Martoons

Fred meets with Mrs Lee again… and again. Will he ever actually talk to Master Lee?

Cast of characters

Fred

Mrs Lee

* Fred learns another lesson about Korean culture . . . *

As Fred walked over to his bike and proceeded to unlock it, he was dissatisfied.

Not much had been accomplished in return for his grueling bike ride.

He reluctantly remounted the cycle and begrudgingly started the journey home.

The rain clouds were blacker than ever and no more than a moment later it started to rain.

He looked ahead to a tiring and soggy hour-long cycle.

He gritted his teeth, crouched down into riding position and began peddling.

“Well, at least the trip was educational,” he muttered to himself.

“Screw this Korea stuff. Time for me to give up this headhunting nonsense and look for a real job. Oh yeah, there aren’t any!”

Then he laughed out loud and shook his head. “Man, what an idiot I was!”

What he’d heard about Korea was right – it was a closed country that disliked foreigners.

Now he saw it for himself.

He felt it.

Suddenly, a van pulled up behind him and started honking.

His first instinct was to direct a designated finger gesture to the annoying driver but intuitively held back.

The honking vehicle pulled up beside him and coasted along.

He reluctantly looked sideways.

The window came down and he saw that it was a smiling Master Lee’s wife.

“Let’s put your bike in my van and I give you ride home,” she shouted. “You’ll get wet.”

During the ride, she became more relaxed. “My husband says you are hiring foreigners for Korea. Good! Are you interested in our country?”

Fred was still reeling from the chilly office reception, but it was as if Lee’s wife read his mind:

“I’m sorry about your visit. Maybe we seemed rude. So sorry. Usually Koreans make an appointment. You suddenly arrived. And we never have foreigners visit our office. We were … surprised.”

Fred chuckled. “I thought it was my shorts or something.”

She waved him off. “You look very strong. Maybe you exercise a lot?”

She invited Fred to her Korean church the next Sunday.

He wouldn’t normally accept such an invitation, considering himself more Buddhist than Christian, but someway, somehow he had to get to the bottom of Thomas’ visa.

The key at this point was just to keep his feelers out and maybe – although he had no idea how – learn something at the church.

“Besides,” Mrs Lee said, “we serve lunch after the service and I already know you like… no, love Korean cuisine.”

Fred was tickled that she’d remembered his comment.

* Is the church visit a good idea? 

The church meeting was long and tedious and Fred fought nodding-off several times, but afterward there was a picnic where he met dozens of Koreans.

He found it odd how everyone (except for the children – who all ran away) told him they were from Seoul.

The city and its suburbs did, after all, contain over twenty million people but he got the feeling they were just saying “Seoul” because they presumed he’d heard of it.

Silly foreigner.

Master Lee’s wife also met him in her home for the next few weeks and gave him Korean lessons.

The final meeting was a warm, brilliant mid-summer weekday afternoon.

They’d moved their lesson outside to her backyard.

Fred was busy butchering the language when she raised her hand and halted him.

“Shhhh!” she whispered. “Listen.”

He couldn’t hear anything.

Not a thing.

“Listen to all those birds crying,” she exclaimed.

She’d grown up and lived in Seoul all her life and had never heard so many tweets and chirps.

In Canada, birds sing.

But in Korea they cry.

Now Fred heard it.

It was a cultural moment.

Right after that, Mrs Lee heard another sound, which Fred had been oblivious to.

A van had just pulled up in the driveway.

“Oh, Master Lee is home.” She hastily closed her textbook and urged Fred to do the same. “Please come inside.”

He took his shoes off at the doorstep – Korean custom – and was shown into the living room where he sat down.

Master Lee came right in and shook his hand.

“Ah, hello Fred. My wife tell me you visit our home. I have good news.” And although he wasn’t about to reveal it to Fred, he had bad news too.

*

Tomorrow: We find out Master Lee’s news… both the good and the bad.