The Korean Dimension

Mary Hamilton Hall Collins

Adventures in South Korea

1995-2011

Chapter 6

 

July 18-19

The Roomate

She became difficult.  She hid my shoes. She would not let me use her drying rack.  She made it difficult for me to use things in the kitchen.

She would try to scare me to leave the apartment…and to leave the institute.

She came after me with a pair of scissors and tried to stab me.  I ran into my bedroom and locked the door.  Then I called the institute immediately and told them what happened.  The manager who had hired us (she could speak English very well) was not there.  I tried to talk to the employees of the institute….but they didn’t quite understand what I was saying.

So, I called the manager at home. She didn’t like teachers calling her at home and bothering her. However, she did understand why I called.  She and the institute had me continue to report what was going on with several phone calls.

I was locked in my room without access to the bathroom or water to drink.  The apartments were not air conditioned….and this was late July in Seoul….one of the most hot and humid times of the year.

 The roommate kept screaming and yelling.  She stabbed the scissors into the door….they came through the door….she was trying to get into the room.

Finally, she went to bed. 

I had to get up early…and leave about 5am each morning. (I taught a class at 6:30 am.  We were required to be at the school by 6:00.).  Thank goodness she was still asleep when I had to leave.

That day the institute managers began asking questions about her behavior.  She had been a problem before.  They wanted teachers and others to make official statements about her so that they could make a case…with the police

Communicating at the store (and other places)

The same evening I went to the small mom and pop store.  I had previously taught dance, drama and mime.  So I decided that I could use mime (and

a simple Korean phrase book) to communicate.

My first attempts at communicating were in mime.

The store owners did understand….and they also got a kick out of the

foreigner  doing mime at their store.

I also learned to communicate with “nunchi”….a Korean concept of intuition.

This includes body language, facial expression, active thoughts, and

the ability of understand by thought power.

I tend to be intuitive…which helped.  Koreans have a strong sense of nunchi and can really know what you are thinking and feeling.

Often at the store the owners or other Koreans would “know” what I wanted and they would get it for me and put it in the small hand-carried baskets we used.

They were so patient with me as I tried to give them the correct amount of Korean money.

I have very positive memories of Koreans understanding and helping me…especially when I was a newcomer.

Chapter 7