It’s raining in Seoul today. Time to share this story.
When I first arrived in Korea, I remember walking somewhere with the owner of the academy, probably to get my visa or something. As we walked, it started to rain.
Having no umbrella at the time, the owner bought a cheap one off a man selling them in the street for about $4. After the downpour, he gave it to me, letting me know that more rain would come.
So I used that umbrella for a few months.
After a morning church service one day, I walked across the street with the pastor’s daughter to buy a cake for one of the members of the worship team. Cake in hand, we began walking back. And it began to rain. A few drops at first, but they quickly turned into many, and the wind picked up.
The wind picked up so much, it picked up my umbrella and broke three of its six spokes. Her umbrella stayed strong, so the cake made it safely back to church. I, on the other hand, got totally soaked.
So when I went to pick out a replacement umbrella, I decided I wanted a sturdy one, one that would last rather than one that would be convenient to carry in a bag.
At the store, I sorted through dozens of them, some nice colors, some just black. I found one with a ninja sword handle and almost picked that one up. I figured that might not be the best option, though, if I ever had to attend any kind of formal event.
Instead, I opted for a conservative version.
Later, at the movies one day, I saw someone with the ninja sword umbrella. I thought to myself then, Now why didn’t I get that? That one’s way cooler, way more playful, way more likely to get a story told about it.
So I regretted the decision to go conservative. That’s one of only a handful of regrets I’ve had here.
It worked out, though, because a few months ago, I accidentally left my second umbrella at a restaurant and never got it back. So now here I am safely, dryly at work. And next to me sits my newest umbrella, my third umbrella in less than a year, the ninja version this time.
