Three Moments

Three Moments
In the past two days I had three moments, brief moments of actually BEING IN Korea. Of Being here and finding myself thinking that I would miss it when I was gone.

One: I’m in the back of Tom Cruise teacher’s jeep. The back back. Just lounging, taking in the sites. The rolling hills between Dogye and Miro. The dead trees hanging onto the last rotting bright orange-red persimmons. The train tracks and stations. The bright florescent pink, green, and yellow dangling streamers flittering over the gas stations. Michael and Tom Cruise are in the front talking about politics, Obama and North Korea. About philosophy in Tom Cruise’s broken English-ee. I felt Korea.

Two: I’m in the Bi Bim Bap place with my friends. The little Ajuma that lives there and runs the restaurant hauls herself up from her spot watching tv. She greets us with a glint in her eye, surely remembering when Chantel poured her soup into her Bi Bim Bap. We sit down and she talks to us in Korean. We just nod our heads, sometimes shrug our shoulders, and say “Ne, Ne”. She makes us Bi Bim Bap and watches us like a hawk as we eat it. She approves. We are doing it right. She comes to me and says something I don’t understand. Chantel figures it out. She is telling me I am too skinny. I tell her I am trying to eat more and make a motion to shove tons of food in my face. She points to her belly and lets out a huge laugh. She points to me and puts her hands close together. We laugh and laugh. I felt Korea.

Three: I am walking home. Up Up Up the hill. It is dark all around except for the lights that shine in the town below. I see where I think Su Bin lives. I look at the houses with their slanted roofs and shoddy walls. I walk past the house with the goat and the chickens and roosters. I hear kids giggling and screaming in the mazes of houses all around me. I stop and look down…at the red glowing crosses, at the outline of the mountains that encircle this town. I look down at the thought floating above Korea. The thought that this wasn’t mistake. That I am here for a reason, to learn something. And when I leave, whenever I leave, I will miss Korea and wonder why I didn’t love it more when I was there. And I feel at peace as I walk up to the apartment. I felt Korea.

This isn’t to say that tomorrow I won’t be just as frustrated with Korea. It’s just to say that I see why I will miss it.