I spent all of Saturday with Korean folks. I didn’t see or meet a single native-English speaker. That’s not a bad thing, but it made me really understand how little I know about their language and culture. I went first to MyeongHee’s hair shop. She’d already asked me to shave off my goatee and she wanted my hair cut. I came over here with my long hair styled like a rock star and she wanted it to look more like a Korean rock star.  It’s still long, but she thinned out the side and swept it back  (I might post a picture later.)

Anyway, her friend Un-Jung was there and I stayed the afternoon at the shop and talked. Or tried to. Un-Jung’s English is almost non-existent. My Korean is limited to a few words and phrases, so MH had to do some translating for both of us.

After she closed the shop, we went to a nearby Hof house (a beer and soju joint that serves food.)  I love the way they do things here – the owners of the shop joined us at our table and they thought nothing of sharing the food they just brought to our table and the pitcher of beer we ordered. We talked for a couple of hours (I listened a lot and tried to make sense of it.) It’s so warm and friendly when you’re not just a guest or customer and they really made me feel like I was sharing their home, which, by the way, is not far from the truth.  They work there from 10am until the last customer leaves, so it may as well be home for them. They were sweet people and despite the language barrier, we got on well and laughed a  lot.

As I sat, I silently pondered how blessed I am to be able to travel the world, experience different cultures and to be accepted among them.  I’m a lucky man.