You know, the universe works in mysterious ways. Just yesterday morning, I finally resolved to make an effort at learning Hangeul, the Korean written language. I got out the flashcards that i had made for myself a few weeks ago, spread them out on my bed and started looking at them. After a few minutes of studying, I started thinking that it would be much more fun if I had an actual Korean to help me with it, someone who could pronounce the sounds with the right accent. Well, later that afternoon I went to Kyobo bookstore downtown and, while looking at travel guides I met a young woman named Yvonne from Memphis, TN, also an English teacher. We got to chatting and made plans to eat dinner after we finished browsing. A few minutes later, a group of three young Korean women approached us and asked, amidst a lot of smiles and nervous giggles, if we would be interested in forming a Korean-English language exchange group! I said yes, of course and met with them today. It turned out that these ladies were members of the Church of God, which i suspected they might be. As soon as I got into the van in front of Lotte Department store, the driver, a man i had not met at the bookstore, asked me if I believed in God. Oh no, I thought. But I just said yes. i do believe in God. I told Esther that I was not interested in going to church. She then asked me if I believed in God. I said yes, but I am not Christian. She said that we would just have the language lesson, and i agreed that that would be okay. We ate lunch in the church kitchen first and then she taught me the first ten vowel sounds. The memorization was difficult at first, but by the end of the lesson, I had them down, which felt great. Almost every other day I am accosted by a member of this church during my breaks at work and I find them really annoying. It seems as though these language lessons will teach me more than just a foreign language. Perhaps it will remind me to keep my mind open, and treat everyone with compassion, even when they annoy me.
