My Korean Neighborhood: "Love Thy Neighbor" - Means Buying From Them!

I was on my way home to the Dongdaemun District one mid-morning from my weekend tennis in Daechi-dong in the Gangnam District of Seoul when I passed an ajumeoni (a Korean woman of grandmother age) sitting on the concrete sidewalk where she laid a yellow mat to display her colorful hankies. I was rushing since it was turning cloudy and looked like it was going to rain soon. Her spot was just a few meters away from my apartment building.

There was hardly any pedestrian around, much less a customer for her wares, so I decided to stop and contribute to her sales that morning.

After I greeted her, she looked up and had a surprised look, probably not expecting a prospective customer that quiet morning. I immediately saw the red handkerchieves that my mom would like and asked her for these. I got three for KRW 10,000.

She thanked me and said something in Korea that sounded like she didn't expect a man buying from her.

She had buena mano sale and I got red hankies for my mom (she loves red!) when I fly home to the Philippines.

If the ajumeoni was happy, I was happier for I was able to help a neighbor and already got presents for my mom.🎁

That's what we should do: help our neighbors.😋

I have lived in two districts in Seoul, South Korea: Yongsan-gu and Dongdaemun-gu, and although both districts have different characters, they have hidden alleys and corners that I loved to stroll around to discover the local mom-and-pop stores and family restaurants that serve Korean dishes that are yummier than those served at fancy diners and food courts.

Yes, these alleys are not the ones you'd read in tourist blogs and tourism websites but they host the yummiest soondae-kukbap (read blog here), the yummiest mandu (read blog here), or the yummiest kamja-tang (blog)! 

(I also patronize street vendors whose desserts are much more enjoyable and yummier! Plus, you get to know the vendor and watch him make your dessert that add a personal connection to your Korean experience!)

(A basket of oranges sold for KRW1,000 

at Cheongnyangni Market!)

(Enjoying soondae-kukbap - soondae in a soup with rice - at the soondae restaurant a few meters from my apartment building in Dongdaemun District. I bring my own dessert and soda sometimes as they don't have any.😄)

Instead of heading to a mall's food court or to a restaurant in Myeongdong, I'd rather stay in my neighborhood and patronize these family restaurants. That way, I am able to get to know their specialty dishes and help contribute to the economy of my neighborhood. 

I also buy my fresh fruits, not from the supermarkets, but from the traditional markets where farmers unload their fresh produce where you can them at the cheapest prices.

So, there. "Loving thy neighbor" is helping them by patronizing their family business!😍

The Lady With The Red Handkerchieves

I was walking home from a quick walk around the huge Cheongyangni market in my neighborhood when the skies turned gloomy. It looked it was about to drizzle.

On Sunday mornings, the neighborhood is usually quiet with most of the shops closed, and the customers scarce. A few pedestrians were walking through the sidewalks while a few blue buses were still trying to pick up passengers at the bus stop nearby.

But upon turning to cross a small alley, I was surprised to see a Korean lady of grandma-age sitting on her wide yellow blanket and laying out ladies' handkerchieves to sell. The sight of a singular vendor brave enough to defy the weather and the scarcity of prospective customers surprised me. What an optimistic attitude! I thought.

And as I was walking right next to her display, the red hankies with their flowery designs caught my eye. My mom would love this!

I immediately greeted her and asked how much were her flimsy articles of attractive merchandise. She mentioned an amount and I immediately picked one, then another, and then another.

Although my proficiency of the Korean language is probably the poorest in the whole neighborhood, I understood that, for KRW10,000, she'd surrender to me five of her merchandise. 

If you are a tourist traveling around Seoul, you'd probably see a lot of old Korean women working, cooking or selling delicacies and everything else from morning until late evening. 

I always thought that, at their age, they should be now enjoying life, instead of still working to make a living.

So, the moment I realized what the scene before me was all about, the thought of buying ladies' handkerchieves from her immediately came to mind. 

Here she was, sitting on the cold pavement under gloomy skies, laying out the hankies one by one, presenting them to passers-by that were few and far between, and hoping to get lucky on this day when most people stay home to rest.

For a few weeks since I settled in, I already walked around my new Dongdaemun neighborhood to get to know it well. This lady, trying to make a living on a Sunday morning, was also a neighbor. And buying a few hankies from her would make it worth her while. 

Before we parted, she kept on talking in Korean and I was able to catch a few words and something about 'a man'. I thought she said that she was surprised that her early customer was 'a man', someone she probably never expected.

Well, she didn't know I wasn't just a random pedestrian passing by; 'the man' was a neighbor.

(The Korean lady preparing to pack the red hankies I selected for my mom)