A journey of Souls: Accidental Strangers?

We all know the saying: People come into our lives for a reason, season or lifetime. It's so interesting how people come in and out of our lives. Some come, some stay for a while and others go, but they leave footprints on our hearts and we are never the same. I must say that I've been privileged to have met some amazing people in my life. But, it always hurt when I have to say goodbye. Nonetheless, I carry the lessons I have learned and I keep those special people in my heart forever. But I'd like to dedicate this special blog entry to someone special I have recently met.

You ever encounter a random stranger, but feel like you’ve known them forever? I did recently. I met this person randomly and it feels as if we’ve known each other for years. It feels so strange to me that I’ve been able to connect with a stranger in such a way, but I like to believe that nothing happens by chance and everything happens for a reason.  It’s like she wandered into my life unexpectedly a few months ago. And it’s funny because now I find myself hoping that we’ll be able to create a life-long friendship.

The way we met is interesting. Everyone knows about the social network twitter. It’s a safe place (at least I’d like to thinks so) where we can share our most random & inner thoughts (within the 140 character limit of course).  Well one day I tweeted a question and she responded. And here we are now today in the midst of what feels like a very unique friendship. We spend countless hours on Skype talking about everything under the sun.  We even plan out things we should do together, once I return to the States. And she’s even planning on visiting me in Korea (which I’m very excited about) I had a chance to go home and we were able to spend some time together and get to know each other more. At that point we had only known each other for about 2 months, but it just felt so natural.

It’s funny because we attended the same college and I always saw her around, but we honestly never talked. Now, I find myself missing her whenever we go long periods without talking. I kept wondering to myself: why did we not connect while I was still in the States. She even wrote to me: “You seem like such a sweet person, I wonder why we were never cool when you were here.” Perhaps I’ll never know the answer to that question.  But I do know that the process of getting to know her and creating this friendship has been a refreshing experience. And I’m looking forward to more encounters.

I guess every now and again a random stranger will wander into our lives to rekindle our fire, to share something or to even teach us a lesson. I very much believe that everyone enters my life for a reason, season or lifetime. I’m not sure why she has come into my life. But I know that I like having her here and I hope she likes having me in her life just as much. 

You can't fake friendship like this...

At one of our all girl sleep overs! #Fun

Today makes exactly 9 months that I’ve been living in Korea. It somehow seems surreal to me that I’ve come to a new place and created this amazing life. But, I’ve decided to save talking about my amazing life for another entry. I’ve decided to dedicate this blog entry to a very special person in my life: my friend Toya.

Hmmm where do I even start? I feel like I could write pages upon pages but I’ll try to keep it short and to the point. I met Toya a few years ago while we were both attending college at FSU. We became really close and ever since we’ve been creating what has been a lasting friendship. I’m so thankful for our friendship and I honestly don’t know what I would do without my “TT” (as I like to call her, even though she hates it lol.)

Before I came to Korea, I was going through a very difficult time and like any good friend Toya was there for me. I know that I couldn’t have survived that time in my life without her. Like the quote says “Friends sing the song of our heart to us when we have forgotten it.” Thank you Toya for reminding me of the love and happiness that was in me all along. I can honestly say that my experience in Korea has been richer, because I’ve had Toya here to share it with me. I’ll try to give snap shots of random moments we’ve had in Korea. We spend countless hours talking, taking pictures, eating good food, partying and laughing.

We talk about every and anything, topics range from crushes, to what we should eat for dinner, to our childhood experiences, to random moments teaching to politics to life. And whenever my life is in shambles (although it never really is) Toya always gives me the best advice. No matter if I call to complain, to tell her how in love I am (insider), to share a random laugh, to talk about a new crush, to cry, to tell her about my day or just to say hi: she's always there to lend an ear. I really value or random conversations.  

I love, love, love taking pictures, so Toya can always count on me to take out the camera and say “Let’s take a picture.” (with a big smile on my face) Although she tries to object she eventually gives in.

So, obviously food in the States is very different from food in Korea.  And more often than not we miss good food from home. So we’re always on the quest to find yummy food. Sometimes we cook or we go to our favorite restaurant Ho Lee Chow. Ho Lee Chow is like the best Chinese food ever. (yes it’s that good lol).  I will certainly miss it when I leave Korea.

Partying in Hongdae

Koreans really know how to party. They are infamous for random late nights in Hongdae (a college town) or Itaewon (the foreign district) so as the saying goes: When in Rome…ya’ll know the rest. So naturally we’ve had our fair share of party nights in Korea. They have been quite epic to say the least. There’s absolutely nothing like good friends, good drinks, good music and random Koreans to make a fun night on the town J

 Oh and yes, we laugh a lot. I guess it’s what keeps us both sane. Anyone in Korea that knows us: knows that you can always see us smiling or laughing about something #ratchet as we like to say.

During our trip to Japan :-)

I’ve said all this to say that I’m so thankful to share all of these experiences in Korea with Toya. She has really made this experience all the more fulfilling. And it’s funny because after Toya and I met we went a few months without talking. Then we randomly re-connected (although I now know that it was meant for us to reconnect) and discovered that we were both interested in moving to Korea. And now here we are: both living in Korea having the times of our lives while on the quest to maintain happiness. And we honestly deserve it. We both went through so much before we came to Korea. But now we’re here creating the happiness we deserve and it feels so good.

Nothing but heaven itself is better than a friend who is really a friend. ~Plautus