The little boy and the taxi driver

I just wanted to pass along a couple of small but fairly entertaining experiences I had last week. While I was waiting to catch a bus to the subway, a small boy and girl were playing with their mother near my bench. Before long, the boy approached me with a water bottle. He held it out to me with a gesture that implied that he either wanted me to open it for him, or he was offering it to me. Anyways, I said these few simple words in Korean: ahnyo, quinchuhnahyo, kahmsahmnida. (I'ts okay, no thanks.) Immediately, the boy looked completely stunned. He ran off to his mother shouting in Korean (He can speak Korean! He can speak Korean!) After suffering about 45 seconds of incredulity, he came back to verify if he was correct. He asked (Do you speak Korean?) And I replied (Yes, I speak a little Korean). And he ran back to his mother once again saying (He speaks a little! He speaks a little!)

On Saturday, I took a cab with my friend Rich after our hapkido test to meet with Kaitlin and some other friends in a different part of town. Once we got into the cab, we could immediately tell that the cabbie was a bit of a character. I didn't smell anything when I got in, but I thought that it was possible that this guy was just a little bit drunk. We sat in bewilderment as the man gesticulated wildly while he was talking, and every time he asked a question, he gave me or Rich a sturdy poke in the interior of our upper thighs (awkward). Once Rich and I exhausted the Korean phrases we knew, the conversation dwindled, and he communicated that the conversation was over by turning up the sound on the satellite TV. (All cabs are equipped with satellite TVs here.) Rich and I sat discussing inconsequential details in the back seat, when out of the blue, the cabbie rolls down the window, and hocks a huge loogie onto the warm asphalt. We barely broke conversation, though. However, when he lifted his right leg a bit and farted audibly, we both contained our laughter as much as we could. I know, it was likely the same reaction a middle school boy would have, but it just caught us by surprise.

Anyways, like I said, I just thought I would share.

*Note: this is not by any means normal behavior for cabbies.

:)