Thing I don't miss about America #17

America…

Several years ago, I worked as part of a management team at a local restaurant in Greenville.  As is common in the food service industry, there were about 5 or 6 Hispanic employees.  Again, as is common in the food service industry, these Hispanic employees generally worked in the kitchen (away from the customers) and were collectively referred to as the Mexicans.  If you spent anywhere between 15 and 30 seconds getting to know these people, you would learn two things.  First, they are not all Mexican.  Several of them were, but Guatemala and Colombia were also represented.  Secondly, they spoke English more intelligently than some people I’ve met from places like Travelers Rest and Dacusville. 

The words of a certain hobbit-sized manager still ring in my ears.  “If you’re gonna live here, learn English.”  My heart sank every time he said it.  They only spoke Spanish to each other.  It was a more efficient way of communicating.  All of the Hispanic employees spoke English at a conversational level.  All except for one, but she was trying her best to learn.  She at least spoke enough to perform her job.

If you’re gonna live here, learn English.

Korea…

Jessica and I took the train to Andong last night to see a movie at the Lotte Cinema.  There is always at least one movie playing in English.  The movie ended around 9pm, and the next train back home to Yeongju departed the station at 2:15am.  We opted to walk to the bus station, only about 200 yards down the road.  To our surprise, the bus station was no longer there.  A new one had been built and opened since we were last in town.

 The extent of my Korean is sufficient to say “bus station.  Where?”

We approached a middle aged couple exiting a restaurant, probably celebrating the eve of the New Year (Chinese/Lunar new year), and said as best we could, “bus station.  Where?”  They spoke to each other, and then signaled for us to follow.  Across the street, the man folded the dry cleaning that was hanging in the back seat and put it into the trunk.  The lady cleared out several items from the back seat as well, and motioned for us to get in.  They drove us to the new bus station, about 20 minutes away.  Neither of them ever hesitated.  Along the way, the couple tried their best get to know us.  The man was able to ask “are you American?”  His wife managed to piece together “Where do you live?”  They were genuinely trying their best to accommodate us.  In OUR language.

This isn’t the first time this has happened.  Nor will it be the last.  I have yet to meet anyone inconvenienced by the fact that neither of us speak the language.  Rather they go out of their way to help us.    

I'm going to miss this place.