la vie en verte: Mourning

This morning, my little Korean home of Gwangju lost one of its best.

To my friends and family at home, the name of Michael Simning doesn't carry meaning. I scoured every photo album and Facebook post and Instagram I've ever made, and it turns out that I don't have any photos with Mike. And for some reason, I'm furious at myself for this.

Adam and I first met him 2 years ago at our favorite Gwangju restaurant, the First Alleyway, back when we were Korea babies and the restaurant was in its early location, awkwardly placed, but irresistible.

It wasn't until we started doing regular shows on the English radio station that I actually got to know him.

He was what my family calls a "bird": weird and wonderful. Irreverent, kind-hearted, generous, picky, hilarious, interesting, and always present. He insisted on calling me "Manic Pixie Girl" and always seemed genuinely happy to see me when it was my turn to talk about (boring) events on the radio with him. He made Adam & I feel especially liked, and we liked and loved him right back.

The weirdest worst about all this is that I feel so gut-wrenchingly sad, and yet I wasn't even one of his good friends. I can barely imagine what his long-time buddies and wife, daughter, parents are going through. It all sucks. Because he was an incredibly beloved guy.

And sadly, it's only this morning that I'm finding out the true extent of how wonderful he was, as friends and other loved ones mourn by recounting their favorite moments and traits: his involvement with orphanages here in the city (hiring girls when they became too old to stay so that they wouldn't be penniless on the street, setting up trusts for them), his creation of a Gwangju blog to highlight the best parts of the city for foreigners, his involvement in the Gwangju International Center, his role as host on the radio station, and perhaps most importantly, his ever-felt presence at The Alleyway, where we laughed with him over his passion for boobs, yoga pants and good food.

To me, and I think most Gwangju waygooks, he was an inextricable part of this city. He was Gwangju.

And so Gwangju won't be Gwangju without him.

Mike: I've missed you already for these past months of you being sick & in the hospital. Before then, I was already missing our walks down the hill from GFN, after I left the radio show. And I'll miss you all the more now, because I know I'm not going to bump into you in town again, and there are no more hugs and laughs to be shared.

And I HATE that I have no photos of us together. It's stupid, it doesn't invalidate our friendship, but I can't help regretting my absence of shutterbug tendencies around you.

Love,

Anna