Just For The Record

After my last blog entry of brief tidbits I suppose my actions need a little further explanation, so here it goes.

"The Fake Kick"

So a group of six of us teachers hit up the mall after church last Sunday. The new married couple to town (Jennica and Jamie) needed to hit up the Apple (computers) Store, and I didn't know where it was, so as an ibook owner myself, I was in. That made three of us, which as a general social rule means that the others will follow, which although this may not always be the case, it was the case this time.

So six of us trotted onto the subway and to the mall. But this isn't any mall, it had to be one of the biggest in Korea. So naturally, as one of the bigger malls in a country that is full of people, it was packed, particularly on a Sunday. Essentially, if you weren't rubbing shoulders with people you were probably in a bathroom stall.

Now this usually makes for an interesting trip to the mall, but what made it even more enjoyable was that the six of us were just having a good time with one another. Things like punching each other on the shoulder and maximizing our ability to simply do dumb things because we are foreigners (Dan is especially good at this, one of these times I'll get a picture to show you). These can be priceless little experiences that are better experienced than explained. So I hope you get the picture, we were essentially doing dumb things to each other.

So after being at the mall for an hour and having my sandal kicked off my feel about 7 or 8 different times, ignoring them all, it was time for a reaction. I was going to simply drop a subtle hit to Dan or Rob or whoever kept kicking my feet as a member of our clan of westerners that they had run their course and it would be best if that were the last time they did that. So after the next dislodged sandal which happened on two consecutive strides, I made a sharp 180 degree turn, turned on the "I'm not too happy" face and bent one leg at the knee, bringing my foot to my butt in a deliberate attempt to suggest that I would like to kick the culprit in the shin. Only to realize the culprit was not Dan, Andrea, Rob or even the new couple. It was a child!................Better yet, it wasn't just any child, it was a child in a stroller being pushed by his/her tiny Korean mother, who appeared to be on her own at the mall.

I think I just confirmed that no western country will be seeing these people any time soon!

I couldn't believe what I had done. Behind this woman her stroller was Andrea who saw the entire thing unfold. It was after seeing her blank look of shock on her face, that I had realized what I had done, and I discovered that I was not as subtle as I thought I was, and what was intended as a harmless reaction towards our group, ended up being quite an embarrassing moment for me at least, but like them all, a moment which I look back at.................and laugh.