Life's Little Victories

Funny how the smallest of victories can make you feel on top of the world sometimes.

The other day when I was out in the department stores looking for a power adaptor all I could find was the multi-plug travel set with the plugs for all manner of countries for about $20. I'm trying to be a bit mindful of my money since my first real payday is about 6 weeks away, and thought that was too much. That, plus I couldn't even tell from the packing if there was a converter that would work IN Korea! There were rows and rows of 220V:110V adapters (Korea:Canada) for $2 each, but none the other way around. Then yesterday when I was walking I passed a couple of what I'd call hardware junkshops... they had an odd assortment of stuff out on the sidewalk reminiscent of a yard sale, but I thought I'd take my chances and see if they could help me. I pulled my battery charger out of my pocket so I could 'charades' them to understanding if my Korean didn't cut it, took a deep breath and opened the door.

There were 4 old Korean men inside sitting on boxes startled into silence when said hello (I don't know, either women or foreigners never visited them maybe?). I asked them if they had an adaptor for my camera charger (and flashed them my charger) they all jumped up, bumping into one another, trippingn over boxes and each hustling off to rummage around in a dark shelf or corner of the tiny space. Two argued together about which had grabbed the right part, the victor extracting the charger from my hand and fitting the adaptor snugly onto it while holding it out in front of him (think 'Christmas Vacation' when Chevy is about to connect the final 2 cords in his light display). There was much grumbling and more laughing as he handed me the piece I was looking for. I told him I'd like to buy 2 of them, and they were promptly placed in my open hand. So, how much? "$1 please". Seriously? $1? I have 2 of them, you know that, right? "Yes, that's $1 please."

I paid the men and thanked them, and left that store with the biggest smile on my face feeling like a million bucks, quietly singing along with my MP3 player and smiling the rest of the way to the store, the 2 little plugs tucked away in my pocket... some days it's the little victories...