Guest Post: Lindsay on Internet Friends

Hey, guys! This post is by my friend, Lindsay. Everyone say, "Hello, Lindsay!" Lindsay and I met in college. We didn't really become friends until after that, but she did let me borrow her copy of The Village once! And that definitely got her good marks in my book. Lindsay blogs over at A Log of My Life where she shares stories from her life in Korea (read my favorite story here). I asked her to guest post for me - just for kicks and giggles - and this is what she wanted to share. I hope you like it!

(Lindsay is the one on the left, in case you weren't sure).

Hello! My name is Lindsay. I live in Seoul, Korea where I teach little children English. I try to get them to sing and dance along with me as much as possible, but sometimes they look at me like I’m crazy. I love playing music and the color green, and I think sticky rice goes with everything. I’m a friend of Scout’s from college (more on that later), and I’m so humbled and pleased to get to write for her blog! Thanks for the opportunity, friend!

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I met Scout a long time ago in college, but we didn’t have much chance to get to know each other until we started following one other’s blogs long after our meeting. With friendships being harder to come by outside of school, I’m especially thankful and partial to these special ones the internet brings. They may be few and far between, but they’re so much fun. Also, because I live in Korea now, I’m 12 time zones away from many of my favorite people, so I’ve come to rely on technology for nearly all of my relationships. In the midst of this reality, I have some happy stories to share! Two new friendships have sprung up in quirky ways recently, and I want to tell you about them.

The first started on facebook. It might be a little complicated at first, but stick with me as I explain. I was on my friend Rey’s facebook page when I saw a picture of one of his friends. This girl was really pretty, so I clicked on her profile. (Don’t judge: I’m pretty sure you’ve done it before, too.) From her profile, I put this girl’s pretty name, Roxanne, with her pretty face. I saw that she also lived in Korea, and I thought that was cool, but then I went about my business. A few days later, she popped up on my screen again while I was on a completely different site.

The coincidence caught my attention, and I went back to Roxanne’s facebook page. This time, I noticed that she lived in Busan, a Korean city I would be visiting in a few weeks. I decided to drop her a message about Busan and ask if she had any tips for where to eat and such. She sent me a friend request, answered my questions, and invited me to her church!

I was able to go to church there in Busan, and I was delighted when I saw Roxanne walk in and sit behind me. Now, it makes me very, very happy when I get to hug someone when I first meet them. It means there’s a little history there, a lot of love, or both. Both things were here in that moment.

Roxanne has now moved to her home country, but we keep in touch and still follow each other’s pictures and adventures. Yay!

The second friendship also started online. I’m taking a short trip to Boracay in the Philippines soon, and I’ve been researching Google for whatever local information I can find. (I admit. Again, I wanted ideas on where to get good food.) Boracay is a very small area, but I was surprised to find only one blog that looked promising. Thankfully, this one blog stumble turned into something awesome.

Gretchen blogs about her family, their adventures, and being a missionary on Boracay. She had a hard-to-read story about needing to shut down her organization’s food kitchen due to lack of funds. I wiped away a few tears at the end of reading her post, and then I pounced onto the comment thread. I all but blasted her with “Hello, my name is Lindsay! I want to help you! I’m coming for a visit! Here’s my Email! Here’s my blog address! P.s. I’m not a creeper!”

Surprisingly, she wasn’t weirded out by my exuberance! In fact, we’ve exchanged quite a few emails by this point. Gretchen’s said she will show me around the island, and I’ve asked if I can do or bring her anything special. As per her request, she’ll soon be getting a care package of Kraft mac and cheese, cloth band-aids, and hopefully some simple English books for her school. I can’t wait to give the package to her with a hug and a really big smile.

It’s amazing to me that I would have never known these girls without the good things of the web. Friendships born online can be sweet and special even if they never blend with real life, but I’m very happy that I will have physically met and hugged both of these girls. Thank you, internet!

Check out Lindsay's blog here. Check out Gretchen's blog here.

Love,
Scout