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A Funny Little Encounter in the Korean Bakery

Once in a while, life gives us fun moments to live.


Yesterday, I was driving down the street and saw a Korean bakery on the other side. I swiftly uturned and went to check it out.


I've found two Korean grocery stores and there are numerous restaurants in Guadalajara, but I had yet to discovery the bakery.


It was very small in comparison to what I was used to in Jeju and it didn't have the little cream filled fried balls that were my favs back in Jeju, but I bought a small loaf of chocolate swirl bread, authentic iced tea, and a red bean filled pastry.



What made the experience memorable was the two people running the store. The lady that met me in the lobby didn't speak English or Spanish and I don't remember hardly any Korean, certainly not enough to communicate at a bakery anymore. She had her phone and offered it to me to talk into and autotranslate my words to Korean, just like I used to do when I lived in Korea. What struck me as funny was that it wasn't until later that night when I realized I could have easily spoken in English into the phone instead of in Spanish, but I'm so in the habit of speaking Spanish now that it didn't even occur to me I had the option to speak in English! :-0


When I was just about ready to check out I walked to the area where the register was and the man working back there came over to say hello and ring me up. Turns out he lives on Jeju Island now, or so he said. I'm not really sure how he lives there and in Guadalajara at the same time but whatever. Anyway, I was able to talk with him about living on Jeju and he was familiar with Aqua Planet where I worked performing 4 shows a day on violin. He knew of my favorite soju, Hallasan soju, and huk dwaejigogi (black pork belly which is soooo tasty and local to Jeju), and the famous mandarins.


Hallasan Soju
The last time I found Hallasan soju in Toronto Canada years ago! Boy was that a fantastic surprise :)

Turns out he's also a violin player and I showed him a couple of my videos on YouTube and then he told me his favorite piece is Mozart Violin Concerto No 3. So I started singing it, he joined in and we sang the first part of the concerto to the amusement of the lady, who I doubt had any idea what we had been rattling on about in Spanish.


They both gawked over Denny, who had been patiently waiting at my feet, and my vibrams. It's par for the course haha.


I was pleasantly surprised and really enjoyed the little escape from actual life to feel transported into an alternate reality of travel and stories and music and sharing, even without a common language.

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