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Interpreter




Korea …Korea …Korea. It’s always my passion. That day my youngest brother’s school had some guests from South Korea, 무안 처등 학교 (Muan Elementary School). As always my sisters and I got really curious to meet them, just to check our skill. Our intention was just to get to know them. When we got there, out of sudden, we were thought to be the interpreter by the school. Shocked, that’s our reaction. We told them that we were just visiting our brother to check his program with the school from the Korea. The teachers insisted that we should be the interpreter for a time being because the real ones hadn’t come just yet. We were dumbfounded. What do you expect? Our skill is still mediocre. Hihihi…we were speechless for many times because we didn’t get a clue of what they were saying. Some words might be understandable but the rest…blank. Still they wanted us to assist them, so they could communicate with their guests from Korea.
We couldn’t go anywhere. We had to be with them. My sister and I were separated. I was asked to assist the other teacher. And when the headmaster came, I was summoned to be their interpreter, so the two headmasters could communicate. There’s some intense moment when the guests were unwilling to follow the schedule because they assumed it was too tight. In the end it was solved by the real interpreter. Phew! What a relief.
The second day we came there in hanbok. The guests were amazed seeing us in that attire. We were still asked to assist the students in explaining about the food they made. Again for the second time most of the time we were dumbfounded for we could hardly understand what they were saying. Somehow we could grab some of their words therefore we still could communicate using our clumsy Korean. When the Korean headmaster called us to show the hanbok to the students, my sister without my instruction bowed (called 절if I am not mistaken) in front of him and the other teacher. My other sister and I followed her. He bowed back to us. Then when he mentioned something about 설날 (Korean New Year’s Day), she again spontaneously sang the new year’s song called설날 (sollal). In return for bowing and singing in front of them, the teachers gave us Rp. 50.000,- and 1.000,- won. It’s not about the numbers, it’s about their appreciation they gave to us. We still keep the money till now.
When my brother got the chance to visit Korea due to their invitation, the teachers and the headmaster asked about my sister and I. “Where’s Ira and Sansan?” they asked my younger brother. We were still being remembered by them. We were so touched when we heard the story from our brother. They even gave us the Korean goods. While in Korea my brother went to some stores and they were asked to take some CDs. And one of the teacher said, “Take the other 5 Cds for Sansan.’ And it happened again when they bought the foam soap. They gave me a bottle of gigantic purple foam soap. My brother grumbled because he had to carry many goods because of the teacher kept including me every time they shopped T__T (너무 감동해요). 우린 아저씨들을 영원히 가억할게요.
^^/
Sansan

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