Finding Connection in Korea
On our drive down to Philly in October, 2022, Sung and I received a text from Adela in our group chat, Burger Brigade, inviting us to Korea in October, 2023. Josh & Adela were invited to a wedding and planned to make a whole trip of it. As we navigated to our hotel, we discussed our travel calendar for 2023 and figured the timing of the Korea trip could work. Sung, born in Korea, had not been to Korea since 1988. We texted back within minutes that we were in.
I could cop out and say that the whole Korea trip was a top moment. From meeting several of Sung’s family members to eating some of the most delicious foods of my life, Korea was amazing. In favor of getting closer to a “moment,” the new level of connections felt upon returning home from Korea make the list this year.
First, this trip was a chance for Sung to take the lead. As our translator, Sung ordered our meals and navigated our taxi drivers. Sung is our resident introvert, but in Korea, he was the one with the microphone. I enjoyed being the backup dancer to Sung’s center stage moment.
Second, I finally met more of Sung’s family members. Although we won’t see them often, meeting more of Sung’s family brings us closer together as we continue to weave the fabrics of our lives together. On the one hand, I can’t believe it took over 9 years for us to make this trip but on the other hand, it is fun to continue to learn new things about each other.
Finally, I left with a deeper connection to the Burger Brigade. Our trips together before Korea did not feature multiple planes, tourist sites, and navigation in another language. It’s one thing to hit a ski mountain for a day, do a puzzle, and eat some nachos. It’s quite another to get up at 5AM to catch a flight to an island, pick up a car, visit a cave, climb a mountain, decide on whether or not to visit a folk village (we didn’t), food crawl around a market, find our Airbnb up a windy road and then try to hold google translate up to the washing machine to pick the right setting. Not only did we do all of that, we did it with ease, laughter, and love.
Not everyone can travel together, and certain travel philosophies won’t mesh. If there is any advice I could give, I would say that decisiveness and deference to the decider worked well for us. We naturally took turns as decision makers and if not the decision maker, we fell in line with the decider.
I am grateful that my relationships with friends and family are not static, but rather, present several opportunities to grow and to evolve, and to unlock a new level of closeness.
