October Encounters

Happy November all! I am thankful for all the wonderful experiences that October offered. I had very memorable experience, some with my new foreign friends and some with friendly Koreans. I would like to take a moment to give a shout out to my three favorite Korean- encounters of October:

1. The Korean Lady on the Bus:

So my very first time taking the bus, I was riding by myself from my neighborhood across town to Sangmu, where the other teachers live. I was nervous because I wasn’t really sure where I was going or how to recognize my stop. My instructions were look for the big Wonderbread looking flags, then get off one stop later. As crazy as that sounds, the instructions were perfect- thanks Dusty.

Anyways, I sat down on the bus and an older Korean lady sat down next to me. As most elderly Koreans do, she started talking to me in Korean. So, I give my routine “aniyo” which means No. She proceeds to carry on in Korean. I say: No. No. No. She continues. Then I say in Korean, “I am American.” She acknowledges this for a brief moment, and continues talking to me in Korean. Mind you, this Korean was a close-talker. And a feeler. She legitimately had her hand on my thigh, casually patting it every now and then. I kind of nod my head, giving an apologetic look for not being able to communicate. Meanwhile, she has a huge smile on her face as she begins to closely examine me. Finally, she points to my hand. She touches my skin. Takes a closer look, and starts to crack up laughing. Next thing I know, she’s packing up her bags, exiting the bus, while still cracking up. I’ll never know what made her go into hysterics, but I can only imagine the stories she told to her family that night about the American girl on the bus.

2. The Korean Taxi Driver: Part Taxi Driver- Part English Dictionary

So after a long day of shopping at Costco and then traveling with all our purchases, my friends and I got in a cab to head back to the apartment. We gave our directions: Bongseon-dong please. The driver starts to speak some conversational English. At first, it’s hard to tell if the Korean really knows English or just knows a few key phrases: Nice to meet you. How are you? Where are you from? Etc. So we kindly respond, assuming conversation will stop after these questions. False. This Korean man had outstanding English, and had been waiting for some English-speaking clients to practice on. So he was going to practice as much English as possible for the next 12-15 minutes.

This taxi driver not only had perfect grammar, he was a human thesaurus. “Do you think my English is wonderful? Wonderful: Outstanding. Excellent. Phenomenal. Impressive. Great. Fantastic.” Or “You are cute: Cute: Good looking. Pretty. Attractive. Beautiful.” This guy was cracking us up with his English, but the best part was that he was cracking himself up. He was so ecstatic to be practicing/ showing off his English. For every word or phrase he said, he would re-state the target word and then list 5-6 synonyms. It was incredible. Near the end of the taxi ride, he told us to be sure to look for his face again, as if it’d be possible to take the same taxi twice here. At the end of the ride he left us with, “It’s been a pleasure to meet you. It’s been an honor to meet you. Nice meeting you. I enjoyed meeting you.” I’m pretty sure we closed the door and he was still reciting all the phrases he knew with the same meaning. Anyways, the cab driver was a human dictionary and his English was extremely impressive. Best. Cab. Driver. Ever.

October also ended with a great weekend. Friday, the Nam-crew (my co-workers and I work at NamGwangju) hit the town. First we chowed down on some delicious soup. Then we hit up the archery-bong. It exceeded my expectations by far. The boys and I shot some arrows, no big deal. Then we had our hand at darts, followed by darts with a airsoft gun! Note: I rocked at the airsoft gun, must have learned something from my bro all these years. Overall, great night out with the crew.

Saturday was the night to celebrate Halloween and go out downtown. I gave into the annual Halloween pressure to dress up, threw on a bandana, and went as a ‘hippie.’ I was accompanied by a homemade robot, a wizard, tiger, creepy mouse, and more. Halloween related characters. Although Korea doesn’t celebrate Halloween, there are enough foreigners to spread the tradition. Therefore, the bars with many foreigners, the Korean staff dressed up. It was a blast seeing all the costumes. Highlight of the night: My wizard friend doing real magic: setting off a firework off the roof of the bar.

Sunday was a perfect fall weather day. I took a book over to the park in my neighborhood and enjoyed the crisp air for a while. Then Sunday night we had family dinner in Sangmu with the other teachers. Everyone brings a dish. We watched a few Halloween movies and just hung out. My first Sunday Family Dinner= Success.

As I greet November, I start to think about the time, trying to decide whether time is flying by or not. I seem to have a repeating dilemma when I stop to think about my year here: I want to enjoy everyday, but when I think about being away from home for another 10 months, I am not opposed if time moves swiftly. Then I remember some simple advice my Aunt gave me:

“Just live and enjoy every day and all of the new discoveries that you are making.”

It’s simple, but works. I look forward to seeing what November has to offer.

Thanks for reading. Until next time…

*Photos: Archery Bong. Girls on Halloween. Best Halloween Costumes at work on Monday: Teacher and student.