친구 (chin-gu)

What's that title mean you ask?  친구, or romanized chin-gu, is the Korean word for friend (there's no reason this blog can't be educational as well as informative).  In this weeks post I'll share with you some of the closer friends I've made here in Korea.  And without further ado:

David, Brian, Mark, me

I met this group of guys through the acting work I've done here in Korea.  We're all veterans of the TV show "Surprise" that I've done.  This group of friends spans the English speaking world.  David is from England, and has Australian citizenship as well. Brian is from Ireland, and just recently (the day after this photo) moved back to England with his wife and kids to live.  And Mark is from Canada, though been in Korea 10-11 years.  We all come from different walks of life and have interesting stories, but Brian and Mark are quite the characters with very interesting life stories.  Brian is clearly the oldest, but definitely the youngest at heart (if you look closely at the picture, he is holding 2 pool balls in each hand conveniently located near David & Mark's pool sticks).

The photo was taken a couple weeks ago in Itaewon.  Itaewon is a district in Seoul where many foreigners live and gather for night life.  Actually it had been about 4 or 5 months since I had last hung out with these guys.  And since Brian was moving away it gave us a good reason to get together. Working abroad as an English teacher you expect to make friends who come and go, whether they move back home or to another country.  But I've been pretty fortunate that the friends I get along with the most, have been mainstays in Korea.