KiCheol and I were in my room talking this evening, and his very loud and outspoken daughter kept calling me trying to interrupt our conversation. I finally looked at her and told her firmly to say excuse me if she wanted to get our attention, to which her father told me to help teach her manners, because she could be quite rude at times.
Then just before we moved out of the room I squatted down to look at her eye to eye and told her very firmly to promise me that she would not touch my things and that when I moved in, my room was off limits to her. She hesitated a bit and her father repeated my instructions in Korean before she said yes. I think that dashed her many hopes to have a 24/7 playmate.
They also had another Korean man as a guest in their house, but he didn't speak much English. As we sat drinking Korean tea he started talking animatedly to KiCheol and wife while waving his arms at their daughter and 4 year old son. KiCheol and wife started laughing and despite not understanding a word he was saying, could easily tell he was describing how the girl's character was a strong one and was not hesitant to charge ahead while the boy was quiet and shy.
KiCheol then described to me that his daughter is like a man while his son was like a woman while he grinned at them.
The very next moment his daughter started fighting for a bag of chocolates as did his son, but their mother was trying to dissuade them from grabbing it, so sitting furthest from them, I took the bag away and his son immediately burst out crying while his daughter dove across the table to snatch it back, and tried to escape the moment she caught it, tangled her legs with the chair and fell down.
Everyone started laughing and KiCheol gleefully pointed at his children and told me how that proved his point.
I've had my reservations about moving in with a family with young kids, but seeing how warm they were with one another and me finally deciding to be a firmer adult with the two of them rather than trying to be too much their chum and seeing them respond, I think it could be quite good after all.
Labels: Friends