When the Korean headmaster called us to show the hanbok to the students, my sister without my instruction bowed (called 절if I am not mistaken) in front of him and the other teacher. My other sister and I followed her. He bowed back to us. Then when he mentioned something about 설날 (Korean New Year’s Day), she again spontaneously sang the new year’s song called설날 (sollal). In return for bowing and singing in front of them, the teachers gave us Rp. 50.000,- and 1.000,- won. It’s not about the numbers, it’s about their appreciation they gave to us. We still keep the money till now.
When my brother got the chance to visit Korea due to their invitation, the teachers and the headmaster asked about my sister and I. “Where’s Ira and Sansan?” they asked my younger brother. We were still being remembered by them. We were so touched when we heard the story from our brother. They even gave us the Korean goods. While in Korea my brother went to some stores and they were asked to take some CDs. And one of the teacher said, “Take the other 5 Cds for Sansan.’ And it happened again when they bought the foam soap. They gave me a bottle of gigantic purple foam soap. My brother grumbled because he had to carry many goods because of the teacher kept including me every time they shopped T__T (너무 감동해요). 우린 아저씨들을 영원히 가억할게요.
^^/
Sansan

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

프라이팬 놀이/Frying Pan Game/BTS

Playing Frying Pan Game/BTS We played a new game called Frying pan game (프라이팬 놀이) with our Korean guests in our Korean Class. It was fun. It’s like catching the mouse game. We learn the Korean numbers in the same time.  Say, if your friend mentions your name and the number, you have to mention your name according to the number he/she mentions previously.  For example, if your friend says "Dana dul (2)", so you have to say your name twice, "Dana...Dana" and so on and so on. If you make a mistake, well, you get the punishment. The type of the punishment depends on the agreement of the players. They are many types, trust me. Just choose one.  This game was played on one of the TV programs in Korea hosted by Kang Ho Dong (강 호 동), Hye Ryong said. 재미 있네요. 우리 애들이 놀이를 좋아해요.  But hey! BTS too played this game on one of their TV shows.  You can check out the video  here  So far, we have learned many Korean games. Mostly we got...

Seoul Plaza Korea

Jalan-Jalan Gratis di Korea - Seoul Plaza Korea Ada yang berencana untuk pergi jalan-jalan ke Korea dengan bujet yang pas-pasan? Kira-kira tempat apa saja yang bisa dikunjungi tanpa harus mengeluarkan banyak uang untuk membeli tiket alias gratis? atau yang murah? Bagi kamu yang pergi  traveling dengan tight budget , jangan khawatir, kamu masih bisa menikmati liburan di Korea dengan bekal yang tak terlalu banyak. Seoul Plaza Jika kamu berkunjung ke kota Seoul, ada beberapa tempat wisata yang kamu bisa kunjungi tanpa harus mengeluarkan uang. Cukup siapkan kekuatan kaki untuk berjalan. Salah satu tempat itu bernama Seoul Plaza atau Seoul Square . Seoul Plaza terletak di pusat kota, tepatnya di depan City Hall atau Balai Kota. Di sini, orang biasanya berkumpul menikmati hari. Di musim-musim yang ramah seperti musim semi, orang-orang biasanya akan berkumpul di sini untuk sekedar berkumpul atau bercengkrama.   Di saat musim panas, tempat ini biasany...

Dora The Explorer Dan Oreo Termahal

Dora the Explorer Dan Oreo Termahal Badan pegal – pegal karena terpenjara selama lebih dari lima jam. Ditambah lagi harus berhimpitan di kerumunan manusia saat festival. Begitu masuk ke dalam  subway , yang pertama kali ingin kulakukan adalah tidur. Ah leganya ketika kulihat ada kursi kosong yang bisa kududuki. Enaknya bisa selonjoran untuk mehilangkan rasa pegal di kaki. Rupanya ketika aku tertidur, muridku iseng mengambil foto diriku yang sedang tertidur. Refleks aku terbangun. Begitu tersadar, tiba – tiba muncul seorang anak kecil bersama ibunya. Mereka berdiri tepat di hadapanku. Harusnya aku beri kursi itu pada mereka tapi ada sedikit kebingungan soal memberi tempat duduk di Korea atau di Jepang. Terkadang para orang tua menolak tawaran tersebut. Terlebih lagi jika kita menawarkan kursi itu pada orang yang masih muda. Salah satu alasan yang kutahu adalah mereka tak ingin terlihat seperti orang tua. Maka, tak heran jika beberapa orang tua pun terkadang menolak diberi ...