Korea is a great place to live. I remember stepping off the plane in 2008, not knowing what to expect and I’ve enjoyed every minute since. Those first six months flew by (as have the rest of my time), and I’ve met some amazing people here. One of them is Mike Durkee.

I first came across Mike while surfing YouTube for other people making videos about Korea. It wasn’t until summer 2009 that I learned he was living in my current city. We tried to meet up, but his contract was over and it was time for Mike to leave. Mike returned to Korea during the fall of 2009. While we had tried several times to meet, it wasn’t until SeoulTube 2010, that we finally greeted each other face-to-face.

Mike is one of those fun guys you love to talk and hang out with. However, since we work different schedules, it’s sometimes hard to meet up and spend some quality male-bonding time together. That’s why, on a recent trip into Seoul, I rang him up and asked if he and his wife would like to have dinner with Jo and I. He agreed.

His wife was ill and couldn’t make it, so I decided to expand our dinner party by calling fellow YouTubers SeoulSean and TyYann. We met in Gangnam and quickly decided on either tacos or galbi for dinner. Feeling a need for a margarita, Mexican food won out and the gang headed to Dos Tacos for supper.

I laid down that back-story to tell you the real story.

When ESL teachers get together, we sometimes talk shop. The topic came upon integrating YouTube videos into curriculum and I mentioned that from time to time I show the “Michael Jackson’s Ghost” video in class when we discuss vocabulary words such as frightening or scary. Mike had never seen or heard of the video before. So I suggested we saunter over to the Frisbee (Mac) store and take a quick look.

While I may not always be the best comedian, I am a really good straight man.

Once in the store, I found a great 27” iMac and loaded the video. Both Jo and TyYann knew what was coming. They skillfully whipped out their video cameras to capture Mike’s reaction. I was quite surprised that he didn’t suspect something when they did this, but I’d like to think my presentation and focus on the video successfully diverted his attention.

To say that Mike was a little surprised by the video would be an understatement.

Mike really was a good sport and remains one of my greatest friends here in Korea. He’s a great guy and I can’t wait to hang with him again.