Los Guatemaltecos

In our tour group, we were like an international UN with the different theme countries represented in that tour bus: Indonesians, Chinese, Koreans, Americans, and Hong Kongians (right?). It was a fun mix, and we all used the international language of English to communicate. It was fun.

We toured another five places today, with an eclectic mix of a museum, natural sites, and a garden. The natural beauty on this island is amazing, its got palm trees and today the weather really cleared up. At Hallim Park, seeing the flowers bloom, the cacti spiking out, the parrot screaming "hello" in Korean, to the emus, the wild birds, the bears we saw yesterday, and the bonsai trees, were all a testament to God's Glory. I was amazed to see the rock formations after centuries of cooling after a major volcanic eruption occurred on Jeju Island centuries ago. There was only divine design imprinted on this. The sea was beautiful.

During this time, I happen during these two days to meet and know two people of an unusual region that I have never encountered before: Central America.

I've met Salvordianos during my time at the Chick Fil A in Maryland, but I never met anyone from the Central American republic of Guatemala.

These two people: Zoher and Susana, are two friends who for vacation are travelling around the Asian powerhouses of Korea and China. They started in Seoul before heading to the island paradise of Jeju. We met on the tour bus. What a blessing it was indeed, because they are believers in the Lord.

In the span of two days, we got to know one another and had the major privilege of being friends with one another. What made it even more special was that we came to know that we are believers through casual conversation. Jyea!

Another special thing during our interactions was something I haven't used in such a long time: Spanish. It was through my middle and high school classes, one enthusiastic teacher named Mrs. Beierle who learned her Spanish in the city of Salamanca, and hours of free practice at the Chick Fil A with my Salvodorian friends, I finally came to learn the Spanish language.

However, coming to Korea, I had no use for Spanish. Now and then, I would meet a Spanish speaker, but slowly I came to realize that I was starting to lose it. As Korean started to naturally take an importance in my life, I suppressed the languages of Spanish, Russian (which I learned for one year), and English (now and then, I'll forget words or expressions and get made fun for unusual spelling mistakes).

Yet, I remember in 2008 a meeting in Incheon with a pastor from the country of Macedonia. He speaks several languages, and I told him about my situation of learning Korean, taking the prime importance in my life as I am finally living in a country where I have to use it daily. I was worried I would lose my considerable investment into Espanol (Spanish) and what was left of my marginal profit in Russian language education stock.

He said (paraphrase), "you don't lose information. Basically, your mind locks away information, what you don't use. When you start learning again, your mind finds the information and brings it out again. You don't simply lose information, its just resting. It will come back."

So back to today. Susana speaks English fairly well, but at the same time she was allowing me to speak Spanish to her and Zoher. Zoher, a fairly young guy, speaks hardly any English but understands it very well. He too, allows me to speak my "prison, locked-up" Spanish to him while we build a relationship over the course over two years.

My two friends, "los guatemaltecos," (the Guatemalens) helped me with words I forgot, and when they replied, I had my "I knew that" moment in my mind as I became more comfortable speaking la lingua again. For me, something I realized early on when I go travelling, is that in speaking multiple languages you can get easily confused. I wanted to say "Mi Chingu," a mix of "my" in Spanish and "friend" in Korean, or substitute vocab for Spanish. Then there's the whole English thing. Try mixing three languages into one sentence. My goal when I learn languages is to share multiple convos without missing a beat. Through Christ's strength, I can do it!

So the highlight was tonight, when we got some good Mexican food at a place called "Zapata's," (my second time, he he), and eventually through the Holy Spirit we got into some mad fellowship about the Word of God and how to receive salvation from Christ alone and His redemptive power. It was bananas! Like, Zoher asked not only if my father was a Christian, but how did he become a Christian. We got into a discussion about rules and regulations and religion, but more importantly we get salvation because of His grace. It was good, real fellowship, beyond just, "oh, God is good...yeah. Ya ha." Nah, deep stuff in Spanish about how to read the Word and live and grow in His grace. I mean, to steal from C.S. Lewis, it was more than just mere Christianity.

We ended up praying for one another before we parted ways, but we exchanged contact info so we can keep in touch and perhaps meet in the future. I am loving it, yo!

So, to top it off I have to ask this question: how in the world did, through my father, one day before my first class at John Hanson Middle School, after we just moved to Waldorf, Maryland, how he encouraged me to enroll in a middle school Spanish class, would end up using Spanish again halfway across the world to meet and pray with Christians from Central America? Only the Lord can bring such things together.

Oh, the surprises of life that only Christ can bring. Zoher was telling me how thankful he is to be living and knowing the Lord. The same with Susana. I was sharing the power of what I saw during my time Jeju, from the animals to the tulips that were screaming "glory" to God our Father. We all nodded in agreement, I mean, how could you not?

I hope they have a safe trip to Beijing now, their next stop. I hope someday to travel to Guatemala and visit them someday, Lord Willing. I was meant to come to Jeju for a purpose.

And I am also going home for a purpose. My family doesn't need me...but I need the Lord.

Who's the Foreigner?

So its my second day in Jeju Island and to much of my surprise, even though the wind was blowing hard and it was really cold for a spring day, it was a good day.

Through my host family in Seoul, Korea, I signed up for a tour group where its pretty much a hands free experience. Usually tours can be hit or miss. One, some tours are dominating and you have pretty much no free time to yourself, and you simply move on with the group like lemmings. Two, some tours trap you by conveniently leaving you at tourist shops or home industry shops so you are tempted to buy something.

Yet my tour group has been a very smooth experience. No gimmicks where they try to sell you something or rush you through a site, and really no explanations about each site's significance. We have a Korean tour guide who speaks English and simply gets us from site to site. When we arrive at the site, he writes on a dry-erase board what time we have to get back, points at the entrance, and says, "have fun."

He also tags along and talks to the various tourists in our group. He doesn't need to explain what the site is, but more or less, just strikes up a convo about our feelings about that particular site. His attitude as a tour guide is splendid simply because he wants to be your friend and doesn't seem to burdened in doing his job. Props to ya my man.

One of the funnier stories today was the experience of a being a foreigner. Now, most of you know that as a Korean-American I do not attract much attention. In my three years in South Korea, unless I am actually with foreigners, I never get stared at for my looks. I blend in, to a degree. When I go to the bathhouse or shopping, now and then I get a stare because of my darker skin or non-Korean features, but its not an issue with me.

Today was very unusual. Usually, I feel bad for my "typical foreigner" friends who get "hello'ed" at constantly or get beaten with the Konglish stick (Korean + English) a few times, I know it seems awkward for them to be randomly approached in public by strangers shouting random English phrases. I usually escape unnoticed.

Now, Jeju Island this time of year attracts an unusual group of tourists: high school students.

Korean high school students usually come to Jeju Island as part of their curriculum, during their 2nd year. They come in flocks and they are not hard to miss: girls' high schools groups are distinguished with their shrieks, constant picture taking, and their usually girly stuff such as whining about the weather or the fact that they have to use their feet. Boys' high schools are filled with short-haircut boys who are all talking the same: that rich, wonderful sound of adolescent boy shrieking that usually cracks when they hit that puberty stage. They are always hitting and horseplaying. Nerds.

This morning, while touring the coastline by myself, I came across an American military family who were coming the opposite direction. I asked the Air Force guy what was ahead. He mentions more coastline with some good views and a used set for a Korean drama. Behind me, a group of four high school girls were behind me and noticed me speaking English. One of them walks up to me and says, "hi. Where are you from?"

Now keep in mind, usually no stranger Korean has ever approached me in ENGLISH. Its usually in Korean, so I'm kinda nervous. Of course, it was natural at my school all the time when my students yelled "hi" at me. But this is different.

I carry a 5-6 minute conversation with these girls, and found out they were from Jeolla Province, which is the southwestern province known for its rich food and twangy dialect. They were very nice. We talked about their school life, blah to the blah to the blah, the usual banter. As I walked on by and they said goodbye, one of them says to me, "Goodbye. You are very handsome!" Thanks.

At other sites, even ALONE, some high school girls said "hi" to me. Some said to our group "hajimemashite," or "nice to meet you" in Japanese. I was like, "are you kidding me? Are we Japanese now?" I thought it was my students but in disguise. I never got this attention at all during my three years here. Was I on camera or something?

Then there was the bathroom incident. I'm about to leave a bathroom at our last site of the day, and there were a bunch of boys who were from a high school from Korea's eastern Gangwon Province. They ask me, "where are you from?" I say mildly: "Washington DC." One of them proceeds to hug and shake my hand while "oohhs," "ahhhs," and even a cell phone photograph was taken. I was just blown away with the foreign superstar treatment.

I am standing outside with these guys, peppered with questions for like 5 minutes about my life, I was "dang! Am I that different looking to them?" Meanwhile, my Guatemalen friend, who was harrassed earlier to take a photo by some high school chicks, is laughing at me through the bus window. They are trying their English with me and here I am, being cool, just entertaining them and having fun.

As I head to the bus, like a superstar soccer player, I wave goodbye. One of them screams (and this is a guy student) "call me!" and there is laughter. I joke to our tour group the only fans I attract are guys, and my tour guide smirks, "sorry, they are too young for you and its illegal." Laughter all around, props to the tour guide for that one.

So I have come to one conclusion: I blend in well. With foreigners, I blend in well. With Indians, I blend in well. With Koreans, I blend in well. With Japanese, Israelis to a degree, Palestinians, Filipinos, or wherever my travels have taken me, I always managed to blend in to a certain degree. Its one of the funny aspects of being mixed-race.

And by the way...God made me that way. Its worked out for some unique situations: funny and touching alike. Let's see what day two of the tour brings tomorrow.

My Last Korean Trip: Jeju Island

So this is my last full week in Korea before I head back to my home country. Its been a hectic month with packing, goodbyes to be said, taking Korean classes (and not preparing for that exam, sike!), and mentally checking myself out of my 2nd home. So I am in Jeju Island for my last Korean hurrah trip, and its been really good. No rain, but it is cold for spring (and there's no global warming?). Even though this is Korea, it sometimes feels like another country.

So I get off the airplane, grab my case, and head into a taxi. After fiddling with the address for a few minutes and calling up my guesthouse for directions, the ajosshi (Korean for "uncle") hits me up with a deal to take me around the city for really cheap. Just out of nowhere. After settling in, he picks me up and takes me to five places in less than three hours, and he got a free dinner out of it (my shot).

Instead of figuring out buses or taking various taxies for more cash, I got a deal in one day on my first day in the island, and made a new friend. We tried Jeju Island's famous "black pork," made out of black pigs, and for two servings they hook you up! I ate so much I thought I would be next on the slaughtering block because I ate like a black pig! He also explained the history of the island when we went to museums, some of the folklore, the culture, and Jeju Island's unique language. To get a tour by a local is very neat thing. Also, the certain joy, even though I'm not fluent in Korean, to converse and discuss cultural things in another language at a high level, I felt like my experience here in South Korea is being completed as we speak.

The weather is very cold, brisk, and windy, but I'm thankful to the Lord because it is not rainy. I'm going to try to enjoy these last days in another Korean region, and next Monday, I'm outta here.

On a sad note, my grandfather passed away a few days ago. I will go home and pay my last respects to him someday. Rest in peace.

God Bless fam.