Midwest to South Korea: I should have called

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

I should have called

I can quite honestly say that in America I've never had one of those moments where I show up somewhere and thought, "hmm guess I should've called before I came". Maybe the reason is that in the US we rarely just show up somewhere anymore. Not even to visit friends, it's always a phone call or text "What's up/What are you doing/etc."

Well, yesterday I had to make my way to Gumi so that I could go to the bank and exchange money for Taiwan. Well that's a whole different story but without going off on too much of a tangent let me just say i'm proud of myself. Going to the bank here is a bit daunting knowing that you're dealing with hard earned money and a limited ability to communicate. Anyways, I have my money for Taiwan and set up and "Easy One" account so that I can transfer funds home, bonus!

So back to the rest of the day - it's been close to two weeks since i've paid a visit to Samsungwon due to our conflicting schedules and crazy summer heat. I thought as long as I was in Gumi this morning i'd stop by. Well upon my arrival Mrs. Noh looked at me shocked and quickly apologized that the boys went to school. I said it was no problem, that I was in the area and though i'd stop by to say hi. She couldn't figure out what to do with me (although I was fine with just leaving) so she insisted I stay for a while and have lunch. While trying to communicate I thought she had meant that the boys would be coming back at that time, so I thought sure I can hang out and wait.

We spent about a half hour watching the [replay] of the South Korea vs Great Britain soccer game, shared some awkward laughs and minimal communication. Lunch was served and I sat with the most adorable little boy, pretty shy and we couldn't talk much but it was fine. At this point I realized my boys would not be back anytime soon. I figured it was time for me to go when Mrs. Noh told me to go wait in her house, now I was thoroughly confused, maybe they were coming back?

Some more awkward waiting with some of the older boys and then Mrs. Noh offered me coffee in the office. She asked if I was busy so noticing that this could go on all day I said I had to be back to school by 2. Not a complete lie as i'm now here printing out my final documents and plans for Taiwan - and typing this blog. We enjoyed our coffee and I was on my way, but I would not leave without multiple apologies from Mrs. Noh. I couldn't express enough that it was okay! I was just stopping by and she went out of her way to make my time worth it, lunch coffee and some awkward albeit lovely company.