Grandma Kim · Haeundae fish market

Where & when

• Haeundae fish market · Busan · South Korea 2022 dried fish stall near the main gate

About them then

Grandma Kim · about 64 then

A woman in her sixties with a sun-browned face and white rubber boots, who ran a stall of dried fish near the main gate of the market. She wore a huge yellow raincoat even on sunny days and hummed while she cut the heads off sardines.

Who I was then

The tall Swedish girl who stood in front of your stall in the rain, completely lost, with a dead phone.

Why I'm writing

To say thank you · Just hoping my words reach them

It was June 2022 and I had been in Busan for two days when my wallet and phone were both gone in a crowded alley. I walked into the fish market because it was dry. You looked at me, said something I did not understand, and put me on a stool by your stove. You fed me something hot and spicy, charged my phone with a lead you pulled out of a drawer, and called your nephew to translate. Nobody had been that kind to me in a long time.

Passed on by 3 · reached step 2 · 2 keeping an eye out

Could this letter be about you? This is me