The Early Bird Gets the...

Entertainment.

There is never a lack of entertainment here in Korea. Day after day, I am continuously amused by something that would rarely, if ever, be seen back home. This morning, it was the opening routine of my local grocery store.

I was in desperate need of coffee and food supplies to get me through the next day and a half before leaving for Mongolia. I recalled that the other local supermarket didn't open before 9:00am so I knew I was taking a risk heading for this one at 8:45am. I rolled into the parking lot on my bike. There were no cars other than a work truck. The guy who I assumed belonged to the truck was out front doing some, well, work. I was checking the store front for hours when the guys said something to me in Korean that I interpreted as "Go ahead, it's open." So, I parked my bike and headed in.

Turns out I was the only customer in the store and every employee was busy stocking, or wiping down shelves, or doing some other task related to opening up a store for the day. But, nobody gave me a second look so I carried on with my business. Right when I was grabbing for my last item and about to head to the check-out, the real fun began.

I turned the corner only to find every single employee lined up in two lines, facing each other, at the front of the store. The man who I presume to be the manager was giving some sort of inspirational talk to his employees. I just continued to meander around, alone in the store, figuring this would last no more than a minute or two. I went to the back corner of the store and looked longingly at the ice cream, then I browsed the aisle with all the coffee mugs contemplating the purchase of a beautiful purple mug, then made my way to the opposite side of the store to take a gander at the produce. As I made my final turn into the bakery section, the last corner before I'd come full circle, all of the employees grasped the hands of the people next to them and started swinging their hands together in unison and singing a song that sounded quite similar to a combination of "If you're happy and you know it clap your hands" and another familiar song from childhood that I can't quite put a finger on. After about 30 seconds, they were finished and everybody was back to business.

Nope, never a dull moment here in Korea.

I love my life.