We have had a couple translators while we were here, one of them was alright, the second one was awesome though, apparently (says Edit). I called the international university nearby to see if someone would want to work for us and a guy on the other end named Joe helped out tremendously. When he couldn’t find a student to do the work, he went out of his way to find a friend to help us the very next day. She was alright, but she wasn’t persistent enough, really. She gave up much too quickly so we didn’t get all the information we needed. The second time we were stressing and needing a co-worker, it was 10 pm at night and we were about to give up (or hire one for a minimum $400) when the realtor I was going to meet the next day called me in my room to discuss where to meet. I told her about our predicament and she called 15 minutes later with someone who could help us out. We were so psyched.
Julie is the assistant of a realtor I met with. And, Linda was a real estate agent, one who we had never met before but she is the representative for BP in Korea, so I was asked to meet with her. Both ladies were amazing, and I had an absolutely wonderful time with them. With Julie, we talked about smiling – how Koreans don’t smile at someone they don’t know. The difference in our cultures (they aren’t friendly and warm until they know you well enough) Julie has an “idea” that all Americans are fat, friendly, independent and smart (she said to me, oh so you studied in the US? You must be really smart!) She also said to me, wow it seems like you eat a lot, how are you not really fat? I meet a lot of Americans and none of them are really fat. But your portions are so large! It was really funny, I laughed a lot. She told me that Koreans don’t tell jokes. They were shocked when they saw our president on TV at the inauguration dancing with his wife. That would never be broadcasted in Korea! Also, just as people don’t normally tell jokes, it would be a disgrace for the president or the first lady to say anything sarcastic, just joking around. Also, when I told her about the health care issue we have going on in our country right now, she was shocked that we don’t have some sort of health care reform. I would have loved to continue talking with Julie, it was so much fun to get into the intricacies of the Korean culture.
Linda was awesome, probably one of the nicest realtors I have met. She understands what we do and has never met with us before so she wasn’t tired of my questions. We met at a really cute little French café and she insisted on buying the coffee for us. We sat and talked for 3 hours; mixing between personal talk (again on culture) and housing talk. She confirmed the discussion I had had with Julie that Koreans were very friendly once they got to know you, but cold up front. She had lived in Cambridge for a year so we had a lot to talk about. After the 3 hours, she asked me to go to lunch with her, but I needed to get back to Edit. I was a bit bummed cause she wanted to take me to a typical Korean meal. Then on the way out, after all her help (she was ready for me to keep going and going with questions!) she turned to go back in for a second and I said oh! I think I’ll take some cheesecake for my co-worker (since Edit loves it) and she went and bought the blueberry one; I said is this for me? And she said no. Once the man handed it to her she gave it to me and said “Lauren this is for you”. After buying me coffee, giving me a whole 3 hours and planning on taking me out to lunch after, she bought me a whole scrumptious cheesecake. If I was relocating to Seoul, she would be my first pick as a realtor/relocating agent. Above all, everyone around the world is really the same. We may have different mannerisms and different culture, but deep down we are all the same person defined by our morals and the characteristics that make us who we are. She was genuine, and that’s the best quality you can find in a person, I think.
My friend Joe from the University called me to check and see if everything was OK; he had heard that we had not finished our work and wanted to see if we needed someone else to help out. What a great guy.
No comments:
Post a Comment