After putting 3 of his luggages in the trunk, Kris went and sat inside the taxi cab. 

"Sir do you know a dorm, an apartment, or even a hotel near SM academy?.” Kris inquired the taxi driver which in return, gave him a puzzled expression. “Oh right, K-Korean....uhm wait for a sec..”, Kris said as he gestured with his hands. Oh ! I forgot I'm not in Canada anymore. With that, Kris quickly searched for his pocket dictionary buried under the heaps of unorganized things he has in his bag. After fiddling with his stuff, he finally found his dictionary, it read, “Korean for Dummies ~ The easiest way to learn Korean~”. He swiftly flipped through the pages hoping to find a rough translation of what he had in mind. To his horror, the Korean dictionary only contained Korean phrases and characters, no english words. He checked the front page of the pocket dictionary again and found out that what he bought was the part 2 of “Korean for Dummies” which was all about translating Korean words into characters. ! I guess this dictionary really are for dummies, damn! What now? His train of thoughts were interrupted when he heard a low cough from the taxi driver. The driver spoke Korean which probably meant that he was asking Kris where their destination would be. Kris mentally slapped himself for buying the wrong dictionary. “Oh, right,...uhm...can't you understand simple English?” Again with the puzzled expression of the driver. Okay Kris, explain it to him nice and slow.

“Sir”, Kris looked at him with a serious expression. “I” he pointed to himself, “don't speak”, he then formed his arms into an X sign, “Korean”, then he showed the driver his dictionary.

“Oooh....” The driver said while nodding.

Ahh...finally he understood me. Kris nodded back as well.

So now he knows I can't speak Korean, how do I continue this? I should probably just say SM Academy instead of dorms, apartments or hotels near that academy. Then I''ll just search for dorms later on. Yeah, guess that will do.

“Sir, SM Academy” Kris said flatly while looking at the driver who simply nodded at him.

The ride was awfully quiet since the two were not able to converse with each other. Minutes later, the sound of a phone ringing was heard. It was the driver's phone. He bowed at Kris first before answering his phone. Kris nodded in return.

I guess Koreans really are polite...

Kris was having his own thoughts when he heard the driver starting to converse with whomever he was talking to, in Mandarin.

He knows Mandarin?! Seriously? Why didn't I think of asking him if he knows Mandarin? Or even Cantonese....really smart Kris.

After the driver had finished talking on the phone, Kris spoke to him in Mandarin.

“Sir, I didn't know you speak Mandarin, if only I had asked you before, then we wouldn't have a troublesome time a while ago, sorry” He said as he bowed to the driver.

“Oh! You speak Mandarin too! Haha, that's okay, I understand son. But we did have a troublesome time a while ago didn't we?”

The two chuckled at their antics.

“I wouldn't have guessed you're Chinese, you look like a western celebrity to me.”

Kris slightly laughed at the driver's comment. “Thank you sir, I kinda get that a lot”

Now it was the driver's turn to laugh. “Haha, you're a funny one, so tell me, what are you doing here in Korea?”

“That's uhm...I wouldn't call it financial problems since it's beyond that,...I guess it's an unwanted streak of bad luck”.

“Aww, son don't call it that, I'm sure you'll do fine”

“Thanks really,...I appreciate it Sir”. “Oh and I forgot, I originally wanted to go to a dorm or an apartment near SM Academy, not SM Academy itself. So do you know any?”

“Oh I see, yes I do know one, it's called Exotic dormitory.”

“Exotic?” The tone in Kris' voice reflected pure curiosity. That's a really weird name for a dormitory.

“Oh yes don't get me wrong, it's called Exotic since half the students staying there are international students, not only Korean ones.”

“Oh I see, so that means I'll probably meet Chinese students there too.”

“Yes son.”

“Okay then, Exotic dormitory it is.”