coincidence

Yesterday before work I was walking to one of my local kimbap joints to get a hot bowl of kimchi stew for lunch. The route I walk to get there has a stretch where there are often old Korean women on the sidewalk hawking various wares or random food items that they happened to get their hands on. I can't imagine why anyone would ever buy things from them, but they must be getting money somehow. As I was approaching their part of the street I noticed two of them in a bit of a shouting match. Just as I walking past where these old hags were, one of them lets fly an overhand open-handed tomahawk chop of rage onto the top of the other's head. For about 2 seconds I was in the middle of an ajumma fight. It was the most frightening experience of my life.


I went out for a few drinks last night with some friends. On the taxi ride home, as is wont to happen, the cab driver wanted to chat me up. Typically these conversations extend no further than asking where I'm from and how long I've been in Korea. This cabbie was different. He could actually speak English, pretty flawlessly. A few minutes into our conversation I complimented him on his English, and told him I've worked with Korean English teachers who didn't speak as well as he could. Cabbies don't earn much here, so I told him he should try to get a job at an academy. He told me that he had tried to do just that, but was turned down by every place because he was a man, and too old. "They only want pretty young women," he told me.

He's not wrong. Up until the beginning of the year, my school had a male Korean teacher who was probably 45 years old or so. He was fired, though, and replaced by a much younger woman. But, I can't really blame my boss for firing him. He was pretty terrible.

This has been the new teacher's first week. Until today I'd only exchanged pleasantries with her, I hadn't yet had a real conversation with her. But today we chatted for a bit.

She asked me where I'm from in the States. As I do with all Koreans who ask me this, I told her Philadelphia, because, really, what are the chances that a Korean person is going to know what the hell a Delaware is?

She responds, "Philadelphia? You must be familiar with Delaware then."
I gawk at her and say, "How do you know about Delaware? That's where I'm actually from, Wilmington, Delaware. I always tell Koreans Philadelphia because it's nearby."
"Oh," she responds, "I went to school at the University of Delaware."
Again, my mouth is agape. "So did I!" I reply.
She is equally astonished.

It turns out that from 2007 to 2008 she studied at UD. I graduated in 2007, but for at least one semester we were both enrolled there at the same time. And now we're both working at the same English academy (of which there are thousands in this country) in the 5th largest city in South Korea. What are the odds?