Lucy

As soon as I stepped into Angel In Us (coffee shop) this afternoon, I was instantly on the radar of one very cute little girl.  She was all over me (visually) like white on rice.  After I ordered my coffee and sat down, a pattern emerged.  She would walk over by me, look at me, and when I looked at her she would look away and then walk back to her mom.  Repeat …  This kept up for awhile.  I offered a smile and a hello, but nothing in return. 

She was showing off a bit – trying to get my attention and then acting nonchalant when she got a look from me.  This pattern finally broke when I pulled out the all-powerful Korean word CUTE.  This got her attention.  She raced back to her mom and said ‘key yah wah’ (translation: “that crazy American just said I was CUTE Mom!”).  Big smile from her and from her mom … they love compliments and being CUTE is the BEST!

Lucy (as I learned shortly thereafter) started warming up quickly.  She is 5-years-old and attends a kindergarten close-by (I knew this because she was wearing her school uniform that has the name on it).  But she was impressed that I ‘knew’ where she went to school. :o) 

This picture makes Lucy look so serious, I think she was concentrating on doing the PEACE sign (her mom told her to do it – a very Korean thing to do in pictures).  But isn’t she adorable!

She understands English pretty well and stared talking (and by ‘talking’ I mean like 1-2 words or simple phrases) to me about the following:

• coffee beans (she brought one over for me to look at, and made sure I knew ‘no eat’)
• “this” (interpretation: WATCH ME!) As she jumped from chair to bench and back again.
• she counted to 10
• hot vs. cold coffee (we talked about the difference, she had cold coffee and I had hot)
• shoes I took a few pictures as she was shaking the sand out of them (from playing in the school yard I am guessing) much to her mother’s horror :o)

Very CUTE pink shoes

Action photos while she shook the sand out of her shoes.

• Mom’s purse – we put on a little hand lotion and talked about how nice it smelled

Mom’s purse

Hand lotion

Lucy drew me a few pictures (I LOVE kid art – the best!)

   

Left Picture: Lucy drew herself in the upper right corner, I am in the middle top. Notice my HUGE eyes (She told me mine were big. Even at 5 she is aware of this distinguishing feature on Westerners…that tells you something about the culture) There are flowers, and the letters E, T, M, and G. 

Right Picture: 3 Rabbits.  Her English name and Korean name.

By the end of our 45 minute exchange, Lucy lost all shyness and was ready to be my best friend.  She loved it, I loved it, and her mom loved it (I’m a very cool commodity over here).