Ok, time to finish up this more emotional blog post. I promise that future posts will be full of happy thoughts, experiences, and food!
I know in my previous post, I really laid it on heavy with things that were bad. I donโt want to give you the wrong impression of South Korea. It really is a great place to visit and live. I had a conversation with an Irish bartender turned English teacher about how South Korea is the perfect capitalistic society in the world. You work hard, you spend money and you monitor one another to help maintain social cohesion. Here in South Korea, people are so willing to help one another. Since coming here, I have met a lot people at school and through other people that have been a real blessing in my life. I have noticed many Koreans are very shy when you first meet them, but once you make the effort to get to know them, their willingness to help you knows no bounds. Comparing Koreans to Americans, most Koreans have the mentality of โWeโ versus the American mentality โIโ. Let me describe this further by saying this: Most Americans think of things that will be benefit oneโs own wellness (mentality of โIโ) and most Koreans think of things that will benefit the wellness of others (mentality of โWeโ).
Willingness to Help
Some of my Korean friends from New Mexico, who are now back in South Korea have on many occasions offered their help in any capacity. For example, it was around 1am and I got lost some where in Hongdae. I contacted my friend and he helped me get home without being upset with me. I have begun my search for my birth parents by contacting the respected organizations who have information about my birth. On many occasions, by friends and complete strangers, have offered their assistance to help me with anything. One person I met at the Hyundai Department store gave me his phone number and told me to contact him if I ever needed any help with locating my birth parents. If I needed a translator, he said he would gladly do that for me. This meant so much to me in so many different ways. For someone to be so willing to do whatever they could to help, it is truly something that puts me for a loss of words. I have no words for their great gestures of kindness. The thing that almost puts tears to my eyes is that they truly want to help me. No matter the situation, from helping me look for my birth parents to helping me find the correct trash bags, they are genuinely willing to help without looking down on me or pitying me. They treat me with respect and a kindness that I will cherish for the rest of my life. Thank you all who have helped me get here: past, present, future.
์๋ ํ ๊ณ์ธ์.
PS: I just set up to post a blog post for the next two days. I am trying to catch up on the blog posts and be more consistent. Wish me luck!