[Q&A] How to meet South Koreans

Maria asked:

How did the two of you meet?

We met trough an online pen pal site. There are many South Koreans who join pen pal sites to improve and practice their English. For us, it was our curiosity for foreign cultures, his modesty and my love for Korean stationery that brought us together.

We are both interested in learning about cultures different than our own. It is easy to find information and statistical data about a country but really difficult to get the true idea about people’s daily life without having a friend you can talk to. Doesn’t it sound exciting hearing for the first time about things they, on the other side of the world, consider usual and take for granted?

However, neither of us ever expected to fall in love in such an unusual way.

The fated Morning Glory notebook that brought us together.

Since I really like colorful pens and notebooks and one of my favorite manufacturers is a Korean one – Morning Glory – I always use any chance I get to buy them. I was lucky enough to have found one but, after buying this notebook, I noticed everything inside was marked in Korean language. I couldn’t find translation online because at that time I didn’t know how to use Korean keyboard. Then it occurred to me I could find somebody from Korea on the pen pal site and ask for their help. It seemed like a nice conversation starter.

One of the people I found was Kimchi Man. His profile warned that he might not be an interesting person and that his English is pretty bad. I still don’t know why I replied to such a profile. Maybe I liked his picture more than I am ready to admit But he turned out to be the most interesting person I have ever met and his English was just fine. While other people tried to make themselves appear as amazing as possible in their profiles, he seemed to have been doing the opposite. But this modesty is something I find really cute and charming. When we got to know each other better, we were surprised how similar we are. At first we were jokingly threatening that we have a culture shock in store for one another, but it has been a year and a half and no culture shock in sight.

We religiously wrote a message to each other every day, exchanged photographs of what we saw that day, then talked and after just for a few months he flew half-way across the world to meet me. That was the first time we met face to face, a bit over a year ago. I am not sure why, but we both trusted each other completly. And that trust has certainly paid off.

We would just like to warn people about meeting in person someone they previously only had contact with online. Be careful. If you doubt if you can trust them, you probably can’t. Make sure you get to know them well before agreeing to meet. Don’t be shy to ask them a photo of their passport, driver’s licence, or if they told you they graduated – diploma. Your safety is important and if they like you they should understand that. We didn’t really do this, but it’s always best to bring a friend along when meeting for the first time and meet in a public place.

We hope you liked our story. We are looking forward to more questions.