Human Moment #80: Meeting Mr. Thompson

Caleb and I stopped at a good ole ghetto gas station late one Sunday night.  I stayed in the car, and Caleb filled her up.

A rough-looking older man walked toward us and stopped right by our car.  I didn't realize he was there until I heard him start to speak to Caleb.

"Can I ask you a question?" he said.

"Yeah..."

Follow Up on the Human Moment Friend in the Dekalb Farmers Market

I don't know if you remember when I met this man at the Dekalb Farmer's Market last year, but here's the short story:

I met Comé from Benin in the fish department.  He where I'm from, and I told him, "I'm Lindsay, I'm from here, but I most recently lived as an English teacher in Korea."  Comé was intrigued by my English teaching and asked for my number.  I told him I had a boyfriend, but Comé insisted that he only wanted my number so we can practice English.

We have talked on the phone maybe 7 times since that first meeting, and last week I told him that I would be coming by the market again and that I would be able to see him!

It was so so great to watch Comé's face light up when he saw me.  It made me so happy.  I was also especially pleased to introduce him and Caleb to each other.  Caleb asked Comé questions about himself and Comé told the story of how he and I first met.  They both told each other they the other was very lucky to have found me.  They actually said that a lot.  I told them, "Oh boys, stop," but I was beaming.  I was also glad that what I considered a small act had made such an impression on Comé.

Comé has told me that he has tried to connect with a lot of Americans since moving here last year, but they won't pick up the phone when he calls or they never call him back.  He's told me that I am his only friend in America, and that he is always so happy to remember the day we met.  When we talk on the phone, we share about what life has given us, and he is always very encouraging when I tell him how I'm upset about not having a job yet.  He says to me, very thoughtfully and slowly, "Lindsay.  I know that you will do well.  You will find a job.  And all of your dreams will come true.  I think you are a good person.  You are good to help me and to talk with me, and God will take care to you.  You just need to pray, and everything will be fine."

Yep, he tells me almost those exact lines each time we talk.  It makes me smile.

Comé goes to English classes each week and is applying to be in the Navy.  It's been interesting to see America through his eyes, and I'm really glad I gave him my number that first time.

Human moment in the Dekalb Farmer's Market

(Go ahead and read the story below, but I also wrote an update here!)

I met a man at the DeKalb Farmer's Market, my first week back in America.  He saw me watching the fishmongers and came from the group to talk to me.  I was a little embarrassed and said, "Sorry, I was just watching."  He told me it was okay, no problem, and he asked where I was from.  When he heard that I had been an English teacher, he said that I could be his English teacher, and he asked for my number.

I've been asked for my number from non-native English speakers many times.  Like, a lot.  So this was totally commonplace.  But, now that I'm in America, I felt like I needed to be more selective, I guess.  I said, "Um, no.  I have a boyfriend."

He told me, "Oh, no, that's not what I mean.  I know you have a boyfriend the moment I see you."

Well, shucks, okay, then of course you can have my number.

But really, that's what happened.

His name is Comé.  Comé called me the day after we met to chat.  I was driving at the time, so it was no problem.  He told me multiple times, "It is so good to hear your voice.  You are my first friend in America."  Wait, what?  "Yes, I give my number to many people I meet, but I think they don't like to talk to people who cannot speak English well," he says through his Beninese accent.  "I call them and send a message, but they do not pick up.  You are the first to talk to me, and you make big effort to understand me, and I work hard to understand you.  I think it is very good."

Suckered into this relationship or not, here I am, and I don't think I'm leaving.  In fact, I just got off the phone with him.  This, our second conversation, was a little over half an hour.  We talked about our families a little, we talked about work, and we found out we're both Christians.  He is Catholic, I am Protestant, but Comé told me kindly that we pray to the same God.

He asked me I pray.  I told him I've been forgetting to lately.

This is what he said to me.
You cannot become grow without pray.  You cannot become grow without pray.  But don't worry.  God follows everyone.  Everyone who is full of God, He follows everyone.  And He will give us what we need.

Schooled by a near stranger.  Totally schooled.

One-on-one Korean Encounters

When I first arrived in Korea, I must have had an I-don't-know-what-I'm-doing-here face on most of the time.  My first week in Korea had locals stopping to ask if I needed help 4 times.  I've been here for 14 months now, but I still need help sometimes.  Just in the most crucial moments, individuals of  the Korean society have stepped up and taken care of me again.  This is a collection of my favorites of these moments and a tribute to the starring characters.
Thank you, Korea!

#1 The taxi driver who took my boyfriend and I to Myeongdong

I have a tendency to stress out when I'm running late, and this intensifies when there's someone counting on me to be responsible.  When Caleb was here visiting, we decided to go see the NANTA show in Myeongdong, but we were running late, and I was starting to freak out.  Myeongdong is about 45 minutes away, it's on the north side of the river, and I didn't think the subway would get us there fast enough.  I hailed a cab in hopes of getting to the theater quicker.

The captain of the police gave me his phone number today. No big.

Image via Daum
I like Korean policemen.  They keep me safe.

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I went to one of the small locally owned convenience stores today to pick up some prizes for students who won a speech contest.  This particular convenience store is usually very friendly and welcoming.  I usually don't feel like I'm a big deal there.

Well, I wasn't the only customer today.  The first man I saw had on a bright orange vest with "Police" written across the back.  He and the second customer seemed to be buddy buddy with the shop owner.  The three of them were bustling around preparing for Pepero Day*.  I felt a little in the way, so I waited till there was room for me to pick out the gum I needed for my kids.  I stood patiently by the counter till Policeman motioned me forward and Shop Owner stepped behind the counter.  Then the heretofore unlabeled fella asked me, "Where are you from?"

"Ah... Miguk saram eeyehoh..."

"Oh, okay.  Where in America?"

"Georgia?  Atlanta?"  (Of course I always ask in a question.  Who knows Georgia when there's New York, California, and Washington State to be familiar with?)

"Ah.  Okay okay.  You know policeman?"

"Uh, yes.  Otokeh malheyo?"  I asked how to say "policeman" in Korean thinking that we were just having a simple conversation.  Little did I know, this dude was after something.

"Have you been to police box?" he asked.

"Yes!  I went to the police box once.  I was lost, and they told me how to get to my school.  They were very nice."

"Ah.  So they helped you find your way?"

"Yes!"

"Ah, okay.  I am police captain.  Do you think you can come in one time and talk about the Georgia police?  It would help me."

Well, gosh darn, what do I say next?   I would love to humor him, but I know that comparisons between the Geogian police force and the Irwon-dong police force wouldn't be of much help considering the covered areas and their people are extremely different.  Spread out suburban soccer families vs. squished together apartment tiger moms?  Even if I were to compare the more compact Atlanta to Irwon, there's a pretty significant difference wrapped up in this one word: GUNS.  America has them.  Korea doesn't.

You read that right, they don't have guns here.  As The Korean from AskAKorean.com has said, "In practice, only hunters own guns in Korea. (And hunters are not many in Korea.) By regulation, hunters cannot keep their guns all the time -- they must keep their guns at the police station during off-season. Handguns are pretty much nonexistent among civilians."

I was hanging out with one of my Korean friends who got his degree in Canada.  When I asked him why he chose to go to Canada over the States, after first mentioning the great tuition difference, he said he wouldn't feel safe in the USA.  "They have guns there."

This conversation occured when I had been here only a month and a half.  I had just learned about this firearm regulation, and I naturally found it strange.  I spent 12 years in The South where the boys go to school in their camo with their rifles waiting for them in the beds of their trucks.  My sister got a .22 for Christmas one year, and it was always a special treat when either of us could go hunting with Dad.

It was all I could do to not gawk at my friend in sheer amusement.  I may have actually snickered when I heard later about how all of Seoul was virtually shut down once so that they could find a gun that supposedly got through the airport's security check.

All that was a pretty big aside.  What I set out to say was this: I now have the Police Captain's number in me cell phone!  He has mine, too.

I never would have thought something like this would happen, not in America, not in Korea, not ever, but I think it's kind of cool.  I really appreciate when people put themselves out to help me make this Korean experience a personal one.  Like the street vendor who beckoned my foreign friends and I to his shop with eating motions.  If he hadn't been selling squid, I would have walked right up and bought  10,000 ₩ worth just because he treated us like normal people.

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Pepero Day- November 11th.  Pepero is the name of long, skinny chocolate-cookie sticks.  They're tasty and make a fun snack.  The four ones of 11-11 look like Pepero sticks, you see, and the manufacturers got a brilliant idea and decided to claim this day as the day to buy, share, and scarf down the delicious cookie sticks.  Seriously. Marketing Genius.

Prepare yourself for pictures.  I'm bringing Pepero Day to you soon.

Human Moment #72

This photo of my friend Ashley and I was taken at a Buddhist temple in Insadong.  We met the photographer, Craig Woods, just an hour before at a Buddhist English library.  We were there to see if Ashley could settle into the Buddhist community there.  She and I were perusing the books when this other gentleman finished his conversation with the Korean secretary, turned to us, and said, as if we were already friends, "How are you ladies today?"

The three of us chatted for what felt like an hour and only stopped when we realized the library closed 25 minutes ago.  We walked out and continued our conversation until our paths diverged.  Craig Woods had been so kind and helpful and friendly, I gave him a hug when we left.

We ended up bumping into his twice more as we wandered around Insadong, and he took this picture of us at the Buddhist Temple there.  I've gotten to see him a few more times since then at Korean class and other expat events.  We're always glad to see each other.

If I didn't have to work, I'd spend so much of my time walking around Seoul and talking to strangers.  There are so many!  I love Seoul, and I starting to think that I love cities in general because of all the people there are to talk to.

The International Fireworks Festival and Human Moment #75

Well, I can now scratch off being packed into a subway train like sardines with strangers off my list!

There were SO many people out  for the International Fireworks Festival this past weekend!  I was heading to the subway after my Korean class and making my way down to the train.  I didn't think much of all the people until I saw that we were all convening at the same place and all trying to get onto the same trains.  Seoul has a population around 10,000,000.  I'm not sure how many turned out for this event, but it sure felt like half of Seoul was all in this one place on the Han River.

(Well, the estimate is actually 280,000 people.)

But back to the subway.  I ended up walking right next to another foreigner.  I looked away after our first eye contact, but then he said, "Hi," and I laughed.  We made brief introductions, found out we were heading to the same place, and decided to make our way through the subway system together.

Johab, my new Haitian friend from Tampa, and I had to wait for three subway trains to go by before we were able to fit onto an already slam packed train with enough room for us to squeeze in.  During the waiting and being squished on the train, we talked about our home towns, Seoul, Korean culture, interracial dating, our respective significant others, dancing, church, Haitian weddings, and cultural concepts of time.  Turns out Johab has been a believer for years, he loves salsa, and he wants to learn swing dancing.  (New awesome friend, for the win!)

When we got to where we needed to be, neither of us could find our friends among all the people.  It was really strange, but we couldn't even call them because everyone's phones weren't connecting at all.  Anyway, Johab and I watched the show together, plowed our way back to the subway station together, and hugged at the end, making promises we'd take each other dancing.

The fireworks display, by the way, was amazing! It was the most artful and awe inspiring fireworks display I've ever seen!  There were different colored explosions going off in patterns and shapes all timed with music.  Portugal, Japan, and Korea all put on the show. They each had 45 minutes of go time.  There were a few fireworks I'd never seen before.  For example, the Japan segment had Hello Kitty shaped explosions.  There were plenty of times when the whole sky looked like it was filled with glitter, and there were some times when the light from the fireworks lit everything up as it were daytime. There was also light coming from thousands of phones being lifted up and used for cameras which I found amusing.

I loved being among all these people who were all enthralled with the same thing.  The synchronized Wauh's and  the excited shouting made me smile more than the beautiful show did.  It truly was an excellent display, and I highly recommend it.  If you do ever make it to this event, be sure to get there early.  My coworkers arrived four hours before the show started, and I'm pretty sure that was the best time to get there.

This one's from the 2010 show.
Photo by vogialoc via Flickr

Get there early!
Photo by Jang-nam Nam via Flickr

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I can't tell if this is normal, but I have this knack for running into awesome people pretty much all the time.  I know a lot of it owes to the instant connection foreigners have in a different country, but it's still a little bizarre, no?  There are so many other stories like this one I have yet to set down for you.  They're coming, I promise.

Human Moment #68

This one's just a mini moment, but it made both of us smile.

I was calling my insurance to cancel my policy, and the lady on the other end was, as expected, very routine about the whole deal.  "And what is your policy number?"
"[..] Four, six, and... um, "v" as in... vulcan."
"Haha.  Never heard that one before."
We continued with everything else as normal as you please, but I felt a special unspoken connection with her the whole 6 and a half minutes.

"Vulcan" was the only V word I could think of, honest.

Human Moment #58

I was walking up the stairwell last night. These two fellas were acting a little silly, and I made eye contact with one of them. We both laghed a little at how silly they were. So I said, "What's your name?
A: Ash..ojoid
L: Ash-what?
A: Astral.
L: Astral? Woah! I love that name! I wish my name was Astral! (I really do like that name a lot.)
A: Really? Well, maybe you could be Astral II.
L: Yeah. Or I could be AstrA.
A: Yeah. Ok, Astra!
L to R: And what's your name?
R: Rashad.
L: Ah, that's cool.
R to A : Oh, she doesn't want my name...
L: Well, I already changed my name once today, give me a break!
A: Haha... See ya, Astra!
L: Bye, Astral, Rashad!

:)

Human Moment #56

At the moment, I'm hanging out on a recliner in H-2, writing my paper. A freshman girl I don't starts walking towards me. I thought she was going to go through the stairwell or to the bathroom or something, but it turns out she was coming down the hall to pick up a book she had left at the foot of the recliner I'm sitting in. "Hello," she said.
"Hello."
"What are you doing?"
"Writing a 15-page paper."
"Woah! 50? or 15?"
"Oh, only 15... But that's still a lot."
"Yeah! That's a whole lot! Can I pray for you?"
"Hn? Sure!"
We take each others' hands. 'My name's Angela, by the way."
"Hi, I'm Lindsay."
And she prays for me.
Sincerity and concern and love.
From a girl I just met.
Christ's love displayed beautifully.