The familiar sounds of an unfamiliar language resonate inside my head throughout the day, but nothing can usurp the incomprehensible noise of my host brother. Each morning I am awakened to the voice of my host mother yelling my brother's name, "dae geon ah!!" Now, his name is only Dae Geon, I don't know why she adds the "ah!". Maybe it will be explained when I figure out why Koreans moan to end phone conversations. Anyway, the response my host brother gives is quite unique. I try and imitate it all day long, but I do it no justice. So, I don't know what the climate is like about Helen Keller references these days, but he sounds something like a dying seagull crossed with Helen Keller at the height of ecstacy. Or, if you've seen Mars Attacks!, it's something like the the way Hugh Hefner would sound doing those alien voices. "Gak!"

Now, the other familiar sound is my host mother. Everyday she will try to speak to me once... just once... then she gives up. It's as though the language barrier isn't just a wall, but a criminal with an assualt record, because once she fails, she retreats like a couples' therapy weekend. Yet her attempts have a common thread, utter nonsense.

Example: Alexuh, Suk-yeong(my sister), chil-mun(question).
Mind you she is speaking in her native language. I assumed she meant to ask if her daughter asks many questions in my class, but that was never resolved. She also loves to point at things and say the word in English. Then I say yes and she says it again, looking to me for some type of affirmation or reaction on my part. Much of the time this happens with food at the table. She stands over me watching me eat, and when I am not eating the soup she says "soup" and motions to eat. But when I am not eating the beef she says "beef" and again mimics the shoveling action to her speaker box.

Lady, I've only got one mouth.