Highlights of my Day... Saturday, November 24

1. With much to do and absolutely no motivation to do it, I finally got up.... and only cause I couldn't hold "it" in anymore. I had to pee... hehehe. Too much information?! So be it... that's my story.

2. Today was the big day... Q and I were going to have our first weekend get-away. We were going to venture to his home stomping grounds, meet up with his friends and he was going to reveal his big secret to his family in friends... his secret being that I'm not a Korean girl. I knew I risked possible rejection and so I didn't want to show empty handed. I may not be Korean but one thing I'm not is a rude girl and I know enough about Korean culture to know you shouldn't show up without a gift. So today I went and picked up some oranges and pears for his family.

3. With his parents out of town at his grandma's house, I was able to buy more time to think this over. Tomorrow I'll meet them. Tonight though, I met his friends. We jumped in the back seat of one of his friend's cars. I thought it'd be funny to really shock them and so when they turned to look at me, I hide my mouth and lowered my eyes. My Korean and black hair had them convinced I was Korean until we got out of the car. They were so fascinated.

4. One wasn't fascinated though. Out of all that showed up at the restaurant (about 12 of them), along came one girl. She approached the table, took one look at me,.. took another look at me, and then this was followed by the dropping of her jaw and one long confused look. I'm sure she was thinking, "Who the heck brought the white girl?!" And with that look, I wanted to curl up in a corner. I'm quite comfortable with being the minority but I'm not cool with being looked upon as a freak.

5. Honestly, it was a brutal moment but it was the only moment that night that I seriously wondered why the heck I had ever agreed to come. She sensed this and I think she felt really bad cause she changed seats so she could sit beside me and for the rest of the night we were all giggles together.

6. Q's friends were loving the fact that I was a foreign girl. I thought they'd bombard me with the usual expected questions, where are you from, how old are you... blah, blah, blah. But no, instead, they curiously asked questions about Q and I. They called us the "International Couple" and wanted to know when we're going to get married. One of Q's buddies nominated himself to be our wedding MC while others tried to recommend nice wedding halls... easy there tiger!!! I've been dating Q only for about a week now and as sweet as I think he is, I really don't hear wedding bells in the near future. It was very amusing though. I like Q, he's a good guy. There's nothing extra ordinary about him... he's just a down-to-earth normal guy. Q is quite a sweet gentleman and so every time he did something for me or talked to me, it felt like all eyes were on us. Q has this cute habit of putting food on my plate and cutting my meat. I think it's super adorable but it they all clapped and stared at us... hehehe. What worries me about Q though is that I don't think he understands what it means to be a Korean dating a foreigner. As fun as it is right now, getting to know each other's culture, I will never be Korean and I don't know if he gets that... I may never learn how to cook kimchi. Sounds funny to say that but, well, date a Korean and you'll know.

7. I must say though, meeting his friends tonight was really awesome. They're all so different but were really cool to me. I really appreciated the fact that they all tried so hard to speak English and to include me in. One of Q's buddies (they call him the Black Pig) labelled himself my "Manager" and so he tried eagerly to answer people's questions about me. He was like my spoke person. Another guy, his nickname was Black Horse, acted as my body guard. Everytime someone said something strange, he'd cover my ears... hehehe. Whereas another buddy, who I named Moon-Ja-Ah (Trouble maker) proved to be quite the entertainer for me tonight. He said he looked exactly like Keanu Reeves... hmm...

8. After hours of the guys trying their hardest to speak English, we all had a laugh when they started to talk to the waitress in English without even realizing their were using English. She gave them this nasty confused look. They then tried to repeat their request in Korean but apparently forgot how to say it in Korean... we all were in tears from laughing.

9. When we drove into Daejon, I had made Q promise me that he wouldn't leave my side. I was super nervous about meeting his friends. I met 14 of his friends tonight and so it was a big deal. Q was awesome though. He did as he promised; he never left my side. Even when he got up to go to the restroom, he'd squeeze my hand and tell me he'll be back. Now I'm no suck... I'm no suck by any means, but this isn't exactly the easiest of situations to be in. Picture the scene, me, the only foreigner, meeting my boyfriend's closest friends for the first time. Regardless of all the worst-case scenarios that played out in my head this week, the night was a huge success... it was more successful than ever imagined!

10. By the time we called it a night, we had been with his friends for about 8 hours, we were all buddy-buddy, and I was totally happy I had come to Daejon. Q was so cute... he was all proud that his buddies loved me and so by the end of the night he was walking much taller.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
When the hype has died, then what?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Love is not something we do, love is something we are.
-- Cliff Barry