Chivalry: "I'm not dead!"

So, rainy season has started in South Korea, which means we’ll have rain almost daily for the next month. This season kicked off unexpectedly last Friday with a downpour while I was at work. Without an umbrella. FML.

Now, I don’t mind walking in the rain. Hell, when I was in college, I stopped buying umbrellas because they would either break or I’d forget them in one of the classrooms after class. I’d just throw on a jacket and a baseball cap and I was good to go. The only thing that irritates me about being out in the rain is my glasses getting wet because then I can’t see anything – hence the cap. Here in Korea, I think I own 4 umbrellas yet never seem to have one with me when I need it…like last Friday at work.

As I mentioned, it was raining pretty hard when I left the office last Friday evening and the pile of company umbrellas outside my building was depleted, but oh well. Showing up to work sopping wet might an issue, but I don’t mind rain if I’m heading home. So off into the rain I trudged towards the buses. I didn’t mind so much because the rain was cool and kind of refreshing after the humidity we always have.

But then, halfway to the buses, suddenly, somebody appears next to me with an umbrella over my head and says, “Hi, where are you going?” I was a little startled since Koreans I don’t know tend to treat foreigners like lepers and actively avoid them. So I turned to the guy that was now walking with me and say, “Um, to the buses.” He replied, “Oh, me too! Let’s walk together.” So we trudged along the rest of the way to the buses and chit chatted while sharing his tiny umbrella. Turns out he’s in the Mobile Division and lives in Jamsil in Seoul.

I might say a lot of negative things about Korea, but I do love this place despite all of my negativity. It’s guys like this one that stop to share an umbrella with someone when it’s pouring down rain or share a little bit of kindness with a stranger that remind me of the love I used to have for Korea. So thank you, random Mobile division guy, for being a decent human being and sharing your umbrella with me and restoring my faith in the people of a country that I used to love so dearly.

"I'm not dead...I don't want to go on the cart...I feel fine...I think I'll go for a walk....I feeeeel haapppyyy, I feeeeel haapppyoof"