Friends Visit – Sunday: Lydia returns to Seoul and a Day with Rebecca

Sunday was fairly uneventful, but seeing as Saturday was so eventful, I didn’t mind so much. Lydia headed out fairly early to catch her bus to Seoul. Rebecca came to church with my host family and me and met my friend/tutor H.W. The whole experience lifted my spirits a bit as for a lot of the morning I had to translate for Rebecca. I did this poorly of course, but it made me realize that I was in fact learning Korean at a bit of an accelerated rate considering I’m not taking classes.

We ate lunch at the church and decided to pass on the afternoon service, opting to walk home through the traveling market instead. The host family, who usually stays home on Sundays, decided to keep the shop open because of the Chuseok holiday, which gave Rebecca and I some quiet time to just talk about our homestays and school and life since orientation in general. There is some concern about her adjustment here. She was a Chinese literature and language major in college (she’s quite proficient, and perhaps borderline fluent), and I think she would have been much happier spending the year there. The problem is that she wants to work with an NGO in rural China, but doesn’t have enough money to begin paying off her student loans. I guess she figured Korea would be close enough for now, but I think she’s finding that Korea is worlds away from China culturally speaking. She’s hoping to go to China for a conference in November over American Thanksgiving. I tried to encourage her as best I could, but I fear that it may not have been enough. She is a wonderful person who has a great outer strength, but I do worry about her sometimes.

I cooked some dinner for us (by which I mean I warmed up whatever was on the stove), and eventually the family came over… with the extended family as well. It was at this point, I believe that I was told by one of the uncles that I look like Russell Crowe. (YES!) I always wanted to look ruggedly handsome and like I had just gotten out of a fight. I think what he meant was that I have a small, flattish nose and can grow a beard, but I’ll take it!

Rebecca and I talked and watched T.V. with the family until it was time to sleep. The next day, Monday the twenty-fourth, the host family drove Rebecca and I to the bus terminal where we waited for her bus. I only put so much emphasis on the date as a way of apology. I forgot that Monday was her birthday and was a bit of a prick therefore in not wishing her a happy one.