another amusing day with the professors in gumi! we were planning to see "mamma mia," but the theater changed the time, so we paid a visit to park, chung hee's birth place instead. quite a contrast, eh? we all shared similar sentiments regarding president (corrupt dictator) park, who ruled south korea from 1963 until 1979, when he was assassinated by the head of the korean central intelligence agency. however, we agreed that visiting his birthplace would indeed be an historical experience for me, as a foreigner. we were in and out in 20 minutes. the best part was seeing the hanging baskets filled with chickens outside of each door of park, chung hee's traditional homestead. all one had to do was open the door every morning, reach outside and fresh eggs! brilliant.after the walk down history lane, we made our way to caffe tiamo, where the guys enjoyed americanos and fell head over heels in love with the affogato that i convinced them to order. how sweet it was to see them all with their little demitasse spoons, legs crossed, ooo-ing and aaahh-ing over the deliciousness of their shared dessert!
i sipped a cafe latte and savored a generous scoop of hazelnut chocolate gelato all to myself. little taste of heaven. just what i needed on this cold and foggy day. we chattered, making big plans for spring semester. weekly badminton practice and liberal arts softball games. they were pretty tickled to find out that i had participated in many different sports throughout my school days, and that i still enjoy a good competition. they kept referring to me as a "multi-player!" when i told them that i used to teach kickboxing, their eyes got big and their mouths fell open! then, i revealed how i used to take men, twice my size, down to the ground during the years i trained in brazilian jiu jitsu. that sent them tumbling over the edge! now they all pretend that they are deathly afraid of me, like i might strike them or kick them in the head at any moment! absolutely hysterical!on my taxi ride home tonight, it was impossible to miss that my cab driver had a big, fat bible on his dashboard. he had to have been in his 80's. his driving was frightful, but his personality was very good natured. we conversed a bit, until i ran out of korean! when we neared my apartment, he suddenly let loose a "hallelujah" and started laughing as he handed me a brochure with cartoon pictures of jesus on the cross and directions to his church. usually some part of me recoils automatically in a situation of that sort, but for some reason i didn't have it in me. i just chuckled and gave a "hallelujah" right back to him, accepting his pamphlet. this led to a spontaneous chant, in call-response fashion, "hallelujah, AMEN! hallelujah, AMEN!" over and over, to the point that i think we were both in a trance. i swear, sometimes i just can't believe my life. i can't believe i'm really in korea.
hallelujah, AMEN!!
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