the unexpected

last saturday night, i went out with my p-town coworkers. we suffered a painfully slow and therefore looooooong taxi ride to hongdae from a moron who took us round and round. i wished that i had the vocabulary of a native to creatively backhand and belittle him who was not at all shy about voicing his opinions about us, mostly about the volume of our voices. he was a sexist, authoritative idiot, and yes, i know that there are plenty of those to go around no matter where you are, it's just that this was my first encounter in korea and it was frustrating as f.

to shake shake shake off the ill vibes, we went to a bar, drank and danced! the bar was called tinpan 2. (yes, there's a tinpan 1 and it's across the street.) i hadn't seen this many foreigners in one place before, besides my english speaking cohorts at work, that is. it was both comforting and strange to hear so much english...i felt like i was in any other bar in the states. after 2 long island teas, i was in fine form! i hit the dance the floor and (how embarrassing!) did the drunk man dance, the dance where you creep up behind someone and attempt to "dance" aka, get your freak on. luckily for me, my victim was a bold, dashingly cute, fun-loving korean who was also in the mood to entertain and be entertained. we danced for a while and i was immediately drawn to his energy, his smile, his ability to speak english and understand my korean. in-effin-credible.

i was bummed out when he left with his friend but i very aggressively (and i hope not belligerently!) insisted that he take my number and call me. after he left, in my impatience, i texted him and we began to flirt via handphone. my co-worker, mina, who is mad fluent in korean and english flirted for me in korean and ooh wee, she's a quick one with the coy comebacks!

next thing i know, he's agreed to meet me in front of the bar and when i saw his face again, i was floored at how attractive he is. we spent an hour and 1/2 train ride (the train system opens at 5:30 in the morning...what can i say?! koreans know how to p-p-p-party!) talking, smiling and laughing. his name is ji suhk and he's 27 years old, studying law, preparing to take the exam. he's got this wanderlust, adventurous spirit about him which i find incredibly wonderful and unlike other korean guys i've met, he's laid back, multidimensional, dynamic and hilarious. i had no idea this would happen to me. it was the last thing i expected but i am so happy in this process of opening and discovering more about this boy, and more about myself when i'm with him.