I Couldn't Have Made It 30+ Years In Korea Without This
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- čas přidán 11. 09. 2024
- In this vlog, I talk about one thing an expat should never take for granted.
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ko-fi.com/mike...
#vlog #expatlife #seoul
Finally! Somebody who can give a new idea and perspective of South Korea that doesn’t involve Korean Entertainment or English Teaching. I appreciate your knowledge of how to navigate Korea and you overcoming your struggles.
Thanks for watching!
I subscribed for exactly the same reason.
You’ve gained a subscriber, all the best to you being an expat, I too look to travel to SK within a year to further understand my Dads time in the 80’s being there. A very enlightening video. Take care from the states (NY)
@@PatNelson Thanks for sharing, Pat! When it comes time to plan your trip, feel free to reach out to me. I may be able to give you some tips and/or context based on where your father spent his time here. A great deal has changed since then.
한국에서만 평생산 한국인인데 우연히 알고리즘에 떠서 보게됐어요.
지금처럼 외국인이 많지않은시기에 오셔서 당시의 이야기나 그 시대에서본 시선이 정말 재밌네요.
90년대에 적응하기 쉽지않았을텐데 정말 대단하십니다! 앞으로 구독하고 자주보겠습니다. 그리고 발 얼른 나으시길 빌게요.
친절한 말씀 감사합니다. 90년대는 확실히 다른 시대였어요! 한국이 어떻게 변해가고 있는지 관찰하는 것은 흥미로웠습니다.
As a person who's been interested in and involved with Korean culture for 15 years now, this is an incredible channel and I feel lucky to have discovered you!
Thank you! That's very kind.
This is my sentiment as well and I am glad there are others who feel the same.
Thank you!
I stumbled across your channel from a comment you left on the gear video from Itz SKY. That led here, and I watched this video on your channel, and I just wanted to touch base. A lot of what you talked about brought back memories for me because I was in South Korea during the 90s teaching English. I was part of the traveller/backpacker/English teacher crowd. And that meant I was in and out of the country a lot. I would teach English for a year and save up enough money to go travelling for a year. And then when I ran out of money, I would return to South Korea for another year of work. I followed that pattern for perhaps a decade before moving on to Taiwan.
I was never much of a heavy drinker or a partier, but I just happened to get to know a group of British backpacker-teachers. We were all English teachers living in cheap rooms at the same Yeogwans (traditional Korean inns). And the Brits took me under their wing socially, and I ended up going out to the bars and to parties a lot more than I was accustomed to. It was a fun and fairly wild time of my life, and I have fond memories of my time there.
And, of course, because I spent time in Itaewon, the American military bases and the US soldiers were a constant presence. Who knows? Maybe we even crossed paths without realizing it at the King Club or Stompers or drinking soju in the many tiny alleyways of Itaewon. I remember being on the dance floor of the King Club and other places at 2 a.m. or something like that, and the lights would suddenly go out and the music would stop. And this was because there were military police outside looking for soldiers who were off the base when they weren't supposed to, and they would roam Itaewon rounding them up. We'd all be standing in the dark and holding our breath waiting for the all clear. Then when the police or the American or South Korean MPs moved on, the lights would come back up and the music would play and everyone would cheer and get back to dancing and drinking.
I remember that the American soldiers and the US army bases and the "ville" and black market areas that grew up around the bases were as much a foreign culture to me as the Korean culture. The backpacker crowd that I hung out with were experienced travellers and had been to countries all over the world. Yet, the American soldiers were often stationed overseas for the very first time, and the army bases were much like little pieces of American suburbia. I had a chance to visit these bases a couple of times, and they blew my mind. It seemed like the US soldiers were still living in the United States even though they were physically stationed in South Korea, and they would emerge into Seoul and Itaewon only on the weekend. It was like they were making weekend trips into South Korea, and that let to a lot of craziness in Itaewon.
It was as fascinating for me to meet the US soldiers and see them in action as it was for me to meet Koreans. Many of the soldiers were from the south of the US and came from such a different world and had such different life experiences that talking to them and hanging out with them was as much a foreign experience for me as hanging out with my South Korean students and friends.
You hinted at some wild times that you had during those years. I remember sitting in the alleyways of Itaewon drinking soju and eating noodles, and some hapless South Korean taxi driver would make the mistake of turning his car up or down one of those steep, packed, drunk, narrow inclines. And the American soldiers would gather around the car and grab it and rock it hard as if to tip it over. There were fights, of course, and conflict between the American and Korean soldiers. And we relatively quiet and timid English teachers would just be huddling in the corner somewhere and watching all this craziness going on.
I don't know if any of that rings a bell for you, but if you ever needed a topic for one of your walkaround vlogs with your Action 4, you could tell some of your stories from those days. They'd be fascinating for a lot of people I think. I think the 90s in Seoul were a special time - a crazy and wild time. I doubt it is like that today. You could preserve some of that history with your stories. 🙂
Thank you for sharing your story. I enjoyed reading it. We very may well have crossed paths at some point. While I was still in the Army, I was in Itaewon every chance I got, and when I got out in 94, I was there every night.
Yes, your story rings a very loud bell for me. It was a wild place. The King Club was always among my early stops each night, and Stompers and the East West Club were among the last (well, until Stompers burned down, anyway). There were many mornings I got home after sunrise.
Itaewon is still a place where people drink all night, but is much more subdued compared to what it used to be, and it's all no longer the hub of tourist/expat activity. It gentrified and became popular with younger Koreans, then the military relocated south of Seoul not too long ago. However, from what I understand, the businesses there haven't yet recovered from last year's Halloween tragedy.
And thanks for the topic suggestion!
Hell yeah that would be a great topic for the next video!
@@holytiger89 My next vlog is going to be about a few of my favorite places, as per a request in another comment. But I'll do a walk down Itaewon memory lane for the one after that.
This is so accurate. I had the same experience in 7 years in Korea. I could easily get my Korean experience as much or as little as I wanted. Itaewon was an easy start to Korea. When I was stationed at yongsan and living in Habong Chan family housing. Life was extremely easy in Korea. Now when I was living north of Seoul at camp Howe I lived off base of course it was still easy to take Korea as much as I wanted. I agree my learning to speak Korean definitely suffered because of the way I interacted with Korea. I’m coming back to work in Korea this year. I’m going to try to enjoy more of Korea this time around.
Thanks for sharing. It's such a common story among those who stay. I kind of envy the people who came here for reasons other than the US military or a job on base. Being thrown into Korean society straight off the plane without that lifeline is a great motivation to learn the language.Although, I expect it's less of a motivation now than it used to be, given how prevalent English is here these days. Good luck on your return!
I have two recommendations for Korean youtube channels. One is 2hearts1seoul. The wife is Canadian and the husband is Korean. They spend several weeks every summer in Canada. They often compare the living situation, foods, etc...between the two countries. Their content is very thoughtful with good observations, well shot, and well edited. Watching their videos often feels cathartic to me.
I agree! I've been watching Sarah and Kyuho every Sunday night for a while now. I love their channel. That was one of my sources of inspiration for starting this one.
Mike, oh my~.As an American myself living in Korea now, I just couldn’t agree more with what you had to say here. It certainly is nice to see an individual with great stories like you. Where about do you live? I am in 일산. Whatever you do in Korea, best wishes to you and your family.
Thank you! I live not too far from Hannam-dong.
The other youtube channel I wanted to recommend was Dan and Joel. They were originally part of Korean Englishman, but then started their own channel. I like their channel because it shows a lot of low key experiences with locals. They have this series called "Woori Mates" that focuses on expats. There is one Canadian guy who is a university professor who has lived in Korea for over 25 years. He has been featured twice and I don't think he is on social media, but man do I wish I could meet him for coffee or a meal in Korea. You remind me of him because you both moved to Korea before Hallyu and before the mass expat wave. I feel like you both have so many stories and so much wisdom to share. I was born in Korea, have spent my life in Canada less a few months. When I watched him (as with you) I couldn't help but wonder how different my life would have been had I been raised in Korea. Although I wish I had spent a year or so teaching English there I feel Canada is where I am meant to live. One commonality your channel has with the two channels I mentioned is that all are insightful, anecdotal, unpretentious, and not filled with contrived click bait.
Thanks for the recommendations and the kind words. I know the Korean Englishman, but I'd not seen Dan and Joel's channel. I'll check them out!
My wife and I were friends with Peter Bartholomew, especially my wife as she was a Peace Corps language instructor and worked with Peter on a couple of training groups. A conversation with Peter always needed a lot of time, and being outside helped as he smoked constantly. Your talk reminded me of something he said. We asked him if he would ever go back to the US. He said, no - from the time he was in his early 20s he'd been living in Korea, continuously, and he said "I don't know how to be an American".
Peter certainly had a community around him, both the architectural preservation community and the (at that time) underground gay community, and that was a part of what made him into the sort of elder statesman he was when he died. We miss him.
Thank you for sharing that. I never had the opportunity to meet Peter, though I'd sometimes hear his name. That quote really strikes a chord with me. I think it's an accurate expression of the way I feel. I just wasn't able to formulate it that way. But yeah, it fits perfectly.
As a Korean who has been living in Australia for 20 years, I can completely relate to what you're saying. We have a nice Korean community here, so some people don't even need to speak much English. However, living in another country as a foreigner is still challenging, even after a long time. Over the years, it can feel wearing, and you start to miss your home country more and more. But when you return to your country, you might have mixed feelings, feeling both comfortable and like a stranger in your own homeland. Anyhow, it was quite interesting to listen to your story and compare it to my own experiences.
I totally get what you're saying about mixed feelings. There was a certain point where I'd been here long enough that all the things that once excited me had begun to wear off, but I hadn't yet settled in enough to feel like I completely belonged. Then I'd visit the States, and within a few days I'd start feeling like I didn't completely belong there either. I was between worlds. Today, I feel 100% at home in Korea. It just doesn't feel right anymore to say "I'm going back home" when I visit the States. It's a visit when I go, not a homecoming.
QNA: Hey Mike. What an incredible jewel I found here. I am also Mike but from the states. Los Angeles to be exact. What's funny is right around 30 years ago I moved from Incheon, South Korea (구월동} to Los Angeles. I was 10 at the time and am pretty much a full fledged American now. And here you are doing the exact inverse of what I did. Watching your videos was surreal, invoking certain emotions that I have long forgotten, as you trek along the streets of Korea. I will be REVISITING Korea for the first time in 30 years later this year. I am sure nothing from the 90s still remain and I should treat this as a foreigner visiting Korea for the first time.
Anyway, my question is what was it about Korea that you chose to build your life here? Certainly your ex-pat community provided support and military got you in the country, but I would imagine there had to be something more than that to plant roots in a completely foreign place? What made it all worth it?
BTW you are incredibly self-aware of the time and place in history you're in and it's quite refreshing because it's both fascinating and educational. What a rich life full of unique experiences you lead. Hope you stay healthy and keep doing CZcams for a long time.
Thank you for sharing your story and your thoughtful comments. I love hearing how others are connected to Korea.
I've noted your question and promise to answer it in my first Q & A video. The questions have been coming in slowly, but they're coming. It shouldn't be too much longer before I'm ready to record it.
I hope you have a great trip when you visit. I wouldn't completely discount the possibility that you'll find something familiar from your childhood. It depends on where you spent your time. Some areas have changed much less than others.
한국에서 여러고충이 있었겠지만 다행히 지금껏 잘적응해주시고 한국의 문화안에서 어울려 오랜시간 생활해오신 당신께 경의를 표합니다.
감사합니다!
thank you for your openness and honesty, i love this channel
Thank you!
...good to hear you sharing your story and giving your observations. I've been here in Korea since '96. Most of my other expat friends are either now dead or in SE Asia, Japan, the ME, China, Poland, the US and Canada.
Yeah, they end up all over the place. I'm grateful for the very few of my old friends who remain.
if there any chance to make a "request" for the future videos, I would like to see some compilation of you favorite places in Korean. Cuz you`ve been living there for a long time and I am very curious. it is about everything: cafes, just places with nice view, some good museums or whatever.
Yes, that one is doable.
Very cool! Congratulations on your journey here in Korea. I’m on a second tour here as a civilian with my wife. Was here from 2013-2018 and now still on our first year for another at least few year tour. I’m sure we know some of the same folks. Cheers.
Thanks! I’d be surprised is we didn’t have a few folks in common. Welcome back!
First of all, Thanks for serving Democracy in Korea. And thanks to sharing your story which I like to hear. I hope I can see more of your good CZcams contents. Merry Christmas!!!
Thanks, and Merry Christmas!
You sharing your all life with people now n gives wisdom n another angle to live. You Great to endure such uncountable days hard n hard. Now many new days waits for you n ur family . Hang in there with efforts. Living time itself is hard n it's all the same for èveryone in the world. Relations especially matters in korea n being glad for your time most matters for you not
to regret past. I'm 70 years old. Go for it 진짜로
Thank you!
Michael/Mike, loved listening to your perspective! Thanks for candidly sharing your experiences, this channel is growing quite rapidly!
Thanks, Adam!!
I lived in Seoul from 97-02, I miss it every day and hope one day to move back with my family. I got a NAF job at the tour office on Osan AB fresh out of high school from texas. Do you know Calvin Lester? Big black guy worked as a bus driver for the tour office?
I hope you make it back! I don't recall the name Calvin Lester, but I won't discount the possibility that I met him. Working at the hotel brought me into contact with a lot of people, as did my circle of regular acquaintances.
I've been in Korea for ten years, but I'm cheating as I work in a US Army base as a conteactor. My wife is Korean, we live off base, and I speak intermediate Korean, so I am not 100% tied to America. I love it here, with all its challenges, but sometimes I wish I was less anchored on the American side.
I cut ties with the American side on a whim. I found pretty quickly that I didn't miss the base at all.
I am glad to hear that you could manage to settle in Korea.
I know someone who find it was not easy. Eventually he went to back home though, he keeps talking about people whom he met and liked in Korea.
Love from Canada. 🥰🥰🥰
Thank you. Yeah, it's not for everyone, but it's an experience they won't forget.
Interesting, yes I could appreciate the light snow. Stay well.
Thank you!
격동의 시대에와서 군복무를 하고 여러일을 겪은뒤 정착하셨다니...
제가 영어가 짧아 영상내용은 잘 이해가 안되지만
그래도 단순히 외지에 오래있는것과 정착사이에는 얼마나 큰 결심이 있는지 압니다
특히 민족계통의 단일성이 뚜렷한 한국에서는요
당신에게 좋은 일만 있길 바라겠습니다
감사합니다!
What I find is that you need expats for the kind of conversations that we like to have. Sports, politics, military history, current events, travel, and other similar types of chats.
Yes, that's definitely a part of it.
Hi ,came across to your vlog 👌 it so nice for you to share and give some ideas on every one ,i have been working in Korea as a day care teacher for 12 yrs in Banpo-dong and my husband also works there for a few years and year 2012 we moved back here in the US we love Korea we learned a lot we love the culture we love the foods actually most of the time here we are eating out in a korean samgupsal and go out and stay overnight in a jimjilbang/korean spa but i know its not Authentic but we qre both excited to visit again pretty soon this coming march 😊Happy New year to you Sir ,God bless
Thanks for sharing! I hope you have a wonderful trip. Happy New Year!
I was stationed at Casey in 87 and 88, is 2nd S&T will there it was on a small camp across from the main gate of Casey, there was 2nd S&T and 2nd Aviation.
That would be Camp Mobile, I believe. I don't think anything is still there. Almost everything in Seoul and 2ID was supposed to have relocated to Camp Humphreys by now, but I don't know what the status is. It seems Mobile was mostly abandoned as of a few years ago.
From what I understand, 2nd Aviation relocated to the States 20+ years ago and they moved some armored infantry vehicles onto Mobile for a period. Google isn't showing me anything current about the 2nd S&T. If they're still around, I assume they've moved down to Humphreys by now.
Reminds me of Sting''s song "Englishman in New York""
American expat in Korea myself. Even though I'm of Korean descent, I often feel foreign here. Wish you the best.
Thank you!
Merry Christmas 🎄🎁 from Tampa Bay Florida.
Thanks, Mary! Merry Christmas to you :-)
You are walking up my old street! I sure miss my second home!
Once again, your vlogs are amazing!!! thank you for the personal insights.
Thank you so much!!
Yeah, Camp Casey! Was there in 89~90, then lived in Seoul teaching ESL for four years down in Jongno. Itaewon has really changed since then.
Have you been on a working visa there the whole time? I can't personally imagine teaching ESL for that long.
Looks like you're doing great and that's very cool. I still fly back to visit occasionally and I enjoy it every time. Some day I'm hoping I can figure out a way to retire over there, but that's kind of complex with no actual retirement visa status available.
Anyway, very cool and pretty inspirational, really.
Hey, thanks for sharing! I was on a SOFA visa for much of the 90s from jobs I had on base. I got a marriage visa after I got married, then became a permanent resident a few years later. These days, you can go from marriage visa to permanent residency in two years. Back then, it was five, but it took me longer because I got penalized once for not updating the district office with my change of address when we moved.
my boyfriend (korean) grew up in dongducheon, so hearing you talk about the "ville" and camp casey is so interesting, because it's something i've only heard from the korean perspective (e.g. being terrible at school-taught english but knowing how to ask "you want another beer?" in a crisp american accent)
I'm going to do a video up there at some point (before the end of this year, I hope). It's almost unrecognizable from when I was there in the early 90s. But I expect that's the video where I'll end up talking about 'Konglish', which was the predominant "dialect" back then. I don't hear many people speaking it anymore. When I do, it's usually an elderly person.
@@MikeFromKorea it's changed tons in just the last 5 years, i can't imagine how different it was in the 90s!
just bumped into this video and by the topic and quality of video thought at first that this is very popular channel with hundreds of subscribers... very sad that here not a lot of video yet, but very curious to see what you have to share with youtube. and of course I subscribed!
Thanks, Irene! Now I need to get busy with more videos to make you "not sad" :-)
Damn your so lucky to live there for that long I’m definitely gonna live in korea again
Thank you for sharing 😊
Thank you for watching!
@@MikeFromKorea I’m happy that you made it and that you can others in the struggle of life. I have often wanted to move to Korea. But I’m settled in Texas with grandchildren and I staying. Maybe a visit one day 😀
@@miajones6302 Thank you. I hope you get the chance to visit. Some of my relatives have made it here over the years and loved it. Still trying to get my mother here, though. She's afraid of flying, unfortunately.
Hi Mike, I really appreciate your content, and I hope you continue sharing your stories! Best wishes from Australia :)
Thank you! More to come :-)
Nice video, glad your toe is on the mend. Just curious if you use a gimbal or not, I'm starting a roaming channel called Kansai Roamer here in Japan, where I'm just going to record surrounding. Your image is pretty smooth.
Thanks! I use a DJI Osmo Action 4 with RockSteady enabled, so no gimbal required. It works better than gimbal, really. On my walking tour channel (@ThisOneWalks), I started out with my iPhone on a DJI OM3 gimbal for a couple of years, then upgraded to an OM5. They both sit on a shelf now, untouched for months.
@@MikeFromKorea nice I’ve been tempted to buy an action 4!
@@Protonoto1 The Action 5 should drop soon. Leaked photos of the packaging have been popping up. It should mean a price drop in the 4, which is a solid camera. Not sure yet what it will bring in terms of upgrades other than battery life. If it isn't much more than that, it would definitely still be worth getting the 4. I probably won't upgrade until the 6 unless they're bringing some improvements in low-light image quality.
Very interesting talk, Mike. As a long-time expat in Germany, I can totally relate to many of the topics you brought up. You mentioned you felt like you didn’t really need Korean in your early years in the country, but how long did it take you to recognize the language as something essential and start learning it?
Thank you! Korean became more of a necessity when I completely cut ties with the on-base ecosystem a couple of months after I got married. By then, I'd already been in country for 8 years. Then we moved away from the expat community a little over a year later. So at that point I was much more immersed in it at both at home and in our local neighborhood, so just naturally started leveling up. I never took any lessons and didn't get very far with independent study. I'm paying for that today, though, as I'm not as fluent as I ought to be. And now that I'm actively trying to get better at it, I've got three decades of bad grammar/pronunciation/vocab habits to break.
@16:50 You said it, Mike: Living in Seoul as an expat means you'll end up losing touch with more people than you can count. There are so many that I can't even begin to recount but it's an experience I wouldn't trade if I could.
I'm with you. I wouldn't trade it for anything.
Mükemmel bir video kalitesi bu video hangi kamera ile çekildi?
60 fps akışkanlık mükemmel 👏
Thank you! I used a DJI Osmo Action 4.
@@MikeFromKorea Teşekkürler, şimdi sipariş verdim yeni kameramı sabırsızlıkla bekliyorum dji action 4 💪
Enjoy!
영어가 짧지만 대충 보니깐
군복무로 한국생활을 시작하였고,영내든 영내밖이든 영어권 생활지역에 있었던터라 언어든 사람관계든 작은 미국이나 다를바 없이 지냈으나 이태원 등등에서 방탕하게(?) 술을 많이 마시고 놀았던 결과 결국 금전적,정신적으로 생활에 많은 어려움을 겪음과 동시에 한국을 떠나서 고국으로 돌아가야 하나 고민하던 시기에 현재의 부인을 만나게 되면서, 그간 그 울타리내의 관계가 형성됐었던 외국인들과의 관계를 일절 끊었고(단 1명을 제외하고) 스스로가 만들었던 자기만의 울타리를 벗어나 직장을 구하고 한국사회에 적응해서 지금까지 달려왔던것이다.
그리고 자신이 이런 고민을 해왔었던것처럼 지금 현재도 해외에서 고국을 떠나서 타국에 거주하고 있는 다른 수많은 외국인들이 비슷한 이유로 현지생활의 어려움을 토로하는 사람들이 많은것에 대해서 조언할 점은 현지 사회의 커뮤니티를 피하지 말고 적극적으로 참여하는것이 그 현지에 적응할 수 있게끔 많은 도움을 줄것이다라는(내가 원하는 울타리에만 갖혀있으면 결국은 적응못하고 다시 고국으로 떠나버리는 이유가 된다) 내용으로 이해하면 되나요? 헉헉헉......
젊었을때 실컷 달리면서 노시다가 와이프 만난 이후로 정신차리고 빡시게 살아오신 늬앙스입니다 ㅋㅋㅋ
그것은 제 주요 포인트가 아닙니다. 사람들은 다쳐하거나, 약탈당하거나, 강간당하거나, 병에 걸리거나, 다양한 예상치 못한 어려움에 처할 수 있습니다. 외국에서 혼자 생활할 때 가족과 친구는 쉽게 도움을 줄 수 없습니다. 현지 커뮤니티에서 새로운 친구를 사귀는 것이 중요합니다.
Ever think about moving to Japan to start a new life or retirement?
Not even once. I'm perfectly happy here.
I think you were meant to stay in Korea. I hope God has a good plan for you.
I think so many people now get this view of Korea from TV and music and for whatever reason get attached to that "side" of Korea and so they over-romanticize it, forgetting it's a whole country with lots of problems of its own. They also don't understand how volatile and, frankly, awful the country was in the 80s and even 90s in terms of politics and living standards (for large parts of the population at least, even just thinking about how skirted some of the building codes were on the 80s construction... yikes).
I agree. We all form positive or negative views of things when we don't know what we don't know, and when we feel strongly about them we tend to cling to those views even when we start to glimpse the other side. It took me a long time to really absorb the stories I heard about life here before I arrived. Until I did, they were just words. But yeah, the 90s were a transitional period. I sometimes saw things then that I haven't seen firsthand in quite a while. A few times I encountered people angling for bribes just to do their jobs. Sometimes it worked in my favor. I haven't tried to bribe a tow truck operator lately, but in 1998 it cost me 20,000 won to get one to unhook my car from his truck.
Is this UN Village?
No, it's Dasan-dong.
were you a manchu at 2-9 inf?
I was in the 2/72 Armored Battalion, aka 2nd Tank.
@@MikeFromKorea cool, I did some time at casey in 2007-9ish. Did the manchu mile twice there lol.
정말 좋은영상..잘 보고있습니다.. 요즘젊은외국인 유튜브보다 이거보니 성숙한영상 보는거같아요.. 자주보겠습니다
감사합니다!
nice to see you. I was a katusa in 1996-1999 at yongsan. personally, if you are ok, i want to meet you. i want to talk to you about small things. Have a good day..
"Katusa" is a term I haven't heard in a long time. The Katusa in my platoon when I first arrived taught me some basic Korean vocabulary, including multiple swear words. I was well equipped to curse people out before I learned how to be polite :-)
I'm not going to post my contact details here in the comment thread, but you can find my email address on my channel page:
www.youtube.com/@MikeFromKorea
Just click the channel description at the top of the page there. In the About box that pops up, you'll find a button to show my email address. Please email me and we can go from there. Thanks for reaching out!