Coffee Dumm

Why is Coffee Dumm so great?

Coffee Dumm: Dumm is home in Czech. Dumm(덤) also means kind of like an extra freebie as a gift to customers.

This has been, for all good reasons, my second home in Korea.

Korea, Seoul to be specific, has a very exquisite cafe culture. Actually I'm writing in cafe right now! 21ppl, 7 boys, 3 couples. Ugh, I hate feeling effeminate. Anyways, I've travelled around Seoul and been to many famous cafes. Coffee Dumm, though may not seem like a stand out from all the other 'make u feel artistic and peaceful in a plainly unique atmosphere' cafes, is truly unique, incredibly personal, and has, kind of an alluring pull to the customers, like a little boy(or girl...) who always asks funny questions and loves to be hugged.

It's the owner, we call her Heidi. She's just like a character from a cartoon. Infact, there is an online cartoon about her and the cafe! One of the customers, who is a cartoon artist, decided to make a series about the stories of the cafe.

What's so great about her? Well, 10 months ago she gave up her nursing job to pursue her dream of having her own cafe. Interacting and meeting new people day to day. She's genuinely a sociable person, she loves to talk about her day and listen to your stories. One of those baristas that really care about their customers. Since I've become a daily customer, I was able to see how she interacts with other customers. Genuinely sincere interest[sorry for the cliche]. She always chooses the right words with different people, and in simple terms, knows exactly when to shut up. 눈치가 빠르다. Most importantly, she's like a curious little girl who loves to explore in an adventure.

When I first went to Coffee Dumm, I was just looking for a cafe where I can relax, somewhere I would be comfortable, kind of like the Yonge and Cummer Coffee Time. I took out my book and started reading as plainly as any other student looking to fit in to a new world. I was about half a page through when she served my Hot Chocolate and asked me "Wow, Can you understand all that?" in a pleasantly surprised manner. Then, I explained to her that I was from Canada, and before I knew it, I had settled comforably in Heidi's Coffee Dumm

Since then, she introduced me to 4 ppl whom I'm tutoring currently and has become a close friend during my stay in Korea. Destiny is a strangre mystery.

A more mysterious meeting was with Heidi's husband. He's a handsome looking fellow, a well-built physiotherapist. But we clicked since our first conversation. As soon as I explained to him my interest in philosophy and neuroscience, he shared with me his recent business conference in Germany about neuroscience and his interest inrehabilliating patients with neural damages. He also shared how his interest in NeuroSci sparked an interest in philosophy and psychology. He's a man of surprising erudition. Occasionally going aroung hospitals, he lectures about the most recent and groundbreaking reasearch and practices in physiotherapy[I had no idea it was such a complex and interesting field!]. Currently, he's learning Japanese, German and English[from me!] in spare time so that 1. Read and understand american journals in physiotherapy 2. Study in Germany 3. Japanese just because... :P Although after a few beer we became practically friends(with a 15 year gap, I think having incredibly old siblings help), there's something about his friendly character that renders deep respect and honor. [seriously he reminds me of the gladiator of physiotherapy=]

Dumm = Home

It has become my home and a reason to comeback to Korea to the people who have treated me like long acquainted friends.

This leads to the question of the day: where or who is Home?

I mean, yes, there's the generic christian answer, our home is at heaven, or our home is with the people we love, where we are the most comfortable. But, are we all the same? what makes your home so special?

I'm inclined to say that this laptop has become my home recently. I'm practically glued to this machinery. But does that make it home? Is addiction home? I don't know, what do you think?