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Every year the orphanage sets up a bazaar to raise money. It is usually at the end of October. I wasn’t volunteering there last fall, so this was my first one. Preparations started a few weeks before. Josh warned me that the staff would be pouncing on us to buy some tickets for the event. Each ticket cost 10,000원 and then could be spent on various things at the bazaar.

Each staff member is charged with selling 10 tickets. So, one called me up and asked if I would buy some tickets. I agreed to buy 2. Then, I decided I could afford to invest a little more in the event, so I gave her enough money for 5. But I should have been more discreet. Another worker (the one Josh and I call “Mean 오마” overheard our conversation. She cornered me and begged me to buy tickets from her too. She was practically screaming about how I bought 5 from the other lady, and how I should have spread it around instead. I could only look at her sheepishly and say how I bought 5 already, and I didn’t need any more. Then really started twisting my arm (literally). She grabbed my hand, starred intently into my face and made me promise to buy 3. She was unrelenting! I tried to tell her how I didn’t have any more cash..but that wasn’t good enough. She was happy to take the money later, in exchange for my promise to bring the money next time! Phew!

The day of the bazaar finally approached. The plan was for all the foreigners who volunteer at the orphanage (there are about 4 of us) to sell some cookies and brownies. Josh also bought an ice cream machine so we could sell “home-made ice cream.” We set up our table. It was a great opportunity to practice some more Korean in a setting I never have before. If you’ve spent any time in Korea, you are familiar with the salesmen on the subways. They wheel their carts on the train and very politely introduce their product, going through this whole spiel about how wonderful it is and how great the value is. But that wasn’t my model. I was going more for the street salesmen in a market. These guys scream, and basically just repeat the same thing over and over again. So I started bellowing:

“맛있는 크키이에요. 천원이에요”
“Delicious cookies…just one dollar!”

That is my best guess as to what the guys on the street say. Its probably not all that correct, because the Koreans kept looking at me and laughing (although that’s also because it is so rare to see foreigners making fools out of themselves in Korean). But, we did manage to sell all of our cookies, muffins, and ice cream! I did have to make some deals when we got to the end. Some people really scored with 1/2 price or 1/4 price discounts!

Working at the orphanage always provides me with some great language experiences. Sometimes I get caught off guard that I am understanding the conversation. It seems when I TRY to listen I have a harder time getting it. However when I just participate, subconsciously expecting to understand, I find my comprehension is much higher. That day I was able to translate for a friend and answer a lady’s question without missing a beat. She wanted to know “why foreigners were selling things at the bazaar.” The tone in her voice was not so pleasant actually. But I just told her that “우리 보유관에서 봉사해요.” “We volunteer at the orphanage.”

This picture is of 성태 helping crank the ice cream machine.

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