A very Korean morning

On this blustery, humid spring morning I awoke an hour early to a gray sky and sore body. Needless to say my mood wasn't tip-top. Yesterday was a particularly difficult day in the classroom with my 6th graders and I was feeling homesick from a nice Mother's Day chat with the fam. And I didn't give myself much time for my morning meditation and yoga which always sets me off a bit. So after dropping off Jason at school in Shin-Jeju at 7:20am, I had an hour to kill at one of the cafes who are barely open at that early hour. They would be appalled at my friend Debbie's start time at Starbucks. I was vacillating between Dunkin Donuts (the best coffee) or a great bakery (with not so good coffee) when a 70-something year old Korean man with perfect English and loose dentures came out of Dunkin Donuts and pulled me in to buy me coffee and feed me old-fashioned glazed donuts. This sweet man was born in North Korea in the late 1940's and thrust into the Korean war head-first. He told me stories from the fragile age of 5 watching soldiers kill innocent people and his family fleeing to Seoul. There he lived until 15 years ago when he and his family re-located to Jeju to escape the noise and pollution. Lee, as he introduced himself, served the military at the American army base in Itaewon for over 25 years and trained for a year in the USA with grand-scale explosives. He talked of his grown children living all over the world, his family's travels throughout South America in the hopes of emmigrating, and the irritating traditional ways of Jeju people. Not only did he bring me out of my slump of a morning, he reminded me of how grateful I should be for every blessing in my life. This man who talked of not being able to find employment because of Korean age cut-offs and the tight government pension refused to let me pay for my coffee or carry our tray to the counter. He seemed grateful for the company and the excuse to speak English, his native language on the military base for so long. I laughed as he disgustedly talked of Korean food and rice in favor of good ol' American cuisine and coffee. There are opportunities to experience beautiful moments every day, I'm just glad I was able to be led begrudgingly into this one. May it warm your day as it has mine.