Jinjja!?

After the volleyball tournament, all of the teachers went out for dinner together again. I sat next to Teacher Lee Yun Sil (she came to my Christmas party last year). Although our communication is limited, we enjoy each other's company. One of the English teachers was sitting across from us, so he helped with translation.

Apparently, Teacher Lee Yun Sil was very impressed with my Korean manners and the few Korean phrases that I slipped into our conversation. When the English teacher told me this, I (trying to use as much Korean as I know - which is not much) responded with Jinjja?! (Jinjja means "really"). But in my feeble attempt to use more Korean, I ended up using very poor Korean manners, completely negating the teacher's compliment.

You see, in Korea, there is a sort of hierarchy in speech. People talk to their friends/peers differently than they talk to their superiors/people who are older. Since Teacher Lee Yun Sil is much older than me, I should have responded Jinjja-aiyo. But... I didn't. It was a little embarrassing. Fortunately, everyone laughed it off. And now I have another story to add to my collection. Oh dear...