Thanks, But I Already Have a Husband

You can see from the photo above how "comfortably" my husband fits into a Suwon city bus. This leads me share a story about another first for me in Korea, being propositioned. If you are a reader of my blog, you will know of my yoga buddy, Mr. Choi. He is 72 years old and spent about a year in the United States in 1970. He hadn't spoken a word of English since then until he met me and it amazes me how well he speaks English. He has also been a big help to me in Suwon.

A few weeks ago in yoga class we had to pair off and do a massage on our partner. He has been my yoga buddy since my first day in yoga so we were paired together. The yoga instructor was really particular in how we did the massage so she was also helping each of us out as we went along. I felt so relaxed and good after mine that I turned to my yoga buddy and said, "Hey, you should be my husband." He laughed so hard everyone asked what was so funny and he told them in Korean. Everyone laughed and that was the end of it.

The following class on Monday, Mr. Choi asked me if I remembered what I had said the previous week. As we talk about many things before and after class, I told him that I didn't recall anything in particular. He got agitated and told me, " You know, about being your husband. I want to very much!" My eyes got wide with surprise as I told him that I was joking. He told me that he wasn't.

He then told me a bunch of personal things about his relationship with his wife and the reason he wanted another wife. I made it quite clear that I didn't want or would I ever want another husband. This one took too many years to train (just kidding). I thought that was the end of it.

The next day of yoga he told me that he is really 50 because he is in such good shape which is much closer to my age. I didn't dispute it at all but I told him that I'm more like an 80 year old and therefore too old for him. Again, I pointed out that one husband is enough.

This week we were back to normal but for the fact that he showed up at my chilbo (Korean enameling) class. I had shown the business card to another friend at yoga and he apparently remembered the address. He said that he just wanted to make sure it was a good place. I was already finished with class with my coat on when he walked in. He said he was on his way to a computer class so after he talked to my teacher for a few minutes we left and he walked me to the bus.

I've learned a valuable lesson about kidding. Don't kid about husbands in Korea or you may end up like me. This was on top of an additional first for me in Korea. I was walking home from yoga and was about 1/2 block from my building. There was a Korean man walking toward me which is usually no problem. He stopped about 20 feet from me, pulled his pants down to his knees, then turned to do his business. This was on a busy street where children walk to school and cars are everywhere. It was totally disgusting!