Everybody Wang Chun tonight.

No flashy introductions this week. My time is limited, and there's more to write about than I ever possibly could, so hell, lets just start.

Friday is the best day to pick up the chronology. Wednesday and Thursday were spent exploring the city and window shopping mostly(3 weeks till the first pay day).
Friday I was pretty beat, and I don't get off work until 10 anyways, so I decided to just go have a few beers at the pub across from the office with Alex. We did just that, it was an average time really, but then about midnight an older gentleman came over and asked "may I speak with you?", sure sounds interesting. He was pretty clearly hammered, but he admitted that his drunkenness gave him courage to practice English, which I enjoyed. Turns out he's a 48 old bank vice president named Mr. Gook(yes, he was aware of the irony). He's been to America and seen the grand canyon(which he described as "big hole, hot, picture picture click click." You know you've been in Korea awhile when that makes total sense) He ended up talking with us for about an hour until the pub closed down, then he picked up our tab and headed off to continue drinking. We decided we were done for the night, but it was really an hour conversation in return for a $15 beer tab is a pretty good deal. Alex and I decided perhaps, when we've run up a bigger beer tab sometime, we'll have to employ the conversational method of payment once more.

This was not an isolated incident I should mention. Alex or I one are usually approached by a curious Korean at least once a day. Alex spoke with a business man trying to learn English contract law and discussed South African shipping corporations. Last night I was pulled into a store to speak with two drunken business men, they're english was, well, drunken, so I didn't get very far with them, but they were very happy to know an American and told me to come back.(They gave me a discount on the danish I purchased, so I think I just might). Friday Alex and I were stopped by a Korean midget crossing guard. He, too, was happy to meet us and told us we were Ok, cool, dudes. (No I'm not making that one up, the little guy's always at an intersection near the office with a little glowing stick, and a reflector vest. I'm gonna get a with him next time.) I really enjoy it. Sometimes it feels like being a freaking sideshow(even the midget thinks were odd for gods sake), but it's worth it to get to meet all kinds of new people who are genuinely interested in hearing your story and sharing their own. It's from these experiences that the book that rests in my head will one day come.

Returning to the timeline: Saturday. Earlier in the week was Alex's friend Taran's birthday(we met her in Itaewon last week remember?) so we went to a little get together in her honor in Balsan. Balsan is another part of Seoul, however it is an hour and a half away by subway.(BIIIG city) We made it their about 7:00, but were disappointed because the subway system closes down at 12, so we'd have to be back on the train by 10:30 to get home. Despite that we headed to the little upstairs chic bar we had picked out(it was simply called Azit-very chic indeed), there we met some of Taran's friends and coworkers. Kyle from Oklahoma, Eric from LaCrosse Wisconsin, Erin another South African, Sophie Una and Sebastian-the Koreans, and Sean the Englashman. Not one of them were bad people. Made for a very fun night. We started with the typical finger foods and pitchers of beer, but that slowly moved into soju and rice wine. Soju is a drink unlike anything in the united states. It's wonderful because it's cheaper than beer(like $1 a bottle) but has 20% alcohol. It also taste pretty good. You take shots, at first it takes like vodka, but it leaves no aftertaste. Soju is quite the enjoyable drink. After a couple of rounds of Soju a couple of us decided to go down to the local street vendor for some galbi(beef on a stick) and dakkboge(Dak Bo Gee-rice cake in a hot sauce I'd most describe as enchilada sauce-amazingly good). By the time we had finished that-and we had a ton of food for about the equivalent of $2(somethings Korean prices are awesome)-it was about 10:15. When I got back upstairs and pointed to my watch, Alex's reply was "no way, I'm having way too good of a time." I agreed. So we forsake the train and decided we'd cross that bridge when we got there.

An odd fact about alcoholic establishments in Korea. They allow children in at all times of the night. We decided this was worth documenting. Taran at this point was wielding my camera, so she stopped a young Korean girl, probably about 8, "HEY LETS TAKE A PICTURE!". The girl clearly thought she was about to be kidnapped and tortured. The resulting flash shocked her, the picture is amazing. You will see it soon. The parents of the young girl had seen that we had stopped their daughter-oh they must have been mad you say?-wrong. They saw that we were in fact friendly and came over to introduce us to all their children. They had two other kids, all of whom spoke fairly good English. Where there was a gap the Koreans with us closed it. Again, one of those unexpected chances to meet an entire family. And in a bar no less. So the discussion-which was mostly Alex and I venting about our apartments and coworkers(those quiet complaints you have on the inside can really come out at the right point in the inebriation scale)-continued for a few more hours. About 1 AM we decided we were tired of what we were doing and it was time to let loose a little bit. We went downstairs to a Norae Bong

Norae Bong=Karaoke Bar

For $20 we got a room(which split between 9 of us was entirely reasonable) for an hour and a half. We westerners were timid at first, but Koreans have no fear of Karaoke, nor do slightly drunken South African women apparently. They got the ball rolling with a slightly off key rendition of some Bon Jovi song. From there on we screamed and yelled, and made dogs howl for the next hour and a half. I won the award for "not bad at 50 Cent-Find me in a club...well, for a white guy". This was a blast. I know it's something we'd never do in america, but when everyone's into it and not sitting there thinking how stupid they all look, it's fun.
The music was a bit odd because it was all up tempo synthesizer version, but hell we werent there to win any awards anyway.
After the machine shut off and the people at the front desk were trying to kick us out we decided we could not leave without some form of competition, so we broke things up olympic style and sang our national anthems. We Americans were boisterous loud and overbearing. The South Africans forgot the words to their anthem-the thing gets changed all the time and is in 5 languages. The South Koreans have practiced it their whole life so they sung in perfect harmony and with choreographed dance moves. Finally, in true class the Brit finished the evening with a stirring and honorific, if not slightly drunken, rendition of god save the queen. I of course, think the Americans won.Why? Because we have fly by's. Who else has that? Yeah, I thought so.

Oh yeah, this is the point in the night where Alex and I realized we hadn't so much planned a way home. Our choices were A) $8 to stay in a 24 hour spa for the next 4 and a half hours until the subs started up again or B) a $30 cab ride. We choose B. If you consider that it was from one side of town to another(about 45 minutes by car), it was 2:30 AM, and there was 2 of us to split the cost, it really wasn't that bad of a choice. So $30 cab it was(this may become the norm for our out of Nowon trips).

Sunday we rested. And for the record I was no where near send-him-home-early levels saturday night. It was just the perfect, responsible, mix thank you very much.(Im not a lush, though I am aware that most of my weekend's thus far have involved bar scene-so far that's just been the opportunities afforded to me. After I get my first paycheck-april 15th-there should be an out of soul excursion shortly there after)

That brings the time line up to date.

I really wish I had my computer back(could be this weekend, or at the latest next weekend) because I always do better at putting thoughts down late at night, not in the middle of the day as the 5th grade sting section plays in the "strig" room(this school fails at english) and the PE class slap boxes on a balancing beam. It's just plain difficult to think.

A few thoughts though.

In some ways I love the Korean culture. They're inquisitive, honest, and generally intelligent. On the other hand, they have no concept of other people. On the subway, there is no order of "let the people get off, then we get on" it's "everyone run for the door". There's no apprehension to cutting in line at the store if you hesitate to stay right behind the person in front of you. The traffic situation is indescribable to anyone who's never been here. It's a total free for all, if you run someone down-well, that's their fault. Sometimes that builds and I want to kill someone, but that passes.
Oh, and the damn guys with the flat bed trucks and bull horns. In my run down little neighborhood about once every hour a flat bed truck with onions or roots or some other useless thing comes through the streets playing a bullhorn announcing what theyre selling at full blast. I can usually hear it from at least 4 blocks away, and it meanders through the neighborhood for about an hour. This morning one started at 6 AM. I swear if that guy knew English I would have gotten in front a truck and given him a piece of my mind already. This would never EVER EVER. pass in the U.S., and I'm not even talking about the crazy, smelly, old women who sell eggs with this voice distortion blow horn thing that sounds more like a dying cat than anything. Ugh. If I had a golf club, what I would do to those trucks, oh what I would do....

It's still cold over here compared to back where you sit right now. I'm jealous. It barely hits 60 here most days. I'm tired of this. It's almost april, time for 75 please and thank you.

I have about 100 pictures at this point, when I get my computer back you will all be overwhelmed with pictures. I promise.

That's all I got for now I guess. Comments PLZ