Interesting Weekend ^^

August 9

I promised Naomi I'd go to Ladies' Night in Itaewon with her (since I told her I would before, but fell asleep instead). I was just about to head home to get ready after my last class ended at 6:35, but Henna stopped me before I got out.

"Josh teacher, you didn't finish your online reports for your Academy Classes." I did. Twice. I had to figure them out by myself since no one would help me, only after I had finished them all the first time, did someone tell me that there's a different way to do the Academy Class reports, so I did them that way too.

Anyway, she says "You didn't fill out their reading progress reports."

"Actually, Henna, I only teach reading to one class, and if you look a little closer -- yup! There they are!"

"Well, then write about... their... listening!"

What? Are you serious? Their parents are paying a MILLION won a month to get reports on their children's listening skills? Anyway, I just did it, and got out of there. But in the time it took for me to get them done, a HUGE storm came, and on the walk home, the water was up to my ankles. August is monsoon season in Korea. So I arrived at home looking like a drowned rat, and got changed and ready to go. We got a taxi to Itaewon -- my favorite place so far in Seoul <3 -- and went to Subway. Because clearly we can't get that at home. It's shockingly similar to Subway in Canada, except in a combo (a "set," here) you only get one cookie instead of two. Which is not really that interesting. And apparently they don't have the coldcut sub.

Then we made our way to some bar, because ladies drink free. Naomi's friend had met us at Subway, and they were really thirsty. Drinks for men were 5000won, which is sort of a lot, but they mis them pretty strong. Anyway, not much happened at this bar, so we moved across the street. It turns out that the restaurant we went to on Canada is by day a semi-classy restaurant that serves a meal that is nothing but a plate of sausages, and by night is a really happening dance club. It's called Helios, and it is... certainly not The Axe.

We didn't have too hardcore a night, because we were saving up for.......

August 10

So how rediculous are my co-workers? Naomi planned a birthday party and invited everyone from work. She made a reservation at 8:00 at Carne Station (Meat Station... delicious), which is in Hongdae, a subway ride away. I usually work until 8:50, but my last class was cancelled, so I finised at 8:05. Either way, I was bound to be super late. I had made plans to meet Amber and we were going to go together, since I had no idea where it was. At 8:05 I left work, and got on the bus home, so I wouldn't be *as* late for the party. Anna was on the bus with me, and she said she was going to skip Naomi's thing and go out with some other people she knew. Then when we were walking up the hill to our building, we saw Amber, all dressed up, and leaving. "Sorry," she says, "I have to go meet this girl." Ok, whatev. I can find it on my own. So I trundle up to my apartment, and start to get ready. Although not very seriously, because I didn't really want to go by myself. Then Anna knocks on my door. "Ready to go?" WTF!?? Of course, I wasn't, but I brushed my teeth, and we set out. We waited for the bus. Then waited. Waited. Waited. When it finally came, and we got on, we saw Claire, one of the Korean teachers from school. Who, by the way, got fired because she's getting married, and they wouldn't give her 5 days off for a honeymoon.

So we get off the bus at Jongno -- I don't know which number. We tried, from here, to get a cab, but for the only time ever in Seoul, we're not being run down by them from all sides. We did finally see one, and the guy pulled over and stopped, then looked at us, and drove away. By this point, about 10:00, we finally accepted that we missed the dinner reservation, so we went to a 7-11 for dinner. There isn't a huge selection of huge eats at 7-11 anyway, but when it's a Korean 7-11, the pickings are even slimmer. I had a bag of Vienna Sausages -- that's how slim. Then a bunch of creepy looking guys went by, so we ran away, and (finally) got a cab. We got to Hongdae, and found Amber and her friend at KFC (which surprised no one), and we set off to the Tin Pan, where I assumed we'd be meeting the birthday girl.

The Tin Pan is a nice-ish downstairs bar, within which I discovered my new favorite drink: a Midori Sour. I don't know what's in it, but it's neon green, and it glows in the dark, and it's good as hell. About 30 seconds after we got there, this gross drunk guy started hitting on Anna, trying to talk her up. It was awkward. Eventually Naomi came to Tinpan, and it was at this exact moment that Amber and Anna (and Amber’s Russian friend Tanya) decided they were going to go to the next place. Since I still, at this point, assumed that the whole gang was going to meet later, I left with the people I arrived with. We went a few blocks away to a club called FF, it was pretty sketchy, but the 10000won cover came with a free drink. We were, at some point during the evening, expecting to see an “Irish” band that Amber knew. Before that, though, there were several Korean bands. None of which were particularly memorable. Ryan and Danny came from work, and they were super drunk, so Anna, Amber and Tanya and I went outside for a while. While we were there, we met Amber’s other friend, Sandra Pollock (who, several drinks later, I would keep reminding that her name sounded just like Sandra Bullock!)

Outside of the bar is where the real scene is. There were so many interesting people to talk to out there. None of them are actually from Seoul (obviously, because if they were, they wouldn’t speak English), so there was lots of interesting conversations. Two Irish people, and their friend from Texas who pretended to be Irish were particularly nice. At around 4:00, maybe, I feel Sandra Pollock poke me in the back, and I turn around to see her surreptitiously beckoning for me to save her from – the creepy guy from Tin Pan who hit on Anna! He was drunk about 6 hours ago, although he didn’t seem quite as desperate then as he did now. He was sweating everywhere and stumbling over. I took the hint: “Hey, Sandra, I think we have to go now!,” and I pulled her down the street away from the guy. We went around the corner to the 7-11 (all the while, I asked her if she knew who her name sounded JUST LIKE!), and we got some bottles of soju.

So we continued our party outside until about 5:00 we decided to catch a cab home, and arrived there about 5:30.

The next day, though –
August 11

Was mostly a sleep in. Late in the evening, I met BBro and we went to a restaurant near Cheyongyangni, which, it turns out is our new favorite place. After our meal (she ordered a “set,” which contained pretty much one of everything on the menu), we decided to go to HomePlus. We walked, because a week before I had tried to take the bus there with Naomi, and we got lost. Keep in mind it’s only about 3 stops from our building, and we got lost. We took the bus all the way to the last stop, just like I did on my own, because she was SO SURE that “this is the one that goes around.” So this time we were walking, that way we for sure wouldn’t miss it. It only takes about 20 minutes to get there from Cheyongyangni station, and it’s open 24 hours, so if I ever need a shopping fix in the middle of the night…

Anyhoo, we did our shopping (speakers for BBro, a blowdrier for me), and we were ready to leave and make our purchases. We were heading for the escalators, since we were a few floors up from where we came in. We were just about to step through the bars to the escalator, when this security guard/guy who bows at people when they come off the escalator stopped us. We had to pay at that floor, somewhere. Each floor is like its own separate store. WE WERE (inadvertently) STEALING FROM HOME PLUS! Horribly embarrassed, we found the place to pay, and then tried to avoid the bowing escalator guy by going to the other side of the store. So we walked past THAT escalator guy, but it was an up, instead of a down, so we decided to check it out, so we went up to the fourth floor. It was… a parking lot? Weird. So we kept going up. Fifth floor – parking lot. Sixth floor – parking lot. Seventh floor – parking lot. So then we had to go a-l-l the way back down.

BBro went home on the Subway from HomePlus, and I made the walk back home by myself. Right outside of Cheyongyangni Station, though, this woman walked right toward me, and started talking. I took my headphones out, almost as if I was planning on understanding what she was saying. She was talking away, in Korean, and I was making my go-to “I don’t know” gesture. I’m about to walk away, and she grabs me and says “sexy, sexy,” and point in the distance somewhere. WHAT?! Was I being picked up by a Korean hooker? I didn’t even consider the possibility, because the woman was pretty old, and not nice at all in the face area. So I start walking away, and she just follows me, saying “sexy, sexy!” So, right around here is where I almost broke into a run, but I think she maybe got the idea that I wasn’t interested in a gross, old, Korean prostitute…