encounter #1

our eyes refused to meet, to acknowledge the other's presence, although convention and proximity demanded that we ought to have a long time ago. from the corner of my eye, i saw she was beautiful; bright green eyes, straight, brown hair pulled back in a coil; she had a suit on of some sort, classy but not showy; she didn't look irish in any way; her skin was a bit too dark for that, but her weariness made it was clear that she was familiar with this ride.

finally, we glanced at one another and we faced each other; too awkward to feign coincidence, we both smiled, embarassed; i said, hi, she said hi.

i figured that she had seen people who looked like me before; in dublin, there seemed to be chinese people everywhere, of which i was very surprised, although i doubted she knew anything about korean people.

she asked, "where are you going?"

a bit taken aback by the sudden curiosity, i answered, "Galway, just to visit. have you been there before?"

She said, no. after a short pause, she asked, "are you Korean?"

Now I was really surprised. her accent had given away that she had not been born in Ireland, but this was a new development. a bit too happily, i said, "yes! how did you know?"

she answered, "where im from, we used to have Korean missionaries work in the schools..." She was smiled deeply, looking very intently at me; she seemed relieved to have found something familiar at last, like a scent that triggers entire episodes of younger happier days.

i pressed her, "how did you know I was not chinese?"

she answered, "your eyes and your nose give it away."

it was only fair that i ask her.

"where are you from?"

"I'm Romania, I work in dublin."

I had been surprised at the number of romanians i had seen in my three short days in dublin. they seemed to provide much of the cheap labor, working behind reception desks, as barmaids, as servers. her outfit could have been one of a hostess from a more upscale restaurant, though i did not think it was appropriate to ask.

she smiled the rest of the ride, though we did not continue talking. when she left, we courteously said good-bye, though i wish she had stayed on.