Chapter Eight: South Korea:

I grew up in humble backgrounds. South Korea threw me for a loop. Okay, Thailand was flashy, but I didn’t get to stay long to enjoy that much of it. I just got risked away to a temple for months and that was it.

South Korea would be no different.

It looked like a foreign world when we docked at the boat. We never took a plane, didn’t have the money. The religious was supposed to live a poor life. They were supposed. I have heard of American preachers living in giant mansions with fancy cars and jets. Some even had golden toilets in their houses.

I digress.

“Where are we going now?” I asked An. She walked ahead of me as I predicted. I should’ve known that was going to happen. I guess I was still trying to bond with An. When you’re with someone for so long, you just have to try and get closer to her in a way. At least I got to learn a little bit more about An on this trip. Too bad I couldn’t get her to smile.

Maybe that would change in South Korea.

Again, we went to another temple. The nuns greeted us at the entry. Maybe it was just me, but they seemed a little too happy to see us. I turned to An with wide eyes.

“Are they always like this here?” I whispered. She glanced at me before following the nuns into the temple. I noticed some tourists walking by in flashy clothes staring at me. One woman in the crowd pulled out her cell phone and took a picture of me. Remember, this was back in about… 2001 at the time. I about just when I heard clicking noise. Those tourists gave me an odd look. A couple of them were whispering to each other. I stood there blinking like an idiot.

“Girl!” I heard An shouting. “Don’t stand out there, looking lost! Get moving!” I about jumped and ran towards the door.

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The temple was nice. To me, they all look the same. Once you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all. At least this wasn’t underground like in China. The nuns were rather helpful. However, my focus was An once again.

She barely smiled or spoke to anyone. I wasn’t the only one who noticed.

“Why does she always look so mad?” one of the nuns whispered to me. I could only shrug and shake my head. To be honest, I was nowhere closer to finding out anything about An or her past. I would think that she would say something by now, anything. I rubbed my hand against my forehead.

“How come you never smile?” I asked her one day. “Why do you always look so angry?” She didn’t even make eye contact over her tea. This time, I didn’t give up.

“Why don’t you ever really talk to me?” I asked. “I mean, we don’t have to be friends, but we could talk to each other from time to time.” An lowered her cup on the floor.

“My job is not to socialize with you,” she said. “I am to guide you around Asia until we return home to Vietnam.” Her tone sent shivers down my spine. I looked down at my empty cup.

“Oh,” I muttered to myself. That ended my mission to try and get closer to An for the rest of our travels.

South Korea was still out of place for me. I still didn’t know if I would become a priestess or not. When would we go home? I kind of began to miss Mother Hoa and the other children in that temple. Seeing children around Asia made me want to meet my brother and sister in person. I stood up and walked outside. Looking at the sky made my heart ache for those things a little more.

By October, An and I were back on the sea again. I had no idea this would be the second to last stop on this three-year long trip.