I’ve been in South Korea for the last few weeks, on a project for my job. Even though it’s been a business trip, and mostly consisting of work, I’ve had some good experiences/memories that I want to start sharing before they’re lost forever.

The first thing that pops into my mind is a couple of weekends ago, when I ventured out in pursuit of a haircut. I spent a little while in the room, committing as many Korean phrases to memory as I could manage, with the intent to use them on my journey. “Ibalsso eodie isseoyo?” (Where is the barbershop?) “Ibal jom juseyo?” (Please give me a haircut?) I’ll skip the disclaimer on the accuracy of my Korean. Just know I took a relatively organic approach to learning, armed only with a basic Korean-English dictionary, the intermittent advice of English-speaking locals, YouTube and random internet articles.

I stopped by the concierge on the way out to ask him where the nearest barbershop was. To my surprise, there was one within walking distance from the hotel. I started running the phrases I remembered by the concierge. The phrases didn’t come out as smoothly as I would have liked, and noticed a slightly worried look on the guy’s face, so I went back to my room to practice some more before leaving.

There were a bunch of phrases that I found on the internet about giving specific directions for a haircut. However, few of them applied to my type of hair, and I was discouraged by the sheer number of these phrases. I resolved to fill in the gaps in my knowledge with hand gestures, and left the room.

The barbershop was just short of a five-minute walk from the hotel, in an apartment complex down the street. When you arrive at the complex, you are bombarded with a whole bunch of signage that really helps you realize how far away from home you are. Advertisements high up, and titles of restaurants and shops closer to the ground, all in Korean. At this point, I can read and sound out Korean words, but I couldn’t tell you much about the meaning of these syllabic combinations.

I walk further up into the complex, looking for any sign of a barbershop. I encounter this old man sitting under the shade of a tree. I walk up to him with a hello, and he reaches out to shake my hand. I return the handshake, and the man pulls me down toward the bench to sit beside him. Little surprising, but he was a nice man, so I sat and enjoyed the weather for a second.

I am literally in the middle of asking the old man where the barbershop is, when the concierge from the hotel trots up to me. One thing I’ll never forget about South Korea: I found that the people who hold customer service positions there take their job very seriously. After I got over the shock that this man had hurried all the way from the hotel to help me, and thanked him a few times, he led me to the “hair shop”, and introduced me to the lady inside before he left.

I soon found out that I needed more words than I possessed at the time, if I were to make the transaction go smoothly. There was a hello, after which I was guided to the cutting chair. I asked for a haircut, and was met with a response, the meaning of which I had not the slightest clue. I told her I didn’t speak Korean well, and we commenced a game of charades around the type of haircut that I wanted. I usually rock a dark caesar, but I left with somewhat of a fade that day. Unexpected, but not disappointing. The lady was skilled with her soft clippers and scissors, I just wish I wasn’t so unskilled at speaking Korean.