On Thursday, July 14, 2011, I met up with Mark for a very casual Korean BBQ dinner (so casual, in fact, that I didn't wear any makeup, do my hair or wear a cute outfit). Regardless, the food was delicious and I was looking forward to an evening of relaxation, watching So You Think You Can Dance with my boyfriend and my dog on each side.

After dinner, Mark casually mentioned that the owners of his apartment building opened up the rooftop and decorated it. "It's a beautiful view of Isu (his area)...wanna check it out?" Not thinking too much of it, I said "sure" and headed up the stairs.

But about two steps from the top, I spotted rose petals on the steps and heard music playing outside. I turned around to Mark and said, "Oh no, someone's having a moment. We're going to ruin it", thinking some other couple got dibs on the rooftop before we did. But he didn't seem to care. Instead, Mark just urged me to go up, so, shrugging my shoulders, I did just that.

What I found was a plethora of candles and floating flowers in wine glasses everywhere.

"What is this?" I asked. "Is it for me?" "Did you do this?" "What is this?" (I wouldn't shut up).

"Isn't it beautiful?" Mark asked. "Look around, it's gorgeous."

At that point, I spotted the portable speakers that were pouring out the calm and serene melody over the entire rooftop. On top of the speakers was an iPhone. Not Mark's iPhone and not mine. Thinking it belonged to the couple that was having a romantic date in which we were intruding on, I turned around to head downstairs but Mark stopped me and pulled out a bouquet of flowers from behind the door.

"These are for you, love."

Then, I finally realized that all of this was for me. I thought, wow! what a sweet and romantic date. After giving me the flowers, he asked me to go up one more set of stairs to a tiny little platform that can hold no more than 2 people. From there, you could see his entire neighborhood and all the rooftops of his neighbors' houses. I kept saying to myself, This is so amazing. Mark is so romantic. But even then, I thought this was nothing more than a date (a really sweet one, of course).

When we both made our way to the itty bitty platform, he looked at me and told me how much he loved and cared for me. How we've become best friends. How he wants to spend the rest of his life with me.

"I do too," I said. In my head, I was asking, Why is he saying all of this? He knows I feel the same...

And that's when it happened.

Mark got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. In shock, in happiness, in love and in absolute hysteria, I managed to blubber out a yes. I mean, c'mon, of course I said yes!

Then, I proceeded to slip on the wet steps (from the rain) and fall down three steps before he caught me just as my bum was about to land in the candles. Yep, classic Elysabeth move. Aside from my ring, I have a huge bruise on my right butt cheek to commemorate how special July 14th was ;-)

[I'm clearly excited]

In between laughing uncontrollably, smiling without regard, foolishly falling and asking "Are you serious?!?" at least 25 times, I couldn't help but realize how perfect the timing was. He completely surprised me! In fact, until now, marriage has always been some "thing" to look forward to two or three years from now. But, Mark and I are approaching our five-year anniversary in September and although young, we're in love and we've stayed in love and fallen deeper in love for all of college and our adult life.

There's no denying that it took work. A lot of it. But we're really enjoying the fruit of all that work now. And what we've experienced in these last few months here in Korea is too powerful to be explained through words. It has solidified us in a way we never thought possible. And his proposal on Thursday night only cemented that solidification.

Once the shock dissipated, I bombarded Mark with questions. How long have you been planning this? How did you decorate the roof while we were at dinner? How did you hide all of this? Who else knows?

And what I found out is this: Mark has been plotting the proposal for the last couple of months. He was going to do it last Thursday but at the very last minute, he didn't feel like it was the right timing. When he decided to do it the following Thursday, he coordinated with Jamie, one of my best friends, and Charlotte, another dear friend, to decorate the rooftop while we were at dinner. When they finished decorating, they gave him the cue (a text) that all was good to go. And that's when the magic began :)

[Before]

[The finished product]






[My bouquet :)]


[The two that made it happen: Jamie and Charlotte]




[The finishing touches]

Since Thursday, the outpouring of love has been absolutely amazing and overwhelming. Although thousands of miles from friends and family, through Skype and email and Facebook, it seems like we're close enough to laugh and cry together. No, it will never compare to a proper hug, but it will have to do until I come home in October. And I have my best friends in Seoul and my New Philly family showing me just as much love in the meantime!

Thank you for everyone's love, blessings and genuine happiness for us. We're so excited for what the future holds! We love you <3

An update on my life, part II.

To relieve some of the lameness of this consistent downpour/humidity/gray-yuckiness, I took Molly to Bau Haus, a dog cafe in Hongdae. Jamie and her friend, Richie, joined me and the moment we walked in, we ran into our other friends, Kenny and Jeena, who I've been trying to set up a doggie date with for the last month or so. It was an awesome coincidence! We sat at their table and spent the next 2 hours just laughing and giggling at all the cute and funny-looking dogs. I quickly realized, however, that Molly thinks she is a person. She's the sweetest dog with any human, but when it comes to other dogs, this little tiny thing puffs up her chest like she's the lion king. As Kenny and Jeena like to say, "Molly's old school."

Here's a snippet of what the dog cafe is like. Lots of dogs just laying around, wrestling, or like Molly, crawling up my leg to get away.

Took Molly to Bau Haus Dog Cafe in Hongdae, Seoul. 'Twas an interesting experience.

Then, later in the week, my friend, Sky, had a bachelorette party at her house. She's getting married in just about a month, so some of her girlfriends gathered together for one last hurrah :) It was an intimate time--just 6 or 7 of us girls--of goofing around, dancing like madmen and stuffing our faces with spaghetti and red velvet cake. *drool*

[Crafting time!]


[Sexy pose]


[Sexy pose attempt #1]


[Sky: this is how you do it.]


[Sexy pose attempt #2]


[Mourning over the fact that they failed miserably at a sexy pose]

A couple days later, I hopped on a train to Busan for 2 days to visit my dad. But I was able to meet up with some friends, who were exploring in Busan at the same time! While there has been a consistent downpour in Seoul, Busan was filled with sunshine, warmth and lots of giddy people. Rather than explore the city, my friends Judy, Clara, Peter, Justin and I just hung out on the beach, took tons of pictures and relaxed. Although the beaches aren't as breathtaking as California beaches (what can I say? I'm spoiled!), it's just nice to be near a body of water with fresh air and the sound of seagulls. It's nostalgic.

The next set of photos is from Clara. She's amazing, isn't she?

:)

[Judy, me and Clara]


[Peter, Judy and me]


[Illustrating how I must cool my armpits off in this humid weather.]


[Yay :D]


[Haeundae Beach, Busan]

Last week was quite the week with parties and Busan and all. BUT this week has turned out to be quite the surprise. I'll explain more later ;-)

An update on my life, part I.

Bad bloggers would neglect their blogs for a month. But if you check my last post, it was June 23rd, which is...3 weeks ago, which means I'm not a bad blogger, which means you shouldn't be mad, which means you should continue reading/supporting this blog, which means I promise to deliver more consistently in the future. Deal?

Quite a lot has happened since June 23rd. You see, the thing with blogs is, if there aren't any posts from me in awhile, it's probably because I'm busy, which is a good thing. Being busy means I'm getting things done, exploring the city, living life, etc. Unfortunately, it's bad for you because that means I'm home less, therefore, unlikely to sit in front of my computer, upload photos, remember recent events and such. But that's all irrelevant now because I'm here now and I've got lots of great things to share with you!

About three weeks ago, Mark and I met up with Jamie and some close friends for her 24th birthday! We had dinner at a Peruvian restaurant (where the three of us went for Thanksgiving) and then, we headed to one of our favorite spots in Hongdae for some good music and dancing. The group was intimate--about 10 people--but the vibe was just perfect. Everyone was happy and in a fun mood to celebrate the birth of one of our favorite people! Yay Jamie!

[Arroz con pollo...mmmm!]

[Poor JP. He asked for a vegetarian option and they gave him a bowl of peas -_-]


[Birthday girl <3]


[A mini cheesecake on top of a delicious fluffy white one. *drool*]


>.<





[This girl loves me!]


[When we realized we have very similar smiles]


[Trying not to smile w/ our teeth...so awkward.]


[Some people can dance real funky around here...]

The night was such a blast. I remember thinking on my way home, "Wow, that was a lot of fun." Most nights with Jamie are fun, but it was one of those times where the people, the vibes and the atmosphere just meshed really well. And I'm glad it did because I think Jamie had a really amazing time too.

The following week, on July 3, I went to a Filipino concert for a potential project that I can't yet share with you guys. But I promise you it's something pretty great and I'm really passionate about it. I hope I can share what it is with you guys very soon though! Anyway, the concert was out of this world...I only caught the tail end of it, but from what I saw, those Filipinos can sing! Apparently, there was this really famous band performing (it's a family of 6 or 7 people) and the main singer was singing like it was nobody's business. She sang "Listen" by Beyonce and I honestly think she did a better job than Beyonce. It was crazy!

A few days later, I met up with a few friends to shoot some photos around Hongdae. We ended up just playing on the roof of Hongik University and then going to Peter's place for some hamburgers! It was a really fun time though and I made some new friends in the meantime.

[Peter, Emy (the dog) and Judy take a moment to soak in the gorgeous view]

[Judy C., Judy K. and Peter]


[My legs were shaking so much...I guess you don't really know
if you're afraid of heights until you go up high]


[Judy's yelling supportive words to me, so that I can make it across :)]


[Phew! Made it...]


[Me and Judy Booty Kim!]


[Emy!]


[A student hard at work in one of the studios at the university.]


[At Peter's]

Summer really kicked off on an awesome start...I've been meeting so many great people, getting more involved at church, exploring the city more and, of course, enjoying Molly's company :) Although the weather has been really crummy, it hasn't been as bad as I expected, but I'm told the worst is yet to come. So I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Perhaps I've spoken too soon.

There's much more to what I've been up to in the last few weeks, but I'll post part II later. I gotta head to work now.

Have a great day everyone! Miss you tons...bisous xoxo