Dude, just like the movies!

Well, not really. But kind of:
I was walking down a random street in Seoul today, lost as could be, looking for a Costco. I asked a convenience store clerk if he knew where it was, but he didn't know. I walked outside and kept looking around, stopping and staring at my map.

The next thing I know a girl walks up behind me and asks if I need help. It's not too often that people ask me if I need help around here, so I was really surprised. Not only that, but she was really pretty, and the more we talked the more I realized that she was a really nice girl. We happened to be walking by a coffee shop at the time and I asked her if she wanted to stop and get some coffee. We sat down at a table and chatted for an hour or so, and the more I talked to her the more I liked her. She had to go to a friend's wedding though, but we both really wanted to meet again, so I told her that I would go to Costco and she would go to the wedding and we would meet up afterward in another part of Seoul.

At that point I figured that maybe she would be scared that I didn't really mean to meet up with her and that I was just saying it to be nice (I'll admit, I was thinking the exact opposite), so I gave her my U of A ID and told her to keep it until we met up later on so she wouldn't have to worry that she wouldn't see me. She was a little confused, but I told her that it's a tradition we have in my country, so she went along with it. I told her she didn't have to give me anything, but her Hello Kitty pocket mirror ended up in my possession soon after.
(Looking back on it, I kinda wonder if that tradition has absolutely nothing to do with American culture. I think it's more of a backpacker/traveler tradition, actually.)

Anyways, sure enough, we met up two hours later and ended up sitting in a random park, talking about life. We talked for an hour or so, and it was possibly the most enjoyable time I've had this whole trip.

The thing that intrigued me the most is that I genuinely enjoyed being around her, which is something I almost never feel with girls. Usually I just hang out with a girl because she's pretty and kinda fun to be around, and I find myself always trying to work really hard to be funny or to talk about cool things. It was totally different with Sunny (her Korean name's Sunmee). I felt so relaxed to be around her, it was like I was hanging out with one of my good friends back home.

To top it off I'm fairly confident that she has a really good heart. Sunny didn't throw one red flag the whole time we talked (call me conceited, but I'm not gonna lie: I have a top notch intuition about people). Of the hundreds of new people I met in 2008, I would say only 10 or so passed my 'good heart' test, and most of those were kids that I worked with, so it really surprised me that she seemed like a genuinely good person. Not only that, but I think she actually listens to me when I speak.

Complications? Sure. She lives in Seoul, I live in Busan.

Solutions? Just take it one step at a time really. I feel very comfortable with just trying to hang out with her to see out if she's legitimately who I think she is. If she turns out to be real, then that's cool. If not, then oh well.

It really is kind of like a movie though, I'm not gonna lie. The way we clicked was unreal. I feel like I just stepped out of 'When Harry Met Sally' or 'The Notebook' or 'Return of the Jedi.'

p.s. If you don't think 'Return of the Jedi' is a love story of epic proportions, then I think you're missing the whole point of the movie.