Ji-young and Thiago met each other in February 2009 while jogging in a village. Thiago had just arrived from Brazil and it was his first visit to Korea. At first, Ji-young spoke to him out of curiosity. They felt novelty to each other and used a strange language that mixed with Korean and English for conversation. Although there was inconvenience of communication, they became close friends. On the contrary, the language barrier was an opportunity to get to know each other. Besides, their parents’ occupation was also same, so they lived in the same area, Ja Wun Dae in Daejeon. Living in the same place was chance to become close.

In the Friends’ Country
   They traveled to each others’ countries, Brazil and Korea, and met mutual acquaintances. There are funny episodes while they were in those countries with their family, friends, and relatives or strangers.

In Korea
   ▹ Ji-young is a good supporter of Thiago. She went to many places like the bank, hospital, mobile phone agency, and subway station with him, because he was unfamiliar with other Korean institutions, and she also worried about overcharging and communicating with Koreans.
   ▹ When Thiago met her mother, she served a meal and prepared grapes for desserts. Suddenly he gave a question, “Are there green grapes?” “Green grape?” Her mother didn’t understand his utterance, because most Koreans eat only violet grapes.
   ▹ There was a benefit for a foreigner in Korea. One day, Thiago took a bus, and something happened when he touched the transportation card to the care reader. The card reader said, “Your balance is insufficiency.” He was embarrassed, and the bus driver was too. The bus driver didn’t know how to speak to him by foreign language, and then said with gesture, “Oh, just get on!”
   ▹ They felt the personality gap. He is relaxed while she is somewhat hasty. When they prepared the travel, Ji-young already packed her belongings, but Thiago hadn’t yet. She said, “Why don’t you pack your things?” There was spare time, so he answered, “I still have plenty of time.”
   ▹ She thought that Thiago would know more about South Korea than North Korea, but as his father was in army, Thiago was better informed about the latter.

By Lee Hyo-jin
CP Cub-Reporter lhj3220@cnu.ac.kr