Where in Which Ali Meets Not One, Not Two, but Three Loves of Her Life

Should I ever choose to be married, it will certainly only be to one of these three men.

1. Ben Hur



Yes! His name is Ben Hur. No jokes. He speaks the sort of English that all educated Korean men do, low and perfectly metered with his errors only in emphasizing the wrong words. He's funny, and puts up with driving us to the airport (our only access point to the subway) every day. Despite his sunny disposition, he's truly only the love of my life because of his name.



2. The Honey Man



I have a video of him that I will post eventually for he was, by far, the best part of the trip. From the steady bustle of the street, we were knocked aside by a uneven "Are YOU from AMERICA?" to which we reply as we stop to see who is addressing us, "yes." Rachel Kim, of course is not, but it's easier to say yes than to explain. The voice belonged to a young man with short hair pulled back in a rather useless pony tail. "I WILL demonSTRATE." He smiled, and then takes out a lump of honey.

"It's hard!" To emphasize his point, he clunks it against the wall twice. He then puts two holes in it and begins to pull it into a circle after dipping it in flour, all the while using his curiously laconic speech that dips and shoots up like an unsecure carousel. He twists the honey circle so that it makes a figure eight. Every time he twists it, he announces how many strings he has officially made, and is joined by everyone else in the stand. He says something in Korean, translates it in to the english and everyone behind the counter yells "eight".

He twists it again.

SIXTEEN!

He twists it again.

THIRTY-TWO!

Again, and again.

"FOUR THOUSAND AND NINETY-SIX" threads of floured honey hang from his hands, and he smiles. "You can give this to ANYONE, your MOTHER, your FATHER, you brothers your SISters, Angelinie Jolie, I love Jessica Alba. ReFRIDgerATE is one month, FREEzer is three months."

Taken in by his charm, I made Kaity buy some. Sadly, he was more interested in Kaity, but likely even more interested in the sale. Nevertheless, I still love him, which is what any good salesman could hope for.



3. The Australian on the Subway

I have very little to say about him, except that he was handsome. His name is a mystery, and I secretly hoped to run into him on the streets of Seoul again. Alas, it was not in the cards. What I did learn of him was that he lived in Australia for much of his life, and he came back to Seoul to visit friends and earn some money so he can go to school.