Living in South Korea: July 2009

So this past weekend was a bit of a hit and miss for me. Stephanie and I went out to Club day which is a weird name since it starts late at night and ends in the early morning hours around 5 or so. You can buy one ticket and go to several different clubs in the Hongdae area in Seoul. It only happens once a month and I had been meaning to go for a while, but am lazy.

So anyway we started out walking around thinking we knew where we were going, but were totally off. Luckily it took us only about an hour or so to find most of the clubs (we wanted to scout the area so we could have a plan) and finally settled on DD. It wasn't bad. The music was decent hip hop and they had a cooling system that was spot on. After an hour though the music started to go into "I have no idea what this is" territory and we decided to go outside to get a water and chill. We ended up sitting on the edge of the sidewalk with other girls taping our feet and watching a fight.

The fight itself needs its own paragraph because it was so funny. This huge bald tattooed dude comes out of nowhere and suddenly punches another very small guy in the back of the neck. He goes flying and gets put into a headlock before the bouncers stepped in. They separated them and it took the small guy two minutes to get angry. Delayed reaction indeed. Then he started caterwauling and making the guy twice his size flip out. It lasted long enough that they were able to swing at each other again and for me to finish my bottle of water. Idiots.

After the fight and cool down, Steph and I went to SAAB. The music there was amazing, but there was only one aircon in the club and it was by the bar, which is the one place I never go to when dancing. I got so hot that my hair was dripping and the rest of my body was covered in a sheet of sweat. We went to the bathroom several times to dry off, but after a little while I had to get out of there. Powerade and another pow wow on the street were in order. Most people who walked by commented on my fan (yes I take my fan out dancing, its hot).

We were most surprised by what I dubbed "UKs". They are undercover Koreans, the ones on summer vacation from North America. You are walking down the street and hear fluent English and look around, but there are no foreigners, just Korean people. That's when it hits you that there is an UK in your presence. I, of course, have no problem with this, but it was seriously funny when they kept coming up to us asking where we were from and how our vacation in Seoul was going, haha. Stephanie had to explain several times that we live in Korea. Ah, good times.

I was starving by the time we finished our drinks so we headed to Lotteria for some snacks. I heart their cheese sticks and they hit the spot perfectly. Soon it was time to head to the MRT so we could get a seat on the first train home at 5:30 am. By the time I got to bed at 7 am I had been up for a solid 24 hours. And what a good 24 hours they were.

We moved from our sleeping positions around 2:30 pm to get dressed and eat some CoCo. We planned to meet JJ (Jin and Ju) at the bar later that night since we last saw them in February and needed some JJ time. Really we were celebrating me signing the contract with SMOE, but JJ time was still needed. Not smart on our part. As Steph said the next day, "Hanging out with usually drunk people is different when you are all sober." Yes it was. Very different and awkward. Ju now had a girlfriend (which I somehow knew about before he told us) and Jin was wearing what looked like a couple's ring on his left index finger.

Sidenote: The guy gets his girlfriend couple rings for their 100 day anniversary. They usually wearing it on their left hand on their wedding ring finger if they are super serious or on their right hand if they are just serious, but not super serious.

I saw the ring and got really excited thinking he had a girlfriend also, but he denied it. Now a few months ago I would have left it at that, but I had a very horrible experience with a couple ring wearing guy. Steph had met this guy named Minho aka B-boy and we all decided to go to the zoo together. He invited his friend who suddenly had to work the day of and was going to meet us there later. Later in my mind is a couple of hours. Later in his mind was seven hours. We were leaving when he finally showed up which was fine. We had a great time, but here is where the trouble began. At the zoo I noticed his couple's ring on his left ring finger and said something to Stephanie about it. I really wanted the cultural dish on this whole couple ring thing so I figured I could ask him. And I did. When he denied that he was a part of a couple and only wore it as an accessory I was confused, but to each his own. I did notice the many phone calls he received throughout his short time with us (probably 1 1/2 hour of time spent but at least 7 or more phone calls either made by him or he answered). Ok, maybe I should be a detective and not a teacher. Anyway, back to the story. Finally B-boy confirmed that the couple's ring was a couple's ring and that the guy was embarrassed to tell us.

So after telling you this long story about the guy who lied I am trying to say that I didn't believe Jin. I know it was only one guy who lied, but I told him that I wanted to understand more about the couple ring culture, not date him. He shouldn't have felt that he had to lie. So now I am certain that Jin is hiding something. I know he is a senior and studying like a mad man, but he is hiding something. And with that huge elephant in the room, the night ended without a single answer. Ju didn't even help us out, stupid bro code. Although here I think they would Konglish that word and make it 브로 그오드 pronouncing it as beu ro ceu oh deu. hehe. I heart Konglish.

So the night ended on a unfulfilled note. I was still down the next day (you know how I want to know everything) and decided to shop to lift my spirits. I hadn't shopped in ages and I needed a new pair of sunglasses since I have broken all three of the ones I brought here with me. I was able to to get two pairs and a new watch. All on sale of course. I love shopping sales racks.

So from this blog you should have learned that telling Julia a lie about a ring is bad, dancing all night is good, and shopping can cure almost anything. Can you tell I have been writing lessons plans for the last two days? :)

Here are some pictures from this past weekend. I didn't take any Friday night since we were all sweaty, but I do have some from my contract celebration.