Sky

It's been some days since my last entry (I totally blame my broken laptop), and a lot has happened.

And this time, I'd say they are good things. =D Truly the silver lining in the cloud plays here.

This past Saturday, I met up with Gina to go to the Korea Contemporary Art Museum located near Seoul Grand Park. Gina's a part of this online art club forum, and they planned a meet up at the museum, and then they were to hang out for the rest of the day, so Gina invited me along.

The museum itself was a great place. There was a lot of cool art and most of the main exhibitions were free for viewing. The special exhibitions only charged about 3 or 4 dollars for entry, which I thought was totally not bad compared to many museums in America, but alas, Gina and I didn't have much time to look at everything. The art club planned to go head out for lunch at about three in the afternoon.

There were a lot of guys compared to girls, I was surprised. I was the youngest in the group, and most of the men were in their mid to late twenties.

You know, when I agreed to go with Gina, I really wasn't expecting anything to come out of it other then a good time at the museum.

I totally did not predict that I would meet a cute Korean guy released recently from his military service who goes to BYU in Utah and will be there for another three years, majors in computer programming, is Catholic (but baptized as Mormon in order to pay tuition for less, hahaha wtf considers himself Catholic still, though) offered to take a look at my broken laptop on Monday (today), take me out to dinner, and made plans with me to see a movie at the Korea Times Square this Saturday.

xDDDDD

But before I get into this Saturday, I'll write about how I came to name him. His Korean name is Lee Seung Yeob. Like the famous Korean baseball player, haha.

After we ate lunch, the art club and I went to a street art festival at the Gundae university area for a little bit, which I enjoyed too. There were local bands playing and street performers about plus local artists selling their work. During lunch, we were all introducing ourselves, and after I get the usual "omg, you're Vietnamese?? I thought you were Korean! You speak so well, etc etc" the Korean guys talk about themselves. Most are all in some design or art fields which make sense seeing as their are a part of this art club, but the one guy that caught my attention is the one who says he's studying in Utah.

Like, omg.

Utah??

I had to talk to him more, right? But we didn't get a chance to really do that because there were a lot of people = harder to organize and focus on one, and also we were busy going places.

But after an hour or so at the street festival, the head of the group proposes dinner and drinking. Gina and I were still very full from lunch, though, and didn't feel like joining. Haha, also, Gina the whole day kept nudging me and asking me if there was anyone I thought was cute or interesting. I kept saying "eh, nothing really, but I find the guy going to Utah quite intriguing, I'd like to talk to him more."

It just so happens that while everyone was inside, and Gina and I were getting ready to bolt away from that restaurant, said Utah Korean guy was having a smoke outside (LOL and he's supposed to be Mormon??). Gina asked if he planned on joining the rest, and the guy said he'd rather not, SO.

The three of us dashed off to a cafe across the street where we talked about all sorts of things for three hours. And Gina was being the catalyst between me and the guy the whole time, lol.

I find out that he and I are on the same page about quite a bit of things, like music, and I guess religion for one. He's fake Mormon, tsk tsk. His demeanor is quiet and soft-spoken similar to mine, but he's not awkward or uncomfortably shy at all, really. We had a good time talking about a lot of things. His English isn't that bad either, compared to my weak Korean.

He's also quite stylish, and cute, keke. Has one ear piercing, pretty tall, a little on the skinny side, though, and once his hair grows out a bit, I think he'd totally look edgier. Still suffering from the military buzz cut, lol. He's 25 Korean age, so about three years older than me. He went to BYU for two years, then went back to Korea to fulfill his military service, and he was just released this past June. He plans to return to Utah starting next spring. And he'll be there for three years.

Potential much? Coincidental much?? I dunno...so hear this out.

One of the things about Korean people here is that they can choose their own English names; their parents don't choose for them. Gina whose Korean name is Dongjin chose Gina because the "jin" sound is there in Gina. We ask Seungyeob what his English name was, and he said he didn't give himself one yet, but he was thinking about something like Sky.

Just Sky? I asked. Sky Lee sounds a little....strange for a guy. While it's good for a nickname, it doesn't sound quite complete with his short last name, too. I told him you could add an "e" at the end to make it look more like a name, but that makes it also look too girly.

So. I suggested "Skylar."

And later that night when we exchanged phone numbers, he told me to put him in as Skylar Lee.

Sigh, it's getting cheesey, isn't it?

In Gina's words, because I named him, I'm responsible for him. Like some sort of pet?? xD

Anyways, he texted me that same night after I got home and told me he's downloading an English Windows XP and that I should let him know when I get my phone fixed. Yesterday, my phone got reconnected so I texted him back, and he replies in KOREAN. Totally putting my Korean texting to the test, we exchanged several other texts (with some random English on my part...) about when to meet up on Monday.

The thing was, when Skylar first offered, Gina was there and while we were talking it made it seem like it was going to be another outing with the three of us, but of course, after my phone got fixed and I texted Gina to say thank you, she promptly replied with a "I'm not joining you guys tomorrow, so have fun!!"

Texting with a sweet Korean guy is really something, haha. We were speaking in polite endings the whole time, but he was really quite endearing. Obviously I was quite excited to meet him today.

Unfortunately, there wasn't anything he could do about my laptop, but we went out to eat dinner at a Japanese restaurant later, where we made small talk and continued to get to know each other. Aren't we old school? I like this though, it's more appealing than a hookup at a club. =D Aw, and Sky was kinda nervous and shy at first, lol, come on, man.

Skylar paid for dinner, too. Actually, I had forgotten my wallet at the studio, but when we were leaving, I still asked how much my part was in Korean, but he wouldn't hear of me paying him back at all, haha. Annnd he walked me back to my dorm, even though he would have to backtrack to the nearby subway station xD.

Five minutes or so after we said goodbye, I decided to go back to the studio to grab my wallet and remaining art supplies. On my way, I thought about sending him a text thanking him for dinner again, BUT. He totally beat me to it. Said that we should go see a movie next time ^_^.

So, I guess it's a date? Today, I called it a half date because it was a casual meeting to fix a technical problem between a guy and a girl. Plus dinner.

This Saturday, though, is probably my first date in a long time....