The story of Katarina and Youngha
Youngha comes from South Korea and was on his cycling trip around Europe while he broke his arm in Georgia. During his rehabilitation, he came to Slovenia and worked in the same company as Katarina. On one sunny Friday afternoon, they got a chance for first small talk. It happened Youngha needed a ride to the center after work and Katarina offered him a drive as it was on the way to her home. After that, their lifetime journey started. They visited Georgia, Croatia, Italy, Hong Kong, and China together. But after that, they found out they wish to have another person in the team; in summertime 2018 they become parents to a beautiful daughter. Currently, they are planning their wedding in South Korea for late April this year.
Questions to Her
On Our first date…
Our first date was actually a week-long journey. He invited me to come over to Georgia, as I was searching for someplace to escape from a stressful job. We were mostly chatting on messenger by that time and while I was flying to Georgia, I was even ready he might not appear. But it was so beautiful- he waited for me at the airport at 3 am and hugged me. He just won me with that hug. 😉
During the first months of dating my deal-breaker would be…
If I found out he is not honest or if he doesn’t like nature and animals.
I learned He is right for me when…
we were traveling around Georgia and I found out how much he inspires me. He is the only one I can write stories with him by my side. I am an introvert person and usually I need a lot of time being alone, but with him, I can be alone together. Since I am with him, I wrote much more than in all past years, although writing is my hobby no.1.
While we were traveling around Georgia, I felt like I’ve known him from before, maybe from my past life, it really felt everything came on the right place at the right time. And on the top of all, it looked like destiny gave us already a couple of chances to meet each other, but we somehow missed it. It was quite shocking when we were browsing through our pictures I posted on WeChat and we found out we were both in the same town on the same day three years ago. I am still wondering if might even saw each other on that day.
I had a cultural shock when…
He held my purse and tried to carry it on his arm. He still sometimes offer me this help but I always try to pull it out of his hands. But now as a mom, this attitude can be really handy and helpful. It often happens we all go for a long walk and I carry daughter in a baby wrap and he carries my bag.
And another one- whenever he asks me to do something. I think the Korean language doesn’t have a future tense, as he always expects I will do things immediately. I can make him crazy if I say: ‘I will.’ Always he is so irritated with the answer and usually follows an argument about why not doing it now. For example, if I mention I wish to meet a friend or go somewhere. In his way of thinking, I should already be on the phone or on the way. ☺
3 things I love about Him are…
Braveness to do something he had never done before and willing to go further even once he achieves his goal. Safeness he gives to me on daily basis; we also travel a lot and I always feel safe whenever we go, even if we visit a country we have never been to before. And the thing I love the most- he is an amazing father to our daughter, my heart always has a melt when I see her in his arms.
The biggest misconception about His country and culture was…
I have not expected Koreans and Slovenians have so many things in common; in behavior, culture, and food. Korea has a really amazing combination of nature and city life. Actually, Korea has everything that Slovenia has plus it is Asia. It has green nature, ski resorts, beach and all the things which I daily miss when I am in Europe.
The most beautiful thing He ever did for me was…
He made me a mom to the most beautiful and amazing daughter I could ever imagine. And another amazing thing he has done before it- he made a surprise visit to me all way from Georgia to Slovenia. He found the cheapest ways to travel such a long distance and during lunch break, my friend from work took me out for a short walk. They secretly arranged the time and meeting place and I had no clue about that. We were just walking back to the office and what happened at that time I still think many times it was just a dream. Suddenly I saw him in front of me. Who would believe this is true? I thought he is still in Georgia. I couldn’t believe my eyes and I think for several minutes I said nothing. It was more beautiful than the best dreams. ☺
During this relationship, the most important thing I learned about myself was that…
I should be more persistent and that some things can really be done faster if I put my effort. Many things I haven’t even started because I thought I cannot make it or I am too occupied with daily life. He always encourages me to do things which I have been dreaming about for many years but I always thought I don’t have enough time.
If there is a piece of advice I could give to my fellow Western girlfriends who are into the AMWF relationships that would be…
Take every day as a learning day. On daily basis, it can happen to be out of comfort zone so take this as a whole life learning process. With such kind of relationship, you can discover things about yourself which you would never think about it. Sometimes it can be challenging and hard, but don’t give up. You will have to deal with many things which couples from the same country don’t even imagine about. And get ready for numerous bureaucratic issues and difficulties which have to be done in the order you can stay together in yours or his country for longer than only for a few months.
Questions to Him
Asking Her out for the first time was…
Horrible. We skipped pretty much procedure which normal couples have. I was far away for the first date and I wished she visits me for a holiday. So it took more than 1 month to convince her to get a flight ticket (even I had to book it).
I learned She is right for me when…
She gave me her credit card number to book her a ticket to come to Georgia… I have no idea how she trusted me so much, haha. Anyway, there were and are on several occasions and it is difficult to choose one occasion.
I had a cultural shock when She…
When she wanted to live with parents even though she is over 30 years old. I think Slovenians are really dependent. Many of them live in the same house with parents, just maybe in a different apartment. It is crazy to see so many empty houses in Slovenia. There are also numerous unfinished houses but not arranged for living and they stay like this for years; but at the same time, people live with their parents under the same roof.
3 things I love about Her are…
I could easily name more than three things. But ok, let’s make it three:
1) She is a calm person. She knows how to think things from distance. (Sometimes it takes too long time to decide everything)
2) She makes me calm.
3) She makes our daughter calm. ☺
The biggest misconception about Her country and culture was…
I thought Europeans are pioneer and logical, but I chose one of the most conservative and illogical countries to live a life in.
One good example of the illogical things happening is that, no matter what problem you have with visa or bureaucracy, no government officials will help you or give you the right instruction. When you first visit them, they will ask you to prepare some documents. Then second time you visit them they explain you to prepare some additional documents. Many of them don’t speak English and we spent a lot of money on translations. They are just sending you from one person in charge to another. And usually that another had no clue about the case related to South Korea, so they have to call the fourth person and so on and so on. At the end of your visit, they just tell you to come another time. They really like to postpone things and pass the responsibility to another person.
Every government official says a different rule for the same situation. It looks like they interpret the law as a poem. My status was not much better as a refugee for 1 year due to their amazing paperwork. I couldn’t cross any border till I got final visa approval. But of course, due to their horrible slow bureaucracy, my time for a legal stay in Slovenia already expired. Can you imagine how was this for a person who was traveling the world before… For nine months I was not allowed to leave Slovenia, one of the smallest countries in the world. My wife was pregnant at that time and she literally almost gave birth before they finished their rigid way of paperwork. One day later when I got the final permit to stay in Slovenia, my wife got contractions and gave birth. It was one of the most stressful periods for both of us and we felt like we were criminals, just because we decided to start a life as a family in Slovenia.
The things that She likes to do for fun with me are…
Travel, learning Korean, browsing our pictures from travel, planning new family travel, daydreaming… It is funny how she is learning Korean through the language I speak with our daughter. She also loves to discuss her writing ideas with me.
She also likes torturing me. She wants to do a lot of walk-ins every weather condition. She knows I don’t like to walk when it rains, but she thinks it is fun.
She hates when I…
ask her not to postpone things. She always finds reasons to make some things later, but I always encourage her she can do it now (if it is possible of course).
During this relationship the most important thing I learned about myself was…
Even before this relationship, trust was my top priority. Katarina is a really trustful person, so I feel really safe and peaceful. I am happy with Katarina.
If there is a piece of advice I could give to my fellow Asian friends who are into the AMWF relationships that would be…
Trust your inner feelings. First get to know her as a person. Later you can learn that some of her behavior might have a source from her cultural background. Respect each other. I approached her in a very…special way? I literally travelled several thousand kilometers for her. When she left Georgia, I needed some time to clear my mind and decided to do a few thousands more to be with her. I sat in a crappy old bus for 27 hours, waited for the airplane in Istanbul for 16 hours, and then I landed in Serbia. I had to transfer there and finally arrived to Slovenia. Try your best and put all your efforts if you love someone. When things get serious and you want to stay together in one country, you might use a lot of nerves to arrange all papers and permits for living together. Just stay strong and believe in love.
