Just came back from dinner at my neighbor's house. That's probably one of the first signs that we're not living in NYC anymore.
About two weeks ago, Tyler and I met a woman in the elevator of our building. We were shell shocked from our first experience of taking out our trash (which was no less than a two hour affair... more on another post). I'm sure we smelled like trash and we certainly didn't have smiles on our faces, so I'm pretty certain we've made better first impressions.
But this neighbor lit up when we also hit floor 29 on the elevator, introduced herself in Korean (quickly reassessing as we sorely butchered her name, adding, "My American friends call me Sunny"), and said to come over anytime. Just like in NYC though, we don't see our neighbors much, and we hadn't run into her since.
Then early this afternoon, I saw her as I was meeting a friend for lunch (actually, Tyler's boss's wife -- the expat world is small that way); this time she was seeming a bit disheveled from taking out her trash and asked if I wanted to come over later that night.
At the appointed time, just as I was about to leave my apartment, I heard a bell ringing. Oh, she must be coming to my place, I thought, as I opened the door. No one. It rang again, and I followed the noise to our high-tech living room screen that I still haven't figured out how to work. "It's Sunny!" -- the voice said (whoa, how is she calling me on this screen?! -- I think to myself). "Come over for dinner in an hour!" she says, announcing: "I'm making bim bim bop!"
Now this is something that doesn't just happen in NYC, so I can't refuse. I head over to Sunny's apartment an hour later and meet her daughter, Myoungin, and her husband (who both appear extremely confused and perplexed that I call her "Sunny"). Dinner is delicious and the company is amazing. It turns out that Myoungin is about our age, and the family had lived in Stonybrook, Long Island for a year while Sunny's husband taught physics. We had a super interesting conversation about life as an expat in Long Island versus Seoul, as well as how all of us met our significant others (causing their daughter to laugh in hysterics as they explained!)
About midway through the conversation, it comes out that Sunny is learning Korean drums (janggu), which as synchronicity would have it, I just happened to be researching this morning to figure out how I could take lessons here! (was utterly enthralled by the majesty of them the first time I saw a Korean drum performance at last week's social enterprise conference here... not a great pic below, but you get the gist!) As it turns out, Sunny just performed at Olympic Park a few weeks ago -- she was the only amateur out of a group of eight professionals.
These serendipitous moments are what I love about living internationally. It's not like they can't happen in NYC -- it's just that we tend to be so over-scheduled that it's nearly impossible to just "stop by" someone's place who has invited you over just a few hours before.
Before leaving, we connected over Kakao, which is how everyone texts in Korea -- complete with cute noises and emoticons. We told each other we'd come over each other's places often, and I think we really mean it too.
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PS: Here's the drum I really want to play. Not the pretty little ones in the front, but the enormous drum in the back. Will find a way to make it happen. This is Korea, after all.
About two weeks ago, Tyler and I met a woman in the elevator of our building. We were shell shocked from our first experience of taking out our trash (which was no less than a two hour affair... more on another post). I'm sure we smelled like trash and we certainly didn't have smiles on our faces, so I'm pretty certain we've made better first impressions.
But this neighbor lit up when we also hit floor 29 on the elevator, introduced herself in Korean (quickly reassessing as we sorely butchered her name, adding, "My American friends call me Sunny"), and said to come over anytime. Just like in NYC though, we don't see our neighbors much, and we hadn't run into her since.
Then early this afternoon, I saw her as I was meeting a friend for lunch (actually, Tyler's boss's wife -- the expat world is small that way); this time she was seeming a bit disheveled from taking out her trash and asked if I wanted to come over later that night.
At the appointed time, just as I was about to leave my apartment, I heard a bell ringing. Oh, she must be coming to my place, I thought, as I opened the door. No one. It rang again, and I followed the noise to our high-tech living room screen that I still haven't figured out how to work. "It's Sunny!" -- the voice said (whoa, how is she calling me on this screen?! -- I think to myself). "Come over for dinner in an hour!" she says, announcing: "I'm making bim bim bop!"
Now this is something that doesn't just happen in NYC, so I can't refuse. I head over to Sunny's apartment an hour later and meet her daughter, Myoungin, and her husband (who both appear extremely confused and perplexed that I call her "Sunny"). Dinner is delicious and the company is amazing. It turns out that Myoungin is about our age, and the family had lived in Stonybrook, Long Island for a year while Sunny's husband taught physics. We had a super interesting conversation about life as an expat in Long Island versus Seoul, as well as how all of us met our significant others (causing their daughter to laugh in hysterics as they explained!)
About midway through the conversation, it comes out that Sunny is learning Korean drums (janggu), which as synchronicity would have it, I just happened to be researching this morning to figure out how I could take lessons here! (was utterly enthralled by the majesty of them the first time I saw a Korean drum performance at last week's social enterprise conference here... not a great pic below, but you get the gist!) As it turns out, Sunny just performed at Olympic Park a few weeks ago -- she was the only amateur out of a group of eight professionals.
These serendipitous moments are what I love about living internationally. It's not like they can't happen in NYC -- it's just that we tend to be so over-scheduled that it's nearly impossible to just "stop by" someone's place who has invited you over just a few hours before.
Before leaving, we connected over Kakao, which is how everyone texts in Korea -- complete with cute noises and emoticons. We told each other we'd come over each other's places often, and I think we really mean it too.
----------
PS: Here's the drum I really want to play. Not the pretty little ones in the front, but the enormous drum in the back. Will find a way to make it happen. This is Korea, after all.
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