Same In Any Language (May 6)

• Took people’s advice and didn’t stay in my apartment today. However, it was unplanned (I just stayed downtown after taking Rachel to the train station), so I didn’t bring my camera with me :( I was extra sad because I’ve been trying to photograph more “ordinary” things lately and there were a lot of good opps today. Oh well, next time. 
• I tried on shorts at a small boutique and the high school girls who were decided on their own possible purchases were like “Oh!” and started whispering about how long my legs were when I came out of the dressing room to look in the mirror (I mean, I’m pretty sure that’s what they were whispering about, as they were staring at me). It was really funny and I wish I knew Korean for “You don’t want legs this long, you’ll never be able to buy pants.” 
• I then had lunch with some ajummas. As I was walking along the stream area, desperately looking for some semblance of a sandwich, I finally gave up, bought some fruit at a convenience store and went over to this tent. There were some middle-aged women selling some kind of kimchi soup, plus a side dish of kimchi for 2500 Won. Pretty good deal and if I wasn’t getting a sandwich, then I wanted to spend as little as possible. They were really nice, sat me in the middle of the tent, by all of their supplies and then sat around me when business was slow. I shared my fruit with them and they let me sit there for a long time, and even gave me coffee! It was really cute. I didn’t speak Korean and they didn’t speak English but just sitting together/them letting me stay there while they talked and worked was interaction enough :) 
• After spending time downtown, I met Abby (for some ice cream of course) and we made our way over to His Beans Café for church. Once the service got started (we got there early), we sang “Come, Now Is the Time to Worship,” “How Great Thou Art” and a new song I hadn’t heard – the music was completely beautiful. There are some people in the group who are really good at making harmony and, with these songs, it was fantastic. One cool thing about PICC is that there are always different people there, every time I go. I mean, there are the regulars too, but there is always someone new to meet. Today, I met Mira. She is a grad student at Handong University, studying in the School of International Studies, Languages & Literature. She knows Korean (she’s from here), English, Chinese, and Spanish (and can recognize/understand Portuguese). (Sidenote: I am constantly amazed by the people that I meet through PICC who are multi-lingual.) She is the first Korean who has willingly hugged me upon leaving – and that was my favorite part about her :) I got to talk to her more at dinner after church and I hope to see her again soon. Also at dinner (which was really yummy), I got to play with Lynn (the pastor’s 20-month-old daughter) and it was so much fun. I basically was just copying things that she was doing, but she loved it and was smiling and laughing. She waved for like 5 minutes when everyone was leaving.