life.

these past few months have been a whirlwind, to say the least.  after a brief trip back to the states to visit my family in may, i came back to korea and had to adjust all over again.  the first week was terrible.  i was jet lagged and home sick and felling terribly antisocial.  i would go out only to sit at the end of a table, detach my self from the conversation, and ultimately leave around eleven pm.  very early by korealife standards.

photo credit

as the weeks went on things got much better.  i live for the weekends.  teaching during the week is just a necessary evil i must get through.  once friday comes along, all hell breaks loose.  it started with a day at the beach and a soccer game.  i was not very into either events, and was regretting agreeing to go out that night.  but it was a costume party  and you all know how i can not resist a theme.  i even won the costume contest.  not because i looked the best, or because my attempt at a sexy assent down the tilt staircase was the most provocative, but because my friends yelled the loudest for me.  that is when it all changed, i think.  it was one of those, "they like me, they really like me" moments.  pathetic, right?  that night ended, or rather the next day began at 6 am with a trip into the sea, a soggy cab ride home, and a sandy sleep over in my bed with two friends.

the next weekend was a trip to busan for the day and then daegu  in the evening with some pals to celebrate a birthday.  it poured all day and night, which only added to the chaos that is travel in korea.  another late night out on saturday, ended up in a trek to a certain horrendous fast food joint at 6 am with dos amigos escorted by a group of students who it turned out, had graduated from the high school i teach at, just the year before.

the following weekend i was determined to have a mellow weekend.  friday night was fairly normal, dinner out with some friends, beach shenanigans for a while, then off to tilt.  however, i did not return home till well past 4 in the morning.  i was considering going camping the next day, but had already agreed to a dinner out in the sticks with some other friends so i stuck with the original plan.  and could not have been happier.  i was not too keen (gosh i sound english, or south africa) with the idea of the dinner.  but it turned out to be splendid.  we had a great time playing presidents and assholes, drank ourselves silly and ended the evening with a planking session in pippa's kitchen.  we then forced our way into a cab with a very strange cab driver.  we piled four in the back seat, with boyle on my lap, and all i remember about the drive is watching the cab drive, who was quite young, continually touch his face, the way someone who has done too many drugs will do.  only there is no chance he was on e, so i have no idea what was going on there.

the driver dropped us off at the beach, we played for a bit, got disgustingly sandy and sweaty then headed off to a norebang.  this was my first time in a korean karoke room, and only my third time doing karoke at all.  third time is definitely the charm. we had a grand room to ourselves with plenty of space for the 7 (or 8) of us to dance and sing.  a large table took up the rear end of the room and it was surrounded by a booth like bench seat.  we took turns picking songs and belting out the words, hardly even glancing at the screen for help.  we knew most of them by heart anyway.  highlights: "say it aint so" [weezer] sung by myself and daniel edwards, guess who's back [eminem] performed hilariously by dandie and myself, and the last song of the hour don't stop me now [queen] sung by everyone.  a quick stop at tilt where we continued the singing, then a little break at the beach where the conversation turned to sex, like all late night drunken conversations, some more planking then bed.

photo credit

this brings us to last weekend.  friday was mellow, a failed attempt at geocaching, drinks at portabello (where i got to se my one and only korean crush, lol) then a boring little visit to i-dong for open mic night.  i was feeling antisocial and uncomfortable at this point so i only stayed for a bit then went home.  woke up early the next morning to a fucking monsoon.  seriously, it can pour here.  non-stop for 12 hours straight is normal.  and it's heavy heavy rain, not light showers.  anyway, we were supposed to go to a beach party up the coast a ways.  after much debate and lally gagging we made it to the beach and had an amazing time.  partied till 1 am, but since we had been drinking since 3 in the afternoon and were soaking wet the entire time, 1am was pretty damned late.  sleeping in the soggy sandy tent was not an option so we drove to mark's house and slept there.  sorta.  more like hung out in a hot humid apartment and tried to sleep but really just talked.

woke up, picked up remaining friends at beach (hehe, oh liandi!) and then headed back to pohang for hangover day.

which i realize i have failed to mention in all this.  hangover day began after the costume contest weekend.  dandie had lost her life and had no form of communication with the outside world.  i was still drunk and could not get out of bed.  she came over and we were miserable, but happy at the same time, together.  later, jack joined us with snacks.  then liandi with even more snacks, and the tradition was born. every sunday, we gather in my bed in disgusting form and watch shows, eat food, and try not to throw up.  it's great.

best part of my week i think.  

 

photo credit [burnt toast]