How is it, Harry?
- Why are you asking me? - You picked a good question
I've never been in a relationship
You go ahead and respond, Noah
Well, in North Korea there are no cell phones
that you can use to contact each other
or just not many phones in general
you would have to walk somewhere to meet
and when you set up a date
and a meeting location is decided
you would have to wait there
no matter how late or early
because if you leave that location
the other person might get lost somewhere else
That requires a lot of effort
so the love feels more genuine
I think dating in North Korea is a little different
than that of South Korea
It's really because we have no clue
You are oblivious to so many things, which can lead to funny situations
If you had more awareness and knowledge in this area
or had Youtube and other media outlets like in South Korea
they could help you understand the psychology of women
or sense if she's in a good mood or not
and know how to treat her accordingly, but I had no clue
so I just assumed that she'd like what I'd like
and my girlfriend didn't really know what she wanted, either
so she would be happy with little things
and when we were together
even when we were not talking
we would just smile at each other
We just wanted to be together
That's so romantic
Even when we just walked next to each other
It was not boring at all
Just walking together...
It was someone's birthday party
they had invited kids from others schools, too
If a boy is interested in a girl
he'd ask one of her friends to have her come outside
and he would tell her that he finds her beautiful
and that she's just his type, etc, to translate it into South Korean terms
and say, "let's be friendly" or something
this means "let's date"
- "Let's be friendly" means "let's date" - It's so innocent
Then the girl would squirm and say, "let me think about it"
Like this?
It's very innocent
and since you don't have a cell phone or anything
you have to wait in front of their house
wait for hours until they come out
and when they came out
you become ecstatic to finally see them
The smile on your face...
it makes you forget the hours you spent waiting
It is important to proclaim it first to the girl
First, you ask her out then regardless of her response,
And the next morning
you wait in front of her house for two, three hours
- to go to school together - You're right
So in my situation
many guys tried to flirt with me
There was this boy who was a bit older
- He was well off - He was wealthy
- And he was probably handsome - He looked like a foreigner
He looked like a fashion model
that you would see on a clothing catalog
He was very handsome and had a lot of money
I thought he was a great guy
He kept trying to hit on me
so I told him that I'm too young
and I have much to learn
I played hard to get at first
You should do it at least once
I was interested but I just pretended I wasn't
During the break I wanted to learn how to play the guitar
I would go to the guitar teacher's place to get private lessons
and one day, he came in with a guitar
He found a way to spend time with me
so we became very close
We just talked and learned the guitar together
There was such a period of time in my life
Dating in North Korea is very pure and naive
I miss that way of dating since it is impossible now
that's how I feel
The first love is so memorable