2008

happy 2008! my friends and co-workers, diana, amber, chris, dm and i went to the neighboring city of anyang and had a very fun and chill celebration. there were several other bigger celebrations happening in seoul, a big outdoor countdown not unlike nyc, at city hall and the usual hot spots, hongdae and gangnam, i'm sure sported happy go lucky vibes. but honestly, i was super content to keep things local and simple, especially since work ends at 10:30pm, leaving not much time before the clock strikes midnight.

we went to a hip hop club which had good music and a chill, dive bar like atmosphere. oh hellllllllllllyeah! that's what i'm talking about! (for dc-ers, think a dan's cafe, raven and chief ike's combo!) one of the club workers walked around a few minutes before the shift into the new year and handed sparklers (ooh! sparklers! so pretty!) to everyone. then the tv showcased the countdown from city hall and within seconds, we all shouted happy new year! let it be known that i'm not the biggest new year's party fan, but, i was happy to be out (shoot! to even be out was a treat! my sickness is on it's last legs...) with such good company and doing what i love, dancing and watching others have a ball doing the same.

afterwards, we went to mcdonald's. i know right? wtf? did i not watch supersize me? have i not read parts of fast food nation? but, it was late and mickey d's was open. so mickey d's it was. not surprisingly, the portions were appropriate and there was no supersize option in sight. and well, you know how i get around french fries...another bar, and a few drinks later, we went to, of course, norehbang! and sang out new year's little hearts out! we rolled home around 6 am. party like a rockstar, party like a mothereffin rock star. may you all party like rockstars!

overzealous...

so maybe i was a bit overzealous in my assumption that i'd feel 100% better by the weekend. call it the power of wishful thinking. i am, however, feeling much better today. i've been sleeping a lot and in addition to that, taking naps (double sleeping) and drinking plenty of water. i'm coughing less and luckily, the coughs are now "dry." my voice sounds less scratchy or "strange" as my students described it. i am more than ready to be fully healthy again.

magic drugs

the strands of cold over hurrrrrrr in korea are wicked. it's no wonder that nearly every westerner that arrives to k-town gets sick so often in the first few months. these are foreign viruses that our non-native bodies don't know how to f-f-f-fight, just yet anyhoo. now, i'm not one to instantly pop a pill because i've got a sickness, so, i suffered a congested face, body aches, the and the worst cough (ahem, hacking!) that has come our of my mouth in years.

but you know what you gotta do? fight korean colds with korean drugs. i'm thankful my friend and co-worker diana took me to the pharmacy after work and helped me find drugs that are more of the herbal variety. i have to take the meds 3 times a day. one set of pills helps with my runny nose. the other set is more like dried herbal pellets. it feels like sand that melts and becomes a dry paste in your mouth. gross, right? but then you wash it down with a warm ginseng root tasting beverage. i slept like a champ! i already feel much better than i did yesterday, and, if i feel this good within a 24 hour time period, i'm going to feel fantastic by the weekend! radical!

troublemaker

sometimes, my students are too funny! the other night, we were going over a sentence with the word troublemaker in it. i caught the class clown, won joon, drawing a funny face on the back of his paper. he put another student's name, alice, on it, and teased her with his drawing, completely unsuspecting that i'd look up at that exact moment. so, i wrote his name on the board and made an example of him.

"class," i said, "a troublemaker is someone that makes trouble. now, see what won joon has done? (i held up the drawing for dramatic effect!) yes, this type of thing is what a troublemaker does. so, won joon, is a troublemaker!" the class laughed and i was smiling too.

but the best thing is that won joon had a brilliant comeback. he said, "no teacher, i'm a happymaker!" i lost it and busted out laughing along with all my students.

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.

happy hweshik

in korea, instead of happy hours, companies host hweshiks, aka company sponsored dinners and drinks. yummers! last thursday, the p-town gang went to our hweshik and had a ball eating amazing beef, pork, and whatever else you can toss onto the barbeque: peppers, onions, kimchi, garlic and mushrooms.

now, you can't have a dinner party without drinks! most, if not all of us, got sufficiently liquored, aka, blasted on soju. oh the soj. we have the beginnings of a serious love/hate relationship...after our meal and more than several rounds of soju shots, we went out to, in classic korean fashion, none other than the nohrehbang. there we brought our best american idol-ish attempts. it was a blast. embarrassingly, there are significant chunks missing from my memory. yikes!

the soju drunk is unlike any other...after a few shots, i feel totally fine and it doesn't hit me until of course, i'm way past the buzz. yeah, i know right, you're thinking, uh, that's like everytime your drink more than you can handle...but! the thing about soju is, is that the gauge for drunkenness is in slow-mo. and so you don't ever feel out of control, which is fun, but, the hangover the next day is a wicked doozy.

merry merry!

there's so much i want to tell, to write, to describe (partying with and getting to know the work crew, meeting randoms at bars, falling completely in enchantment with a special korean guy, making my house a home, feeling much more grounded and continuing to embrace the quirks of korea)...and when i am in better health i'll make the time to do so. but presently, and rather unfortunately, i have caught a cold for the second time this winter (wtf korea?! i haven't been this sick and in such repeated doses, in years!) so my holiday holla will be brief.

it doesn't feel at all like christmas. maybe it's because in korea, things continue as they usually do. no stores are closed, people work (yep, including me) and while people celebrate christmas, it's not nearly to the degree that it's celebrated in the states. i'm glad that it's not christmas crazy materialistic. though, believe me, koreans don't really need a holiday to get people to buy things! for some, i think shopping is like a full time job!

i went to suwon this morning to visit with my aunt and uncle. they are such lovely lovely people and i'll go back to suwon next wednesday to visit with my cousin who will be coming home for a week from japan! i've been re-connecting with family and friends, cultivating solid friendships, so i feel very gifted with such caring beautiful people closeby.

i miss you all stateside, that's FO'SHO! so holla at your girl, and i'll be sure to do the same. merry christmas! xoxoxoxox big love from k-town.