Buddha's Birthday

I spent the morning doing routine chores and ended up being nearly 15 minutes late to school, where Matt and Tanya were waiting on the front steps, watching people walk by. We took the long bus ride out to Bangojin, with me pointing out important things on the way: downtown, Wal-mart, Mega Mart, the sports complex, the Hyundai factory, and where the Korean class is held. An older man asked Matt (in English), "Where are you from" but Matt didn't get it at all because of the Korean pronunciation, so I told Matt in my American pronunciation and Matt answered the man's question.

It looked like it might rain, so we skipped the long coastal hike and just used the road to walk to Daewangam. The wind was stronger than normal, while the waves looked angry, matching the sky. There were lots of ships on the water, like usual, and despite poor visibility, the Hyundai cranes could be seen. On the walk back to the road we stopped for Tanya to use the restroom. I thought to warn her about their possibly being no tissue, but nothing else crossed my mind. She came out a few minutes later with a weird expression on her face. She said that she'd heard of squatters a few days ago from Sandra, but never actually used one. She then went into detail about how she used it, because she wasn't sure if it was right or not. Basically, do whatever works!

Then we walked to Ilsan Beach, where some event was going on. A lot of kids were wading in the water, while old people were getting out of buses. We were all getting tired, so we headed back to the bus stop.

Matt had been out late at various bars with Julian the night before, so he was the most tired. He sat down on the bench to wait for the bus. A group of 6~8 old men came up, and he stood up to allow them to sit down (although he was the only one sitting there at the time). One of the men had a problem with that, saying (I think) that just because they came over, Matt didn't have to move. The man wasn't angry, but possibly slightly offended. Of course, Matt didn't understand anything, so I translated what I thought was being said. The man took a liking to Matt so continued talking to him. I tried to explain that they had just arrived on Sunday so couldn't speak any Korean, but the man didn't listen to much that I said, and he didn't say ANYTHING to me. I think it was because of his generation--a man shouldn't talk to an unrelated woman. The men were SO SHORT--the tallest couldn't have been over 5 feet tall. Most of them wore suits while a few wore traditional Korean clothes (not hanbok, but the non-formal kind of clothes). They weren't bent over at all like the older women often are; they were just short.

The man asked us where we were from; that was easy enough to answer. The next question left me struggling to keep a straight face. He wanted to hear me speak "miguk mal" (literally, "America language") so, thinking he meant "English," I said (in English), "Hello, how are you? Nice to meet you." THEN the man asked the Canadians to speak "canada mal (Canada language). He obviously didn't know that we speak the same language, but even after I tried to tell him that, he insisted on hearing "Canadian." OK, let's make him happy. Then he told Matt (always talking to Matt, even when he was aware that I was translating) his age (82, his friend was 89) and asked Matt's age. He didn't believe that Matt is only 25 (24 Western). The whole time I spoke with him was stressful because I was trying to make sure I used the right verb form to show respect to someone so much older than me. I was also worried about what their reaction to me as an American might be. Because he was speaking to Matt and not me or Tanya I didn't have to worry about what perverse things they might try to do. Wow were they curious about us!

On the bus back I had to struggle to stay awake. It was a little crowded so I was separated from the two of them. Tanya ended up talking to a Korean guy for most of the way back. He had EXCELLENT English and gave them a similar tour to the one I gave, but from a Korean perspective. He also gave them tips for traveling in Korea.

When we arrived back in Taehwa-dong we were all ready for something to eat. Matt asked for dulsot bibimbop. I wasn't sure where to find it, since I always order food at school. But then I remembered Apujang was nearby so we went there. Luckily they were open. Of course we got lots of strange looks walking in--three foreigners going into a Korean food restaurant that is mostly delivery. I was able to translate most of the items on the menu with no problem, which (especially considering the conversation with the old men) impressed Matt and Tanya. A man (probably one of the delivery men) took our order, and then relayed it to the women cooking. The woman argued with him, saying that he must have misunderstood because the foreigner couldn't possibly want kimchi bokumbop. He said that it was right, because we were from Oh Sung Sik so ate Korean food a lot. I didn't recognize him, but apparently he recognized me! We got mostly what we wanted, except Tanya got boiled mandu instead of fried--I don't know those words. Matt paid for everything, as a thank-you for showing them around. We had a nice conversation over the meal, covering lots of current events type things that many foreigners have very little knowledge of.

When we finished they went off to use the PC bongwhile I, suddenly full of energy from the meal and all the water, decided to walk home, despite the 4~5 miles we had already walked. Well, that was a stupid idea. By the time I walked the additional 3~4 miles, the bottoms of my feet were sore with developing blisters. I was suddenly exhausted, way too tired to go to Amanda and Jeremy's goodbye party. I took a shower and got still for a bit, then could barely walk, what with the aching muscles and the blisters and sore feet.

On the walk home I saw my second car vs. pedestrian accident since being in Korea. Because of the holiday the evening traffic was bad. I was walking towards Shinbok Rotary nearly to Namwoon Plaza when I heard the sound of metal hitting metal. I looked toward the crosswalk and saw a bicycle and 10-year-old boy on the ground. The SUV driver got out; the boy stood up, crying and hopping on one foot while holding the other leg. There weren't a ton of people around, but what was I as a foreigner to do? There was a hospital maybe 150 yards away, if necessary. A couple of people besides the car driver went to help the boy. Did I imagine the sound of one of them slapping the boy?? I think they might have been trying to calm the boy down or a "What were you thinking, running out in front of a car?" angry kind of slap. I tried not to stare too much. I didn't notice if the cars or the pedestrians had the green light. But what I imagine happened was the pedestrians had the green light but because of the backed-up traffic the cars were blocking most of the crosswalk. I do know that the boy was RIDING his bike across the 8 lanes instead of walking it across, and the driver likely saw the car in front of him pulling forward so followed suit just as the boy crossed in front of him. It was low-speed thus low-impact, and that the boy was standing up and making so much racket was a positive sign, I think.