Meet the crew

I was talking to my friends last night over 1/2 priced wine (2,500 won!) and it somehow got mentioned that I have a blog. People didn't know and wanted to read it, and then it occurred to me, you haven't been introduced to my friends yet! So here is my attempt to get you all better acquainted.

In no particular order, I give you:

Susan (Ze German)
I know I have mentioned Susan a lot in past blogs, but here's more you should know. Susan moved to America right after high school and met and became engaged to a man in St. Louis. She attended undergrad here and met Dave (more on Dave later). Things weren't going well with finance, so Susan did a 10 week program in Mexico where she met and instantly fell in love with Martin. Martin and Susan went back to the states, got married (I think after like 3 months of dating) and decided to move to Korea to make some money. They lived out in Incheon (where the airport is, 1 hour outside downtown Seoul) where they hated it but ran into good friend Dave at the bar one night! Turns out they all, years later, decided to do the same MBA program...in Korea. Small world, no? Eventually they all moved into Seoul proper, got real jobs and Martin left this past August to go to law school in Canada, where he is from. Susan, against my will, is leaving Korea after 6 years this February 28th to go be with her husband again :( boo. But they found a lovely apartment in Vancouver and Susan will hopefully find another marketing or PR kind of position. She is by far my best friend in Korea. We met my first day here at the Hamilton pool (just wait till you get some stories this summer about ze poo-el), where she was dancing on chairs to the dj and pouring soju and orange out of her purse. We quickly discovered our similar interests in wine and running and have been partying together ever since. She's the most fun, sincere, generous, thoughtful friend you could hope for!

So that's Susan in a nutshell.

Onto Dave
Dave as you know, went to undergrad in St. Louis, moved out here for his MBA and has been teaching/working here for the past 6 years. He just recently got laid off from his job and is trying to figure out what to do in life. At the moment he is in St. Louis taking part 2 of the foreign services exam. I hope he doesn't leave Korea though!! Dave is the most generous, laid back, cool guy here in Korea. Whenever you're down and out, need somewhere to crash or just want to smoke some sheesha, Dave's your guy. We have a running joke "I quit my job and moved in with Dave." There are at least 5 people I know this is true for, myself included. Dave lives directly below me with Emily so I get to see a lot of both of them which is nice.

Emily
I have known Emily since high school. She is my little sister's best friend and major reason, if not the reason, I am here in Seoul. Emily is the one who told me about the Hamilton on my first day here where I met a lot of my closest friends. Recently Emily and I went out for a couple of glasses of wine. She was helping me look for jobs and we got to talking. I was telling her how my life changed when I moved to HBC. Life was so much better and she got to thinking. A week later and Emily lives downstairs quit her job and is my partner in unemployed crime. We go out to lunch together everyday, make jello shots, bake cupcakes and participate in debauchery every night of the week. When we get bored we ready books together and she girl-ifies her apartment while I update my blog. Sadly we both start work next week.

Brad Teacher
Thinking about the Hamilton pool, my mind immediately goes to Brad. It was his last day here in Korea and my first. He was a drunken mess, but totally funny and memorable. I find out weeks later that I am the new Brad teacher! I replaced him at BITS. He apparently was totally over Korea after one year, and then on the plane ride home realized he made a horrible mistake and decided he must come back. 4 months later and he's back! I ran into him at the bar one Sunday evening and he tells me to hire a lawyer and quit BITS now. This started to get me thinking and one week later I quit. Thanks Brad! He's a riot and now every time I go to Wolfhound I see him there. He's always trying to sleep with someone and always handing out shots. He's 23, looks 30, and has the hair of a 50 year old. He used to date our co-teacher Jasmine, and called her his weekday girl friend. haha Got to love Brad Teacher.