friday, november 25th i hung out with yejee and sam one last time before leaving korea. we met in apgujung, right near my workplace, and walked over towards rodeo street where there are lots of restaurants and bars.

we had a bit of a scare when while walking yejee got a call from sam's cell phone even though sam was right there with us. turned out she had left it at the cash machine we'd stopped by but luckily the woman who found it called the most recent number and it was yejee. so luckily she was able to get it back right away thanks to that good samaritan. it occurred to me that since yejee lost her phone a few weeks before when i was there that there must be some sort of curse on people that hang out with me that makes them lose their phones.

we couldn't figure out what we wanted to eat or where we wanted to go, but finally we all got a craving for sushi, and settled on that. after a very hearty meal of raw fish, we set out to find a second spot to talk and have a drink. before that we had to take a detour first over close to where yejee lived so she could give the shoes she was wearing to her sister who wanted to wear them out that night. we hopped in a taxi for the short ride from apgujung to 건대입구 (geondae ipgu).

i sat up front and sam and yejee were in the back seat. somehow the conversation turned to music and sam asked me if i had ever heard of a particularly famous korean traditional song, which i hadn't. all of a sudden the taxi driver came to life and began talking animatedly about the song to sam and yejee in korean. next thing we knew he went into a heartfelt performance of the song right there as he drove. he sang very well, and i was impressed with how he gave it his all without being embarrassed in the slightest bit, despite the fact that he didn't even know us and we were just getting a ride in his cab. we applauded him and he went on to explain that he had studied traditional korean music and that he had won some awards in the past for his singing. before letting us out, he sung us another song, and i felt so lucky that we ended up in his cab for a unique experience i never imagined i would have had.

yejee switched shoes and we went back to apgujung, where we finally settled on a japanese place for drinking and hanging out.

the first time i met yejee and sam, yejee told me that she and sam have been best friends for many years and that one of her favorite things about sam are the many amazing facial expressions she makes. i definitely agree, and usually they appear, disappear, and change to another very quickly, so it was lucky to have captured one in this image.

i really only had the chance to hang out with these two about five or six times during my year in korea, but from the very first time we met it was very comfortable and easy to get along with one another. they have been best friends for many years, and it's fun watching them interact with one another and hearing the many stories of times they've shared with one another. i'm very much looking forward to getting together with them when i'm next in korea.