Life goes on and on

La Bottega Del Arte is a small café in Kong-Dong, which is the central hangout for university students across from the back entrance to Chungnam University. Kong-Dong is a criss-cross of busy streets lined with more bars and coffee shops than anyone could visit in six months’ time. This popular hangout for students at all times of the night, is about a ten minute walk from our apartment, and we spend much of our weekends walking the streets here, drinking coffee in the late afternoon with a book in hand and allowing the hours to drift by until we order a beer and munch of chips, popcorn or rice snacks – whatever the particular location offers as a side dish.

La Bottega has become a regular stop on the weekend for us. Most of the cafés here are franchises and lose that individual personality and creativity that we love; that’s the main thing that sets La Bottega Del Arte apart from all the rest. Privately owned by a hippy couple, the style is eclectic with random pieces of art hanging from the walls, plants everywhere and shelves lined with little bits of this-and-that. Chi-Song, the wife, speaks a little bit of English and is typically the person running the café of the weekends. She has a miniature Doberman Pinscher named Kak-Chi who inhabits her own seat at the bar and barks ferociously at every customer who comes in the front door. Chi-Song has studied coffee for a decade now, specializing in hand drip. Beware everyone, by the time we come back Josh will have added coffee expert to his list of qualifications.

We were here three weeks ago when Josh asked Chi-Song if she knew of any good Korean authors translated into English. She confusingly looked around as people typically do when they are desperately searching for words in a non-native tongue. After asking us to hold on, she rushed away behind the bar for a few minutes. She returned to our table with the request that we come back the following day at seven o’clock in the evening to meet with her friend who is an English Literature professor at a university here in Daejeon.

We did come back and spent hours discussing Korean history with Young Son, a man who speaks stumbled English and takes long pauses between phrases collecting his ideas and deciding on what words he can use in his somewhat limited English vocabulary to convey his thoughts and concepts. He is always well dressed and looks fifteen years younger than he actually is.  Traveling all over the world, studying abroad in various countries, and being a college professor for some ten years or so: Young is a naturally interesting person to spend an evening with.

The following weekend we were pleased when Young called and invited us to join him for dinner along with Chi-Song and her husband. We went to a new Japanese restaurant near our apartment and even nearer to Chi-Song’s apartment that happened to be just down the street from ours. After dinner we all went back to La Bottega Del Arte for a lesson in hand dripped Costa Rican and Yemen coffee. The café was closed, so we spent hours in a cozy back corner sipping coffee alone with Young and learning about Confucianism and Christianity’s friendship here in South Korea.

We spoke with Young about our teaching jobs when he asked. After listening to us talk for a little while, he offered to introduce us to some of his friends at different universities when our teaching contract is up. This was an invitation that we didn’t take lightly and thanked him sincerely for. University positions are greatly coveted here, and one learns rather quickly why. Twenty in-class teaching hours maximum per week and right around five months paid vacation every year. Just in case that’s not sensational enough, the pay is much better and you’re teaching adults, which for me is delightful.

We’re slowly finding places that fit us and people who interest us. Our weeks are full of teaching and weekends of rest. We’re greatly looking forward to another weekend trip to Seoul in April to celebrate our two-year wedding anniversary. Spring has beautifully arrived and the cherry blossoms are starting their much-anticipated immersion into the world after months of dormancy. Small patches of green dot our bus ride to and from work, and they’re growing every day. Elderly women are hoeing and tilling their small plots of land that are located between high-rise buildings and mutually owned by several families that use them to plant and harvest vegetables in the spring through the fall.

I’m learning here how much I love my husband and to the extent that I depend upon him for emotional support and self-worth in life. He has no choice but to be my everything while we are here because I have nothing or no one else.  This experience is the most beautiful thing I could have every wished for in our marriage and I cherish it daily. In my mind, this job is not ideal, but it doesn’t really matter because I’m learning so much about myself and things that I need to improve upon to become a better teacher and if I gain even just that in my career this year, then it’s all worth it.