No, I'm not taking formal Korean lessons. I wish I had time for that. Today however, I learned some lessons in life, Korean style, that I thought I would share.
Shelby Grace has the chicken pox now so we were at home today when the adjima came to clean and the delivery men came to bring us our new washing machine. The lesson I learned this morning was about service. One unique part of Korea is the amount of things you get for free. Even though I don't always want the yogurt, cereal bowl, sun visor, or laundry bag taped to my milk or cereal, I get it anyway...for free. We do love the free delivery in Korea. Whenever you order something big like furniture or even food, you get free delivery service and more often than not, free installation. Today when the delivery men came, I realized that the school had not come to take the old washer out yet and I didn't really know what to do with it. So what do I do as a foreigner, call the awesome Korean staff at school of course! Within 5 minutes, two men from the business office at school were at my house helping with the delivery process and overseeing the installation of my washing machine. If I wasn't incompetent enough already, they had to translate the buttons and nobs for me on my washing machine and very kindly drew me a picture of all the buttons with labels in English. Everyone was kind, polite, and they always take off their shoes when entering your home. Even when they wanted to step into the laundry room which was now wet because of the installation, they walked back to the door, picked up their shoes and carried them back to the laundry room before putting them on to step on the wet floor. Can you think of any delivery person in America that would be that considerate? Our adjima who we do pay to clean the basics each week, then offers to clean the crud off the laundry room floor that had been hidden under all the shelves that we had to move so they could get our new washer inside. (That is another story in itself. To bring in my new washer, they had to slide it through the window of Zachary's room to get it onto the laundry balcony.) So the first lesson I learned today was how to be kind in any situation and serve those around me if I am being paid or not. And of course to do it cheerfully and without complaining.
The second lesson came when Shelby Grace and I went to the grocery store. This may not be a lesson learned but more of a new change of heart. Needless to say, when Shelby Grace and I walk anywhere in Korea, we stand out a bit. This tends to lead to lots of stares, waves, pats, smiles and English practice from little kids. Over time this can get really annoying. The other thing that tends to happen is every older Korean woman suddenly knows how to take care of your child better than you do. I am often reprimanded for coats not being zipped all the way, pants riding up on their legs when it is cold outside and there is not another layer or two of clothes underneath, feeding my kids something too big or having someone else wipe my kid's snotty nose or dirty face. Obviously this can get very tiresome day in and day out. But today I started looking at things from a different perspective. The phrase "It takes a village to raise a child" is something that is lived out daily in Korea. In Korean culture, if your child happens to be around where another mom is then it is understood that she is supposed to watch your child. Sometimes this is a good thing and sometimes it's not, which can be a totally different topic of discussion from a teacher's perspective, but today we are going to focus on the good. At Emart today, we were chased down by a grandma and her grandson and I was forced to stop so her grandson could interact with a foreign girl. We had a few English lessons practiced on us by the parents making their children say "Hello" to us. We had the woman who worked in the hair bow/jewelry section continue to choose headbands with bows and tiaras for Shelby Grace to try on and when I thought the cashier was asking me if I wanted to buy a shopping bag, I realized that she was really trying to tell me that my child had ice cream on her face and proceeded to get a tissue out (even though I had a napkin in my hand) and wipe her face. After we checked out and were ready to leave, she handed me a stack of tissues to take with me since Shelby Grace was still eating ice cream. I began thinking about the days situations and I could have been really annoyed but I chose to look at things differently. No one was trying to do anything to harm me or my child today. They were just curious or wanted to help. I should just take pride in the fact that people think my child is cute and want her to stay that way even if that means wiping the ice cream off her face. I could have been the offended, self-righteous American who takes it as being told what to do or pointing out my faults and failures as a mom. But I'm not going to. Instead I choose to embrace the culture that I live in and be thankful that there are others who are looking out for me and my children. Yes I may giggle underneath when the adjimas at school keep Shelby Grace in her coat in the ELC because they think that I have under dressed her for the day or how they keep tissues in her pockets when she has a runny nose or when they cover her in 2-3 blankets with the heat blaring in the sleeping room, but I am still going to be thankful that they care about my child. Maybe if we all shared the Korean mindset of looking out for one another, the world may be a more kind place. It would definitely be warmer and cleaner. :)
The third lesson that I realized I needed to learn today is how to back into a parking spot. When I came out of the store and looked down the row of cars, I was able to quickly find my car because it was the only one that was facing inward. I wish I had had my camera. All I could think about was the song, "One of these things is not like the other. One of these things just doesn't belong." I am very impressed with the Korean's ability to maneuver cars in reverse and fit into any space possible. When I am in a situation where I have to park backwards, the adjishis in the parking lot usually laugh at me or get very frustrated with the amount of time and turns it takes me to back in. Patrick is a pro at it and LOVES to park backwards. I guess if I can learn how to park backwards then I may be able to blend into the culture a little bit more. At least until I step out of the car. Ha!
Shelby Grace and Zachary have a hidden talent!
South Korea is a very 'Christianized' country. All of the Protestant churches mark their building with a neon red cross on the steeple like this one below. At night, you can see red crosses all over the place. Zachary enjoys finding the crosses when we are driving around at night. We have a church steeple right outside our living room window and it is often the topic of conversation in our house. There are many times when I am rocking a child in the middle of the night that I look out our window and see this bright reminder of my precious Lord and Savior shining into the living room.
Zachary's friend Seth was over today. Yes, it was finally Wednesday. :) (See prior post) Because it was an absolutely gorgeous day, we had the windows open and the kids were playing on the balcony. I overheard Zachary and Seth discussing the cross outside our window and I heard Zachary say to Seth, "You know, the cross that Jesus died on didn't light up." Love it! I can only imagine the picture these kids have in their mind of Jesus dieing on a neon Korean cross as those are the only crosses they are used to seeing.
Of course she thought it was fun to spread the pom poms everywhere and of course since this table is so small, I might as well lay on it.
Shelby Grace had a lot of fun today while working on many skills.
Can you tell which ones were Mommy made and which ones were Zachary made?
