Taking Mr. Rogers' Offer

(kinda continued from the previous post)
I realized right away that sitting around in my one room apartment for an extended period of time was going to get really old really quick. So I have forced myself to immerse in as many aspects of this country and it's people as I can. I am constantly amazed at people's willingness to start up a conversation with a complete stranger - in their second language nonetheless. It's a courage I don't even have in my first, so I'm certainly not accustomed to it. Though Korea can be rather rude and inconsiderate collectively, they are individually kind..........and completely enthralled with the fact that an American would want to come live in their country. For them, it seems that America is the end all and be all, so why would anyone ever want to leave? As an older man in my apartment building asked me the the elevator the other day, "What is a lady like you doing here?" I often ask myself the same question, but anyway, I have become a magnet for anyone with a tad of English in their back pocket. In the past week I've had two people stop me in mid-cross walk to ask where I am from and shake my hand with a "Glad to meet you." I've been invited to a party while sitting in Dunkin' Donuts; I've been invited to a festival while hiking; I've been invited out to eat while running late to school. Now that the weather is warm, I sit outside the school on my lunch break to read at a little table with an umbrella. Now, my school is about 30 minutes (45 by subway) outside of Seoul, in one of the "burbs" with a lot of rice and potato fields to the left and right, but I know for a fact that I am not the only foreigner around. I've seen them, but I get people stopping at that little table to sit and chat like I'm a fortune teller. One young man, in particular, went to the extent of getting my email address and phone number, and then following through with it to ask me to hang out a couple weekends ago so he could show me around. I was walking around the pottery and ceramic festival when this man walked up to me and invited me to paint with him and his two daughters. So I painted a plate, which he offered to have put in a kiln and delivered to me. I was on the subway last Sunday minding my own business until a man walked up to me and began a conversation that ended up lasting for 45 minutes. He also got my phone number so we can go hiking together in the next month or so. I then found out he was 73 years old! I've been hanging out with another guy I met from Uganda who invited me to his home in Africa after my contract is up......the list goes on and on. All introductions are generally and simply followed with "ok, we're friends." As frustrating as it is at times to be surrounded by the unfamiliar, this meet and greet commodity is truly a gem.