At the Filipino market in Seoul’s Hyehwa district, the sound of people asking after each other in Filipino filled the air.

“Kumusta kayo?” (How are you?)

“Mabuti naman.” (I’m fine.)

Lining up along the road between Hyehwa Catholic Church and Dongseong High School, vendors were busy arranging goods, cooking food and greeting each other.

The vendors neatly piled up Filipino goods from canned beverages, frozen meat and tropical fruit to jeans and cosmetics.

Filipino visitors checked to see if they had forgotten anything from their shopping list, while Koreans and expats from other countries looked around with curiosity.

“We can buy some tropical fruits like apple mangoes and durian relatively cheaply here and drop by once a month,” said Kwon Jung-il, who was shopping with his Vietnamese wife.

In addition to the imported goods from the Philippines, visitors had a chance to taste home-cooked foods such as puto, peachpeach, empanada and balut.

One vendor got up on a chair and exhorted customers to buy goods, switching between Filipino and Korean. She parodied Korean street vendors, clapping her hands to keep time and mimicking their market banter, making her co-workers and passers-by laugh.

Ana Liza deep-fried lumpia, spring rolls containing ground vegetables.

“I have been at this market for 15 years and the cold does not keep me from coming here. I just hope more people would come,” she said.

Her hands never stopped moving as she stir-fried pancit, noodle with sliced meat and vegetables.

Her son, Noel Manjares, helped serve food to customers with a smile despite feeling tired from his full-time job at a factory.

His friend, Alex Custodio, who has worked at a cement company for five months, said he liked the market for its sense of community.

Nam Geum-sun and Choi Jae-hee were trying some Filipino food at a stall.

“We tour foreign markets these days. We visited an Indian market last weekend and got to know about the Filipino market by surfing the Internet. Markets run by foreigners were unfamiliar at first, but eventually I realized that we were all the same people,” said Nam.

“It’s like I’m abroad and I really enjoy the mood,” added Choi.

The market has been running for nearly 20 years, and it hasn’t always been smooth sailing. Some local residents have objected to its existence, but vendors said that the issues had been resolved after working with the local district office.

“This market started in 1995 when Filipinos gathered for mass at Hyehwa Catholic Church,” said Park Il-sun who has sold goods with his Filipino wife for 17 years.

“It was little bigger than now, but after conflict with residents over traffic and the waste treatment problem it has been kept to its current size. We are now trying to minimize the conflict by observing traffic law and keeping the area clean,” he added.

The Philippine market is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. every Sunday at Hyehwa Rotary. To go to this market, come out of exit No. 1 of Hyehwa Subway Station and walk about five minutes toward Hyehwa Catholic Church.

By Yi Ji-won (rabbite2@nate.com)