ok, so every culture has their odd querks, right? and americans aren't any different. for example, jenny thought i was absolutely insane when i told her i didn't eat oreos without dunking them in milk (until i made her try it). but koreans have some of the strangest habits. before i delve too deeply, let me at least turn this into a compliment sandwich of sorts. so, koreans can be the nicest people, and they are always trying to be helpful. however, koreans don't mind openly picking their noses in public. but their grooming and attention to detail is immaculate (end compliment sandwich).
like i said, they have some weird habits (note the middle comment in the compliment sandwich). but one of the strangest habits of all is what i like to call the baby backpack. parents in america carry their babies in their arms or in carseats or strollers and a few people are taking on the trend of the sling that hangs in front of them. in korea, they wear their infants like they would a backpack. seriously. i mentioned the strangeness of this to jun, and he acted like i was crazy. 'how else are you going to make sure your baby isn't getting into things while you are busy?!' was his response. he actually thought it was some bizarre idea to do anything else with your child than to wear them like an accessory you carry books in!
ok, i thought kiddie leashes were cruel and unusual punishment, but these things are weird. and to make matters even stranger, people roll their dogs around in mini baby carriages. ok, any culture that carries children around like luggage and strolls their pets around has some issues!
with exception to the baby backpack issue, being in korea is a lot like being at home, with more asians at least. oh, and the fact that i can't read menus or street signs. or carry on a conversation with the people who stare at me on the public transportation like i am some kind of foreigner (oh wait...).
at times, it is kind of like being on spring break. this thursday was claire's last night so we all went over to sunny's for one last hoorah. of course we ended up being out til all hours of the morning drinking glasses of cheap wine and bad korean beer and of course the night wasn't complete without a few shots of jose cuervo...ugh...(btw, it is impossible to find limes in korea...sigh).
after monday and tuesday, and then thursday nights' outings, i was ready to lay low friday. although jun had invited me out into seoul, i was ready for a relaxing night in. and then saturday came...
saturday turk, jenny, and i made plans to take the seoul bus tour, so we headed into seoul around 11 and were there by noon (gotta love how long the subway takes). keigh had invited us all to meet up to celebrate a friend's graduation from university later that evening, so we ended up visiting only a few of the places on the tour, but all of which were amazing and i have a few pics posted of them on my facebook page. we took the subway to meet keigh in sinchon and while we were waiting, i ended up meeting and befriending a guy named roman, who was from caracas (venezuela) but who grew up in LA and was in the US army stationed over here. he was waiting to meet a friend who turned out to be the funniest korean kid i have ever met. his name is taesu but he goes by mr. t. they ended up hanging out with our group all night. we went to on the border for dinner and due to the inexistance of limes, i had a lemon margarita...let me tell ya, it did in a pinch, but when i get home, the first thing i am hitting is el tap for a pitcher of real margaritas!
after dinner, we headed to a soju bar where we downed shots of soju like it was water and taught our newly aquired korean friends (taesu invited them along) our western drinking games. from there we went to a bar in hongdai because jenny and i got it into our heads that we wanted to go "clubbing" so we could dance. let me just say that these korean guys can dance! it was amazing! we ended up not leaving until after 4 am and i didn't get in until almost 5. (do you see how i can compare it to spring break yet?)
the next day, due to our late evening, jenny and i ditched our plans for lake park and instead headed back into seoul to itaewon to find an english bookstore and to spend the day in the foreign district. after perusing down the crowded streets for most of the day, the lack of sleep from the night before got to me and i decided to call it a day and headed back to ilsan.
once we got back, i headed to emart for the most essential purchase of my time here...a coffee pot. i am going to need it if i keep having nights like these, especially with school officially starting in the morning!
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