Last summer Jee Yeun asked me to hire an English tutor for her birthday present.  So I went to Craig’s List  and only saw only one ad that seemed to fit the bill.  As fate would have it, Stephanie (the tutor) turned out to be a Korean-American who had taught English to executives at Samsung in Seoul before moving to Columbia with her husband. A perfect fit! Jee Yeun took lessons for about 3 months and she and Stephanie became fast friends.  I often heard them chatting in Korean and I would teasingly admonish Stephanie “I’m not paying for Korea talk!”

Anyway, the lessons ended as did Stephanie’s marriage.  She and Jee Yeun stayed in touch and got together occasionally.  Then Stephanie moved to North Carolina and we came “home” to Korea.  And guess who showed up at Pub Dolce Vita tonight?  Yep, Stephanie has also come “home” to Korea.  It was really cool seeing her again in an unfamiliar setting..

And here’s the really weird part.  One of the Friday night regular dart players is a Korean-American woman named Yonga (but we call her Moe).  She was there tonight too and it turns out that she and Stephanie attended Seoul American High School and they actually remembered each other.  What are the odds of that?

After Stephanie left the bar one of the dart players told me he thought she was really cute.  So I guess we’ll see if we can make a match.  Stranger things have happened.

Stephanie, Yonga and Jee Yeun. Together again, against all odds…