My Korean mother

I do complain about my apartment here in Korea pretty often. I mean, my TV's still broken, I fixed my bed frame myself, and there's no one to help me set up the sliding doors to my kitchen, and the water is unbearably cold in the mornings, but I know that it's really not that bad. In fact, it could be a lot worse. However, I'll never complain about one thing, and that's my landlady. She doesn't speak any English and my minimal Korean isn't enough to really talk to her about anything, but we get along great.

I mention all this because I ran into her yesterday while smoking a cigarette outside my apartment wearing a hoodie, a vest, and my a pair of jeans (low like usual, since it ain't no thang but a g-thang) and it's about -2 Celcius. She came out the door and I bowed and said hello like I usually do. She then proceeded to come up to me and tell me that it's cold in Korean and then zips up my jacket. She then reaches behind me and pull up my pants. This whole time I'm standing there with my hands in the air like I'm being frisked and she's the LAPD meeting quotas. She then looks up and smiles at me and says, "Good-bye," in English and walks off like it was the most normal thing in the world.

This isn't the only run-in I've had with her, actually. A few days after I got back from vacation, I ended up locking myself out of my apartment while I made a quick run outside for a pack of cigarettes. After managing to get her to unlock my door with broken Korean and an unprecedented amount of handwaving, she looks into my room. In general, I'm a messy guy, I would have to say that it's not too unbearable. However, since it was only a few days after I got back from Tokyo, all my shit was still on the ground. Also, since my bed was still broken, my mattress was laying on the floor as well. She starts scolding me in Korean and then proceeds to fold all my clothes laying on the floor. I'm tried hard to tell her that it was okay and that she didn't have to, but she just slapped my hands away and told me to stop it. After folding all my clothes she then does all the dishes I have laying around in my sink. With the help of Alex translating over the phone, I learned that while I'm in Korea, I should consider her my mother and that I should ask her when I need help.

So landlady (I don't even know your name), I know you'll never read this, but I'd just like to say thank you.