You would think that being in a country with a completely different language, you would pick up the new language really quickly. Well, when you hang around people that only speak English, and you work at a school where they are supposed to only speak English, and the natives speak so fast you have to clue what's going on, and there is barely anyone that can translate select words into English for you, it is very hard. I have two books I use to teach myself Korean, but even the books are different. They have saying that people don't really use in modern day, plus Korea has a system of respect where you have to use different endings to your sentences, depending on who you are talking to (i.e. elders and superiors). Plus it's a whole new alphabet with sounds we don't really make in English. So once you learn the basics of how to survive, going beyond that gets difficult.

Luckily I have Grace, and she really helps me out a lot, but I still have a hard time hearing what she says, because some of the letters in Korean are so subtle, you can barely hear them. And some letters sound almost the same, but change depending on where in the word they are (like the g/k-sound ᄀ or the d/t-sound ᄃ). And then there are sound that are almost similar (ch-sound ᄎ and j-sound ᄌ). And the vowels, holy crap, no book in the world can help you with the vowels. There's ᅡwhich is easy (sounds like ah), but then it goes to ᅮ (sound like oo like "soothing"), next is ᅥ(sounds like the o in "song"), then ᅩ (which is the basic "oh" sound), and finally ᅳ (which is more like "uh"). Now typing it out, they all sound dissimilar, but when the Koreans actually say them, it's really hard to differentiate, especially when they are saying whole words.

So far I can say this in Korean:
Hello.
My name is Colleen.
I am American.
I am from Portland, Oregon.
Where are you from?
I'm sorry.
I don't understand.
I don't know
Yes.
No.
I am a teacher.
Take me to my apartment please. No, go straight, take the next left/right.
Where/ where is...
What/ what is this/that.
I like/ I don't like.
That's expensive.
This/that.
Here/there.
Cat/dog/mouse.
Give me a gimbap please.
What's your name?
How much is it?
Can I have a bag please?

Here are some helpful phrases to know if you find yourself in Korea:

I'm sorry - 미안합니다 (me-ahn ham-nee-da)
I'm American - 미국사람이에요 (mi-gook sar-am-ee-ay-oh)
I speak a little Korean - 조금 한글말 (cho-gum hang-gul-mal)
I don't understand - 몰라요 (mo-lie-yo)
What's this? - 이것 뭐예요 (ee-go mwo-yay-yo)
Where's the ... - ...어디있어요 (oh-dee-so-yo)
What's your name? - 이름이 뭐예요? (ear-yum-ee mwo-yay-yo)
Thank you - 감사합니다 (gam-sam-nee-da)
Straight - 직진 (chick-jin)
Left - 왼쪽 (win-choke)
Right - 오른쪽 (o-run-choke)
Take me to ... (in a taxi) - ... 가주세요 (ka-jew-say-oh)
Give me ... (when ordering food) - ... 주세요 (jew-say-oh)

When dealing with counting, that's a complicated story. There are two counting methods in Korea: Pure Korean number method which is used for counting amounts (like how many stickers I have given a child, or how many glasses of water you have. It's also used when telling time), and the Sino-Korean number method which is used for counting monetary amounts, saying telephone/building numbers.

Here are the Pure Korean numbers
1 = 하나 (hana)
2 = 둘 (duel)
3 = 셋 (set)
4 = 넷 (net)
5 = 다섯 (da-sot)
6 = 여섯(yo-sot)
7 = 일곱 (eel-gohp)
8 = 여덟 (yo-dorp)
9 = 아홉(ah-hop)
10 = 열 (yol)
11 = 열하나 (yol hana)
12 = 열둘 (yol duel)
13 = 열셋 (yol set)
When telling time you take the Pure Korean number, and add 시 (o'clock) to the end. But note that if you want to add minutes, you use the Sino-Korean method (makes perfect sense, right?)

1 o'clock - 한시
2 o'clock - 두시
3 o'clock - 세시
4 o'clock - 네시
5 o'clock - 다섯시
6 o'clock - 여섯시
7 o'clock - 일곱시
8 o'clock - 여덟시
9 o'clock - 아홉시
10 o'clock - 열 시

And here are the Sino-Korean numbers

1. 일 (eel)
2. 이 (ee)
3. 삼 (sam)
4. 사 (sa)
5. 오 (oh)
6. 육 (yuk)
7. 칠 (chil)
8. 팔 (pal)
9. 구 (gu)
10. 십 (ship)
11. 십일 (ship-eel)
12. 십이 (ship-ee)

When refering to money, you use the Sino-Korean numbers, but there are a few things added in. Instead of saying 10,000 won using 십 (as would be logical), you say 만 won (or 만원)
1,000 - 천원 (chon won)
2,000 - 이(2)천원 (ee chon won)
3,000 - 삼(3)천원 (sam chon won)
10,000 - 만원 (mahn won)
11,000 - 만천원 (mahn chon won)
12,000 - 만이(2)천원 (mahn ee chon won)
13,000 - 만삼(3)천원 (mahn sam chon won)
20,000 - 이(2)만원 (ee mahn won)
21,000 - 이(2)만천원 (ee mahn chon won)
22,000 - 이(2)만이(2)천원 (ee mahn ee chon won)
23,000 0 이(2)만삼(3)천원 (ee man sam chon won)

Are you utterly confused yet? It took me a really long time to work all this out. As long as I buy something for less than 100,000 won, I can tell what they are saying, but once you get higher that, I get confused. Ok, that's enough Korean for today!