issue 49 - AsiaLIFE Magazine

THE TWO OF USFiancés Randy Pulayya and Shauna Vo met by chance at a New York airport. Theytell Michael Tatarski how their relationship has progressed through stints in theUS, South Korea and Vietnam. Photo by Fred Wissink.RandyShaunaIn 2008 I was living in NewYork City and had to catch ared-eye flight the day after Halloween.I was going throughsecurity when I saw this girllooking at her camera. I noticedpictures from England and Iasked her where she had gone,and we started talking. Weexchanged information, andafter that we started talking fora few hours every night.I was in Florida the weekbefore Christmas, and my flightback to New York got delayed,so I called Shauna and plansfor New Year’s came up. Shetold me she was going to Atlantaand said, “You can comeif you want, but you don’t haveto.” I took this as an invitationand decided, “Why not?”.After that I started trying topersuade her to leave Arkansasand move to New York, sinceshe was a talented graphicdesigner and there would betons of work. When Shaunamoved to DC instead, I decidedto as well.A year later the economycratered and I was laid off, soI decided to go abroad andteach. We moved to South Korea,and during a trip to Japan Iproposed to her on Mount Fuji.We decided to move to Vietnamafter one year. We wantedto venture into the businessworld, so we started an exportcompany called VP Exportstogether. Vietnam has givenus an opportunity to grow as acouple, and we love it here.I had just finished a monthlongbackpacking trip throughEurope, and I had a layover inNew York on the way back toArkansas. We went throughsecurity at like 5am, and itwas kind of a long line, so Iwas looking at pictures frommy trip. Randy started talkingto me and I tried not to coughon him, because I was reallysick.I was living in Arkansasand looking for jobs, andI made plans to visit somefriends in Atlanta for NewYear’s. I invited Randy and wespent the holiday together. Hethen visited me in Arkansas,and I visited him in New York,where I had an interview.I didn’t get the job, so Imoved in with one of my bestfriends in Washington D.C. Ifound work and then Randymoved down, and we endedup moving in together prettyquickly, but he hated the city.We went to Korea, althoughI was sad to leave my job inWashington. We thought wewould be in Asia for a yearand then move back to NewYork. For our last trip beforeleaving the country I wantedto go to Taiwan, but Randywon a rock-paper-scissorsbattle and we went to Japan. Ididn’t know the proposal wascoming, but I said “OK”. I’mhappy we were able to movehere, because my family isVietnamese, and I’m happy Iwas able to come with Randy.asialife HCMC 89