the neighborhood

Do you remember the song from Sesame Street? "These are people in my neighborhood, in my neighborhood . . ." It's a catchy tune and pretty much anyone who had Big Bird and the rest of the gang as part of their childhood TV watching, remembers that song.

Last year when we lived at Migeum I was able to meet a few of our neighbors. They were mostly shop owners in our building. We lived in an Officetel and most of our building was made up of businesses and had very few family apartments. It was wonderful but also difficult because few people spoke English.

This year we live in Dongbaek. By bus we are 30-40 minutes South from Migeum. The area we live in is considered a new area--built in perhaps the last 5-10 years. Our apartment is located in what is called a "villa"--it's comprised of businesses and residential apartments. It's like a small town--there are restaurants, cafe's, small grocery stores and Hagwon's (private academy's). We live near some high rise apartments but in our immediate area, it's mostly 2-3 story buildings.

In the past 2 months I have met more people/families in our neighborhood than I did a whole year at Migeum.

Meet Grace. Grace owns her own bakery, I Love Cookie Box. Grace also offers baking classes at her shop. Last week I was able to participate in her class on making scones. Afterward, we went to a local restaurant and enjoyed a delicious bowl of seafood and noodles. I try to stop by her shop a few times a week as I pass by just to say hello.

Just a few days ago I was riding the 810 home and met a woman by the name of MiJung. The bus was extremely crowded. When she and her husband got on I tried to make room for her to stand next to me so that she could have something to hold onto. MiJung is 8.5 months pregnant. We started chatting, her English is perfect. I found out she had been a missionary for 10 years in Singapore. Two years ago she felt like it was time to return to Korea. After returning to Korea, she met her husband, they married 1 year ago and are now expecting their first baby. I found all of this out on the 810 bus ride home. It was time for me to get off and wouldn't you know, they were getting off at the same stop. We got off the bus and began our walk home. We walked all the way through our neighborhood--or villa as they say here--as we approached our apartment, we realized that we live across the street from one another. I couldn't believe it. We are having tea together this week.

Just a funny side note about MiJung. I was taking the dog for a walk and I ran into MiJung. We were chatting about our day and I mentioned that I had been doing some reading and writing in my journal. Upon hearing this she replied, "Oh, I would very much like to read your journal some day!" I tried not to look surprised. What? Read my journal. Oh, my goodness! I explained what my journal was for and she still had the same reply.


I like walking through our villa because now when a few of the shop owners see us, they give us a warm smile and hello. Every morning I see an elderly couple out walking their dog--the dog we refer to as 'the bright orange tailed dog'--we always greet one another and smile. They would like our dogs to be friends but Lucy will have nothing to do with that--I think it could be the bright orange tail--it's rather alarming. :-)

Foreigners tend to stay to themselves or only connect with other foreigners. It's wonderful to make these small attempts to engage those around us despite the language barrier. Beautiful things happen when you smile or even make a faint attempt to communicate. I think these moments are mostly beautiful because the person receiving it, doesn't expect it.