Meet Elleo

I came to Korea and fell in love with a Brazilian man.

(do we see a trend here? first Kei in Japan, and now Elleo from Brazil. Sorry Korea).

It all started when we walked into the Brazilian restaurant on Saturday night (like unto Tucanos only less classy and better potatoes)

The dinner celebration was in honor of my friend Ange. We all gathered for a nice meat buffet and a good time, but I knew not what kind of good time would be in store for us.

I was starving, and, well, I like to eat, so pretty much the second I got there, I had a plate in hand and was loading it up with the variety of side dishes and salads.

And then, barely after sitting down, there was the meat man (you know, the guy who cuts the meat off the skewer for you).

We made eye contact and our bond was instant. Even with my plate full of whatever food I piled on it, I made it known to him that I wanted meat. (hahaha some things never change?). He quickly obliged to my needs and from that moment on, I was the first person he brought the meat to out of our group of 14ish people. (Sorry Ange)

His name is Elleo. He is from Brazil. And here we are in Korea. His English skills are limited, but I'm ok with that. It makes body language so much more vital. (bow chicka wow wow!). Thank goodness one of our party included a guy who spoke Portuguese so he could translate random sentences from Elleo (WOW! Are we sure those girls aren't drinking anything?!)

Things soon escalated after my friend Rebecca and I decided to vie for his attention. It became a game of sorts for us to see who could flirt the most with this dashing foreign stranger. Each time he walked past us, there was almost constant eye contact shared (and some winking). I threw down whatever phrases I knew in Spanish (I know Spanish and Portuguese are two separate and different languages but it was the only thing I had to work with. Plus, I'm pretty sure he got my message)

It was love.

But for who? Rebecca or me? I was not going down without a fight.

Of course, since it was a birthday, there was cake! Don't be shocked that I used this to my advantage. Elleo walked past and I quickly held up a fork full of whipped cream from the cake.

He replied with one word: "Later"

.....

It was time to leave so we knew we had to get a picture with him. I go into a standard "kissing the cheek of the boy next to me" pose (so close to Elleo...) and while my eyes are staring at the camera, I realize Elleo has turned his face towards me into what only can be called a kiss.