Middle School ESL/Korean I Teacher.
Homosexual.
Single.
06/29/1998.
26.
Tiger (WA)
Authored by Redeim.
Offline.
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Post by Raven Raein Kong on Jul 5, 2021 19:44:09 GMT -8
Raein relaxed a bit at the explanation. "Ah... I see..." He said simply. He'd have to do some research. He knew next to nothing about Korea, except for the few stories his grandparents told him (that were far outdated at this point), the few stories his mom told him (also outdated, but slightly less so), and knowing where to find it on a map. He knew enough to Jeju-do was in the South, but that was about it. "I'd... appreciate that." He added after a pause.
"A chore chart sounds like a fair way to distribute chores. Is there um... like, something chores-wise you really hate doing? Cause I have a couple I hate doing. Uh, blame it on the restaurant again, but I hate sweeping and mopping. I can do anything else but that."
He was relieved but now even more curious about his potential new roommate. "Oh, okay, that works out then. I suppose. Perhaps once we get more familiar with each other's uh... dietary preferences? We can cook together." He added, quietly, "if we go ahead with this, that is."
He nodded, slowly starting to feel a little more confident around Wooram. "Yes. I-uh, it's a little embarrassing to admit it out loud-but I've always been a loner, so I'm not really used to being around someone 24/7. Even my own family. My parents and brother were always busy at the restaurant except for on Sundays when it was closed. I appreciate my own alone time and can respect someone else wanting some."
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5th Grade Teacher.
Gay.
Single.
07/04/1996.
28.
Rat (WA)
Authored by Etienne.
Offline.
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Post by Wooram Mok on Jul 5, 2021 19:57:18 GMT -8
Wooram was surprised at how good a fit this seemed. He said, "I really don't mind sweeping or mopping, and I'd rather be the one doing those once a week or every few days than like taking out the trash or when say a shower or tub has to get deep scrubbed. Though if we end up with a model with carpet, I will admit to being slightly afraid of vacuum cleaners. Like I can vacuum, but no laughing at me when I do it with headphones on."
He smiled at Raein, hoping that that little vulnerability would help ease Raein's own embarrassment. He added, "And like, it sounds like we're in a good fit range on the needing our own alone time."
He hesitated then. He knew that if he would be living with someone, he'd need to at least mention the epilepsy. It wouldn't be fair to someone or necessarily safe for him if he had a seizure and the person he was living with didn't know what was going on. He sighed and said softly, pausing a bit between his words, "And, um, it's probably best for me to avoid any chores where falling down would potentially be higher risk. I, uh, I've got epilepsy, have since I was a little kid, and I don't get the like big dramatic seizures you see on TV stuff sometimes, but I get atonic seizures sometimes, um, they're more colloquially called drop seizures. And that's something that someone I was potentially going to live with would need to know. It's not something that you'd be responsible for, and like, they don't happen that often, I've got it under control with medication and a carefully controlled diet, so they don't happen very often anymore."
He realized that he was babbling and stared down at his drink. He sighed, shoulders drooping, and said, "I promise, I'm not like high maintenance because of them. I can take care of myself, and you'd probably not ever run into something because of them, but I wouldn't want it to end up scaring you if we ended up rooming together."
This was the part where he worried that he'd have Raein turn around and just leave, not interested in rooming with someone with a disability that did run the risk of impacting his life, even though Woorim was perfectly capable of taking care of himself.
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Middle School ESL/Korean I Teacher.
Homosexual.
Single.
06/29/1998.
26.
Tiger (WA)
Authored by Redeim.
Offline.
|
Post by Raven Raein Kong on Jul 5, 2021 20:05:04 GMT -8
Raein smiled softly but raised an eyebrow, "Are you telling me there are people that don't put on headphones when vacuuming?"
His smiled faded though and he listened carefully to what Wooram was confiding in him with. "I um... Don't really know what drop seizures, so I guess I'd have to like... learn about it." He shrugged, "I mean, you say you have it under control, so it sounds like it's not really something I'd need to worry about, but I wouldn't mind being pointed in the right direction of things to look so I can be at least like, vaguely prepared if it happened while I was around?" He looked at Wooram and tilted his head, giving him a questioning look. "If it happened while I was around, would there be anything I'd have to do? I know you said I don't have to be responsible for you and that's great, but like, if?"
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5th Grade Teacher.
Gay.
Single.
07/04/1996.
28.
Rat (WA)
Authored by Etienne.
Offline.
|
Post by Wooram Mok on Jul 5, 2021 20:18:11 GMT -8
Wooram chuckled a little bit at Raein's response to his comment about vacuuming.
He could see the uncertainty on Raein's face about the epilepsy, but his response wasn't bad. It sounded like he was still thinking about it, and even thinking about how he could be a good roommate, not just one that would tolerate the fact that Wooram had a disability.
Wooram smiled at him a little bit, sitting back up a little straighter and trying to think about how to explain in a way that wouldn't be too much information, or not useful. He said, "Thank you. Um, drop seizures, or atonic seizures, basically involving suddenly losing tension in all the muscles in my body, so falling down, and generally kind of passing out a little bit. Normally, I sort of come back around after a few minutes, and have a horrible headache and take my rescue medication, which is pretty much always on me. Then I have to call my doctor and let her know that I had one. The only times that someone would need to do something about them other than maybe like roll me out of a horribly uncomfortable position, which is nice but not necessary is if I either hit my head on something hard, or if I'm not back to at least being semi-responsive in about ten minutes, in which case calling emergency services would probably be a good idea, and I have a medical alert bracelet, so they can look at that for details of how to handle it."
He took a sip of his tea, trying to think about what else might be relevant to know. Then he added, "I get something called absence seizures sometimes too. So like, if I ever seem like I'm completely ignoring you and staring off into space, and then seem to like snap back into focus and have no idea what's going on, I basically couldn't hear you, because my brain was kind of temporarily offline. Those happen a little more often than the drop seizures, but neither happens that much. Drop seizures I tend to get a few a year, and absence seizures a few times a month. Absence seizures usually last several seconds to several minutes, but I don't think that I've ever had one longer than five minutes."
He added, slightly sheepish that he'd been babbling a bit, "And, um, I'm happy enough to explain more if you want, and I can direct you to more information about it. But like I said, it's my responsibility, and honestly I hope that most people would call emergency services if their roommate fell and hit their head or like passed out and didn't wake up for fifteen minutes."
He shrugged and watched Raein, trying to judge the response. Slightly wanting a new topic of conversation, he said, "Um, what do you teach at the middle school? I think that I mentioned that I'm a fifth grade teacher."
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Middle School ESL/Korean I Teacher.
Homosexual.
Single.
06/29/1998.
26.
Tiger (WA)
Authored by Redeim.
Offline.
|
Post by Raven Raein Kong on Jul 5, 2021 20:26:02 GMT -8
Raein listened carefully, not even noticing until it made sound that he finished his drink. "Yeah, that make sense. I would also hope most people would call emergency services if I fell and hit my head or was passed out for that long." He agreed. It was daunting to think of rooming with someone with epilepsy, cause he knew if he was around to witness one of Wooram's drop seizures he would freak the fuck out, but it wasn't a deal breaker. And besides that, it sounded like he had it under control. "If this goes through and we end up roommates, I would appreciate the extra information." He said with a soft smile, able to recognize the other man was getting uncomfortable with the topic.
"Oh right, I didn't mention that in the email did I?" He asked with a soft laugh. "I'll be teaching ELL and also Korean I. I guess they have Korean as a language option for the high school? So I'll kind of have an introductory class and I think it'll be focusing on learning to read hangeul and then some basic phrases and some culture facts. The school told me they'd get me in touch with the Korean teacher at the high school at some point, so that class will be more put together when that happens." He explained.
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5th Grade Teacher.
Gay.
Single.
07/04/1996.
28.
Rat (WA)
Authored by Etienne.
Offline.
|
Post by Wooram Mok on Jul 5, 2021 20:32:43 GMT -8
Wooram nodded at the request for more information, but he was glad that they didn't linger over the topic.
Wooram grinned and said, "My ELL teachers in middle school were a big part of what made me want to be a teacher, so very much cool. And it's awesome that they have a Korean program in the high school and are working to extend it down to the middle school. I'd honestly be curious to hear more about that as you learn more!"
He was relieved to be moved on, and considered what he would need to know to go through with rooming with Raein. There was a part of him that wanted to just jump on this opportunity, it seemed right, and he was feeling pretty good with Raein having taken the idea of him having epilepsy well.
He thought about it for a minute and asked, "Do you have questions for me as a potential future roommate? I was thinking about seeing if I could get a tour of one of the two bedroom two bath apartments at Ocean Breeze Apartments today, so that could potentially be something we looked into doing together, so that we could see what we thought of the space."
He added with a small smile, "Honestly, knowing that you're also going to be teaching in the school district is a pretty big recommendation in your favor for me."
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Middle School ESL/Korean I Teacher.
Homosexual.
Single.
06/29/1998.
26.
Tiger (WA)
Authored by Redeim.
Offline.
|
Post by Raven Raein Kong on Jul 5, 2021 20:41:03 GMT -8
Raein smiled, "I had a teacher in high school, she ended up my science teacher, that made me want to become a teacher. I even told her that when I graduated and accidentally made her cry. Like I said, I was a loner growing up, and she was kind of my sanctuary from the other kids. Uhm," He debated if he should say what he was thinking, and then decided to go for it, "Except for kindergarten, when my brother was still in school, and one semester in seventh grade, I was the only Asian in my school. So they teased me a lot, and a lot of them were racist. After I had her as a teacher my freshman year, she told me I could come back and visit her class anytime, lunch and recess included." He glanced around the boba tea shop, "I'm sure it's not as much of a problem here, but I want to be able to be some student's sanctuary if it comes to that." He paused, realizing he'd rambled a bit and got flustered. He stammered before answering him quickly, "Yeah! I'll be happy to let you know more once I find out more!"
He thought for a moment before shaking his head. "Not that I can think of..." He felt like he was forgetting something, but he had Wooram's email address, so he could always send him an email later if he remembered.
He perked up a bit at the mention of getting an apartment tour in today. "Oh? That sounds like an awesome idea!" He smiled and leaned back in his seat, "I must agree. The thought of rooming with another teacher does make the idea of rooming with a stranger easier."
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5th Grade Teacher.
Gay.
Single.
07/04/1996.
28.
Rat (WA)
Authored by Etienne.
Offline.
|
Post by Wooram Mok on Jul 5, 2021 20:52:14 GMT -8
Wooram smiled and said, "She sounds like a good teacher, and yeah, there's a really high Asian population in Cedar Beach, it's something I looked up, partially because there's been a Buddhist temple here for years and years. I think from what I was seeing more of the Asian population here is Chinese, but like there are Korean restaurants and stuff around too."
He added, "And I understand. Between epilepsy and some, uh, other stuff, I got pretty excluded and bullied some when I was still in Jeju-do, and then, I was new and strange when I was here, though I wasn't the only Asian in the school. I went to a bigger school than you though, once I was in the states. Even in a bigger school, there's going to be that kid that needs a teacher to watch out for them and give them a safe space, and I hope that you're able to be there for those kids."
He briefly fiddled with the rainbow bracelet that he kept on the wrist opposite his medical alert bracelet, toying with the idea that maybe he should make a point of coming out to Raein before they decided about moving in together.
He latched on to the idea of the apartment visit instead and pulled up Ocean Breeze Apartments' website on his phone, checking their viewing appointments. He said, "There's an appointment to view an available apartment at Ocean Breeze Apartments in about thirty minutes if you want. That's plenty of time to walk over from here, or if you drove it would be an easy drive. It looks like they've got three available two bedroom two baths right now in two different models, so we might want to see if we could see both models, they're the same price to rent a month. There's a two bedroom one bath as well, but I'd honestly rather not share a bathroom. You want to do that?"
His fingers hovered over the button for booking the appointment as he looked to Raein for an answer.
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Middle School ESL/Korean I Teacher.
Homosexual.
Single.
06/29/1998.
26.
Tiger (WA)
Authored by Redeim.
Offline.
|
Post by Raven Raein Kong on Jul 5, 2021 21:01:56 GMT -8
"Oh, that's cool." Raein said absentmindedly, then added softly, "I don't know the first thing about Buddhism..." It was another thing he wouldn't mind learning about. He was fairly sure his grandparents were sort of Buddhist, but he couldn't begin to tell anyone a single thing about it.
He was somewhat relieved, albeit saddened, to learn Wooram had also been bullied growing up. Somehow, it felt like a point of bonding for them, if not a bitter thing to bond over. His eye drifted to the bracelet around the other man's wrist, looking at it questioningly before his mind thought, Must be to show people how supportive he is. What a great guy!
He blinked a few times to get out of his thoughts and nodded, "Yeah, that sounds good. And I agree on would rather not share a bathroom." He paused, "And I walked over since it was so close to where I was staying." He avoided saying where he was staying, on the off chance Wooram ended up being some axe murderer and was just really convincing, but at this point he felt he was safe. He'd probably get an earful from his friends later.
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5th Grade Teacher.
Gay.
Single.
07/04/1996.
28.
Rat (WA)
Authored by Etienne.
Offline.
|
Post by Wooram Mok on Jul 5, 2021 21:08:21 GMT -8
Wooram noticed Raein glancing at the bracelet, but the other man didn't say anything, and Wooram didn't quite feel ready to broach the subject independently. If the little hints of queerness didn't drive Raein running, well, that was a good start, and for all that the other young man seemed pretty accepting, Raein had said that he came from a tiny town, and Wooram didn't know how much he'd have to explain if he brought up the topic.
With approval from Raein, he booked the viewing appointment under his name. He got the confirmation email and said, "I've got the appointment for us. It looks like they want us to be no more than 15 minutes early, so we probably shouldn't leave for ten minutes at least, since it's not that long a walk."
He hesitated for a moment and then asked, "We talked about this briefly in the email, but what sort of stuff do you do for fun?"
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Middle School ESL/Korean I Teacher.
Homosexual.
Single.
06/29/1998.
26.
Tiger (WA)
Authored by Redeim.
Offline.
|
Post by Raven Raein Kong on Jul 5, 2021 21:14:41 GMT -8
Raein nodded, "sounds good." He replied simply.
He thought a moment, trying to remember what he did for fun, let alone what he put in the email. "Well... I think I mentioned hiking and exploring in my email? I honestly can't remember what I put." He admitted with a laugh. "Um... I had a uh... flip phone and dial up until I moved in with my friends and that was uh... about a year and a half ago? So I also spend a lot of time playing on my phone. Learning about the internet, stuff like that. Uh... otherwise..." He shrugged generically. "I'm sure there's things I'm just thinking of at the moment... How about you?"
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5th Grade Teacher.
Gay.
Single.
07/04/1996.
28.
Rat (WA)
Authored by Etienne.
Offline.
|
Post by Wooram Mok on Jul 5, 2021 21:19:51 GMT -8
Wooram smiled at Raein's explanation and said, "I mean, pretty similar in some ways, though I have to hike and explore somewhat cautiously and within my limitations, though mostly that just means I'm not really supposed to go hiking alone. Going exploring in the city where there's people without being with a specific person is generally OK though. I am hoping to get to see more of Seattle now that I'm going to be closer. We'd come down every few months when I was in Friday Harbor, but I'd love to see it more as an adult, without the guidance of my parents of what we should be going to see. Get to spend some time on Cap Hill and stuff."
There, that was another hint dropped. He wasn't being subtle he felt, but he really didn't know how to bring up the topic without bringing it up.
He added, "I read a lot. And spend a lot of time on the internet. If you need help with tech things, I'm down for helping. One of the things about having spent a lot of time stuck at home as a kid, with one parent who's a scientific researcher, is that I've gotten a really good grasp on computers and stuff. I like music a lot too, and maybe now that I'm living in a more central location, I'll get the chance to see music live some. I'd love someone to go with for things like that."
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Middle School ESL/Korean I Teacher.
Homosexual.
Single.
06/29/1998.
26.
Tiger (WA)
Authored by Redeim.
Offline.
|
Post by Raven Raein Kong on Jul 6, 2021 8:14:46 GMT -8
Raein nodded. "I still have a long way to go before I'm... used to Seattle. It's so crowded and I get overwhelmed by it easily. But when you can count the amount of public buildings in your hometown on nearly one hand, well, of course Seattle would be overwhelming." He let out a slightly nervous laugh, "I would like to get used to Seattle though, so if you want a buddy to go on trips into the city with you..." He shrugged, his voice fading off. He furrowed his eyebrows, again tilting his head at Wooram, "What's in Cap Hill?" He asked. He was still learning the districts. His friends had taken him to the Market, and also took him to the U-District, but he hadn't really explored much else.
"I've never been to a concert." He unsuccessfully bit back a laugh, "Unless you count a hoe down. But I wouldn't. I was dragged to it, for the record." He paused for a moment, "Um... what kind of music do you like?"
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5th Grade Teacher.
Gay.
Single.
07/04/1996.
28.
Rat (WA)
Authored by Etienne.
Offline.
|
Post by Wooram Mok on Jul 6, 2021 15:27:07 GMT -8
Wooram nodded and said, "Yeah, that makes sense, Seattle can be really crowded. Even though I was kind of technically a local tourist to Seattle, we always tried to come outside of the tourist season when we came down from Friday Harbor, though sometimes were were also coming down for hospital visits, which was less under our timing control."
He made a little bit of a face when discussing hospital visits, but he moved on from the comment relatively quickly.
He said, "Cap Hill is a neighborhood a little bit up the hill from the main part of downtown Seattle. It's, um, the gay district, at least historically. There's a lot of cool shops and stuff there."
When the conversation turned to music, he asked, completely baffled, "What is a hoe down? I've never heard of that. But as far as what music I like. I listen to a lot of Kpop, but also like some rock and just pop music in general."
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Middle School ESL/Korean I Teacher.
Homosexual.
Single.
06/29/1998.
26.
Tiger (WA)
Authored by Redeim.
Offline.
|
Post by Raven Raein Kong on Jul 6, 2021 16:37:29 GMT -8
"It sounds like you're a little more used to Seattle than I am, then, if you went down there frequently." Raein said simply, noticing the look on Wooram's face when he mentioned hospitals. He decided to leave that topic at that.
His heart skipped a beat and his eyes widened, "That's a thing!?" He asked, his voice a bit louder than he meant it to be. He looked around and shrunk into himself a bit. Wooram mentioned there was cool stuff in Cap Hill, and he was curious what it was. All he knew of LGBTQ+ culture he learned from the public library computer back at home, and he always made sure he was in a small, private tab and still wiped the history afterward. He never came across gay districts in his research. "What-what does a gay district look like?" He asked, his voice softer. His mind couldn't help but praise Wooram, it was great to be potentially rooming with someone that was such a great ally. Maybe he'd even get the confidence to come out to him at some point. He silently panicked for a moment, should he come out before they roomed together? What if they were getting along fine and then somewhere down the road Wooram got upset with him keeping it from him for so long?
His attention was taken from his worried thoughts when Wooram spoke again, and he laughed. "A hoe down is a gathering where folk music is played. Though in my town it just was a bunch of country music, really. There's dancing, and drinks. It's a party, basically, but like... Country style." He murmured something about also liking rock but then furrowed his eyebrows at the genre he didn't recognize. "But... What is KPop?"
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