12 Days Until I Marry the Love of My Life!

It's pretty amazing that after 40 years of being on this Earth, I'll finally be married. Dating didn't come natural for me from the very beginning. In high school I never had a girlfriend. In university, I just started dating and didn't really know how to do it. From the ages of 21-27, I was immature and fell in love with women that I thought were too strong-willed like my mom. When I felt that they were too strong-willed, I would run away from the issue instead of fixing it. I wasn't good at handling conflicts and fixing problems. I just wanted to escape if things got difficult.

When I was 27, I came to Korea to live on my own and to teach English to elementary and middle school students. I went through stressful times and felt like I needed a woman for stability. At the same time, I just hated being single. My first relationship had a hot temper, so that didn't last. I dated a girl that I thought was my dream girl but she was young and found another guy. I dated a sweet, Christian girl, and thought she could be the one but I couldn't speak any Korean at the time and she couldn't speak any English. In a nutshell, my first year had some great moments but it was very frustrating overall.

As I got more adapted to dating in Korea, I got too selective. I wanted to find the perfect match: Cute, Christian, and someone who would support me. When I would find a Christian, and if I was physically attracted to her, she would be looking for the perfect guy and I wasn't that guy. When I found a woman that was physically attractive and liked me, she usually wasn't Christian. I dated a couple of those kinds of ladies, but realized that the relationship was too superficial. She had to have God in her life or I would just continue the search. However, I also needed spark to coincide with that.

In spring of 2014, the search was about to be over. I found a woman on a Christian dating website called ChristianDatingForFree.com. It was amazing since few women on that site lived in Korea. On top of that most of the women that lived in Korea on that site were inactive. Then Eunhee sent me a message that was completely unexpected.  She told me that she liked my profile because I said "I am looking for  a long term relationship."

On May 10, 2014, we met for the first time. She seemed nervous and a bit cautious but something intrigued me about her. Not only was she cute, but she said she was giving up her job in trade to become a missionary. Wow! A woman of God! Then I asked her where she was going. She said she wanted to be a missionary in the country where she was from: China. For about 6 months, I struggled to deal with that since I told myself that I never wanted to live in China. I had a really bad travel experience in Shanghai in 2011 and after that trip, I pretty much canceled China off my list as places to live in the future. Lo and bohold, the Lord had other plans five years later. We started dating on May 28, 2014 and everyday had gotten better and better especially after the six-month mark.



I proposed at the Grand Hyatt near Samseong Station on the year after our one-year anniversary. It was a very special night of champagne, steak, cake, and her accepting my proposal. I knew that I made the right decision! She was so happy and she had no idea that the proposal was coming. She did say that I was acting a bit weird but it was because I was nervous and wanted the timing to be exactly right.



Two years later, I am very satisfied that I have a very sweet, special, fiancé (technically married after we got our wedding certificate in China last month). She is very patient, easygoing, loves children, loves me, and most importantly loves Jesus. What more could I ask for? I am very blessed!



Scott Worden (The L.A./Seoul Guy)
Instagram: l.a.seoulguy

I Got Blessed By a Tom N Toms Cashier in Gangnam

There is one Tom N Toms that I enjoy going to on a Saturday night. It's between Gangnam Station and Shinnonhyun Station (on the Yeoksam-dong side of the street) in Seoul. I usually go there on Saturday nights after spending time during the day with my fiancé. It's my chance to catch up on some Bible reading, study Korean, or just read a non-fiction or fiction book that I'm reading at the time.

Over the course of the past three months, I was always greeted by a friendly cashier and I made sure that I brought my empty cup back after I was done drinking. He seemed to appreciate my courtesy.

Last Saturday the cashier started talking to me in Korean. He said that he was looking for an English teacher and he knew that he needed some practice learning English. I kindly gave him my email address and phone number and he seemed very thrilled about it.

The following week after I gave him my contact details, he seemed a bit embarrassed. Maybe he felt too nervous to contact me (Koreans are really shy about speaking English), so he didn't know what to say after I had given him my contact information the week prior to that. However, he was still friendly and he knew what I wanted to drink (iced cafe latte). Then I noticed that he punched in "grande" into the cash register when all I wanted was a tall size. I even reminded him by saying "tall size" but he just nodded and smiled. Then later, he told me in Korean that he "upgraded" my drink by giving me a larger drink for the price of a smaller one. I thought that was pretty awesome.

In my 12 years of living in Korea, things like this happen every once in awhile, and it makes me really appreciate the nature of Korean people. If you make an effort to speak the language and be friendly at the same time, most of the time you'll have a good experience dealing with cashiers or store clerks. And you just never know; you might get blessed in the process.

Scott Worden (The L.A./Seoul Guy)
Instagram: l.a.seoulguy

Teaching a Female Police Officer

Last night, I taught a really nice woman in her late twenties. She is a police officer in Samseong-dong (not too far from COEX Mall) in the Gangnam-gu area of Seoul. She told me that her job was rewarding but difficult. Also her working hours varied everyday, so I'm sure it was very hard on her physically since she could only exercise once a week. To give you an example, one day she would work during the day, another would be at night and then back to the day time the following day. I asked her what the hardest part of her job was. She said it was dealing with rude, drunk older men. That must be difficult in a male-dominated society where police officers are not respected. While at the English academy that I work at, She has been studying using her own money. I applaud her for doing something that's very rewarding with little pay and little respect. I hope and pray that as she improves her English, more job opportunities will come her way.


Scott Worden (The L.A./Seoul Guy)
Instagram: l.a.seoulguy

2-Year Anniversary at N-Seoul Tower's N Grill Restaurant

I took my fiancé here for our two-year anniversary as a couple. When you're all dressed up, the only option is to take the cable car up the mountain instead of walking up the stairsSince we just went last night (May 28), it made it a bit of a challenge since the weather was really nice and it was Saturday night. In short there were a lot of people. Fortunately we got there a bit early. Our reservation was at 9:00 and we arrived at about 7:10pm. We had to wait in a long line just to get to the ticket booth and another line to wait to get on the cable car. 
Once we got to the top, we went downstairs to find the entrance to go up to the tower. By then it was 8:35. One of the restaurants (which is on the 4th floor of the restaurant) has its own elevator leading up to the 4th floor. N Grill (which is on the 5th floor) does not have its own elevator to the 5th floor. You have to get in another line with people heading to the observation deck. It's extremely inefficient. We got in line at 8:45 and then we were told to wait until 9:00 to get back in line. At that point, I was losing my patience.

However, once we got to the restaurant, we were pleasantly surprised. We slowly rotated in a circle and saw many beautiful views of Seoul. 




We got a lot of appetizers which were excellent especially the bread and two kinds of soup. The steak was very good as well.





The service was excellent and the staff was accommodating. We also got a complimentary glass of sparkling wine since we ordered steak. Finally, the restaurant prepared a cake for our anniversary which had a tasty mango filling in the middle. 





The total cost was just over ₩300,000. Was I worth it? I loved the restaurant and my fiancé was happy. Would I do it again? Probably not. I'll try a romantic but less stressful option for my wedding anniversary.

Scott Worden (The L.A./Seoul Guy)
Instagram: l.a.seoulguy