All Hallow's Eve
Should I talk about the awkward weekend first or the great day of All Hallow's Eve?
I'm going with Saturday. I get on the bus bound for Seoul at 1pm and text Andy that I will arrive in Seoul in about 2 hours, but not to worry because I want to wander Seoul alone. He tells me to call Jake and get Jake (another Korean) to go with me. I tell him I'm on the bus and is therefore impossible...Jake says it's too early to go to Seoul...witch bites for me, because I'm already going there. So I get to Seoul after all that Korean-added drama. Andy and I catch the subway to the HangGang Park. We watch the lamest movie. I must digress here and say that for some ridiculous reason, Korean guys claim they like romantic movies only. So all the movies on Andy's laptop are romantic comedies. It was called "The Perfect Man" starring Hillary Duff...woot. The only good part was that Hillary's character fell in love with the comic book nerd, who happened to be cute. It made me feel better about my life...I mean if movie stars date comic nerds, then Myk's perfect :o). Jake comes much later, and is really the gentleman (I mean Andy is too). He carries my purse and backpack...but at the same time I know they are treating me like a princess who cannot handle her own things. Catch 22. Oh well. Fireworks (in Korean "fire flowers") rocked. Especially when they played Brotha Iz and "What a Wonderful World" and got the fireworks to match perfectly in color and timing. We ate dinner at 1am. I slept in my own room and Jake and Andy shared a bed (as is common with Korean guy friends) in Andy's room. This is where it gets awkward...730 am I wake up to see Andy's mother who cannot speak one word of English. Low and behold both Jake and Andy decide not to translate a thing. And my chopstick skills were lacking at this ungodly hour. It was horrible, I was to embarrassed to even use my Korean phrases. Ugh.
So I arrived home around 11am Sunday and went straight to play tennis and watch the homecoming match. It was cool for a while, until I realized that I had become a novelty toy to them. There was this older graduate (maybe 40) and he was entranced by me. He made me follow him everywhere. We all played a bit of tennis and then started grilling pork. We ate the typical pork, rice, lettuce, garlic cloves, bean paste and kimch'i with Soju. That older man had me sit next to him and take shots with him. Not something I wanted, but since I didn't make a bitter face after the shot, he made me do it over and over just so I could make the face. This went on for hours (maybe 1-4pm). I kept moving around to get away from him, play more tennis, talk to other who were entranced to speak English with me. I'm not kidding how much they adored me and asked the same questions over and over and over. The man eventually caught up with me and made these three freshman take shot after shot with him, as he was so drunk he poured the Soju on them. He told me I should date them...all three at once. Well I could go for that...but we shouldn't get into why...ANYHOW we moved to the club house as they call it and gathered around and told me I was the special guest in their club, Parangsei (Blue birld), and was welcome all the time. They gave me a gift. Being welcomed like that was really an honor I guess, because after drinking with them, they saw I was a good person and that I wouldn't judge them or something (this is a Korean thing, I cannot agree with their idea of acceptance). So we went inside and drank more, beer this time, and had our own nohraebang (karaoke) as per the drunk man's request. He and I are friends now, as he says, and will give me a spine adjustment for free (he's a chiropractor), but I am rathe scared of him. Bohmin apologized over 30 times for that man's behavior. After he left, and everyone was less pressured to talk to me as per his request/command, we drank Korean traditional something...Soju made from rice, I think...it was in a gas can...a large gas can with an x on it...This time all the Koreans were so much fun. We talked a lot and they invited me to go out for the weekend with them when their club, Parangsei, goes away together. woohoo. Then some of us went to Bohmin's apt for more drinking. There are three guys that live there...and there was no bed. They all share mats...ouch. Overall this experience was amazing...mainly because I got sooooooo much attention...but really because I felt like I belonged in Korea. That's really what I want here, I think. I drank, not technically on my own accord from 1-9...ouch. Luckily there was tons of pork to be eaten, so I feel as though I drank nothing.
***side note. I found out that Soju is ethanol mixed with water. Apparently when the famine hit, they took out the rice and potato and added flavoring instead. That's why it burns bad and tastes like rubbing alcohol. I hear it's a lot like everclear that has been watered down. I don't know everclear, so I cannot tell you. Either way my professor was right when he said it could kill me. yuck.
I'm going with Saturday. I get on the bus bound for Seoul at 1pm and text Andy that I will arrive in Seoul in about 2 hours, but not to worry because I want to wander Seoul alone. He tells me to call Jake and get Jake (another Korean) to go with me. I tell him I'm on the bus and is therefore impossible...Jake says it's too early to go to Seoul...witch bites for me, because I'm already going there. So I get to Seoul after all that Korean-added drama. Andy and I catch the subway to the HangGang Park. We watch the lamest movie. I must digress here and say that for some ridiculous reason, Korean guys claim they like romantic movies only. So all the movies on Andy's laptop are romantic comedies. It was called "The Perfect Man" starring Hillary Duff...woot. The only good part was that Hillary's character fell in love with the comic book nerd, who happened to be cute. It made me feel better about my life...I mean if movie stars date comic nerds, then Myk's perfect :o). Jake comes much later, and is really the gentleman (I mean Andy is too). He carries my purse and backpack...but at the same time I know they are treating me like a princess who cannot handle her own things. Catch 22. Oh well. Fireworks (in Korean "fire flowers") rocked. Especially when they played Brotha Iz and "What a Wonderful World" and got the fireworks to match perfectly in color and timing. We ate dinner at 1am. I slept in my own room and Jake and Andy shared a bed (as is common with Korean guy friends) in Andy's room. This is where it gets awkward...730 am I wake up to see Andy's mother who cannot speak one word of English. Low and behold both Jake and Andy decide not to translate a thing. And my chopstick skills were lacking at this ungodly hour. It was horrible, I was to embarrassed to even use my Korean phrases. Ugh.
So I arrived home around 11am Sunday and went straight to play tennis and watch the homecoming match. It was cool for a while, until I realized that I had become a novelty toy to them. There was this older graduate (maybe 40) and he was entranced by me. He made me follow him everywhere. We all played a bit of tennis and then started grilling pork. We ate the typical pork, rice, lettuce, garlic cloves, bean paste and kimch'i with Soju. That older man had me sit next to him and take shots with him. Not something I wanted, but since I didn't make a bitter face after the shot, he made me do it over and over just so I could make the face. This went on for hours (maybe 1-4pm). I kept moving around to get away from him, play more tennis, talk to other who were entranced to speak English with me. I'm not kidding how much they adored me and asked the same questions over and over and over. The man eventually caught up with me and made these three freshman take shot after shot with him, as he was so drunk he poured the Soju on them. He told me I should date them...all three at once. Well I could go for that...but we shouldn't get into why...ANYHOW we moved to the club house as they call it and gathered around and told me I was the special guest in their club, Parangsei (Blue birld), and was welcome all the time. They gave me a gift. Being welcomed like that was really an honor I guess, because after drinking with them, they saw I was a good person and that I wouldn't judge them or something (this is a Korean thing, I cannot agree with their idea of acceptance). So we went inside and drank more, beer this time, and had our own nohraebang (karaoke) as per the drunk man's request. He and I are friends now, as he says, and will give me a spine adjustment for free (he's a chiropractor), but I am rathe scared of him. Bohmin apologized over 30 times for that man's behavior. After he left, and everyone was less pressured to talk to me as per his request/command, we drank Korean traditional something...Soju made from rice, I think...it was in a gas can...a large gas can with an x on it...This time all the Koreans were so much fun. We talked a lot and they invited me to go out for the weekend with them when their club, Parangsei, goes away together. woohoo. Then some of us went to Bohmin's apt for more drinking. There are three guys that live there...and there was no bed. They all share mats...ouch. Overall this experience was amazing...mainly because I got sooooooo much attention...but really because I felt like I belonged in Korea. That's really what I want here, I think. I drank, not technically on my own accord from 1-9...ouch. Luckily there was tons of pork to be eaten, so I feel as though I drank nothing.
***side note. I found out that Soju is ethanol mixed with water. Apparently when the famine hit, they took out the rice and potato and added flavoring instead. That's why it burns bad and tastes like rubbing alcohol. I hear it's a lot like everclear that has been watered down. I don't know everclear, so I cannot tell you. Either way my professor was right when he said it could kill me. yuck.