iam.alive

Greg had been back in Korea about two weeks. We were still adjusting to living in my officetel (heck, we’re still adjusting to it. I’m a person who likes a lot of space to myself and this is a lofted bachelor apartment). There were squibbles but mostly lots of happiness in getting to see each other again. The week before, Greg took me out for a White Day dinner. That had been lots of fun. But this weekend he was going to take me out to Jenny’s, the restaurant where we had our first date.

I kinda knew what was coming.

Before dinner we went out to a cafe where I had a glass of wine. Greg had lemonade (or orangeade. Some kind of ades anyway). We chatted and I sipped my wine while I knit (furiously, I might add. I was really hoping to get the sweater done before the night was through. Actually, I’d been hoping to get it done before he came back from the US by my wrists were having none of that and in my fury I realized that I’d knit half the shawl collar backwards and left out an entire short row repeat on the other half. The saddle shoulders also were not being kind to me). We also had a small snack – a delicious maple pecan “pie.” It was less a pie and more of a danish but it was tasty. I can’t say as much for the wine.

After our snack we wandered around Hongdae for a while. It was still too early to go for dinner but there really wasn’t a whole lot to do. We saw some interesting graffiti and checked out a store that shall not be mentioned on this parent-safe blog. Finally we went to Jenny’s for dinner.

I had butterflies and I could only imagine how Greg was feeling. More than once during our time apart we’d had a video chat where off camera I’d heard him open a box, look in, giggle, and then come back on screen.

We sat down at the table and weren’t yet even given our menus.

“I’m, uh, going to go see if they have any postcards up front.”

Postcards? Seriously? Ok, usually Jenny’s does have some interesting ad cards for local artists. Since I collect postcards I like to take a couple of them when we’re paying the bill. You know, after dinner.

I saw him talking to the head waiter, possibly owner. I tried very hard not to pay attention. Postcards? I kept thinking. Postcards?

I lasted about 3 minutes after Greg returned to the table before I absolutely lost it laughing.

“Postcards?” Like I said, he’s nothing if not adorably graceless.

“Shoosh you.”

We decided to get Party A Set which was the same set we’d gotten on our very first date at this restaurant. It comes with 2 glasses of wine. Not a bottle of it.

The waiter comes over and we order. Greg starts to make a special request.

“Can we change the wine to…”

“No, glasses are fine, babe. I thought we decided we didn’t want a whole bottle of wine?” Yes, that is me further messing up Greg’s plan.

“Ok then, just glasses.”

The waiter comes over with one full glass of wine for Greg and one empty glass for me.

I am nothing if not incredibly clueless.

“What? Where’s my…”

“Look in the glass.”

“Oh. My. God.”

“I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you,” he says, or something to that effect, putting the ring on my finger.

“Congratulations,” the waiter says. The waitress comes over with my glass of wine. I can’t stop staring at my finger.

Dinner comes and we eat and I ask him about the postcards. “I panicked when you didn’t immediately get up and go to the bathroom.” I never immediately go to the bathroom. I look at the menu, decide what to get and then go to the bathroom. Unless it’s totally urgent, which it wasn’t. But props to him for thinking of postcards in a panic situation.

As usual, dinner was delicious and the staff knowing what a special occasion it was serve us our dessert in something resembling a heart. It didn’t stay resembling a heart for long. Tiramisu is delicious.

After dinner, we headed over to a hookah bar called Nabi to chill and cuddle. On our first date I had originally wanted to take Greg to Nabi but the line was really long so they took us over to their second location. Nabi, like every other hookah bar I’ve been to in Seoul bears some resemblance to an opium den (but fear not, we are not smoking opium, hash, any kind of drugs, or even tobacco). The place we went on our first date was a very brightly lit loft space and not at all conducive to first date romance.

Nabi was much better for that. We cuddled and had a smoke. I stared at my hand, grinned, and sipped wine. Greg watched me staring at my hand and grinned. He’d done an amazing job picking out a ring. As it turns out, the ring had actually belonged to his paternal grandmother and had been sitting in his mother’s jewelry box for years. Old and dirty, no one thought much of it. In his hunt for a ring, Greg and his mom decided to go to a local jeweler they knew. Somehow old and assumed ugly ring was brought along to be cleaned up. And when it was, Greg knew that this was the right ring for me. Knowing I have a preference for white gold, a new band was put on and I received the most beautiful heirloom ring on the planet.

It’s been almost 3 months to the day that I’ve been wearing this ring and I still stare at it.

After Nabi we headed to Sinchon to find a place to sleep for the night. I’ll leave that part of the story out but it does involve a room full of tea lights.

The next day was Stitch n Bitch so Greg and I got up early to go for brunch before my meeting. Sadly the restaurant was closed. Only in Korea does a restaurant that specializes in omlettes not open until 11am. But we camped out at a coffee shop and we prevailed. Delicious omlettes were consumed and I toddled off happily to Stitch n Bitch to knit and show off.

All of the photos in this post are from my Flickr set: I are Engageified! You can check out all the photos I took that evening over there. And lest you think this is the end of the story, it isn’t.