Morality.

In a way it is only fitting that I'm thinking about morality this week.  Through a confluence of events and plans I find myself confronted with a myriad of moral issues.  First, I guess I should give you a little background on my sense of morality.  For lack of a better word it is strict.  I have always held myself to a higher moral code than most.  I believe that morality is a personal decision and that while my morality fits me, it is not for everyone.  Everyone has to decide their own morality and cannot have it forced upon them by an outside person or force.  That being said, there are just some things that run across cultures and are seen as moral throughout most the world. 

I'll start with one of the easiest issues in front of me right now.  I am planning a vacation to Southeast Asia which will include stops in Singapore (I'm really excited about), Cambodia (also really excited about), Kuala Lumpur (sorta excited), and Thailand (kinda apathetic).  I feel bad for being somewhat apathetic towards Thailand, but there is a significant reason for it.  It has to do with a moral issue, prostitution.  I don't believe that prostitution is an evil vice and should be eliminated.  In fact I think it should be legalized.  It should be legalized for the protection of the women who find themselves involved in that business.  If you legalize it, you can mandate testing for drugs and disease, you can require the use of condoms, you also help eliminate the criminal element.  However, granted I am for legalization, I am not a supporter of engaging the services of prostitutes.  Unfortunately, a large portion of the tourism in Thailand is designed around prostitution and the services rendered.  In fact it is so bad that it has become a sex tourism (that's right there is actually a type of tourism now designed around it) destination.  Most young males ideas and ideals about Thailand revolve around the fact that for as little as 50 dollars you can "rent" a beautiful girl for the night.  In fact, you can "rent" girls as young as 18 legally and as low as you illegally can dream.  Forgive me if it sounds puritanical, but I'm not interested in it, and honestly am not looking forward to being around people whose idea of a vacation is how many girls they can purchase in a week.

This bothers me because I know that I am allowing myself to be jaded before I set foot into a country.  It's a beautiful country with thousands of years of history and culture which I'm very interested in.  I don't want to be jaded walking into it, but I would be lying if I didn't say the sex tourism trade was negating whatever excitement I have towards the country.  I guess that was a large part of the reason while I was in Bali that I didn't go out partying.  I'm just not interested in going to bars and then paying the bar to take the girl home.  There are lots of things to see and do in Thailand, I guess I will just have to choose carefully where I go.

 Besides the morality of prostitution, I guess the real thing that has morality ensconced in my head right now is what recently happened at my school.  It's been bothering me for a week or so now, and it finally hit home yesterday.  According to my co-teachers between one and five 4th grade girls were molested at my school by one of our teachers.  The teacher has since apologized for his actions and has been fired.  However, I must state accordingly right now I don't know exactly what his actions were that got him fired.  I don't know if he sexually molested them, or if he groped them, or if he just did something inappropriate with them.  The reason for my confusion is due to the varying degrees of information I have received since it happened.  My co-teachers are using the world molest.  However, I do not know if this is a translation issue.  It is possible that in Korean there is only one word for the whole spectrum of horrible things that can be done to a child.  After what I saw yesterday I'm inclined to believe that they were molested.  However, the school has had several meetings (which I didn't attend due to the fact they were in Korean), where the basis of the meeting was that you don't touch your students.  This is a new idea here in Korea.  As I have stated before Korean society is a lot more liberal when it comes to touching another person.  The idea of a personal space is a lot looser here.  The last fact that has added confusion on my part is that the teacher was fired, but the authorities were not contacted.  The parents did not want to press charges or make a scene and the principal is more than willing to allow that.  It would be really big news if this got into the news here and the school would lose a lot of face. 

However, even with that in mind, I still feel bound by my training in the US that I am required to report this.  The problem is that while the teacher has been fired, I'm not entirely sure if any notation was placed in his file as to why he was fired.  I'm also not entirely sure if he will ever be able to work with children again.  The teacher is an older man and I'm not sure if he will be able to get another job.  Personally I believe that his ass should be paraded down the middle of the city wear a sign that says child molester on it while people get to throw whatever they want at him.  I don't care if he apologized.  The man targeted and abused my students.  He's lucky his ass was fired before I found out about it.  All in all the lack of information is what is my biggest problem.  I cannot make a decision whether or not to report this unless I have all the information.  That being said, the school is not passing information on to me.  I cannot make this decision based on incomplete facts.  That and I cannot really ask a lot of my coworkers about it because they are uncomfortable talking about it.  If he was fired and a notice was placed in his file that he groped a child I'm ok with that.  However if he molested a child, I believe more is needed.  Apology or not the man needs to punished in the court of law.  I believe it's only fitting as he was our morality/ethics/civics teacher.

The hardest part of all this was yesterday.  Before yesterday the student/students who were abused were faceless entities at my school.  I found out yesterday that they were fourth grade students, and on top of that they were my students.  I taught them yesterday, and while I am only sure that one student was abused, that is more than I am willing to allow.  The student he abused was one of my favorite 4th grade girls.  She was a very quiet and shy girl.  She was not the smartest girl, however she was eager to learn and if you engaged her she was a pleasure to teach.  Yesterday in class she was exhibiting classic signs of abuse.  Her demeanor had changed.  There was a cloud hanging over her.  She was uncertain, nervous, and tense.  Every time I walked by in class you could visibly see her tense up.  For a while in class I noticed that she was running her hands through her hair and then pulling out a single strand of hair.  She did this for about twenty minutes.

Yesterday was a tough day.  The only silver lining in it all was I noticed several times during the class that my student was smiling and behaving like a child.  She's still eager to smile, and I can only hope that she can recover from this. 

Unreasonable Expectations

I guess by now that I shouldn't be surprised by this.  I know that Korea is obsessed with the appearance of success, but this is taking it a little too far.  In the recent citywide elementary school English contest, my school did better than every other school.  We did not place first in any event, but we were the only school in which every student who participated received a medal.  We received two silver medals and two bronze medals in reading, speaking, writing, and the golden bell (English quiz).  In the United States having 4 of 4 students earn either a silver or a bronze medal is something to be proud of.  Especially considering the fact that the student who won the golden bell had spent the past 6 months in the United States going to school.  We earned a silver and a bronze in that event. 

However, according to my principal and my vice principal, if we did not win a gold medal we did not do a good job.  I actually had two of my students apologize to me because they didn't win their respective competitions.  Forgive me if this seems a little unreasonable.  Yes, getting first place would be nice, but even without it we proved that our school is one of the better places in this city to obtain an English education.  I think we should be praising our students for a job well done, not criticizing them because they didn't win it all.  Now the criticism is coming from my principal and vice principal but still my co-teachers are sad because they see it as a failure on their part. 

I guess it just comes down to differences in opinion, but I have to say that I think I'm right here.  My kids did a wonderful job, and I know that most every other foreign teacher here agrees with me.  Call it cultural, call it whatever, still, these kids are in 5th and 6th grade.  At least tell them they did a good job.

My life or something like it.

I have the distinct feeling that for those of you who are still following this blog you might be slightly annoyed by the dearth of posts in the past few months.  I wish I could say that it was simply because I have been so busy that I have not had time to write.  I could try and sell you on that line, but it would be an utter waste of my and more importantly your time.  The simple truth is that life here is now more or less the same as life everywhere.  There are still small quirky things that happen from time to time, but in general, it's the same as if I was living in the United States and working.  It honestly doesn't make the most interesting of blogging material. 

Alas, life still moves forward.  I have started my third contract here in Korea.  Some of you might be wondering just how it is I could resign for a third year.  Well, in all honesty, money is what kept me here.  After playing with numbers and making some rough estimates I have come to the conclusion that I have a job which is paying me between 35,000-40,000 dollars a year here.  The reason this number is so high is because I do not have to pay for rent.  Once you factor in even the cheapest of rental options in San Diego you're still looking at a minimum of 6,000 dollars.  I ran my numbers using an estimate of 1,000 dollars a month.  This number is rather high, but it includes, vehicle costs, utilities, and other small things that come as part of being a functional member or society.  Assuming these numbers, that is an extra 12,000 dollars a year that I'm not paying.  Now, granted I make less than this 40,000 a year.  In fact I probably make about 66% of this number when it's all said and done.  However, the benefits here far outweigh the uncertainties when considering coming home. 

There are too many things right now that just are not clear enough to warrant leaving my job.  I do really want to come home, and I'm planning on coming home sooner rather then later.  However, the current joblessness when combined with underemployment have me scared out of my mind.  I am not going to come back to the states just to pick up a wrench again or substitute teach again.  I'd like to say that I have some level of hope that this problem will magically fix itself before I come home, but I know better.  When you combine this with the potential of another recession next year, I could not come home.  I couldn't abandon a relatively secure job and a positive work environment for the unknown that waits back home.  Don't mistake this for complacency in my situation.  I am far from it.  I am just realistic.  I don't have the money saved to wait this out right now, nor am I certain enough of my resume to ensure myself of a job when I arrive. 

The current plan is to complete my contract, and then to evaluate myself when I get closer to the time to make a decision.  I plan to come home at the end of this contract, or to extend through the end of the school year here to set myself up better in the states.  Granted for a lot of you this is not what you'd like to hear.  I unfortunately cannot offer much sympathy to you.  This is the decision that I made after some intense contemplation and thought.  I believe that this is what is best for my life right now.  Had this whole recession thing not happened then maybe I'd be in a completely different boat.  Yet, it did, and this is where I find myself now. 

Given the fun nature of this post so far I figure that I should probably change tones and talk about my life in the past month.  After my experience with the typhoon (see previous post) life has been more or less the same.  I know you're so surprised at that statement.  Don't rush to judgment too fast here.  There are actually a few interesting stories in here. 

I will start with a recipe that I "discovered" here.  I warn you not to make this because they are like crack.  It's a candied walnut.  I was trying to make roasted pork in a honey citron tea sauce.  There are several honey based teas here in Korea that are quite delicious.  The stuff is basically honey marmalade.  Well as I was roasting the pork I threw some veggies and walnuts in to roast also.  While I was eating dinner I noticed that the walnuts were ridiculously awesome.  In fact the pork wasn't that great because the tea I chose was too sweet (the honey ginger tea will work much better).  Well I decided to roast some walnuts the next day in the sauce.  I roast them until the sugars in the honey start to caramelize.  Right before I pull them out I've been throwing a little bit of shredded coconut onto them.  Once the stuff cools down you end up with some awesome walnuts.  You should be able to find the teas at almost any Asian supermarket.  I must warn you though, these things are addicting.  Do not make them if you are hungry.  You'll burn your mouth because you're eating so many of them straight out of the oven.

Outside of my accidental recipe discovery my cooking life has been relatively simple.  I have executed and managed not to screw up making my mom's pasta salad several times.  I have also made a couple of face melting salsas with my absolutely lovely food processor.  I know, I know, a guy who loves sports shouldn't be talking in such away about a food processor.  I promise there is a sports story coming soon. 

Life outside of cooking has been pretty simple recently.  There has been a whole new bunch of teachers arriving and making there way into the Seosan foreigner scene.  This means I am meeting new people and trying to remember all their names.  Not an easy task when you're as bad with names as I am.  If I could I would just name them all Bob and Susan.  It does however lead to some interesting conversations with the recently arrived.  One person, who shall remain nameless, is unfortunately the type of person that we've managed to avoid having around since I've been here.  The easy access to alcohol and exceptionally low cost of it is not a good thing for this person.  What is worse though, is the boorish/misogynistic mentality that he develops with liquid courage.  The first time I ever met him he asked me about how easy it was to score with Korean chicks.  Sensing this conversation was not going to go well I told him the truth that it was difficult, but not impossible.  He then proceeded to talk about a friend of mine for about fifteen minutes and how he was going to "get her" before long.  Unknowingly to him this woman has a boyfriend and is friends with a lot of the foreigners.  Needless to say he's made a bad impression with lots of us and is unfortunately making a name for himself with the Koreans also.  Which, sadly is passed on to all foreigners.

Okay, fine, here is the sports story.  I'll try to keep it short as this post has already gone on long enough.  For those of you that have read previous posts or I have talked to , know that Koreans love to play volleyball.  They love it so much that every public school here has an intramural team that plays other schools.  Well we recently had an 8 team tournament.  Our school took second place in the tournament.  We actually should have won but we blew a 5 point lead in the final set.  Needless to say, yours truly played quite well.  I'd like to say I have a glamorous job, but my job is basically to block when the ball is set to my side and to clean up the net.  Basically my job has become is the past few weeks to scramble, dive, and generally risk my well being in an attempt to make the play last longer.  Well, second place isn't that bad, but the funny thing is watching a 6 foot 265 pound white guy playing volleyball with a bunch of 5'5" to 5'10" 165 pound Koreans.  Needless to say, and I am quoting a friend here, "It's like watching a rhino playing with gazelles."  My body still hurts from this tournament because we played 5 games on Sunday and played 12 sets of Volleyball.  Last time we played in the tournament lost our first two games and went home.  I'd say this was quite the improvement. 

Surviving Typhoon Kompasu

Being a person who spent a majority of his time living in California, it is safe to say that I have been blessed by wonderful weather for most of my life.  California, northern or southern tends to have wonderful weather that lacks extremes.  At worst we have hot weather or cold weather.  We do not see any hurricanes or tornados.  We do have to deal with wild fires, but to call those a weather phenomenom is a misnomer.  However, given that I currently no longer reside in California as all of you by now know, I was granted the rare privellage of experiencing my first typhoon.  Typhoon Kompasu struck South Korea a week and a half ago, and while it was not strong compared to most typhoons, it was still scary enough.

Being that I have never really experienced anything beyond a major thunderstorm with small cyclonic events, waking up at 4:00 AM with the wind howling was a major surprise.  I knew that the typhoon was coming, but I had heard conflicting reports about how serious it was going to be.  I had gone to bed after winning 50 dollars at poker and figured to wake up the next morning and go to work.  Then the typhoon rolled past our little town and scared the hell out of everyone.  It turns out that Korea was not made to withstand 100 MPH winds and even if it could survive gusts of wind, the sustained winds over the course of an hour or two reeked havoc.  Windows were blown out, signs were knocked over, and trees were ripped apart.  This was a sight and a sound to behold at 4:00 AM.  Needless to say it was scary to hear ripping metal, gusting winds, and just praying that nothing stuck my windows because I was trying to sleep.

It was a frightening experience because of the sheer volume of noise that was being generated.  The sound of ripping metals, snapping tree limbs, and wind made for a cacophony of noise that is quite unlike anything I have ever heard before.  When you add into this an apartment with numerous windows that don't seal all that well you have a perfect storm of noise that will rob anyone of sleep.  After falling back asleep due to being rather exhausted I awoke the next morning to the power being out.  The power was out across our fair town.  I sent a message to my co-teachers to check and see if we had school that day, and was quite surprised to find out that yes school was actually in session, even though nobody had any power.  After taking a cold shower because I could not power my hot water heater I emerged from my apartment for my walk to school.  Needless to say what I saw along the way was quite surprising.  The large apartment tower next to my apartment sustained substantial damage.  At least 30 of the apartments had sustained busted bay windows and glass was strewn about.  All the trees along the way had been shredded of their leaves, and even some building had their facades ripped off by the winds.  It was impressive for lack of a better word.

As I arrived at school, I found my school without power, and the classrooms filled with students and teachers.  Rather surprised at the fact that the school was going to try to function without power I arrived and was informed that we had to teach.  The reason this was so surprising was that is based along the fact that all of our text books are designed to be used with computers and televisions to show the kids what we're doing.  English, even more so than any other subject is designed to be a multimedia experience.  In fact, without a computer it's nearly impossible to use our books.  With this is mind my co-teacher and I walked into our classes and basically player games for the entire period.  Luckily, after two years of teaching, I have several games which I can pull out in an emergency that require nothing besides my voice and willing participation.  The school, in all it's wisdom decided that since there was no power, and therefore no way to provide the students with a lunch, that the kids would leave at noon.  The teachers on the other hand, were required to stay, and not only that, they were required to help clean up the grounds.  This entailed me pushing a wheelbarrow around my school while my other co-teachers piled stuff into it.

Around 1:30 the power came back and the teachers all fled back inside into the wonderful confines of an air conditioned room.  With nothing to do but watch a movie at my desk, I sat out the rest of the day before packing it in and heading home.  Along the walk home I was still surprised at the amount of damage done.  What surprised me even more was when I found out that we had been grazed by the storm.  We were about 30 miles from the center of the storm.  Seoul unfortunately took the storm head on and paid the price for it.  I can offically say that I have now been through my first typhoon.  It was an intense experience, even if it was only a baby typhoon by the time it got to us. 

The Bali Retrospective.

I know it's been two weeks since I came back from Bali, and it seems a little weird to just now be writing about this, however, I have no excuses so just deal.  I think I am finally in a position to fully talk about my experiences in Bali.  It's not like they were bad, I just needed time to process my vacation.  I think the essential difference between this vacation, and so many of my other vacations was the intent with which I went.  My intentions were to relax and recharge.  Normally when I go traveling I plan on traveling hard.  I plan to see as much as possible in the least amount of time.  I plan on spending no more then 4 days in one place before I move onto the next.  This time, I spent 9 days in one place.  Not only that, but I spent those 9 days in a place where one of the primary things to do is sit around and relax.  However, I am only trying to give you all excuses for what seems like an out of the ordinary vacation experience for me. 

Enough of the time wasting, I guess I should get to the story.  Bali presented itself as a unique opportunity for me.  I had never before been to the Southern Hemisphere.  Not only that, but I've never traveled anywhere one could consider tropical.  Well, both of those things have changed now.  My friends and I arrived in Bali after a 7 hour flight from Seoul.  We arrived in Bali at 1 in the morning and proceeded to deal with obtaining our visas.  Most Southeast Asian countries require a full page visa to enter into the country, and Indonesia is no different.  Like most Southeast Asian countries, you can acquire this visa at the airport for the small price of 25 dollars.  After paying our fee to obtain our visa we waited in a rather long and warm line to get the visa placed into our passports and to be granted entry into the country.  This is where the adventure begins.  Tom and I had forgot/didn't know that the amendments pages at the back of our passport could not be used for visas.  I fully blame the Italian government for my misunderstanding because the airport in Palermo stamped the very last page of my passport which is for amendments.  However, being faced with the prospect of not being allowed into the country, our ever so nice immigration official informed us that for the small fee of 100,000 Indonesian Rupiah he would be willing to look the other way.  100,000 Rupiah roughly equals 11 dollars.  Now, myself being an upstanding citizen and world traveler was slightly taken aback at the thought of bribing my way into a country.  Well actually I wasn't, I was just surprised that in all of my travels this is the first time I've ever had to bribe an official.

With all of our bags collected and Tom and my bribes paid we walked out of the airport at 2:30 in the morning looking for our driver.  Our driver was standing outside for us and proceeded to drive us to our villa.  We arrived 45 minutes later and like the partial zombies we were randomly chose our rooms.  That night sleep came easily in my ridiculously awesome king sized bed.  The next morning we were treated to a welcome breakfast by our villa staff.  It was a simple meal, but after years of either no breakfasts or a quick breakfast, a simple continental breakfast was amazing.  After breakfast I decided that it was time for me to partake in one of my favorite vacation/summer activities.  I went for a swim in our private pool.  The plan for the day was simple: relax, do a little shopping, and then go to dinner.  The day was a success.  We went to a nearby supermarket to check on some things and managed to purchase some wonderful looking tropical fruit.  We purchased: mangoes, dragon fruit, durian, and several other interesting looking things.  When we returned I found myself back in the pool relaxing and spent the day swimming and reading.  For dinner we went down to the local beach and had a wonderful dinner. 

The fruit was the highlight of the day however.  Durian, for those that don't know is considered the king of fruits.  Either that or it's considered the most vile thing ever created.  I fall into the first category.  This fruit, while looking like something the cloud dude chucked at you in Mario Brothers, was awesome.  It did not smell bad, and the interior meat parts was a mix between custard and very ripe avocado.  It was simply wonderful.  I have to say that I was let down by the dragon fruit.  For something that is so colorful and awesome looking, it is rather bland tasting.  It tastes like a mix of banana and kiwi, but if you leeched all the flavor out.  It was ok, I was just expecting more.

The next day we started our sightseeing adventure with a trip to Tanah Lot temple.  This Hindu temple is located on rocks out in the ocean.  It is the most sacred sight in Bali and was epically beautiful.  The whole place was jet black volcanic rock and this temple was sitting on rocks jutting out of the ocean.  It's hard to describe the beauty of the area, luckily I have enough photos to do the hard work for me.  When we returned from visiting the temple we arrived with enough time for a quick soak in the pool before our massages arrived.  For ten dollars each we ordered our massages to our villa.  Well, all of us except for TC.  He decided to go run into Kuta to look for some things.  Our hour long massage was wonderful, and I could seriously get used to the Balinese style massage.  It is not so hard that it makes you squirm, but it is also not so soft you feel like you need another one.  After my massage at our villa my barber showed up to cut my hair.  I was rather shaggy and for 7 bucks I figured I'd let an Indonesian have a crack at my hair.  He couldn't do a worse job then the haircuts I get in Korea.  He honestly gave me the best haircut I've had since I left the states.  The only scary moment was when I realized that he was going to trim around my hairline and my ears by using a simple straight razor.  No, not the cool kind that barbers use, but the straight razors we use for opening boxes and stuff like that.  Talk about making you want to sit still. 

The next few days passed with several sight seeing/shopping trips around Bali.  We visited Ubud, which was about 1 1/2 hours away from our villa.  Ubud is known as the artists' colony of Bali, and it has honestly earned its reputation.  Everywhere you went were art galleries and shops selling artistic items.  There were also tons of shops and store which were selling tourist items, but hey, tourism is how Bali makes its money.  We came back to Ubud a second time to visit the Monkey Forest Sanctuary and to go to the nearby Elephant Safari park.  Ubud was a wonderful city, and if it were not so far away from the beaches and the waves then I would seriously consider staying there. 

On another one of the days TC, Nikki, Tom and I decided it was time to go get abused by the local waves.  Bali is known for surfing, and after fighting the waves where we went, I can see why.  We weren't even at a good surfing beach.  That however, didn't stop me from suffering the second worst wipe-out of my life while attempting to body surf.  Around noon the waves were breaking in should height water and were roughly 4-5 feet in size.  They were perfect for body boarding or body surfing, however, you couldn't get to them.  The reason you could not get to these waves was there was a secondary break at about stomach high water that took lots of effort to fight through.  It was really hard.  That afternoon as the tide went out, that secondary break became a knee high level break.  The water had retreated at least 100 yards.  While this made the primary break easily accessible, it also made it rather dangerous for those not used to being around waves.  The waves were still 4-5 feet, however now instead of being in relatively deep water, they were now coming in at waist height in sets of two.  You couldn't escape these things, and they dumped many people straight into the sand.  I was one of them, and while I was at no risk of drowning, it was still rather intense.  I saw one guy get dropped face first into the water from a height of about 7 feet.  My friend Tom also had this happen to him. 

On our last day of sight seeing we decided to go to another beach, however this one was known for snorkeling.  Sanur was a nice quiet little area that specialized in water sports that don't require or want waves.  Snorkeling, para-sailing, jet skis, wind surfing, etc.  We went there to snorkel.  Now, normally snorkeling would be lost on someone who is blind like me.  However, thanks to the wonderful refractive properties of both water and my mask, I could actually see quite well under the water.  There were fish everywhere, including a few things that I could not explain.  The puffer fish and clown fish were pretty awesome.  In all it was pretty great to go swimming around with the fishes.  It also serves as a nice reminder of just how magical the ocean can be.  With our time in the ocean coming to an end we went and visited a sea turtle sanctuary.  After lunch we decided to try and make our way to Uluwatu Temple to catch a Kecak dance.  Unfortunately the show was sold out when we got there.  We did however catch an absolutely stunning and wonderful sunset.  That and TC's glasses were stolen off of his face by a monkey which then proceeded to eat the soft plastic nose pieces.

Our last day found me laying around Nikki's mom's hotel room.  I had unfortunately fallen ill with a dreaded case of Bali Belly.  In simple terms I didn't want to be more then about 15 feet from a bathroom at any point and time.  I'll save you all the details, but that is part of the reason it took me so long to get this post up.  Our flight left Bali at 1 in the morning and we arrived in Korea at 9:30 in the morning.  After a bus ride which saw me spend most the time sleeping and praying my stomach would hold up I found myself back in my apartment.  August had arrived while I was gone, and I already missed the wonderful weather of Bali. 

Bali Hi!!!!

Welcome, my friends to a tropical wonderland of sun, surf, food, and cheap prices.  Welcome my friends to Bali, land of the hour massage for 10 dollars.  Bali is the first vacation that I have taken in Asia, and I must say that it has been absolutely awesome so far.  It starts with our awesome villa.  The villa comes fully equipped with a staff, a pool, a driver, chef, etc.  The villa is nestled amongst terraced rice paddies on some rather rough Indonesian roads.  I have been able to completely relax and just let got of life for a while.  On top of our awesome villa has been some spectacular culinary conquests.  Going beyond just traditional tropical fruit to the second best steak I've ever had, and a giant freaking lobster that only cost about 10 bucks.   The culinary side of this trip has been something entirely unplanned on.  I am eating at far better restaurants then someone on my pay check should be able to. 

The vacation has started slowly, with relaxation being the most important thing for me.  I need to de-stress and revitalize.  I have done that, while still managing to hit a couple of tourist spots.  The vacation is going to pick up in the next few days along with my sunburn, which is progressing nicely.  I just might make myself into a lobster by the time I get out of here.  The following days should see a few more massages, some excellent dining, and hopefully some more water sports.  I forgot how much I loved being in the water.  Alas, time is money as they say, and I have a lot more of Bali to go do.  I will try to write again.  Much love my peeps and I will see you when I see you.

How sweet it is.....

There are few things more anticipated amongst education professionals than two simple words we loved as children.  It turns out that summer vacation is not just something for students, but in reality is something that teachers need.  Anyone who has spent anytime in the field of education knows just how long and tiring the work truly is.  Summer vacation is a chance for the teachers to rest and recuperate just as much as it is for the students.  In fact I think that most teachers secretly look forward to vacation more than the students. 

I find myself here today on the cusp of my first Asian vacation.  I call it my first Asian vacation because for the first time since I left the United States I will be exploring another Asian country.  Ok, fine I'll be honest.  I'm going to go explore another Asian beach where I will probably get a sunburn and a hangover.  Tomorrow I will leave Korea behind for a 9 days to go explore around Bali, Indonesia.  I am actually really excited because I have little to no plans once we arrive there.  Our villa is going to have a chef, a pool, a driver if we want, and is located really close to some great beaches.  I have to be honest, I'm looking forward to doing nothing.  Most of the tourist things in Bali are relatively simple.  They revolve around mountains, temples, beaches, shopping, eating, and drinking.  There are the prerequisite elephant rides, traditional dances, tourist traps, and scammers.  However, with all that I am relatively unimpressed.  Yes, there will be snorkeling and swimming.  There is also the chance to eat and drink copious amounts.

Yet, with all that Bali entails and everything that it is promised to be, the thing that I am most looking forward to, is the simple chance to relax for several days on end.  I'm not looking for much, and I think that this place will be as good a place as any to rest and refit for the coming months.  I think the simple message behind all of this is that, everyone needs a break every now and then.  Sometimes we ignore it and plod through our lives.  For once, I'm not going to ignore it.  For once I'm going to embrace it, and we'll see where I end up at the end of it.  It'll probably be a sunburnt ending.

Some Awesome Shots of Korea

Ok, these shots I did not take.  They were taken by a professional photographer/poet here in Korea.  That being said these are some awesome pictures that I might be able to do if I had an awesome camera, and maybe some talent.  These are just some of the reasons I love it here.

So close....

The World Cup for Korea and for the United States has ended.  They ended in the first round of the knockout stage.  While the Korean loss ends the three week party that has been happening here in Seoul, I know the American loss is being greeted with the normal "meh".  The American side failed to live up to expectations again.  However, this time I feel like more people have noticed in the United States, due to the fact we almost didn't qualify.  It's funny how American's won't care about something until they think the team has been robbed.  Honestly, those two horrible ref decisions might just be the best thing to happen to American soccer.  It sparked outrage amongst people who might not have known the World Cup was being held.  It created interest in these men who were playing a good game and yet somehow, due to bad reffing, still not coming away with the victory they deserved.  I can only hope that this World Cup has helped fuel the fire that is starting to grow in America around soccer and the World Cup. 

For the this World Cup and the previous one, I have been on foreign soil.  I have been in countries with glorious Football histories, Germany, Italy, and England.  I have also been in a country that is struggling to create its identity and history.  South Korea has never won the World Cup.  Throughout its history it has only qualified for the knockout stage twice.  The first was in 2002 when they rode maniacal support from their fans as a host nation.  The second time is the current World Cup.  They advanced on foreign soil for the first time ever.  They also did it with a Korean coach at the helm.  In 2002 Gus Hiddink, he of Chelsea and Russia fame. coached the Korean side to the semifinals.  Korea is struggling to place themselves as the powerhouse of Asian football.  They currently are the best team in Asia, but it is very close between themselves and Japan.  Korea's place amongst the elite nations of Football is possibly close at hand.  I expect great things from them at the next few World Cups. 

With that over I guess I should tell you how I spent my last weekend of intense World Cup watching.  In truth, the World Cup had completely screwed up my sleeping schedule.  Do or die games were being played live at 3:00 AM, and I am just crazy enough to wake up and watch.  The final day came on a gloomy Saturday.  Rain was forecast throughout Korea, but that did not stop 50,000 people from gathering at Seoul City Hall.  Amongst those 50,000 were myself and several friends.  We came decked out in red to support the Red Devils (Korea's team nickname).  We arrived three hours early, and there was already 30,000 people sitting on the street.  The party atmosphere was entirely unique.  In the United States you could not find 50,000 people this orderly.  It was ridiculous.  The only time any chaos reigned was when the downpours began about an hour before the game.  Apparently some people forgot to check the forecast and even though the sky was gray and threatening, decided not to purchase a poncho for 1,000 Won (80 cents). 

The party started long before the game, and honestly, had the game started at 3:00 AM the party still would have started in the afternoon.  Luckily the game was held at 11:00 PM.  Uruguay, while good at football, is not a dominant team.  However, the team had just enough to beat Korea 2-1.  It was a great game, and the second goal came on an absolutely brilliant and lucky shot.  The player who made the goal even admitted it was lucky.  He shot the ball across the goal and curved it just enough to hit the upright and in.  It was something to see.  Sadly, it had not be done by a Korean player.  Oh well.  The party was over with the final whistle and the 50,000 fans, now subdued by the loss filed down to the subway to leave. 

I wish I could claim this was the end of my night, but sometimes in Korea, 1 AM is just the beginning.  This was one of those nights because the USA was playing Ghana at 3:30 in the morning.  This match I had to see.  My friends and I filed down onto the subway and began reveling in our American fandom.  Chants of USA echoed up and down the subway, and even an ad-libbed soccer song came out of us.  Of course in true American style it had nothing to do with soccer and more about proclaiming the fact that we were drunk.  Now I feel the need to state that while I was intoxicated, I was not drunk.  Needless to say it was a great subway ride to Hongdae.  We may have annoyed the Koreans a little bit, but I think the fact that all of us were still wearing our Korea gear helped. 

Upon arriving in Hongdae we found a bar that was going to show the America match and sat down to drink and pass the few hours.  Well during that time, Jake was challenged to a rap battle.  Yes, I know what you are thinking.  Rap battle, what is this 8 mile?  Well, honestly the answer is yes.  Jake is an Englishman from Liverpool, and apparently has quite the reputation in Hongdae as a freestyle rapper.  We walked over to Hongdae park, which at 2:45 in the morning was full of young people singing, playing guitar, and drinking.  There was one enterprising Korean who had set up a cocktail bar in the park.  The Korean who challenged Jake had spent a lot of time living in Virginia and spoke fluent English.  The rap battle was interesting to watch, being that this was the first one I had ever experienced.  Jake stumbled some out the gates, but quickly recovered to win the battle.

With the deleted scene from 8 Mile over we headed back to the bar and sat down to watch the USA game.  I wish I could say things ended well for us, but we fell asleep on defense one too many times.  With the USA out, and it also being 6:00 in the morning I headed back to Central City Bus Terminal.  I was going to catch an early bus back to Seosan.  I arrived back in Seosan at 8:00 in the morning and proceeded to walk to my apt and go to sleep.  The World Cup and all the wonderful things it brought to Korea was over.  It is sad, but I am glad I was here to fully experience it. 

Seoul Celebration

I feel the need to warn you now that the 2010 World Cup is going to be a running dialog for most of the next month on this blog.  In my last post I tried to explain, probably with very little success, the reason for my enjoyment of the World Cup.  Besides the fact that this is the world's biggest sporting event, the atmosphere, and the pride it creates are second to none in the sporting world.  This weekend marked the start of World Cup.  All the pageantry and hope that marks the open week were on display across the world.  It all started with South Africa feeding off of 85,000 Vuvuzela blowing fans which inspired them to an 1-1 tie with Mexico.  No host nation has ever failed to advance out of the group stage.  Critics point to South Africa potentially being the first nation never to advance.



After the first day which saw little notable matches (except for every match played), my true experience began for the first time.  When I last experienced the World Cup I was an outsider marveled by everything.  This time, I know how important this is, and I know just how much it means to the countries playing.  Saturday June 12, 2010 is a day that I will remember for a long time.  Myself, along with several of my friends found our way up to Seoul.  We were determined to experience the World Cup in a way that many of us never have been able to before.  We went ready to cheer for South Korea, our adopted home.  Across the country Koreans assembled in public spaces to cheer for their country.  Everywhere you went in the country the game was being displayed.  If there was school during the game, they would have stopped teaching so everyone could watch the game.



In Seoul, the largest street parties could be found to watch the game.  All across the city, even in the stadiums people were gathering to watch the game.  The two largest street gatherings were located at Seoul City Hall and COEX mall.  At Seoul City Hall 40,000 people gathered to watch the game in a drizzling rain.  At COEX mall there was probably 30,000 people in the rain.  My friends arrived at COEX about an hour before the game an in a steady downpour of rain.  After purchasing a few parkas we meandered out to find a screen to watch the game.  All over the street different companies had set up huge HD televisions to watch the game.  We chose one television set up and procured our spot to watch the game from.  Now, normally in the United States the people would stand and watch the screen.  However, this being Asia, we were in for a special treat, sitting.  The reason I call this a special treat is because the screens were set up on a closed road much like a street fair.  It was just expected that everyone would show up and sit down to watch the game.  Now normally I'm not to wary about sitting on the ground, but when you take an asphalt street, add rain, trash, and grime, I'm not super motivated to sit down.  Luckily we were located just at the outer edge and I was able to stand for most of the match.



Once the match started, there was hushed anticipation across the crowd.  This was their countries first match, and the expectations were exceptionally high.  Then 7 minutes in, South Korea stuck for a goal against Greece.  The sheer sound of cheering was deafening.  I have been in stadiums of 60,000+ people cheering for a game winning homerun or touchdown.  They held nothing to the sheer elation of a goal scored halfway across the world.  It was amazing.  The rest of the first half went on with moments of joy, panic, and near ecstasy.  The spectrum of emotion on display was quite fascinating.  When the whistle blew for the start of the second half, the Koreans were ready to continue cheering for their team.  Chants of DaeHan MinGuk reverberated throughout the air.  Then suddenly Park Ji Sung, the captian/national soccer hero of Korea, stole the ball and struck it home for a second goal.  The sound was deafening.  Take the winning shot in an world championship, and maybe you'll come close to the sound of an entire nation screaming their heads off.  They were ecstatic, and nothing was going to stop Korea.  As the game wound down and finally ended, the party truly began.  Songs of celebration and parties sprung up simultaneously across the country.  People were driving around cheering and chanting and everywhere people were in the mood to party.

The Biggest Sporting Event.

In the United States, we very often claim that we have the biggest sporting events in the world outside of the Olympics.  Even with the Olympics some think that the Super Bowl is still a larger event.  However, this view, while prevalent in the United States, is also entirely an ethnocentric view.  No offense America, but it's true.  I used to be one of the people who thought that the Super Bowl was watched across the world.  I used to think that the same mentality we approached Super Bowl Sunday with was replicated across the civilized world with us.  However, having spent the last two Super Bowls in a foreign land, I have come to realize the error of my ways.  The Super Bowl, even the one two years ago that Hines Ward (Korean-American and a Korean hero of sorts) played in was not that important.  It was broadcast, but it wasn't important.

Enter an event that happens every 4 years except in America.  Well, ok, it happens in America too, it's just that almost nobody notices it.  The World Cup, is truly the largest sporting event in the world.  Entire countries come to a standstill for the qualifying  rounds.  Civil wars in Africa are suspended until their countries team is eliminated.  Sorry Football, but you've got nothing on the World Cup.  I will be one of the first people to admit that for the longest time I didn't understand the World Cup.  It was soccer, who cared about soccer.  Who in America even played soccer?  David Beckham in all his manly glory couldn't even get America to care about soccer.

All of that changed in the summer of 2006.  After graduation my friend John and I found ourselves on a plane bound for Europe.  We found ourselves in Berlin on week before the 2006 World Cup kicked off.  The World Cup which Germany just happened to be hosting.  A week before the World Cup, and the excitement in the air around Germany was palpable.  Everywhere you looked you saw signs, fans, and soccer stuff.  However, even this was not enough to make me respect soccer.  It was Italy, more importantly, it was Florence that finally sold me on how huge soccer was.  I was in Italy for two weeks of their magical (see dive) run in the world cup. 

Every place in Italy was cheering their heads off.  I saw entire cities mobilized to cheer for a team that wasn't even playing in the same country that night.  The entire city of Florence shut down for a game.  After Italy won there was a city wide celebration.  This game wasn't the final, it was just another game, and still after the victory, the entire city celebrated.  Every park was full of huge projections of the game and lots of cheering fans.  It was a sight to behold.  After returning to America I realized just how important soccer is to the rest of the world.  I saw the sheer ecstasy of a win, and the utter-disillusionment of a loss.  It was one entire month of Super Bowls.  Every nation cheered for their team with passion reserved for only the die-hard fans of America.  Instead of one crazy cheesehead, it was millions.

This year, the World Cup has found its way to South Africa.  This is the first time that the World Cup has ever been held in Africa.  Yet, I find myself here in South Korea.  South Korea, which, just happens to have probably the best Asian team in the tournament.  The expectations here are huge.  In 2002 South Korea made an improbable run to the semi-finals.  I think it should also be mentioned that South Korea co-hosted the World Cup in 2002 with Japan.  In 2006 South Korea failed to make it out of the group stage (1st round).  This year, thanks in part to being placed in one of the easier groups, the expectations are that South Korea emerges from the group stage.  Not only are the expected to advance past the group stage, they are expected to win a few games once they get there also.  Anything less would be a huge disappointment.  South Korean fans are also fanatical when it comes to the World Cup.  In Seoul, there will be several parties where people will gather outside to watch the world cup.  Some of these parties will have more then 50,000 people in attendance.  No, I'm not making this up.  Still don't believe me.  Watch the video.

I for one, seek to embrace this rare chance to participate in the World Cup.  I find myself in a country that cares about it, and I have an adopted team to root for.  While I will always root for the United States to do well, I will be cheering for South Korea.  Here is to World Cup fever. 

Two Great Weekends.

Ahh, the weather has finally warmed up. While not as awesome as it was last year, this spring it seems has finally taken complete hold. With the weather finally warming up we teachers tend to start doing stupid things outdoors. While most of these things are relatively safe, they are still quite fun. It all began two weeks ago with great beach party. It was organized by yours truly and consisted of about 15 teachers eating and drinking at Mallipo beach.

The day began with everyone loading up into vehicles and driving to Mallipo which is located about 40 kilometers from Seosan. It takes about 45 minutes to drive though because of the speed limit. For the first time I drove my motorcycle out. It was a beautiful day for a ride. The fact that about half the ride was also on a two lane windy road made for a good time. About the only bad thing was the vehicle disinfectant I had to drive through. Korea has been dealing with an outbreak of Foot and Mouth disease in cattle recently. One of the preventative measures they are taking is to spray down vehicles when the leave an infected area. Well, I didn't know that I was going to have to drive through one of these "car washes." I guess it also helps that I was behind a delivery truck and couldn't see around it. Needless to say I was not pleased when I realized that I was going to get sprayed.

When we arrived at the beach we checked into our pension (beach house). Our place overlooked two beaches and was quite nice. I quickly set to creating several things that needed some time to cook. The first of those things being 4 pounds of BBQ beef that needed at least 7 hours to cook. The other two things were a selection of drunken watermelon, and drunken pineapple. These needed to soak in alcohol for a few hours to acquire the desired effects. After my cooking prep time we headed down to the beach to bum around for a few hours. We drank, played Frisbee, Wifle Ball, and Football. After that we returned to pension to clean up and eat ourselves merry.

The highlights of the day were honestly the company and the food. The water was too cold to go swimming in. You could only spend about 5 minutes in the water before you were nice and frozen. The food we ate was pretty epic. I attempted, and did a decent job at Salsa Fresca. There was probably about 6 pounds of steak, plenty of corn, grill potatoes, chicken, burgers, cream cheese stuffed peppers, etc. There were also plenty of snacks, and the aforementioned 4 pounds of BBQ beef (I love my crockpot by the way). The company was also wonderful. In general the teachers that I find myself spending time with love this country. We enjoy our time here and while we have frustrations, we wouldn't change much, if anything about our time here. Our conversations were wonderful and the night progressed with people drinking way to much.

The following weekend was another wonderful expedition. However, this time it was not to a beach, but down to Waegwan. David's brother is still stationed with the US Army in Korea. We decided it was about time that 6 of us went down there to visit him. As much as we like Mark (David's brother) and his friends, we really had ulterior motives. We wanted to shot at some army guys. We went down there to paintball. It was also a chance for a roadtrip. We had several people drop out, and those that came from Seosan could all fit into one small vehicle. Given the fact that the two big guys, John and I received the front seats. I drove, only three hours and completely across the country, while the rest talked, napped and had a good time. Upon arrival we sat down for dinner and started drinking. Well let me rephrase that. I started drinking. Everyone else had been drinking the entire time I was driving *quick sidenote, it is completely legal to drink in a vehicle, provided the driver is not drinking*. After dinner we headed out to a few bars to play some pool, darts, and shoot the breeze with people.

The next day, we geared up and headed out to play paintball versus the American soldiers. Well, that was the original. For those that have ever spent time in the military you know what's coming. The paintball was a little bit of a fiasco. While we had reserved the course, the JROTC was using it for most the morning. In typical military fashion, the base, while having a paintball course, all the guns, gear, and paintballs you need, did not have a way to refill the Co2 canisters needed to fire the guns. For that they had to drive 30 minutes to a place in Daegu to fill the canisters. They only had 6 Co2 tanks. The original plan had been to play 6 on 6 teachers versus army. We played several 3 on 3 matches and surprisingly held our own. It helped that guns kept having problems and most the times the problems happened to the army guys. We also did a few one on one matches and a few three on two and two on one matches. In total we made the six canisters last for a few hours of paintballing. Everyone had fun. Everyone got shot, and I even managed to nail Mark between the eyes. It was pretty great.

After paintball we went back to our motels to shower and the headed to Mark's apartment for a BBQ and festivities. The food here was awesome. I had a legitimate home made chilli for the first time in two years. This is something that I've been craving for a while. I would make my own but I don't know if I can get all the beans I need to make it. After eating we drank and had fun for several hours. There was even a cash poker game where I won 70 dollars. I could have had about 200 if I played one hand that I folded out of. Oh well. On Sunday, after a quick shopping spree on base to pick up some essentials, we headed back for Seosan. The drive was just as nice up as it was down and the weekend ended with a contented smile and a few welts from where Frasier lit me up during paintball.

A Guide to Korean Movies.

One thing that many people do not know about is the thriving Korean movie industry.  Korea is know around Asia for producing and exporting mass media.  Whether it is through music (no matter how much I complain about the stuff it is catchy), television, or movies, Korean mass media is in demand.  I have talked several times about the music, ok I'll be honest.  I have complained several times about the music here.  However, in my defense I complained about Brittney Spears and company back in high school also.  Today I'm going to take some time to talk about Korean movies.

Korea has a thriving movie industry.  Not only is it thriving, but the production values are not far below those of Hollywood.  No, they don't have the money or financing to produce something as technologically stunning as Hollywood did in Avatar.  The big budget special effect flick is not something that happens often in Korea.  It comes down to simple cash.  Hollywood studios have far more of it then Korean studios.  Even with this lack of cash, Korean studios are producing movies that rival those being made in the United States.  Now granted for every Shawshank Redemption there are numerous Battlefield Earth's, but the following movies are excellent examples of Korean cinema.


The Good, The Bad, The Weird:  Sure, the title is a complete rip-off.  Yet, this movie sets a high bar for the emerging genre of Asian Westerns.  Copyright issues aside, this movie is just fun.  It has humor that translates across cultures.  There is enough action, shooting, and backstabbing to make Clint Eastwood blush.  You don't have to be Korean, speak Korean, or have ever lived in Korea to enjoy this movie.



Thirst:  A Korean vampire movie.  I was intrigued by this movie after it showed up on a list of good movies that you probably missed.  This movie puts a new spin on the traditional vampire story.  Gone are the sharp teeth and the sucking of blood from the neck.  However, the desire for blood is nowhere near extinguished.  In fact, the desire for blood is not because of hunger.  I won't say anymore less I give away parts of the movie.  The movie is kind of like Twilight without all the emo teen angst.  That and if you include some awkward sex and serial killing.  All in all the movie was a fun and unique look at the traditional vampire story.



Haeundae:  This is one of the movies that violates what I talked about earlier.  This movie was a big budget special effects spectacular.  These movies don't come out every summer because the Korean film industry cannot afford to produce them.  However, I felt it important to note that even though they don't happen often, they do happen.



Tae Guk GI:  This movie is honestly one of the best war movies I've ever seen.  Had this movie been produced by an American studio, and in English it would be challenging the likes of Saving Private Ryan, Band Of Brothers, The Pacific, Black Hawk Down, etc.  It is an entirely engrossing film.  It successfully shows how brutal and horrific the Korean war was.  Most Americans do not understand the Korean war.  All we know about it is what we saw on M.A.S.H.  Here are the simple facts about how brutal this war was.  South Korea suffered: 137,899 soldiers killed, 450,742 soldier wounded, 373,599 civilians killed, 229,625 civilians wounded, and 387,744 civilians abducted or missing.  I want you to stop and think about those numbers, because that was only on the South Korean side.  The North Korean and Chinese casualty figures are well over 1,000,000 dead.  I highly, highly recommend this movie.  You don't have to live in Korea, you don't even have to like history.

The Second of May.

It may be a week late, but having finally had my camera returned to me I can now post some pictures and talk about my birthday.  My birthday this year, was a great occasion.  While I did not receive an awesome present like I did last year, and honestly I wasn't expecting one either, having everyone out and about because of me was more then enough.  I guess it is at these times that I realize that for some reason people actually do enjoy my company.  I'd think that after a while they would get sick of random awkwardness that comes along with being my friend.  Oh well, enough with the boring diatribe and onto the gory details, or at least what I can remember of them (isn't that normally the case).

This year the party started at 5:00 on Saturday.  We headed off to a Korean BBQ restaurant that could hold a party of 20 people.  We went at 5 because I wanted my friends who were bar staff to be able to come and join us.  No we were not asked for our AARP discount cards.  The dinner went off without much of a hitch.  We sat, talked, drank, and ate for two hours.  We enjoyed Korean BBQ in all it's glory.  It's weird but you'd think that after almost two years of Korean BBQ that I wouldn't want to eat it anymore.  However, when you find something good you find something good.  While at the restaurant Paul, Panda, PJ, and Hong (RnB bar staff) bought me small cake and gave me a small present.  It's rare that people embarrass me by giving me a present, but this was entirely unexpected from them.  I received a gift box with about ten condoms and a couple of latex gloves. 

I think that this present deserves some explanation.  Last year on Jenny's birthday I told Paul that as a gag a lot of times we give something completely unexpected to someone for their birthday.  He didn't quite understand what I meant and I told him that we would give them something like a box of condoms.  At this point he proceeded to hand me a box of condoms and told me to give them to Jenny (January 2009 is where this story takes place).  I told him at the time that it's entirely unacceptable for me to give a girl a box of condoms because A) I was friends with here but not that good of friends with her, B) she's a girl and that's just presumptuous, and C) when a guy gives a girl he sorta knows a box of condoms it means that he wants to use them with her.  That is the reason why I got this present from them, and I was honestly embarrassed and surprised that they remembered the entire exchange between us.  However, in one light I guess it goes to show the way that we have bonded over the past 20 months.  

After the dinner we headed out to a local Norae Bang for some horrible Karaoke.  Honestly, half the fun of this is singing songs that you know you can't sing, and just trying to get through them.  When you have a room full of people who can't really sing, nobody really cares how bad you sound.  It's only when someone arrives who can actually sing that we realize just how bad we really are.  We walked into the Norae Bang at 7:30 and we quickly escorted into the VIP room.  No, it's not that special of a room, it's just the room big enough to fit all of us that I had a friend make a reservation for.  As we walked in I found out that my friend Seung Hee, who was conspicuously absent for most the night, had decorated the room with balloons and a banner.  There was also several cans of spray foam, that really shouldn't have been there.  It's like silly string but foam instead of string.  Needless to say this stuff ended up getting sprayed on unsuspecting people several times, including me.  Pictures have been included.  We sang out hearts out for two hours and continued to imbibe alcohol at an unwise pace.

When we stumbled, out of the Norae Bang we headed down to RnB.  It was there that we rejoined the staff at RnB.  Yes, they were working, but they were also part of the party because many of us are good friends with them.  The drinking and partying continued, as did my friends mission to get me stupidly drunk.  Sometimes when we play darts we make a bet that the loosing team has to buy the winning team a round.  It's a normal bar bet.  However, this night the bet was changed (without my consent I must state) to the loosing team has to buy and do a shot with me.  This was just a bad idea, but at the point I was not paying enough attention to really notice or care.  Right around midnight the staff at RnB started their fire show.  Once again the normal show is relatively simple.  You get a cocktail and some flames.  However, my show, was a flaming spectacle.  The dual fireballs of 151, plus a flaming cocktail show are awesome.  Hong even started throwing a white Malibu Rum bottle around that was filled with sparklers.  This was the first time I ever saw her taking part in the show with something that would break if dropped.  At the completion of the show it is required that whoever the show was for must chug a rather large cocktail.  Well, once again, not thinking better of it I downed the cocktail and continued to have fun.

When the show had finished I received a call from Seung Hee telling me that she was going to come say hi for a minute or two.  I met her outside of RnB because I needed some air, and if I was outside nobody would be buying me drinks.  After talking for a few minutes she had to go rejoin some old friends who had come back into town.  Less then five minutes after walking back into RnB I received another call from her telling me to come outside because one of her friends wanted to see me.  Yu Sill who I had met several times wanted to wish me a happy birthday.  It was then that my Korean friends decided to drag me off to a restaurant/hof (restaurant/bar).  I walked into the place and was quickly inundated with questions from the couple of people who I hadn't met.  I was also quickly handed beer and soju to drink because it was my birthday.  Well, it's rude to turn down a drink when it is offered to you buy a Korean so I sat and talked with them for a little while.  Upon leaving I checked in to 501 where a few friends were located who wanted to wish me a happy birthday.  Upon arrival there I finally realized that I probably shouldn't be drinking any more and should head home relatively soon.  I sat down and talked with my friends, and a majority of this conversation is lost in an alcohol induced haze.  After what I think was about 10 minutes I headed out the door to find my apartment.  I woke up the next morning in my bed, and I had to wait for until 7:00 that night for the world to seem like a place I wanted to inhabit. 

On Sunday night I went over to Seung Hee's home and her mom had made me the traditional Korean soup that you eat on your birthday.  The soup consists of seaweed and beef.  It's actually an awesome soup.  I spent about an hour eating and talking with Seung Hee and then headed home.  I wasn't in the mood for anything more then that, and the thought of more alcohol surprisingly didn't sit well with my stomach, my mood, or my general disposition at the time.



It was a wonderful birthday, and while I didn't see the sun rise like I had originally planned to, I cannot complain.  I was surrounded by good friends and good people.  In all honesty I cannot ask for much more on my birthday.  Being surrounded by people who care for you is the greatest present you can ever be given.  Knowing that people are there because they are your friends and want to celebrate something with you is a special feeling.  They weren't there for money, food, or alcohol even though we did have two of the three in massive quantities.