The Drive to Seoul

I recently grabbed lunch at a classy Korean restaurant on my way back to the office. While paying for my over-priced food, I noticed that the restaurant had private, authentic, karaoke rooms.

My previous Asian-style karaoke experience in the US was on the second floor of a Korean restaurant in Pittsburgh. The space was far too big, and a dining room table was awkwardly set up in the middle of the room.

However, Seoul Garden, the restaurant in Nashville, has a few small rooms lined with plush benches surrounding a large table.  

I convinced my friends that it would be fun, so I reserved a room for last Friday night.

{Ellen was a little jet lagged from the flight to Seoul}

Although it took some of us longer than others to get into it, by the end of the night we were ready to pay for another hour. 

The best part of the night? Being able to drive home and not having to sleep at a McDonald's waiting for the first train at 5:00 in the morning. 

Finding Love

On Sunday night, a pretty girl in a white peacoat came into the restaurant where I work. She said she was meeting a man but wasn't sure if he'd come in yet. When I told her to check the bar, she explained that she wasn't quite sure what he looked like. She was on a blind date. She seemed friendly enough, so I asked her how they were set up. They had met on match.com, and after a series of failed dates with other men, she was hopeful.
What seemed to be twenty minutes later, the mystery man showed up. I led her and the handsome, but far too groomed for my taste, fellow to their table. Little did they know that the couple sitting next to them had gotten engaged moments prior. The small white box on the table was evidence of their new commitment.


Yesterday I had lunch with a man from Somalia. Over a traditional Southern lunch consisting of fried catfish, turnip greens, sweet potatoes, and cornbread, we talked about his culture and mine.

He told me that when he met his wife he knew he was going to marry her, and, seven days later, he did. He explained that love develops not before marriage, but because of it. His wife and son live in Pakistan, and he's desperately petitioning for them to come to the United States.


Imagine if the newly engaged couple, sitting next to the seemingly successful blind date, had only met seven days prior.

Why I Miss Japan: Reason One Billion

Thank you Okada family for the most wonderful care package! I'm ready for the year of the Rabbit.

Having the Iraqis Over

A few months ago, an Iraqi family invited me inside of their new American apartment when I showed up at their door. With a Burmese man waiting in my car, I was supposed to pick up the Iraqi man and take the men to a nearby bus stop where they would learn the basics of the public transportation system. The hospitality and wonderful smiles of the family overwhelmed me, and I promised them I would visit again that Saturday.

I quickly built a relationship with the Iraqi family, consisting of a wonderful mother and father, two beautiful girls, and a little baby boy.

{A cherished present from one of the girls}

Last Wednesday, while in their neighborhood, my friend and I dropped by their apartment. We were spontaneously served a beautiful meal on their bedroom floor. In an effort to return the favor, I decided to invite them over to my house for once. Last night I drove the twenty minutes to their apartment as my friends put the finishing touches on the American meal we prepared for them.

The father enthusiastically told me how beautiful my house was, and nodded at me as if I had already succeeded in achieving the American dream, which, I suppose, I have.

We sat around the dining room table and talked about food, favorite sports, school, Iraq, and learning English. The eleven-year-old girl promised me that she would learn English in two months. We both look forward to the girl talk.

Next Friday we're all going to their apartment for a traditional Iraqi meal.

Last night I was incredibly thankful for friends who went out of their way to buy halal meat for chili, wrote "peace" in Arabic on a cake, and helped me prepare everything in the hour I had after work.

Snow Day

It snowed about two inches in Nashville overnight. I woke up to a text message from my boss telling me not to come in today.
In the South, things generally shut down at the sight of snow.
The only evidence of life I've seen this morning are these little footsteps in my backyard. It looks like a few critters had someplace to be.

Thank Goodness for Good Friends

Two of my closest friends, one from high school and one from college, live in Nashville.
This morning, Mallory, my friend from high school, showed up in my bedroom while I was still sleeping. She came to fulfill her end of a deal we made. (She had to clean my bathroom. Long story). In my sleepy, slightly hungover state, I was confused as to how she got into my house, but thankful that she followed through with her promise.

Living in a city with my friends has been wonderful.
We like to lounge around and eat together,

explore new things with new friends,

partake in cultural events,

work up a good sweat,

and hang out at classy bars, even when our budgets barely allow it.


Even though our jobs can be exhausting, we always make time for each other. Although Nashville isn't the biggest or most exciting city, it has two of my favorite people. I'm starting to believe more and more, it's not about where you are but who you're with.

Special Things

While traveling through Japan I met a lovely Thai woman at a hostel. We indulged in fried shrimp and karaoke together. I really loved her top, and didn't believe her when she said she'd send one to me.

For Christmas, she sent me the exact shirt I loved.

With gifts, it's always the thought that counts. But when you actually like the gift, that's pretty cool, too.

Today a little girl from an Iraqi family who I help through my job gave me a beautifully wrapped Christmas present.
It was a Christmas Bell placed in a My Little Pony box.
I'll cherish it along with these other Christmas ornaments some of my old students in Japan recently sent to me.


My Christmas tree will be DECKED OUT next year.

Already????

After seating (and chatting with) Jake Gyllenhaal and Taylor Swift at the restaurant where I work in November, I was shocked, yet very relieved, to read of their sudden split.
Thank goodness my man is back on the market.

Monday Afternoon Road Trip

In Japan it was completely normal for me to commute hours to spend some quality time with friends. (I once travelled approximately two hours by train and bus to catch Sex and the City 2 when it first came out).

Today I snuck out of the office after lunch, hopped in my car, and drove two and a half hours to Chattanooga, TN to see my friend Tye, who was home on break from University.

The last time I saw Tye was in Japan when I met him and his male co-workers for drinks. I walked through rice fields to find the tiny restaurant where they sat eating edamame and sipping beer.

The afternoon drive through Tennessee was gorgeous.


I snapped this picture at a rest stop along the way.

He drove me around his hometown, and I was surprised by it's charming qualities. We ate Barbeque at the most famous spot in town where I, for the first time ever, drank a cup of good ol' southern sweet tea. The woman behind the counter who I ordered from was so shocked that I had never had real sweet tea before, so she insisted that it was on the house.


She and I quickly bonded over the cultural difference in beverages.

After much needed catching up over the most delicious food, Tye drove us back to his house where we played with his dogs, unsuccessfully attempted to skype some of our friends from Japan, and looked up ticket prices for me to visit him and his lovely girlfriend in Vancouver.


As I drove back to Nashville in the darkness, listening to country music on the radio, I didn't think about waking up and going to work in the morning. I thought about the importance of not letting friendships fall apart over time and distance.

2011 Began in Pittsburgh

New Year's Resolution 2011:
1. Stop thinking about living in Japan.
2. Start blogging about America.

For me, 2010 began on a crowded block of Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam and ended with this guy
saving my semi-disastrous night in Pittsburgh by providing my old friends and me with some much needed champagne to toast to 2011. Three friends and I attended a horrendous club in Pittsburgh's Station Square before fleeing the scene at 11:30, refusing to begin our year in the presence of so many fake boobs and inattentive bartenders. The smiling guy above renewed my hours before questioned faith in mankind as he handed us plastic cups filled with the bubbly goodness at a friendlier establishment in the far from shady neighborhood of Shadyside.

Now I'm back in Nashville, distant from my hometown of Pittsburgh where I leave friends, family, and loving pets behind.
Cheers to change.