Cab Rides and Konglish

Sometimes I wish I were more culturally Korean.  Not just because I live here, but because I think Konglish (Korean-English) is so endearing.

Anyway, on to the story.

I have parcel forwarding back in the States so I can still order things from Amazon (my weakness).  I don’t get much because shipping is ridiculous and I can usually find what I want or something similar here.  Not this time.  I brought this special water bottle with me that filters the water as it goes from the bottle to your mouth.  I really like it...it keeps me drinking fresh, good-tasting water without creating a lot of trash/stuff for recycling.  So, I was on the subway and an old lady knocked it out of my backpack and even though the bottle was fine, the mouthpiece rolled all over the subway floor.  I thought “damn, now that can never go back in my mouth.”

Because, really, that is just gross.

After hunting high and low for a replacement, I bowed to the inevitable and decided to buy a whole new bottle.  So, I made an Amazon order.

The Amazon order went perfectly.  The parcel forwarding was textbook.  However, apparently, Fed Ex does not deliver this far into Korea and my package was turned over to a contract company.  The contract company does not leave packages unattended (not that I am complaining there) but also does not leave a “missed you” card either.  Therein lies the problem.

So, I check with Fed Ex and get the whole they don’t deliver here thing.  They give the the name of the company and the address where I can go pick it up.  Uh, none of the other “foreigners” here know where it is...they just have packages sent to their schools, which is brilliant and I am going to remember this for next time...and the best I could get otherwise is it is near the boys’ middle school.  Ok.  The boys’ middle school is a 20-ish minute walk from my school, so I think I will just walk that way after school and get my stuff.

WRONG!

It gets dark so early here in the winter and cold.  Any, I walk the area around the boys’ middle school for 2 and a half hours in the dark and cold trying to decipher Hangul into the name of the company.  I eventually gave up...I was cold, tired and had been hauling around 250 essays I needed to grade.  I went home and made a new plan.  I would write out the address in Hangul and take a cab.

WRONG!

So, the address that Fed Ex gave me was wrong.

However, the nicest older Korean man just happened to be my cabbie.  He had very limited English and I have very limited Korean.  With a little help from GPS and 114 (that is the Korean version of 411) we managed to get to a place that looked like it handles freight.  So, I start to get out of the taxi and he asks if I will need to go back to Jincheon, or rather “you return Jincheon?”  I say yes...well, I say “de” which is Korean for yes...and he says “I stay here then.”  He was going to wait on me so I could get back!  How unbelievably kind!

I started for the door that we parked in front of and the next thing I know he has hopped out of the cab and is motioning for me to follow him to another door.  I am so glad he did!  The people inside had no clue what we were trying to do even with him telling them in Korean we were picking up a package.  We finally figure out we are still at the wrong place and the place I need to go to is in the next building.

SUCCESS!

With no further drama I finally get my package!  And I am back in the taxi headed for home...or the supermarket near my apartment, since it is the most recognizable landmark near there.

I had a lovely conversation with the cabbie on the ride back.  He asked my name and how old I was.  Told me his wife is Vietnamese.  Asked where I am from...told him mi-guk (American) and he asked “Ca-na-da?” and I said “no, USA.”  The he asked why I was in Jincheon...was I English seong-sam-nim (teacher).  “De, Jincheon go deung hakyo (Jincheon High School).  We laughed a little because my “Hangul mal”...or my Korean is bad.  When he dropped me off he gave me his business card and told me I could call him directly the next time I needed a taxi.