Finally, an update on Korean American UCLA student Chris Jeon! He's the ambitious 4.3 GPA average Orange County student turned Libyan rebel, who is known as "Ahmed Mugrabi Saidi Barga" when in Libya. I've been wondering what happened to this guy the past few months but could not for the life of me remember his name. You probably recall when his crazy story made the rounds the first time in our media--after all, how often is it that the kid of an affluent suburban American family decides to pop out of his clean-cut bubble and join a foreign culture in the midst of civil war?
Apparently breaking out of his clean cut financial-career bubble changed his life (and continues to do so). Jeon didn't set out for northern Africa for vacation or work, like most Americans who visit the region--that would be too easy. But certain parts of his journey are familiar and practical for the average Westerner to follow along--like how he used the travel site couchsurfing.org in order to make a contact in Libya. Meeting up with wealthy local Ayman Amzain, who dreams of moving to San Francisco, is one of the most fascinating snippets of his story:
While at BlackRock, Jeon had emailed the only two people in Benghazi who had posted on CouchSurfing.org, a website that helps travelers find free places to stay. One guy had responded that Jeon should call him when he got to Benghazi. Jeon dug out his number and gave it to the rebels. It was the middle of the night, but someone picked up. Jeon could hear yelling on the other end. He figured that this was as far as his Libyan adventure was going to go. The rebel hung up.
"OK, your friend coming," the rebel said.
A half hour later, a sleek BMW 7 Series sedan pulled up at the checkpoint, blasting Justin Bieber on the radio. A guy was sitting in another's lap in the passenger seat, even though there was no one in the back. The passenger door flew open, and Ayman Amzain, Jeon's couch-surfing contact, bounded out. He had long hair and no front teeth.
"Kreeez!" he said in a high-pitched voice and planted kisses on Jeon's cheeks. He stepped back and took a good look at Jeon.
"I thought you'd be blond," he said pouting. "And maybe taller."
Amzain was a 31-year-old medical student who lived with his parents and dreamed of moving to San Francisco. The appearance of a Californian in Libya was probably as close as he'd get to his dream, and he was thrilled that Jeon had come. In fact, he didn't want him to leave. He tried convincing his new friend to forget going to the war. But after four days of hookah bars and music videos, Jeon grew restless.
"I was living in a cloud of hairspray and Justin Bieber music," he says. "It was like the revolution wasn't even happening."
Amzain reluctantly arranged for a friend to drive Jeon toward the fighting. He wrote a letter in Arabic and told Jeon to show it to anyone who asked questions. The letter read, "Hello. My name is Chris. I am from the United States. Please help me to go to the front lines. Thank you, and thanks to God."
Amzain kissed Jeon on both cheeks and told him to come back soon.
The story gets better, and even the author seems to get caught up in the adrenaline…so now I'm wondering, when's the book and movie coming out?
