The Good Life

Today I meet with my class of firecrackers. All the groups have been excellent, but these kids really gel with one another. Individually, and collectively, they exude intellect, energy, and enthusiasm. I think it's due in no small part to their TA, Gun, who has the innate ability to jump in offering support and encouragement at precisely the right moments.

Actually, all TAs have been exemplary, some of the best I've seen in my career. And these are just students themselves who are doing it as a part-time summer job. The common thread among the best of these TAs is that they are absolutely committed to giving a 100% effort, no matter what task they tackle. One can easily predict that they will have successful and productive lives.

The students are perceptive and thoughtful; they think before speaking. One young man, Seung-Yong, watches me closely, smiling and nodding. Later, he calls me over. He enquires regarding my lineage. I explain that my parents are of Germanic descent, but that I was born in Canada. He continues to query. "Is there any French in your family?" I say no. Not satisfied with the answer, he rephrases, and asks it twice more. I finally ask him why he's asking the question. he replies that he cannot fathom how I can be German. He assumed French because of my exuberance, and wild gesticulations. He agreed that if my hands were bound, my "vocabulary" would be reduced exponentially. (I can't help but think back to the Taiwanese gent who thought Rob to be French. We must have that "je ne sais quoi.")

At lunch time, Rob and I are standing in the food lineup and when I notice a huge serving tray of his favourite vegetable. I say, "Look. Meerch!" An Indian man standing in front of me swings his head around, with a look of incredulity. I say, "My husband loves Indian peppers." The man is tremendously surprised to find two white people elated at discovering Indian meerch in a cafeteria lineup in Korea. We say that we love Indian food, and this rocks his world. He says most North Americans find it too hot, and complain the next day. Then he laughs and asks us, "Do you know that song, Ring of Fire?"

We end up sitting together, and the man explains he's an engineer from Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh who is working in Korea. We explain that we're excited to be here, and he tells us there's nothing much to see because there's no history. I suggest that might have something to do with his point of view as a man from a country with a history going back thousands of years. He agrees, but cannot truly understand why anyone would visit his country either. He says it's dirty and half the people are poverty stricken.

I have not been to India, but Rob says, while this is true, that's part of the Indian experience; Rob's loves India and considers it his true home land. Despite his ambivalence about his country, the man does say he will definitely return. He says he's an only son, and while his parents are not yet old, it's his duty to go back and take care of them. He is committed to helping the poor.

We all enjoy the discussion, and the meal, which is divine. There's chicken rice soup with dates, a fish potato stew, and a cool, crisp, watermelon soup for dessert. We make plans to exchange business cards, when next we meet. I head home to write, read, and then nap, and Rob goes to class.

I finally get to see what all the hullaballoo is about when we take an early dinner at Iris toast shop around the corner. We have ham, cheese, shredded cabbage, and plum jam on very pale toast, because toast is always accompanied by jam, and the bread is always light. It's served in an American Style Burger wrapper. While this sandwich sounds and looks rather odd, it's very tasty. We plan to make Iris toast when we return to Canada.

For our second dinner, we go to the university cafeteria, at which time I'm ever so grateful for having had round one. Tonight's meal consists of pupae and deep fried squid rings; needless to say, we take a pass. Rob opts for the vegetables, and I, for the chicken rice soup and watermelon-pineapple-lychee fruit soup dessert.

During our evening walk we bump into many students; it's so much fun to connect with them by happenstance. As in Canada, it is outside the classroom where we get to have our most important and meaningful conversations. I'm so very grateful that at the halfway mark through my trip to Korea, and indeed through my time on this earth, I'm enjoying my life more than ever. How very fortunate I am that things just keep getting better and better.

The evening is spent searching the streets of Hu Moon for a natural moisturizer for my eyebrows. We like to test ourselves by going into Korean shops and trying to find obscure products with complex lists of ingredients, especially since our Korean is even more limited than their English. We come up empty-handed, but a quick call to Diane, the Office Coordinator at the International Centre, solves the problem. This amazingly capable and, frankly, preternaturally talented sleuth, manages to research and locate something online. It's being shipped as I type. I just can't get over the impact of the Internet - anything, anytime, anywhere.

A cup of decaffeinated instant coffee, a debrief with Husband, and we're off to never never land.