making bust-a-balloon cool again

so i went on a date last night with a cute korean guy who i met one night while riding on a packed bus on my way home about 6 months ago. i was standing over him with one hand holding the back bar of his seat and the other hand grabbing the dangling handle above his seat (did i mention it was a packed bus). i noticed him right away. a total cutie in my book.

just being foreign is enough of a reason for any korean to approach and/or speak to you so i wasn't surprised when, after a few exchanged smiles and glances he asked me if i was russian. he speaks russian better than he speaks english, or so i was told by his buddy who, thankfully, could speak english well enough to say, "my friend wants your cell number" ... so i took his phone, put my number in it, handed it back to him then swiftly hopped off the bus without exchanging another word with either of them. it was like right out of some romantic movie and definitely something i had never done before. funny thing was that as soon as i got off the bus i realized that not only did i get off at the wrong bus stop, but i was on the ~wrong~ bus!

.... or perhaps i was on exactly the right bus that i was supposed to be on that night ....

he texted me right away:

"my name is chanho park like korean baseball player"
and
"what's your name"
and
"can i meet you"

ok, so yeah, there were butterflies ... after all, everything about this guy's appearance appealed to me ... his height - 184 cm, his smile - bright, white and a little shy, his face - rectangular jaw and straight-bridged nose, his skin texture and tone - smooth and caramel cafe latte, his manly body posture - legs spread wide open, his athletic frame - broad shoulders and slender waist, his fingers - long and knuckly, his hair style - fresh and modern, gel required of course, his clothes - casual but classic, clean and high-quality (a bit of b-boy meets prep-school boy).

without hesitation i programed his number into my phone and returned his text messages introducing myself and agreeing to see him while at the same time trying to figure out where the hell i was and how the hell i was going to make it home without paying for a taxi ride.

.... and then i never heard from him.

no harm. no loss. it made for a fun story to tell my sister when i eventually got home that night (by taxi)! "hey jan, can you believe i gave this totally random hottie my phone number on the bus tonight? i can hardly believe that i did it!!"

fast forward 6 months and rewind to 6 days ago. i get a text message:

"Hi~susan how.r.udoing~?do u remember me (chanho)? let's meet whenu have time :)"

by this time i've nearly forgotten about this guy and remember even less about what he looked like (but I remembered that i had given him the green light). i responded that i'd like to meet and that he should pick a day and then i'd make time.

last night was our first date and now it's time time for the $25,000 Pyramid Game. contestants, are you ready?

Here are your clues:

-shows up to first date wearing a Nintendo long sleeve t-shirt
-at dinner, shows pictures of friends/family on his cell phone (including the one of him at the beach ~~ yep, those are six pack abs if i've ever seen them)
-over after-dinner drinks, says he likes Ashton Cutcher
-after drinks, wins a monkey for his date at the bust-a-balloon dart-game
-after the monkey, takes his date to the photo both for making funny face photos
-after photos, at 10pm says something about his mom and that he should go

Can you guess the phrase?

What you can expect on a date in korea with a 23 year old.

~~~

he said his English teacher (Nate from America) gave him the English name Solomon. I said, "No. We need to change that. You are not a Solomon." After going through my favorites (Justin, Steve, Jake) i found one that not only fit him perfectly but that he liked as well: _Brandon_. Then he gave me a Korean name. first it was 은영 (EunYeong), then it was 저현 (JeoHyeon), until we both settled on 바다 (PaDa, which sounds like Prada ... but without the r) which means "sea" .... not "seed" which is what my slightly drunk ears thought they heard him say last night.

clearly he's too young and too korean for something serious.

luckily i'm not looking for something serious.

we meet again on monday night.