We did it! It’s in the books!! We finally broke down and did the ‘How We Met’ video. ^^

We have been avoiding this topic mainly because we think it’s less interesting to talk about ourselves instead of talking about Korea. But, now that it’s said and done it seems to have been less painful than initially anticipated.

If you ask Richard, as foreigners go in Korea, our story is relatively unique. There are just not that many people who come to Korea, meet and fall in love with someone who is from the same country they are. Sure, plenty of foreign couples exist here. Plenty of foreigners meet other foreigners and end up dating. But more often than not, it has been our experience that foreigners come here and usually date Koreans. Do we have statistics on this? No! This comes from mostly our observation, experience speaking with others and hearing peoples’ stories.

It also has been our experience that most foreign couples that are together in Korea originally came here together. But not all. ☺

I believe that I met Richard under unusual circumstances. I wasn’t really looking for a boyfriend at the time, and the night I met him I most certainly wasn’t expecting to. It was a weeknight when I had to work the next day, and I was only thinking I would be out for a few hours before returning to my apartment. What ended up happening changed my life forever.

I had only been in Korea 2 months at the time I met him. I barely knew anything about this place. I was still getting used to my job, I was just settling into my tiny apartment, and I hadn’t even made that many friends yet. I had been invited to attend a Wednesday night going away party, and I thought why not?!? I didn’t have any dinner plans for the evening and socializing that night sounded appealing. Apparently that day, my intuition was working for me!

When I arrived around 9pm I knew everyone. There were about 12 of us at dinner that evening, both foreigners and a few Koreans. It was mostly people I worked with, and people who worked two floors above me. Richard wasn’t there at first, but I do remember the first moment I saw him. He arrived around 11pm. All I really remember from that moment was that he looked straight out of the 1990s, and hadn’t really caught up with the times. That may sound a bit harsh, but it’s pretty accurate. I also like recalling it this way because, since we’ve met he’s changed his tune. He looks a WHOLE lot better now than he ever did then, and he’s four years older too. Not sure how that happened but it has.

It was about 2am when it was time to leave the restaurant, and I still hadn’t spoken to him. He had been sitting at the other end of the table and I hadn’t had the chance to. We were heading to a new spot and that was when he first introduced himself. Though his style was a bit outdated, he was nice, and more than that confident. We made it to the convenient store where we sat down to have another drink, and we chatted the whole way there. I found out he was from New York State, and that he was a university professor in Suwon where I lived. We hung out the rest of the evening. I must have been enjoying myself with him, because I let him walk me home around 5:30am. Yes, that’s late even for Korea.

He asked me out and we had our first date the following week. He picked me up on his yellow motorcycle. We headed for Hwasung Fortress where we were to spend the afternoon hiking it. Afterwards he invited me back to his house, cooked for me, and well the rest is history. There’s a lot more to it, but we’ll leave that to your imagination. ☺

Thanks so much for watching our videos from Korea and for being a fan. We love doing this together, and we could not do it without you! ☺

Hwasung Fortress

‘How We Met’