Car Trouble

My next meeting with Jacob occurred at Barnes and Noble again. I was excited because I had already made friends with Jacob, but a little nervous because during the previous meeting Jacob had told me he was bringing a friend. But I had nothing to fear, for she was really nice and friendly, as Jacob was. After introductions were made, I learned that her name was Sohee (pronounced Zoe, but with an S), and that she was also from South Korea. Like Jacob, she is quite a bit older than the average college student, being 29 years old. She does not have any children but lives with her husband, who works for LG. Jacob was always teasing her about being super rich. It was interesting seeing them interacting together and talking. By having another friend there, I think it gave each of them confidence and allowed them to relax and be themselves. I remember last meeting when we were each asking pointed questions about one another's lives. This meeting was a lot different in the sense that the conversation just kind of flowed. One person would tell a joke and the others would laugh and then another topic would be brought up. It just kind of worked; there were no forced questions or awkward pauses. Another way that having a fellow countryman present helped was in dealing with the communication issue. There were a couple times where Jacob did not know the right word to use and asked Sohee in Korean; she was able to help him out in communicating with me. Overall, it was cool to be able to just talk with two people from a completely different part of the globe and just laugh and talk about everyday things. One of the conversation topics was the World Cup this last summer, in which we discussed who we thought should have won and our favorite players. This was a relaxed conversation, and I really enjoyed the meeting this week. I was sad to see them leave when it was time to go. Little did I know that I would be seeing them again that same day but in a completely different context.

Later that night, at around 5:30, I got a desperate call from Jacob telling me that he was having car trouble. Sohee and he picked me up in front of the BLUU and we drove over to his car. Apparently, on his way to school that morning, he had run over a piece of wood on the highway. When he got back to his car to leave, he realized that both tires on the driver's side were completely flat. He needed my help to call the insurance since his English wasn't very good and they could not understand him on the phone. So I called up the insurance people and they said that they would send a tow truck out there in about an hour. During that hour, I was introduced to another one of Jacob's friends, Angie. Angie is 19 and is a student at TCU. She is also from South Korea, and always bums rides off Sohee, since they live close to each other. After waiting for an hour, I got a call from the tow truck driver asking where we were. I told him that I would wait on the corner of Stadium and Bellaire for him. Half an hour goes by and I see nothing. I called him again asking if he was close and he told me that he went by that intersection at least 10 times and saw no sign of me. Then, he realized that there are two Stadium/Bellaire intersections and that we were at the two different ones. When we finally loaded the car onto the tow truck, the only issue that remained was where to take it. Jacob wanted to take it to the Discount Tires on Berry, but by that time it was already closed, and he would have to leave it there overnight. Both the driver and I strongly disagreed with that idea, due to the crime intensity on Berry at night. We finally convinced him to take it to the closest Wal-Mart, where he could get tire service in the morning and still be safe to leave it at night. That being done, I said goodbye to my friends and went to the BLUU to get some food before it closed. This experience was totally unexpected, but I am glad it happened. I was honored that out of all the people to call, Jacob called me to help, and I was just happy I was able to help. I felt that it had been a successful day with my (now multiple) conversation partners.