Neighborhood Boys

It's hard to explain Korea to people who have never been there. It's such a homogeneous society. Coming from a multi-ethnic country like Canada it's even more difficult to imagine a country where everyone is the same race, speaks the same language, looks the same, etc., etc.

It is, also, a collective society. What I mean is that it seems to have a group mentality. North America especially is very individualistic. The history of our nations was formed by, pioneers, people who would leave the populated areas to go to a new place [like the west] and settle it. Korea is not like that. It is unusual to see anyone alone in Korean society. The children are in groups, the students walk in groups, even the housewives go to the supermarket shopping in groups. No one is ever alone.

As, a westerner I had a hard time getting used to this. And, I still never get over it when my students see me alone at a movie or alone shopping at the supermarket and they get all worried about me because I am alone. I've even had students cry and say they are sad cause I am alone. They will drag their parents over to talk to me and see if I am "OK" or get their parents to invite me home cause they think I am lonely. It's sweet that they love me and care so much about me but when I've been with people ALL day and I've only just stopped in at the supermarket to get bread or milk on the way home I want to tell them that, "It isn't a big deal" at all - at least not to me.

Anyway, since I never saw Koreans alone I was amazed when walking home from school everyday I would see this one little boy all alone. He was about 6 years old and he would be standing on the second floor of his house on the balcony everyday when I walked by. I started to feel sorry for him. The poor little boy. He was ALWAYS alone. Did he have any siblings or friends? It was so odd. This went on for weeks. Finally, one day [when my Korean had improved] I saw him standing on his balcony all alone. Then he caught sight of me and started yelling, "Wae-guk-in, [foreigner] ballie-hair-ah [hurry up]." Soon three other little boys of around the same age came running out of the door of the house and onto the balcony. They all stood there watching me walk by. This would happen everyday. As they got to know me they would try out their English on me and would call out, "Hello. How are you?" Then it dawned on me. He hadn't been alone and shunned all along. He had been the look-out. It was his duty or privilege [I'm not sure which] to watch for me [the foreigner] and call the others so that they wouldn't miss seeing me.



I got to know these boys well over the months I spent in Gumi. They soon lost their shyness and everyday without fail they would run out to meet me and talk to me in English [and Korean]. It became the highlight of my day. It was quite an ego boost to think that for weeks they had kept watch for me. It was hard to imagine that just to meet and talk to me was so exciting to them - but apparently it was. They taught me a lot of Korean and after that I always felt safe in that neighborhood cause I knew I had people watching out for me or at least watching for me.