Random Acts of Kindness

So today I didn't have much going on.  I decided to take a walk to an area I had not yet explored.  It was pretty close to my apartment.  I explored some of the buildings around the area I was headed into.  Eventually I found myself in a very familiar part of town.  I knew I was close to E-Mart and Lotte Mart.  I needed some groceries so I decided to head over there and pick some things up.  I picked Lotte to shop at.  Keep in mind here that it had been raining most of the day and was still raining (in my opinion it was more of a sprinkle rather than full on rain).  I was not carrying an umbrella.  I personally don't like carrying them and figure that I am not made of sugar and will not melt if I get wet.  I think I am one of the few people in Korea who would rather go without an umbrella when it's raining because most people were carrying them.

So anyways I get to Lotte and I'm a little wet but not to bad.  I do my shopping and head outside to begin my journey home.  I got about a 10th of the way home and was stopped at a crosswalk.  I began to notice a person standing very close to me.  He had an umbrella and as I watched him in my peripheral vision I began to feel that he was trying to cover me with his umbrella.  I was beginning to feel very uncomfortable, probably because I'm an American and us goofy Americans can't have anyone we don't want all up in our personal space.  I noticed that I began to move the bag I was carrying up and down with my fingers from the intense discomfort I was feeling.

The sign finally changed to walk so I kind of just started walking (trying to escape) and at some point the young man came up beside me and basically asked me if he could walk with me and cover me with his umbrella.  He did not speak English very well and obviously I do not speak Korean very well so our communication was difficult.  Nevertheless this very kind person walked me all the way from not to far from Lotte Mart all the way to my apartment.  It was really quite amazing.  As we walked he would consult his Korean to English translator application he had on his phone.  We chatted about how old we were, what we did, sports, and what our names were.  It was a pretty amazing experience.

For those of you who are not familiar with the Changwon I should try to explain just how far this person went out of his way to get me home dry.  I am not exactly sure how many miles it is from my apartment to E-Mart and Lotte Mart but it usually takes around 45 to 50 minutes to walk between places.  I'd say it is probably 1.5 to 2 miles, maybe farther.  So that is about how far this person walked with me.  It was probably one of the better moments I have experienced in South Korea.