<Live as a foreigner 19>: My Last Day in South Korea
2016-02-01
To be honest with me, right in this moment, I still cannot believe that I am actually on my way to home! To some extent, coming back home is kind of blessing. Not until the monent I told a foreigner I met on a bus I would go back to China soon, and she sent her warm "congradulations" to me did I realize it. I admit that I am lucly to leave this country earlier than other foreigners. Don't wrong me. I did not intend to say that my life in Korea was either hard or unbearable, but intended to say that I miss my life at home so much. I bet any foreigner has the same feeling when it comes to his final day abroad. After a year of hard work in Korea, I really want to go back to see my families and friends, especially to try some of my Mom's cooking. My Mom is an expert on cooking. Every dish she cooked has her own special taste. No one can neither learn nor copy that. Such words as "delicious" and "tasteful" is far from enough to descrie how it actually taste. Therefore, I would like to borrow one special Korean expression here. In Korean it uses the phrase "Mom's craft" to describe either how good the taste is or how good Mom is at cooking. So my Mom's cooking is of "Mom's craft". Doesn't sound interesting?
As you can see, the whole year in Korea influences me a lot. Before I realize it, I I unkowningly dress like a Korean, behave like a Korean, and even think like a Korean. Nowadays whenever I walk on the street in Korea, no one would doubt I am a Korean. Sometimes even some Korean people would ask me for directions. If I didn't talk, no one would find out the fact that I am a foreigner. It is true that a year abroad makes me more considerate and more independent. Moreover, when I began to pack my things, I found myself easily lost in memories. Frankly speaking, I didn't know many Korean people. I only know those who's always around me. But only memories with them are enough for me to recall of. During the past year, I worked with other English teachers in English department. We neither used Chinese nor Korean. We always chatted and discussed with each other in English. Even though sometimes we couldn't make ourself fully understood, our emotional ties could also become closer and closer. I am so grateful that I can meet such good Korean friends in this foreign country.
On my last day in Korea, I want to introduce briefly to you three Korean friends of mine: my working partner, my partner's daughter, and another English teacher in my office.
Believe it or not, my partner was like a mom to me, because she almost took care of every aspect of my life. Whenever I had any problem, she would be the first one to stand up to help me. She is only 31 years old, though a mom of a four-year old daughter. Other teachers in my office always made fun of us. In their words, we were more like a mom and a daughter~_~It is appropriate to say that she was my "Korean" mom. I appreciate it. In fact in my mind, it is a magic to have someone who is trully responsible for me in a foreign country. No doubt that I am a truly lucky dog. What's more, we always had our private meetings after work. Sometimes she would also bring her daughter with us. By the way, she has been pregnant for 7 months.
I have a very good relationship with her daughter, too. We are like "kindergarden" friends(Since my Korean is so poor that I can only communicate with kids freely). Yesterday when they came to bus terminal to see me off, the little girl almost cried. She kept questionning her mom why I had to leave Korea. She explained to her that I have to go back to China to finish my graduate study and it is time for Spring Festival every Chinese is supposed to go back to their house and stay with their families. But you know what? Young as she is, she couldn't trully understand what it means. So she just begged me to stay, and kept winkng at me. She even made a promise in front of her strict mom that rom the day on, she would behave very well. She asked her mom that please don't let me leave. She never kisses other people willingly, but there is an exception: when her Mom told her she would probably never see me again, she hugged me and kissed me. It is kind of surprise to me. And she kept waving her little hands...
Another Korean friend of mine is the youngest and prettest English teacher in my office. She is 28 years old, four years elder than me. In Korea, age determines everything. If someone is elder than you, you have to respect them all the time. It is rarely-seen that people of different ages can play around like friends. However, for the reason that I am a foreigner who speaks in English, these rules never work well between us. We freely exchanged our ideas on movies and music, on love(especially BF issues) and marriage, sometimes even on dreams and future. There is an interesting thing between us. She is a superfan of Hello Kitty, and I am very into one-eyed Minion. Whenever we travelled to different places, we would buy each other a Hello kitty or Minion gift. The day before yesterday, she just come back for her trip to Singapore. But ten minutes before I left, she made her way to the bus terminal and sent me a Minion purse she brought back from Singapore as a farewell gift. Long time agao, we promised that we would meet each other in China next year. At that time, she wiould bring me another Minion and I will send her another pink Hello Ketty. I also promise that the day of her marriage I will come back to Korea for her~-~. I will work harder to keep my promise~-~
On my last day in Korea, I wish my partner can give birth to a healthy and pretty baby, I wish her family a happy and fruitflul year, and I wish my Hello Ketty-like friend can find a good guy next year and an ideal husband in future. I wish one day I can come back to this small but warm country. I wish we can gather together some day in future~-~
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