Mom, I made a friend!

For the three of you that keep up with my blog posts (whatup Mom! ) on a daily basis, you may know that I recently downloaded the “Tinder for languages”. HelloTalk, the actual name of the app, allows foreigners like myself to connect with locals in Korea. Last week, I downloaded HelloTalk and began chatting with individuals near me with the hopes of making a Korean friend. Given my rural location, it is difficult to meet well, anyone, in real life. So, I turned to technology and sure enough, it provided. Last night, me and Dohan met up for chicken and beer.

 

Dohan is a 23 year old (his Korean age is 24, but that’s a topic for another blog post) online college student looking to transfer to business school in Seoul. We connected on HelloTalk last week, and I had a feeling we would hit it off. Sure enough, we met up last night and had a blast. An evening that began with two strangers meeting at a train station ended with two friends soberly belting “Hello” by Adele.

 

Chicken and Regret

 

After meeting up at Cheonan station, Dohan and I chatted while walking to his favorite “hole-in-the-wall” chicken joint. During this conversation, I learned that Dohan had once dreamed of becoming a movie star. Following his high school graduation, he spent six months in Seoul at an acting school. Later on in the night, he would describe this stint as his biggest regret. Not only did he realize acting wasn’t truly his dream, but he also lost 8,000,000 won in the process (around $7,000). While that’s a hefty sum for anyone, I told him I bet he would regret not pursuing an acting career had he immediately enrolled in a university. At least now he knows it’s not for him. You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take, right?. He nodded, but emphasized the “8,000,000 won” bit. Fair enough. After about a 20-minute stroll, we ended up at his favorite spot.

 

“Geonbae!” (Cheers!)

 

First of all, this chicken place was bomb. I need to hang out with locals more because this ish was fire. We were served a massive tray of sweet and sour fried chicken with french fries and cole slaw. Additionally, Dohan made rice balls from the seaweed and rice that accompanied our meal. Had I been alone, I would have never known the purpose of the provided plastic glove…the more you know. A pint of Cass later and we were vibing — I could tell Dohan and I were going to be good friends. It was during this time that I discovered his love for the English language. It’s funny — Dohan enjoys the sound of English because he feels as if he’s “singing” when he speaks it. On the contrary, I enjoy practicing Korean because of it’s short, choppy nature. To me, it’s simple and to the point. Together, we were able to practice both languages, learning new phrases in each. On top of that, we exchanged little cultural nuggets. For example, Dohan didn’t know what it meant to “shotgun a beer”. While I’m a little washed up at 23, I promised him one day I would show him a properly-executed shotgun. When we eventually discovered our mutual love for karaoke, I knew we were meant to meet.

 

Hello from the Other Siiide

 

“Probably…Love Yourself,” Dohan responded, when I inquired about his go-to noraebang (Korean karaoke room) song. Funny enough, this J-Biebs banger was actually the first song I sang in Korea. “Do you want to noraebang after this?” Dohan asked me a few minutes later. Duh. Sure enough, after wrapping up our chicken and beer, we set off to sing.

 

Just one beer deep, I knew karaoke was going to be a challenge. At a bar, on stage, or with large groups, it’s not a problem for me. I’m a sucker for attention, so the theatrics of it all really pull me in. However, here I was, in a small coin-operated noraebang with someone I met one hour ago. No crowd, no group of friends, no soju — this was new for me. We started slow, taking turns singing songs we both knew well. I opted to go for a Drake song — fast paced, not too heavy on the pipes, etc. After Dohan absolutely crushed “Someone you Loved”, we finally felt comfortable enough to go for a duet. Love Yourself, obviously, was next up. Completely sober, we freaking belted it. But we were just warming up. Next up was “Hello” by Adele, which was some expert-level stuff. Neither of us had the pipes for it, but you wouldn’t be able to tell by how hard we were singing. It was genuinely one of the most fun, wholesome experiences I’ve ever had. Normally, I would kind of hold back, half-assing the vocals so I wouldn’t be embarrassed if and when I came up short. But because Dohan was just going for it, I did too. The result was a refreshing take on karaoke — singing, and actually giving it your all, purely for the fun of it. No booze, no judgement. While it was nerve-wracking at first, I found the experience to be uniquely rewarding and strangely validating. I am in no way a good singer, but I still found the joy in really giving it my full effort. After extending our time limit twice, we figured it was time to call it a night.

 

From chicken and beer to belting out “7 Years” by Lukas Graham, my night out with Dohan was memorable. It may have taken some extra effort and an iPhone app, but my first experience with a Korean friend already has me pumped for next time. In the meantime, I’m accepting any and all karaoke recommendations for Dohan and I to tackle.