"Go Buckeyes!" we heard as we walked away from Delta Gate 18 in CIncinnati. Not unusual to hear in this part of the USA. What was unusual was that it was preceded by a deep bow, a handshake, and a sincere Thank you. Did I mention it was shouted in a Korean accent?
He nearly missed the flight. Poor guy comes rushing onto the plane just in time. He settled into the window seat next to friend Sue S in the middle, and yours truly in the aisle. Other than this last minute addition to our row it was a pretty uneventful flight home from Key West via Atlanta. It had the usual iPod songs, denial that we had left the Keys, and the Delicious Delta Smorgasbord of small packs of something, free water, and Coke products. Uneventful that is untiI I heard Sue say 'Oh no you don't want to talk to me, here, talk to Jayna." Quickly I came out of my iPod induced stupor to see what I had just been voluntold for. It was the coolest thing.
The story goes like this: As we were in our initial descent to Cincinnati the late coming young man sitting next to Sue asked her a question. She directed him to me and the next 40 minutes were priceless. He asked me the first question - is the Cincinnati airport as difficult to get around in as Atlanta? Well CVG is MUCH easier than Atlanta, the explanation, however, was a bit more complicated. His Korean is very good and my English passes muster. Due to my inability to speak Korean it was necessary we both use English. (I am so humbled by people who can go between languages but that is another blog)
After getting in tune with each other's accent - the plane roar did not help - we were able to converse. To answer his initial question ( see above) I started to use the airport maps in Sky Magazine then had a better idea. "We'll walk you to your gate", I offered. That suggestion met little resistance so on to his second question. "How do I get my luggage in Cincinnati?" Well trying to explain that 'luggage is checked all the way through to your final destination' took some work. We decided to verify with a Delta Gate Agent on our way to the gate. Now it was time for us to get to know each other.
Dong Wong Kim (I think that is correct) is from Korea and on that day was on his way to Penn State University to begin his graduate education. The flight from Atlanta to Cincinnati was his third of four planes on this journey. He had ben awake for nearly 23 hours and counting. He set foot in the USA for the first time when he landed in Atlanta. His wife is still in Korea and can join him in six months to a year. He is very excited about that and will miss her. Prior to this trip he had only been outside of Korea to visit neighboring countries. He had just begun a whole other journey.
Now Mr. Kim had done his research. What did we ever do without the world wide web?! He knew quite a bit about Penn State & State College, PA. We talked about the beauty of the campus and he knew about Mount Nittany. Trying to explain fall and the beauty of the leaves changing in the crisp air was amusing - the things we take for granted and do not realize it until we try to explain it to someone with no context.
You know sooner or later the conversation would get to sports. When I said football, excitedly he said "Nittany Lions!" I started to mention the conference and he beat me to "Big Ten!" He also knew it would be two years before he could even think about getting a ticket to a game at, yes he knew, "Beaver Stadium!". I explained tailgating and the wild Saturdays of Sept, Oct & November. He thought that sounded like a whole lot of fun.
Suddenly a scarlet & gray light bulb appeared over my head. "Here's the deal" I said. "You can root for the Nittany Lions every Saturday but one. And on that Saturday, when Penn State plays Ohio State, you have to root for the Ohio State Buckeyes." An explanation followed, my favorite team, Big Ten, better team...you know - the important stuff.
We had to talk through that people would not be mad at him or be rude to him if he rooted for the Buckeyes. He knows how fervent those Penn State fans are. I assured him that Buckeye fans could keep up with PSU fans in every way. We did decide that maybe he could do his Buckeye rooting in a quiet sort of way. Since the vast majority of the 107,000 fans would be rooting for the Nittany Lions he could say "Go Buckeyes!" passionately, and quietly.
So as we walked from Concourse B to Concourse A we practiced saying "Go Buckeyes!" It was delightful. He worked so hard to get it right. He was timid at first but with some coaching and encouragement, each time there was more enthusiasm in his "Go Buckeyes!" It was a blast.
So on October 25 when the Buckeyes & Nittany Lions game it up in Columbus there will be one OSU fan in State College, PA. Quietly, but passionately, saying "Go Buckeyes!" during the game. I'll be rooting with him and smiling at the sweet memory.
I, for one am really glad he made that flight. Strangers no longer.