It's 2 a.m. in the Morning, do you Know Where Your 6-year-old is?
Shelton Bumgarner
Ahssa! Editor
Nutty things happen in Korea all the time for expats.
A stranger virtually demanded the other day that I give them the food I
had in my hand as I walked to work. It was a waffle made into a
sandwich and it was damn good. Gauging from her appearance, I made a
snap judgment that she needed it more than I did and gave it to her.
Then, yesterday, I was again on my way to work when two young ladies
asked in halting English for my "handphone." After a moment's
reflection, I gave it to them (This is Korea, they ain't going no where
with it." )and they had a quick conversation about who-knows-what.
Seemed like they may have been expecting someone or were otherwise late
for something. Why neither one of the young ladies lacked a cellphone
(in Korea of all places) is a mystery.
Anyway. Check this picture out.
See, as I may have mentioned before, Korean parents have a whole
different world view on the concept of "adult supervision." While
American mothers sometimes won't even let their kids play out in the
front yard because a car ran off the road and into it at some point in
the last 20 years, Korean mothers pretty much let their kids roam
around unprotected -- even in a big city like Incheon.
At the Unyoung Dong Buy The Way, you see little, little kids running
around the streets of the "village" at 1 a.m. About half of the reason
why this happens is that Korea is really, really, really safe compared
to the West so little kids can run around unsupervised and parents
don't have to worry. The other half -- don't know.