1.) Chocolate. Be it chocolate from my mom, a stalker, my dog, I don't care who you are. I love chocolate. Extra points for the chocolate that also incorporates peanut butter (and yes, Salmonella).
2.) Tin Foil Boxes. I miss these. From Kindergarten through 6th grade, I had a sparkled-out box each year with the coolest decorations. Valentine's Day in 7th grade was just not the same.
3.) A [Strawberry] Margarita. 'Tis the season. Why not?
What Valentine's Day does NOT mean to me:
1.) Going on a date in Korea...
2.) With a Korean....
3.) Who doesn't speak English...
4.) And comes bearing me gifts.
Ok, so I never wanted to do in this. I had (/have) a crippling fear. Then on Valentine's Day, I did it. I went on a date with a man-purse carrying Korean. Allow me to start from the beginning.
My mother told me that meeting men at bars was a poor decision...and it is and it has been and I don't know why I never learn. I was out two weekends ago with my friend Miranda. Miranda is living in Seoul and is from South Africa. We share the same blunt disposition and slight distaste for teaching English as a Foreign Language. That being said, we bond over an occasional, yet necessary, cocktail on the weekends. We live in the Hongdae area with an array of restaurants, boutiques, bars and art shops. The venue we found ourselves inside is named Tin Pan II. Just the name alone wreaks of class. Now, this establishment serves food, so when I told my mom that I met my Valentine (in all seriousness) at a restaurant, I wasn't lying.
Later into the evening, I met Kyo Ho. A small chit chat had transpired and Kyo Ho apparently thought we were soul mates. We went our separate ways, however the texts began to flow the next day and consisted of:
"hi, last night i meet. what are you doing?"
"where are you? ^^"
"*..*..*..*..*..*..*..* good luck~today~~"
"g n
o i
o g
d h
t~~"
Ugh.
After a week of this nonsense, my three, one-word answer responses did not dissolve the relationship. I agreed to go to dinner and a movie to make sure it was a "no-go" and to conduct a brief sociological experiment regarding Korean dating behavior. You may call me cruel...and you may not be far from the truth, but I've always been a curious kid.
As Kyo Ho left to pick me up, I recieved a text "You house. I start." It's all good, I can translate Konglish, little did I know, it was going to be an entire night of Konglish. He arrived and we went to dinner. From what I understood, Kyo Ho only eats Korean food for every meal, everyday, so having a chicken salad and pizza for dinner was very kind and considerate of him. During dinner, he asked me for my cell phone. My palms got sweaty. Alas, he pulled out a cell phone charm and put it on my phone. I now have a dangly hot pink lip gloss hanging from my cell phone. Whew, just a gift. Not long after the charm, he pulled out a small blue box from his man purse. I felt really bad...and I still feel really bad for writing about this, but it's all part of my Korean experience and I'm positive you want to hear about it. In the blue box was a small and simple black-banded watch with Roman-numeral numbers. I really like it and I would have picked it out myself actually. Maybe I am speaking too soon and our love will truly blossom.
Anyway, after dinner, we high-tailed it in his tan Hyundai Santa Fe to a movie theatre near my house. I must say that I really wanted to see Benjamin Button...partially why I accepted to go on this date. The movie began at 12:30 and I had no idea it was a three-hour long flick. Ugh. After awkward and failed hand-caressing attempts, Kyo Ho started to snore. Yeah, so throw me in a date-scenario where we cannot communicate and then have him try to touch my hands mid-movie and then have him saw wood so the Koreans around us stare. I wanted to run out of the emergency exits, but I was also on the edge of my seat and wanted to know what was going to happen to Benjamin Button.
The movie finally ended, we traipsed out of the theatre into a night of flurries and I wanted to get the heck back home into my bed. During the whole ride home, I was thinking about what a fantastic blog entry Kyo Ho had just given me. I will not go insofar as to make a generalization about all courting in Korea (has a ring to it) and should probably remain open to future potential experiments (alas, I'm still a bit shaken up).
In conclusion, it seems as though most Koreans date Koreans. Mixed-race relationships are most common amongst American military personnel (men) and Korean women. It is generally not the individuals in the relationship who receive the criticisms of society, as much as the children who are comprised of multiple ethnicities. In terms of various societal aspects, I view Korea as being about 50 years behind what I am used to in the states. Koreans acknowledge a divide between black and white Americans. Even young students in the school that I teach say that they do not like President Obama. It is obvious that at such a young and inexperienced age, they have nothing to base the claim on and the probability that such a notion has been perpetuated by their parents and older generations is great.
That being said, the special ones who like white girls go to Tin Pan II. ^^
As Kyo Ho left to pick me up, I recieved a text "You house. I start." It's all good, I can translate Konglish, little did I know, it was going to be an entire night of Konglish. He arrived and we went to dinner. From what I understood, Kyo Ho only eats Korean food for every meal, everyday, so having a chicken salad and pizza for dinner was very kind and considerate of him. During dinner, he asked me for my cell phone. My palms got sweaty. Alas, he pulled out a cell phone charm and put it on my phone. I now have a dangly hot pink lip gloss hanging from my cell phone. Whew, just a gift. Not long after the charm, he pulled out a small blue box from his man purse. I felt really bad...and I still feel really bad for writing about this, but it's all part of my Korean experience and I'm positive you want to hear about it. In the blue box was a small and simple black-banded watch with Roman-numeral numbers. I really like it and I would have picked it out myself actually. Maybe I am speaking too soon and our love will truly blossom.
Anyway, after dinner, we high-tailed it in his tan Hyundai Santa Fe to a movie theatre near my house. I must say that I really wanted to see Benjamin Button...partially why I accepted to go on this date. The movie began at 12:30 and I had no idea it was a three-hour long flick. Ugh. After awkward and failed hand-caressing attempts, Kyo Ho started to snore. Yeah, so throw me in a date-scenario where we cannot communicate and then have him try to touch my hands mid-movie and then have him saw wood so the Koreans around us stare. I wanted to run out of the emergency exits, but I was also on the edge of my seat and wanted to know what was going to happen to Benjamin Button.
The movie finally ended, we traipsed out of the theatre into a night of flurries and I wanted to get the heck back home into my bed. During the whole ride home, I was thinking about what a fantastic blog entry Kyo Ho had just given me. I will not go insofar as to make a generalization about all courting in Korea (has a ring to it) and should probably remain open to future potential experiments (alas, I'm still a bit shaken up).
In conclusion, it seems as though most Koreans date Koreans. Mixed-race relationships are most common amongst American military personnel (men) and Korean women. It is generally not the individuals in the relationship who receive the criticisms of society, as much as the children who are comprised of multiple ethnicities. In terms of various societal aspects, I view Korea as being about 50 years behind what I am used to in the states. Koreans acknowledge a divide between black and white Americans. Even young students in the school that I teach say that they do not like President Obama. It is obvious that at such a young and inexperienced age, they have nothing to base the claim on and the probability that such a notion has been perpetuated by their parents and older generations is great.
That being said, the special ones who like white girls go to Tin Pan II. ^^
