lost & found

While waiting with Dan at the bus stop, he noticed a small credit card holder (w/ 3 cards inside) on the ground.  So he thought it might be the girl who was standing there, but she said no.  We then talked it over, and decided not to leave it there, just in case it fell into the wrong hands.  We decided I would take it to school with me and see if one of my co-teachers would be able to contact one of the issuing banks.  About 10 minutes later a young, college-aged girl comes up and we noticed she was looking for something, so we held up the card case to see if that was what she was looking for.  She was so happy, she started tearing up and just stood really close to us with this appreciative smile...and said she wanted to cry.  It was quite lovely.  As it turns out she was also headed to the train station, so we ended up taking the same bus.  On the ride to the station she wrote us such a lovely note:

Hello Kind Couple

When I knew I lost my credit cards I was very, very, very sad.  Anyway, how very pleased I am to meet you.  I want to speak English well, but speaking and listening to English is more difficult than reading and writing English.  Anyway, thank you very much.  I love U.S.A. 

I hope your love lasts forever.

Sincerily, Seo-Minji

Her gratitude was very touching and she offered her phone number and said that if I ever needed help while in Korea she would be happy to help me out.  She lives in the same neighborhood that I live in (part time) and then at her school the other days of the week.  This entire interaction was a welcomed distraction, because it made Dan and I less focused on the inevitable "goodbye" that was waiting for us at the end of the bus ride, so we were more than relieved (as this bus ride was the start of Dan's journey back the states). 

Before class starts my favorite 5th grade class loves to crowd around my desk to see what I am doing.  They find me endlessly fascinating (I feel famous) Today I pulled up google translate because they were just dying to express something to me that they were unable to get across.  So, the big, hot question of the day was, "Are your eyelashes real?"  Then they typed in, "close your eyes." so they could see my lids to make sure they weren't glued on and then they all had to have a closer look (about 10+ students) to verify that I did not lie.  The next question they had for me was, "Are those diamonds real?" (my studs & necklace).  Then they wanted to know if my pearl was real.    It was really kind of silly and fun.  Naturally these were girls asking the questions.  If they were boys I am sure the topic would have had something to do with zombies & blood.