Amanda Takes Off...

I meet a lot of people on the subway. Usually when I'm studying Korean. I almost always give them my namecard, and they promise to call or email but never do. A lot of students introduce themselves to me, but they don't have namecards, so I don't have a way to contact them.

Tuesday night I was studying Korean and listening to my iPod. A young man sat next to me while a friend of his stood in front of him. He spoke in English, "Excuse me, are you studying Korean?" His friend told him to leave me alone, but I ignored it.

"Yes."

"I think that must be very difficult."

"Yes, it is, but I like it," I said.

"Why are you studying Korean?"

I knew he was being friendly but I laughed. "Because I live here!"

He studies French at one of the universities. (It's very unusual to meet someone who's studying French here!) He said he was interested in helping me learn Korean if I wanted to. After two or three stops his friend departed. At the fifth stop, I needed to transfer. I gave him my namecard and pointed out my email. He asked if he could call and I said yes, thinking, He'll never call.

As I was exiting, I glanced back and saw him looking intently at my namecard, punching numbers into his handphone. I was wondering if he was through with his compulsory military service yet...

We got together yesterday for lunch. We had Korean food, briefly toured his campus, and then downed coffee while chatting. He ran to COEX with me to help me choose baby gifts and made sure I knew where I was going for the baby's party.

He told me he chose the pencil at his first birthday party, which, after our conversing, came as no surprise to me.

Scholar has never studied abroad and speaks excellent English. His interest in both French and English was piqued by literature and he's also studied a small amount of Russian.

Seems Scholar talked to his father Friday night, who works in a job that requires English. Scholar was advised about Americans and was warned not to ask about my ex-boyfriends, which, according to him, is a "typical Korean question." (Today, when I met YJ she laughed and said, "No it's not! He's just trying to...no, it's not!")

I saw the opportunity. "어자친구 있어요?" Do you have a girlfriend?

"아니요." No.

"왜요?" Why not?

He blushed. I said, "I'm sorry, Koreans always ask me that and I had to say it. They also always ask me my blood type and my ddi."

He scrunched up his face. "I was on a blind date once and the girl asked my blood type. Then she got up and left."

"Ah. You're type B. And you're a Rat, right?"

He sighed. "Yes I'm B. But rats aren't bad!"

Scholar glanced at me. "It seems like foreign men are willing to date Koreans, but foreign women aren't interested in Koreans..."

"I don't think that's the case. I think a lot of foreign women would date Korean men. But Korean men are afraid to approach foreign women. Korean men are too shy."

"But shy people can have very good qualities," he said.

"But if they never introduce themselves, how do you know?"

"I think I'm shy."

I smiled, "You started talking to me on the subway."

"You were studying Korean! I was very impressed. But...I am very shy."

Later, on the subway, I was complimenting his English. "But it's not that good," he said.

"Hey, who's the oldest one here? Who? Yep, me. So I'm right."

Scholar protested. "I'm the oldest one in the French program at my university. They call me 'Grandpa' because I seem older than 24."

"Oh my God. You are so young. Wait..." I did the math. "You're older than my sister-in-law at least."

"The French program is full of women. But I am too old for them."

I was confused. "But you're through your military service. They should like that."

"No, women in Korea like younger men." He shook his head, "I'm not too young."

While we were drinking coffee Scholar said, "I really think that learning Chinese characters would be good for your Korean. And I want to help you with that."

"I think it's good too, but I don't know enough Korean yet."

He reached for his vocabulary notebook and tore out a sheet of paper. "Last night...I came up with something for you." I looked at him suspiciously and he said, "It's not homework, don't worry..."

He wrote my name in Korean. "I thought last night about which Chinese characters you should have. Your name, like my sister's, means 'love,' I know, but in Chinese characters... Each character has a sound and there are many characters you could have..." I nodded.

He looked at me and wrote down 雅. "This means a lot of things, all good. It means 'fine,' 'elegant,' 'honest.' 'Elegance,' 'grace.'"

He wrote 滿. "This means 'full.' 'Abundant.'"

"多 is similar, it means 'many,' 'abundant.'"

He slid the paper across the table. "I think these are your Chinese characters."

Amanda
아만다
雅滿多

I looked at him. "You're going to have to teach me how to write that one day."

"I will. I want to."