haenggum--happily action render?

I'm currently watching a mystery machine that has the power to destroy Noelle's and my clothes. It appears to be a combination washer and spin-dryer. I've never heard of such a device before, but I've spent the last fifteen minutes decoding the runic inscriptions on its instrument panel, selecting options that may or may not be correct. This process, believe it or not, sheds a bit of light on the ambiguous English phrases emblazoned on products in this part of the world. The spin-dryer options read as follows: ch'oegang--best, peak, ultimate; kang--river; chung, in the middle, also Buddhist monk; yak, medication, but used in a lot of words implying slightly, or a dash of; and t'alssu anham, which seems to imply dehydration. I've often wondered if speakers of languages whose lexicons do not approach the OED find certain processes or actions imbued with the quality of other actions or processes which share linguistic similarity. I suppose I don't mix up a train ride with training for a race, or a drivetrain, so I needn't be too literalistic. Perhaps I should pose the question this way: How do people, who speak different languages, reason differently, if indeed they do? Linguists learned long ago that the color spectrum is divided in different places for different languages. It makes me wonder what larger, if any, difference in cognition exists between someone who counts as we do, and the stereotypical pacific islander who counts "one, two, three, four, many".
At any rate, there is not nearly enough water in the washing machine. I've been hoping it would fill up as the cycle progresses, but instead it's been rollling the wet clothes back and forth for 20 mintues without filling the tumbler. Apparently I selected the wrong setting for 'hoe', which means both 'round' and 'fish'. I've also put too much washing powder in. I hope the "superlative" spin-dry setting doesn't cement bits of washing powder into the clothes. I'll find out soon--when the washer heralds its completion with a happy electronic jig, worthy of one of those horrible birthday cards.

The appliances here in South Korea are smarter than Stateside appliances, which, combined with the Hangul barrier, makes for an intimidating experience. Noelle and I are still joking that we'll come in and the rice cooker will be playing my violin. Each time I go to use it, the display reads something different. We've had success on the "Kim-bap" setting, a sticky, dry setting that makes us wait for 10 minutes before we can open the door (the appliances lock down! I couldn't open the washer right now if I wanted to...) but each time, it's a puzzle to get the thing to read "kim-bap". Right now it's reading 11H, yesterday it was reading 4H, and when I got up this morning, the machine was warm. We unplugged it, and the clock is still on. Thank God it has no thumbs.
In other news, I have at long last procured real, actual coffee beans. The ROK has really taken to instant coffee, and there are these fantastic coffee vending machines all around (at ~30 cents/demitasse...), but no beans or grounds anywhere. I've been through charades with the proprietors of the groceries here in Gokseong (who are now used to me walking in, smiling, and stating a newly learned sentence such as "The drain is clogged." or "Is there a wrench?" and then not understanding a word they say) to no avail. Two days ago Nols and I went to the provincial capital Gwangju, and found a 1Kg bag of beans for $20, which I promptly bought. The brand's slogan: "The real coffee". I've also been visited by Jehovah's Witnesses, which was a bit surreal.

Cheers!