Jenn & I have been in The Republic of Korea for slightly over one month.

I joked that we left the Rock for the RoK.

I don’t remember what 24 August 2006 was like in Cayman after a month had elapsed, but I will remember 28 August 2013.  And not just because of this blog.  I went for a walk through the same area that Jennifer and I visited the night before for dinner at a Korean BBQ place with a colleague and his fiancee.

So many coffee and cake places it’s truly staggering.

While on the way to that Lotte Department Store, I had interesting experience with a random older Korean man.  I was waiting to cross the street and I knelt down to stretch my leg muscles.  All the walking I’ve been doing has definitely taken a toll and my body is adjusting the best it can… By tightening up.  So as I was going thru the motions to loosen up, this gentleman says, “Tired?”  I look up and smile and reply, “Tight.”  He smiles and we cross the street.  As I walked out of the store with my backpack on, another older man starts speaking to me, and I shake my head in a ‘I don’t understand.”  He sticks his hand out, and I reciprocate.  With an iron grip this little Korean man asks, “Where you from?”  I say, “Philadelphia.”  He says, “America?!”  I say, “America.”  He says, “Good to meet you.”  Pointing to myself, I say, “Ben.”  He told me his name, but the grasp this man has on my hand is the only other thing I remember from that trip to Lotte.

And this: