As I clean out my "new" Korean phone and cancel my American one, I promised I would tell the story of how I got each and everyone one of these contacts that I've kept "just in case" but the case never happened again and so.....peace out. Here goes:


Charmaine Anderson: My co-worker went to church  one Sunday just to introduce me to this lady who is a singer in Korea at a university....should I pursue this? Didn't delete it

James Banyawol King: A kid on the street in my old neighborhood. Maybe 16? He was out with his  friends at 11:30. He was the gang leader and said he wanted to have drinks one time. Never got it.

Big".....some guy who went by the English name of big......

Deva and Jenna: the couple I met from SA who lived in my old neighorhood. Great people.

Jono: to go with Deva and Jenna, offered me a place to stay after losing and recovering my cell phone in Korean

Devon: a bass player from Santa Cruz that was in my first Korean class and had occasional shows downtown.

Dennis: a guy me and Cara met on New Years last year....."you bitch".....inside joke

EK and Saehyun: first language exchange partners, I made them not afraid of "foreigners"...it was a good first exchange. Fun going to the movies and afternoons at Lotteria

Elle: old coworker. Half korean style half aussie style thanks to her time abroad.

Gangsta Josh: a random guy i met at the bar playing pool who happened to be from North Carolina...and yes our accents came out immediately.

Gemma: The british mother hen of the old gang. Miss you much Jessie J

Rani gwangju.....a girl from Gwangju I met on a foreigner tour trip......blabla

Hung Ta Long......................what a name hahahaha. Another story...... hahahahaha

Ian: the brit that lived in my old neighborhood with piercing icy blue eyes that looked like  he was a vampire when he took his sunglasses  off.

J......one of my private students who I helped pass her teaching exam  and then  never heard from again....USED

Jade.....dont remember

Jane.........oh hey international cat lady of mystery

Jay   a guy I met at salsa class now in  NZ. wow

Jess & Katrina   I met these in Busan last year 3 weeks after getting here. Havent  seen em since  new years last year...partly my fault

Jiwon, My french speaking Korean friend....talk about a brain workout

Jin   happens to a be a friend of a friend that went to William and Mary and showed me  around Seoul the first month I was here

Joy    met this lady at the sandwich shop and happened to go to church with her one time and a choir concert. interesting weekend.

JP  cousin of the coffee shop owner. Went to chicken and  soju  one random Saturday. Wrote "thanks for not forgetting me" when i messaged him last. Goes to show the life between native koreans and traveling teachers......build bridges

Jun DJ  .............my favorite club meastro.

Karl   see "bromance" i previous posts. Stopped hanging out with him after he slept with a good friend...no names.

Landon:  tried to get his friend to date a good friend after spotting her on the street in Daegu...."are we wings up or wings down" .....love you

Laura  don't know where I met her but told her about salsa  classes ...that i stopped going to....and she keeps going. nice

Lee.......who is this?.....how many lee's have i met here?

Louise....brit friend....just a fun person!

Lu.....met her on a fall trip the same time i met Rami and Lauren and Camille...wow....a lifetime ago. ..."you know its a black club right?"

Marina.....on the same fall trip I met russian exchange students who happened to be friends with this one. Fun

Mikey the Cabbie......Lets be honest, I was drunk in a cab one night and had an amazing conversation about life goals with this 20 something year old driver with amazing English....the only cab driver I've ever tipped in Koera

Pheobe.............she said that US Thanksgiving dinner was blan......bitch

Rami...............Delta Chi......enough said

Random Aussie...............met him the same time I was partying during the International running thing last year. I remember splitting a Whopper with him....thats about it

Random Lisa Friend..............If i have to hear "I'll teach you Korean you teach me English" one more time.

Savuneet.............In the same class as Devon the bassist. Fun girl

Sinade...............I think the second person I put in my phone while in Korea. Free spirited Canadian

Sira..............a friend of a friend I met in Seoul I think?

Sunny from the Street.............on my way to Korean class in Daegu some girl stopped me in the street and asked me if I wanted to join a possible upstarting Taekwondo class for foreigners...apparently she ran into a couple friends of mine.

Johnny the Tailor.    will never go back to this guy again....he still has one of my jackets....bastard

Tim........met him as he pitifully tried to hit on a friend at a club.

Trent, Marcus, Louis..............that was a whirlwind

Victoria...................and to think I tried to hit on her when I first met her!

Whats Up...................go to one of my first posts....I ran into this guy on the  streets of Daegu last winter...he was LITERALLY the first Korean I met that wasn't work-related.

Samuel ..........I thought he was Phillipino the second time I met. Two different sides. Interesting personality. Still acquaintances. I think he's in Missouri now.????

Kyung eun and Sang min ....second language exchange. A fun couple

Derek.......my favorite bartender.

Moobin.....his name rhymes with "Movin" and he's a career  airforce man who goes to languages exchanges for fun....and it shows.

Reggie " 씨"  he was in my last korean class in Daegu. the numbers seemed to dwindle as you got up in level. And I met his brother who was the opposite  of his personality.

Oo-Kwi     college student, met on a rooftop at a club  in Daegu and again at a university party. Diablo fanatic. Timing always sucked tho

Willy "In-tek"  A friend of a friend who happened to take care of our crazy selves on the subway one night.......what a good memory?

Eee kyung boon.....last language exchange partner...took photos of the books. USED

Enrico, met him at a bar. From Mexico city. obviously rich. And very funny.

Eden.......a cool English name

Ed......whipper-snapper Korean-American from Cali

Jepperstone.....actually met him at the same time me and Cara met Dennis and Tim at club Phantom for new years. BB-BOY. Fun to chill with..



AND THUS ENDS  THE LIST OF DEAD RELATIONSHIPS........................................no really tho

no apologies for this one

This  will  probably be the last post I make on this blog. Why? I realized that having a blog is what I would have wanted last year. I am the same and different. Everyone tries to start a blog when they move to a foreign country. typical

everyone says they are going to save money in a foreign country......typical

everyone says they are going to this country (Japan) and that country (Russia) on weekends......typical

everyone says "you only live once"......typical

.......................................thats what my life had become. Typical foreigner

And then i rebelled, I started saying and doing things to not be your "average foreigner"...............basically I became a hipster on accident......I became the "Ive been here longer than you and am not your average foreigner" average foreigner...

As I go through my suitcase of desperate nostalgic "memories" i saved and shipped all the way up to the burbs of Seoul in my new apt....just to look at  and glorify the past.... my 20-20 retrospect realization that I  was blind to what I was doing....and what I wasn't doing in the present....(side note: im starting to believe in astrology just because it says 'Cancers collect useless crap just to remember the golden years') hit me hard.

with that said, and true to Cancerian form I felt like i need to write the list of things i found in my cat piss smelling backpack (thanks again Cara for letting me store my shit somewhere) as at least a reminder to myself of the stuff i did and didnt accomplish (or fail) during my first year abroad:

1. a glass coke bottle written in Korean......just because i thought i'd never find another one.....what was i thinking

2. a MANNAM volunteer group button that supposedly ended up being a group to front a religious cult and made me feel like a real foreigner by ignorantly asking "do you know kimbap" every time i met a new member (and that is NO OFFENSE to the amazing people i met through the group)

3. 3 ticket stubs ...one of which is from the Deagu opera festival. All i remember of which is the small car sized Chanel clutch they built as a scene prop for the opera i saw.....maybe La Traviatta??? shout out to Joseph Roberts who might follow this

4. Stamps given to me by students from other countries....seriously i dont throw shit away its a problem

5. A hand fan advertising a dance club in Hongdae, the univ district in Seoul. As if you'd look sexy fanning yourself from sweating like a pyramid slave in the club while dodging korean girls who "just wanna practice English" by saying shit like "I like black............................................."

6. Ginseng gel candy wrappers....because candy can be good for your health

7. Seaweed paper flavored jelly candy wrappers.......what is this Bernie Bots Every Flavor gummies?

8. Three dead glowsticks....I started a collection apparently....enough said

9.  A magnet from a Chicken place in town that had an "Oprah" story. Apparently the man who stopped us asked us if we were from the US and NYC because half of his family including his now 50 year old sister moved their after the Korean war and he was desperately trying to contact them again but she learned English and he didnt.....can you imagine not being able to talk to your own siblings because you can't speak their language???    that was the night me and Cara called KARL (see bromance from previous posts) to randomly translate for this guy........we were typical foreigners then now werent we.......and no me and Karl arent still friends. long story. dont ask .................me

10.  an ugly picture of me drawn by a student i named Ruby because her spunky attitude reminded me of a friend by the same name and who wanted to be named after 뽀로로 (bo lo lo) a penguin cartoon icon here.....needless to say its been on my fridge like a proud parent

11. a brochure on Korean sign language. Who knew there were signs for each character in the Korean language???

12. a program from the opening ceremony of the Daegu international track and field championships held last year......so cool to see my Korean hometown become so international so fast...see previous posts

13. instructions on how to prepare my 비빔밥 (bee bim bop)  in flight meal given to me by a Korean air robotically gorgeous stewardess on the flight over here....wow.....14 months ago. NOW I DONT NEED INSTRUCTIONS ^^

14. A FLYER COMPLETE WITH CARTOON PICTURES OF YOUR LIFE FROM CHILDHOOD TO STUDYING HARD TO GETTING A JOB AT A BIG COMPANY MARRIED CHILDREN TRAVELING WITH YOUR WIFE AND THEN DYING .............all this from a church asking "where are you going after all this"..............Christianity here is a different level of blunt and strict and straightforward......how do you get away with translating your church name to English by saying "Best Church"...........isn't that a little boastful? And what about putting your Pastor's bachelors, masters, and phd information in the bulletin and on banners hanging from the church........is that necessary? anyway....thats a different blog.

how do i end this blog if i dont know if i'll ever post again?? maybe...we'll see....ask for my address...i'd much rather send a good old postcard

...............keep writing world