Kindness

I forgot to mention a few things that occurred since I've been back in Seoul. While grabbing a bite to eat at Coex Mall, I noticed a man in his late 30s repeatedly staring at me. I saw that he was sitting with someone else, but couldn't see who. I was becoming increasingly annoyed with the gazing, but reminded myself that maybe there was just a fascination due to me being the only white female in that particular restaurant. When I got up to leave, I nodded to him and smiled, only to see that he was sitting with a seven or eight year old. A few minutes later, I heard a faint voice saying "excuse-ah me... excuse-ah me."

When I turned around, I saw the same man and his son. The rest went a little something like this:

Man: "Could we borrow some of your time? Can we speak to you in English?"

Me: "Um, sure. Of course."

Man: "My son saw you eating, and he told me that he thinks you are very cute... or beautiful. He said you look very nice, and he thinks you speak English."

Me: "Oh, well thank you. That's very nice. Do you speak English?"

Boy: "Yeah, a little bit," bashfully covering his face

Man: "He just began. He is year one, but seven years old. He likes English very much. Are you traveling?"

Me: "No, I live here. I lived here before, and decided to come back."

Man and Boy: "Uhhh, really? Wow. What do you do?"

Me: "haha, I'm an English teacher."

Man: "Oh! haha, maybe someday you can teach him. Thank you so much for you time. Thank you."

Maybe I shouldn't always assume that Korean men are creepy if they gaze.

Today, while I was attempting to find an E-Mart (basically a Target store), I found myself quite lost. According to the directions I found online, I was to take the orange line to Yangjae, take exit 7, and walk 200 meters. I took exit 7, and was walking for about 15 minutes. I stopped a Canadian couple to ask if they knew where it was. They said it was a good 30-40 minute walk away from where we were standing, and suggested hailing a cab. I thought about it, and then decided to just keep walking. Right when I begin to panic because I knew I was very far from where I started, but there was still no E-Mart in sight, I saw two guys in their early 20s approaching me. They said, "hello," and kept walking. I figured they could help me so I turned around and asked them if I was actually lost or headed in the right direction. In nearly perfect English, they told me to hold on while they looked it up on their phones. While waiting for the directions to pop up, they began to tell me about how they just failed their English oral test. They were laughing, but clearly upset that they had done so poorly. I was also a little surprised based on the fact that they spoke better English than some of my friends from the States. They gave me the directions, and thankfully, I only had another 15 minute walk ahead of me.

So many people, in such a short time frame, have been so helpful and kind. This is such a different experience from my last time here. I feel like I'm being cheesy about everything being so positive. I'm used to feeling so bitter and negative. In any case, I hope these acts of kindness continue. It really makes this transition so much easier.