Hello brown man

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When I was in Korea, learning English was very popular. You could stand almost anywhere in Seoul, look around, and spot a private English school.

Korea's economy was growing exponentially, per-capita income was increasing, and Koreans wanted to travel internationally. There were 70% more outbound tourism departures from Korea in 2007 than in 2003.

So... English.


Location: Seoul, Korea

I flew into Incheon and took a train to Seoul. I had to take the subway to my hostel. I walked into the subway station and saw a huge map of the subway system printed on a wall. I stopped in front of it and started to plan my route.

About 30 feet down the corridor, there was a group of teenage schoolgirls, in schoolgirl uniforms. They saw me and giggled. After some discussion, they literally pushed one of the girls towards me. She asked me if I needed any help. Her English was very good. I politely declined. She ran back to her friends. They were all still giggling.


Location: Seoul, Korea

I went to the War Memorial of Korea with my friend Claire.

It was the middle of a weekday and there were very few people at the memorial. Besides me and Claire, there two groups of schoolchildren, and a trim, smartly-dressed black man in his 30s, by himself, who looked like he was probably American.

We were outdoors. At one point, the black man was standing in front of an airplane that was part of the memorial. A little boy (maybe 8 years old) broke off from his group, walked deliberately to the black man, extended his hand, and said "hello brown man" in very clear English.

The black man looked at the little boy very seriously and earnestly, shook his hand, and said, "Hello, yellow boy."

The boy turned around and walked back to his group. International relations: accomplished.


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