I was doing grocey shopping at a local Asian market where it is not allowed to take a shopping cart out to the parking lot. I had Minhae with more than a couple of bags of grocery—I shouldn’t go to a grocery store when I am hungry—and it was raining. I had my car parked very close to the store, so I decide to make multiple trips between my grocery cart and my car. I was putting the first batch of bags in my car while holding Minhae in my arm then I noticed there was an old lady taking grocery bags out of the cart that I left behind. At first, I thought, “what in the world is that woman doing with my bags????” This is when I think I might have been away from Korea too long or become too ‘Americanized’. Correct me if I misunderstood. But as far as I know, it is not common here to see a total stranger is doing something like that to my belongings without asking first. As soon as I noticed that the old lady is a Korean, everything was explained. I got my hands full so she was helping me. She carried most of my grocery bags to my car. She smiled and said she was just waiting for her ride and I seemed to need an extra hand.
While I act like I am not a big fan of collectivist culture sometimes, that is how I grew up. It is changing in some places, but yet, individualism vs. collectivism explains cultural differences between Western and Asian in many ways. When I feel people who I don’t know too well stick their noses into my business, I want to run away from my own cultural background. But I also forgot that I could let someone help me without getting nervous or feeling strange.
I think about Korea. Suddenly I feel I am far away from everything. My younger brother is getting married in November and I am hesitating to make the final decision whether I should go or not. Flying with a 2-yr old nowadays is one thing—the flu!!—, cost of trip is another, and the list goes on and on... ugh...
