Sunday, February 25, 2007

People along the way

I love hiliting about people I meet along the way. In the summer, before coming to Japan - I had this idea to document about people I do meet and their stories. I don't know why - but I always find it really intriguing to learn the background about people.

I met three people on my way back to America that have stuck in my mind for the past month. The first man was a guy that only commented on how big my bag was. I was in Tokyo and waiting for a train to get to my hostel. Mr. friendly talked my ear off the entire way to the hostel. It was a fun conversation - but what I remember most about him is his smile and willingness to talk to me. Traveling - even in a short time can become lonesome and I take all the conversation I can get. He offered me his business card (which isn't so unpopular in Japan) and told me if I'm ever looking for a job in Tokyo to contact him. The card says he's in the "food research" business. Whatever that is.

At my hostel, I got directions on how to get to the airport. I knew a bit of a a roundabout way - but I wanted to try the new way that would save me some time and money if I got it correct. Not too surprising, I did not. I ended up on a train that I felt was not the right one, so I asked the woman next to me if this train was headed to the airport. She told me no - but then informed me of exactly what I needed to do to get to the airport. I think I followed. She exited off the train and then a man came over and asked me if I was trying to get to the airport. I told him yes, and then he tried explaining to me a more efficient way of getting there. I was pretty sure I was following his directions - but for his own piece of mind - he decided to go really out of his way for me. When it was my stop - he got off with me and then made sure I got on the right train. He waited with me and got me on - and then waited for the next train to get him to his destination.


The last people I want to tell you about were the Korean woman and her son that I sat with on the plane headed back for Lisa's wedding. Now – I didn't really bother learning any Korean when I went to Korea...but I did sort of remember three phrases. In my opinion, maybe the three most important ones in any language. The first one being hello, the second one excuse me, and the third one thank you. I had the window seat, which is good and bad. It's good when you can see scenery of a country in a way you would never be able to otherwise. It's good when you are trying to sleep and you can rest your head on something. It's good when you don't have people bothering you to get out to walk. It's good as stated in The Wedding Singer that you don't have the aisle seat, where the beverage cart hits your elbow when it comes past you. However, it's not ALL good. It's bad when you need to use the toilet. It's especially bad when the person that is sitting in the way of the toilet doesn't speak the same language as you. It was maybe 4 or 5 into my long flight back to America and nature called. I had a Korean woman next to me sewing. I was trying hard to recall the three phrases I knew in Korean. I knew all three, right? But, in my stage fright to speak, I wasn't positive which phrase meant what. What the heck, they'll either be pissed I killed their language or happy I at least tried.


sillye hamnida” is what I meekly muttered from underneath my breathe. The woman looked at me strangely. I think to myself shit, I said the wrong thing. In my panic, I just decide to go for the language that usually never fails – body language. I point in the way of the bathroom and she understands. When I return, I say gamsa hamnida which I was almost positive was thank you. It was. The woman was smiling ear to ear and then started speaking rapidly to her son who was on the other side of her.

The son who's family name is Kim, leaned over his mother and said to me “my mother says you speak good Korean.” I laughed and said “not at all.” I then explained that I only know those two words and anyeoung haseyo (hello). This display of trying to speak their language sparked into a nice conversation for the next few hours. Kim was 27 (realllly cute) and studying to become a dentist. They were headed to Washington DC to visit his aunt who was having a baby. We talked about why I was going back to America, my life in Japan and many things Korean. They were very pleased that I had visited their country. I was amazed by his mother – the entire trip back to America she was sewing this baby blanket and a baby outfit. She explained to me about a Korean tradition. In this little white outfit, she had hand sewn stitches that go from up to down on it. She had hand sewn 100 of them in hopes that the baby will live to be 100 years old. This extremely amazing time consuming task is a Korean tradition that many Korean women do for friends and families babies. This woman was very fond of me, making her son translate as much as he could to me. It was really funny because a lot of it was very uncomfortable for him to translate. Things like I'm beautiful, I'm kind, if I come back to Korea her son will take me around, etc. It was really touching, and for the rest of the trip, she made sure to get my food for me if I was napping or offering things for me to have. I won't forget that family, it was a lot of fun getting past the initial awkwardness of sitting next to people I didn't think I could communicate with.


I have a student here that I really like. I always thought he was a bright student of mine because he always tried speaking to me in English; something that none of my students do. We had an essay question to practice the phrase “I think.” The question was “Do you think learning English is important?” He wrote on his paper, “some English.” I asked him what he meant. He said, “important words are “hello, how are you? Thank you, excuse me, good morning, etc”. From there he went on to say we should know these words for many languages, not just English. It turns out, as I've gotten to know him better, his English is actually really poor. But, he still remains to be one of my only students to greet me in English. He tries sooo hard to speak to me in English, but he is just not good at it. This boy is one of my favorite students and he is graduating from Junior High School in just about two weeks now. Thinking about it, I have grown attached to my ninth grade students that will be leaving me soon. A point was made that day and it has stuck in my head since. His logic and explanation really is true. It makes such a difference to me to see him try to say basic things to me, and it made such a difference to the Korean woman when I used her language, as well.


Our flight landed really late and I really hope that they made it okay to their next flight to DC. I nearly missed my flight and theirs was twenty minutes earlier than mine was. We waved goodbye as I entered the custom's line for US residents and they went to the foreign passport holders line.

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