As a child, I was a big liar and liked eavesdropping on people, since it made me special - it made me feel as if I was a secret agent listening to things that I shouldn't know, though it was in reality, what would be for dinner, what appointments my mama had made, and who's visiting us next week. I grew up to be a college girl, but I still like listening to the secrets of other people - not because it makes me special but I enjoy the random dramas of strangers.
I visit Starbucks often - all the stars that I had received for buying drinks at Starbucks would have created a galaxy. I visit Starbucks in the early mornings to work and to study. After several visits, I realized that this place wasn't full of strangers - I realized their faces since people visiting Starbucks and sitting in the familiar chairs are customers regularly visiting the place. My perception of cafes changes - It was like a playground for adults, in which the adults buy admission to the cafe and receive drinks. Within the place, they were granted with the rights to have conversations, have lunch or a snack (which could be bought additionally), study, work, or even nap.
Sometimes the people at Starbucks are offended by the other customers, and they often frown and have quarrels. Last week, while I was sitting on the wooden table for 8 people, someone barged in, and said, "I'll sit here." She didn't even ask, "can I sit here?" but removed my bag from the chair, tossed it to me and said "I'll sit here." She pulled out her laptop and started typing and studying Chinese interpretation. She spoke out the words loud - "Jeongbu kwanrija duel run um-cheong hwanat stup nee da". She was doing it all wrong! The words 'um-choeng' couldn't be included in official interpretations. Perhaps she was frustrated by her studies, because once in a while, she started swearing with unacceptable words. The words implied incest, and couldn't possible be acceptable in public places. The people on my table started shifting in their seats, but didn't say anything to the girl. t noticed from the girls' accents that she wasn't South Korean. Not wanting to be offended by her sporadic swear words, I put on earphones and started to listen to Taylor Swift's Better than Revenge.
When a song ends, there's a slight pause before the iTunes player could move onto the next song. During this pause, I picked up some words in the girl's phone conversation. "They found out that my grade reports are fake. I'm on a black list, and they haven't found out that my graduation papers aren't authentic..." The conversation caught my attention, and I slyly pressed the pause button and started listening to the girl's words. "I might be kicked out of the school, and then I can't be in South Korea anymore". I realized that the girl was an illegal immigrant from China and that she was having a conversation with her broker. She must be attending a program in HUFS, and that might be a foil for her to achieve other goals... I had heard the news that Chinese people are making an exodus to South Korea, but it was intriguing to actually see one, wearing Nike shirts and sipping coffee at Starbucks.
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