10.01.02 | korea | day 210 | tuesday
The language barrier vanishes - brieflySaturday, September 21, was Chuseok, Korea's thanksgiving harvest celebration. An invitation to join a family for the day had been postponed until Sunday so, with no other plans, I headed out, hoping my new favorite lunch spot, Subway, would be open.
On the way I sat down on a vacant bus bunch to send a text message - "Chuseok chun pahl nay say oh" - to a friend, in Hanguel, on my hand phone. A middle-age Korean man soon sat on the bus bench next to me, curious to see what I was doing. His breath smelled of alcohol, his hands where those of a laborer, and the fact that we spoke no more than a handful of words of the others' language didn't stop him from holding a lengthy, one-sided, thirty minute discussion with me. At one point, he took my hand and appeared to read my palm. He was rather animated and surprised as he pointed to this and that and told me who knows what.
I'm sure we made quite the spectacle, sitting in the shade near a busy intersection, to the Koreans driving by, dressed in their hanboks in apparent observance of the holiday. I tried to focus on his words and accent thinking, "How often, even living in the country, do I get the chance to immerse myself in pure Korean?"
Several times he appeared frustrated and almost angry that I couldn't understand him. In the end, though, he appeared to be beckoning me to follow him, to his home for Chuseok I imagine. I declined as I was very hungry by now so he walked away in mild disgust. I laughed, marveling at the unique adventure of it all, and walked away happy.
Subway was closed so I had to settle for Burger King as most everything else was closed.
