Young Sim

We are on the fifth floor of our apartment building, City of Angel. The first two floors are businesses--restaurants, bookshops, coffee shops, banks, dry cleaners--it's like a little neighborhood all in one building. There are a few places that I go to frequently.

One shop is where I can get mandu and visit with Hyoun Suk. She is a beautiful girl and works very long hours every day. She is always smiling and is very kind to me. We now know how to greet one another by name. She doesn't know English, and I don't know Korean but smiles go a long way and we're always happy to see each other. "hello, Kim Stewart!" I love it.

Another small restaurant just a few doors down is called Young Sim. The place is always busy and the woman who runs the place is always smiling. I started stopping by and saying hello to her. I'm always happy to see her and she seems genuinely happy to see me.

This afternoon I was hanging out with our friend, Tayla. After we had done some computer work, we decided to get some lunch. We headed to Young Sim. On our way, we stopped to look at some clothes that were on sale from a street vendor--you can get some great deals if you check everyday. While we were going through the basket of scarves, we were greeted by a Korean woman who spoke very good English. After talking for a couple of minutes, I asked her to join us for lunch.

Eunice. Eunice, our new friend, lived in London for seven years and worked in DC for about five years. We each shared a little about our lives and how beautiful it was that we were now all enjoying lunch together in Korea. I shared with Eunice how much I wanted to talk with the lady at the restaurant. Being limited in language really limits my experience in Korea. My hope is to have some level of conversation with her after I take Korean classes. I asked Eunice to ask the woman what her name is. Her name is Young Sim. She is the owner of the restaurant. The restaurant is named after her.

Young Sim told Eunice that she feels like we are friends and she likes to see me. It was so cool to have Eunice translate for us--our first real conversation.

Even as I type this I'm smiling. It was a really wonderful moment for me to know her name and for me to tell her my name.

Young Sim. Hyoun Suk. I'm grateful for these seeds of friendship.

Another gift from the day. Zach brought Suk June home after school. We decided to give Suk June a little taste of American food. Mac-n-cheese. For dessert, S'mores. It was pretty cool and he was pretty excited. He said, "I like these noodles with cheese."