Category: Essay

It was right around this time last year.

I wanted to travel to Japan, but I didn’t have time. Well, it was rather that my mind was so caught up with everything that there was really nothing left to spare for traveling.

It saddened me, since it only takes about 2 hours from Korea to Japan. I felt a bit down for a couple of days, but then I found a solution.

“I can learn Japanese!”

At least, I could travel through my mind. And it would be useful when I actually traveled to Japan. It sounded fair.

So I started learning Japanese on Jan 22, 2025.

Interestingly, I did travel to Japan a few months later, and I did use my terrible Japanese (Sumimasen, Japanese people).

Since then, I have kept the habit of learning Japanese, however small a time slot I can spare, and now it’s already been a year.

Language learning is a form of mental travel, and every day can be a day of travel.

No matter where you are or what you do, you can always travel and cherish life.

This might sound a bit strange, I know. However, they are all important to me.

Why do I even care about blood sugar levels? That’s because I have to. At some point in life, we all do.

Anyway, I eat fruit for lunch, hold my phone in my hand, and then read the KBS news aloud in English. Inside my house, of course.

While I roam around the house like a ghost, my blood sugar should stay stable. Fruit doesn’t really increase blood sugar levels as much as rice does, but whatever.

After finishing the news, I sometimes read books while walking around inside, of course.

This makes my lunchtime fly by, and I can work toward my 10,000 step goal per day.

There are always good ways and means if you really think about it. I love it.

While I was looking through Audible for a new audiobook, I somehow found this book – “What I Talk About When I Talk About Running” by Haruki Murakami.

Oh, an audiobook in Japanese. Tempting.

By listening to the preview, I could only catch about 30% of it. It feels so good to recognize words or phrases I know, but it is still too high a level for my (amazingly terrible) Japanese.

After all those years of trial and error in learning English, one of my language learning principles has become “not to learn materials that are much higher than my level”.

Everything remains somewhere in the brain, yet I found that level-appropriate materials were much more effective in terms of understanding as well as speaking.

I have no doubt that watching Japanese TV shows with subtitles is better suited to my level.

Until the day I can understand most of that audiobook, I have decided to keep that Haruki essay in my (already overflowing) wishlist.

That took self-discipline.

It really did.

走ることについて語るときに僕の語ること

Check out this great listen on Audible.com. 走ることについて語りつつ、小説家としてのありよう、創作の秘密、そして「彼自身」を初めて説き明かした画期的なメモワール。 表紙撮影＝小平尚典 ©Harukimurakami Archival Labyrinth 2007 (P)2023 Audible, Inc....

One of my favorite Japanese learning materials is the food TV show, ‘K-foodie Meets J-foodie’. And yes, it IS a ‘learning’ material.

All they talk about is food. I love it. I’m more eager to learn about Japanese food, but the Korean food tour part helps me pick up words describing Korean food and ingredients, so it has its own advantages.

I have watched the whole series with my husband, and I’m watching it again while doing the dishes after breakfast.

Watching it a second time really helps me understand better and recognize words I’ve learned, which is a small but powerful thrill.

This TV show seems pretty appropriate for my current goal; ‘enjoying food trips in Japan without translation apps’.

I would understand better and know more words, I hope (or expect).

Yes, it is a ‘learning’ material. I mean, really.

Watch K-foodie meets J-foodie | Netflix

Korea’s top foodie Sung Si-kyung joins Japan’s beloved Yutaka Matsushige on a tasty adventure as they explore culinary gems across Korea and Japan.

I didn’t have time for exercise. Still, I knew it, and so did my inner self. Having no time for exercise simply means having no time ‘that I want to spend on exercise’.

I knew it, but I just didn’t want to admit that I knew it.

However, people say things like “as you get closer to your grave, you need to build up lower-body muscles blah blah”.

So I started squatting. 100 squats are known to create an apple hip, but I was worried about the possible side effects of such a sudden high-intensity workout. I couldn’t take that risk for my own sake, so I compromised on 50.

50 squats were difficult at first, but over time, they didn’t get better. I did it anyway. With all those floating thoughts, I kept forgetting the count, so I finally timed the set and found that it took almost 2 minutes to finish.

2 minutes actually allow me to do slightly more than 50 squats, but what the hell.

Every morning, I set the timer for 2 minutes and do the squat.

My delusional mind gives me this fear of getting thighs like those of baseball players, but I keep doing squats.

I don’t have time for exercise, but since I’ve got 2 minuts…

I listen to English content while cooking.

For some time, it has been audiobooks. The problem is that my multitasking skills don’t allow me to catch everything I hear while checking the meat and adding various spices. It’s just gone.

A quite good alternative I found is ‘listening to English TV shows’. I just turn on a TV show on my OTT app, turn off the phone display, and only listen to it.

It’s much easier to concentrate without any visual distraction, and the more dynamic voice tones, compared to audiobooks, help with immersion.

That’s how I have listened to the HBO drama ‘Succession’, as well as the New York real estate reality shows ‘Owning Manhattan’ and ‘Selling Manhattan’. As I cook every day, the shows just pile up that fast.

The more dynamic the show is, the more I can enjoy my cooking hours. Chuckling alone while sprinkling garam masala on chicken might seem a bit strange, but it’s fine (I think).

For someone who can understand English TV shows without subtitles, or someone who has watched the show enough to understand the line, this can be a good way to hone English listening skills.

It’s a good way to add some productivity (language-learning-wise) to cooking time.
It’s good. I mean, really good.

New Year’s resolutions of Koreans have three regular guests: reading, learning English, and working out.

Since around the end of last year, I’ve seen quite a lot of people declaring these on SNS, and then I realized something.

My New Year’s resolution doesn’t have those three popular items anymore.

I am just doing them every day, without really trying or thinking about it. I read books in the morning and in the evening before going to bed, listen to English audiobooks and read English books as part of learning English (and reading, obviously), and have minimal workout routines including 20 Judo pushups, 2-minute squats, and 30 to 40 minutes of running.

My way of living seems to be alright.

Living an effortless life with some daily routines is something to cherish.
(Right? I’m talking to you. Yes, you – me in the past without any real habits.)

English is just a tool. It always has been, and it always should be.

There is no such thing as ‘true mastery’ in language. I’ve never been to that territory yet, but since I haven’t even mastered my native language (Korean), I am pretty sure this is not the case for English either.

I can travel around the world without using translation apps for the most part; I can express my thoughts quite freely, and I can work in English. Yet, it is not enough. It never is. I always want to make it a little better, more easily.

Still, I am telling myself that English is just a tool.

For the things I want to have – whatever they may be, it is just a tool I learn how to use and use freely.

I read the news aloud, listen to audiobooks, and read books in English today, tomorrow, and pretty much every day.

I am doing all of these, thinking I will be a little better at this tool.

And I also think that someday I will not be conscious of this tool at all while using it.

An essay is about trying, experimenting, and well, thinking.

For the millionth time, I’m trying to force myself to build the habit of writing an essay.

I don’t have time to write an essay, but do I really?

For something important or something fun, I can make time. I SHOULD make time.

Therefore, I am trying again.

No. I am doing it again.

I can write something, some tiny bit of something every day.

Ready, and go.