Did you ever play The Sims when you were a kid? You know how when your sim made a new friend a little green bar would fill up above their head? Well right now, as we eagerly try to dig in temporary roots here in Ansan, any time I have a social interaction I can’t help but imagine that glowing green bar hovering above my head. A few days ago, Danny and I were definitely starting to feel like those little green friendship bars were dropping into the red. I think that homesickness is really just an awareness of the absence of anything familiar. Full disclosure, I called my Mom crying about a stupid DIY sock snowman video I saw on Facebook that reminded me of her. “M-mommm,” I ugly cried over FaceTime, “We can’t make snowman crafts together this winter!” It’s those weird little things that creep up on you and release the tear duct flood gates. And as much as I thank baby Jesus for things like Skype and Face Time, sometimes seeing pixelated, familiar faces makes it all the more isolating when you realize that you literally know no one in this brand new place. After sobbing into Danny’s armpit for an hour after talking to my mom, I decided that I needed to get out of our dorm room...er, I mean, apartment. Fast forward to the next day. On my way to find some palaces I’m riding the metro into Seoul and double checking my guidebook (for the third time) to see if I was on the right line (I was), when the two older Korean ladies on either side of me ask, one in English and the other in Korean, “Where are you going?” Along with the frantic tourist vibe I must have also been exuding the “I need friends!” smell. I struck up a conversation with the adorable grandmother to my right, who looked like she couldn’t be older than 40 - bless her perfect Asian skin - and by the end of the ride we had become friends on Kakao Talk. BIG. DEAL. Kakao Talk Friends = Friends for life! My friendship bar was creeping back into the green. After feeling inspired by the sightseeing and friend-making, I was on a role. That same evening Danny and I decided to check out a magical thing known as a meetup group. I can’t believe I never checked out meetups in DC, there is literally every interest you can imagine hosted by cool people who share that same interest!
Our meet up was awesome. We met a Korean guy who went to school in South Africa who has a very confusing, albeit charming, accent; a sassy Chinese girl who is dating an American and has absolutely no interest in Korean men, much to their disappointment; a Guatemalan who said screw it to a regular job and life back home, came here, and is baffled as to why the Asian women do not respond to his latin swagger; and generally just a lot of really cool and eclectic people. In a moment of weakness, we grabbed McDonalds on our way to the group’s second location for the evening and over our quarter pounders that tasted like America, Danny mused: “It’s nice to know that there are great people just around the corner, no matter where you are!”
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