What is it about
Everything that makes you want to reveal... well... everything? Seriously, I write
email to my friends and family back home in
North America to update them on what's going on in my life, and am generally quite willing to discuss my
personal life with my friends over here in
Korea, but I put stuff in my
daylogs here that I would never tell anyone I actually knew. I guess the only answer is
anonymity, coupled with a sort of
exhibitionism; a desire to bare one's
soul to the world, while at the same time shunning the embarrassment that might be caused by baring it to people one actually knows.
So, anyway, I've written a love letter to my girlfriend. She's coming out to shoot some pool with me and another teacher from my school tonight, and I'll give it to her then. As I say in the letter, I haven't even written an English love letter since high school, let alone a Korean one. I wrote it in English originally, made my best attempt at translating it into Korean (it took me two hours, since I wanted to make sure it was as free of grammatical errors as I could make it), and then copied it out as neatly as I could. I'm sure it still sounds stilted and awkward, but definitely less so than my spoken Korean. Here's the English version. If it's less than eloquent, keep in mind that I wrote it knowing that I'd eventually have to translate it, so I kept it as simple as possible. Everything in parentheses is just for the folks on E2, not in the actual letter.
Dear Eun Jung, (actually, Sarang haneun Eun Jung, which literally means something like "Eun Jung, whom I love")
I haven't written a love letter since high school. Of course, I've never written one in Korean. I hope I write well. There are many things that I'd like to tell you. I hope that one day I'll be able to speak fluently. I'll study hard.
Mokpo was boring, but it's okay. I enjoyed spending time with you. Saturday night, you asked me why I wasn't sleeping. Truthfully, I just wanted to watch you for a while. You're so beautiful when you sleep. You look like an angel.
I didn't believe in love at first sight before I met you. How can you fall in love with someone before you've spoken to them? When I first saw you, though, I saw not just a pretty face, but a kind woman.
Do you remember that night? I came to Parthenon (the bar where she used to work) with my friend, 2-Pac (so nicknamed because his named is Mr. Pak). I was kind of drunk, and after you brought us our beer, I said to him, "Wow. She is so pretty. I wish I could get to know her." He was drunk too, and invited you to come drink with us. I'll be forever grateful to him for that.
We had a great time, and I woke up the next morning with your phone number in my pocket. I thought to myself, "Don't dream, Dystopian Autocrat (in the actual letter, I use my real name, of course). You're just a customer, and she was just being polite." But that night, you called me. I was surprised, and very happy.
Since that time, everything seems right in the world when I'm with you. I'm happy. I hope you're happy, too.
I love you.
For someone who seems so
deadpan and
cynical most of the time, I can certainly get sappy at times. ;-)