Weekend Warrior Report: Racing The Sun

My Friday was boarder line pointless. I didn’t do too much and I only ended up meeting with friends and bar hopping to Commune and That. The night started out with a little bit of promise. That promise eventually fizzled out and gave way to mundane blah-dom.

Saturday I allowed Nick’s girlfriend Susy to talk me into coming to Salsa lessons and observe . I might actually sign up because I like dancing and want to learn how to do it right. Truth be told, I’m a little self-conscious about it. Dancing is one of the few kinks left in my armor. I plan on making Susy teach me some basics before I walk into class (Yes, a pre lesson before an actual lesson! Makes sense. . .) due to my own silly issues about it.

After getting galbi with the usual suspects, I headed off with a few friends to find something to do. Intially there wasn’t much success. That was blah, Old Skool has officially been taken over by the U.S. military, but, it was in Frog where I ended up having the most fun.

Now I hate Club Frog because It’s overcrowded and I always feel like I should have an STD test after going there. Yet it’s my boy’s favorite spot to hit up in town and I ended up hanging with him for a bit. Surprisingly it wasn’t bad; the music was decent and a few people I know were there.

Towards the later end of the night, Jeff the DJ showed up and bought me and some of the guys a few rounds. Me and him kicked it a bit on the balcony and he gave me some intersting info and prespective. At some point during out converstation, he tells me of a random spot to check out and on the spot he decides to take me there. He introduces me to the staff and then talks me up to some people hanging in there. I found this funny, but I took the que and enjoyed myself.

We stayed at the bar until they closed. By this point the sun was beaming down but I somehow ended up at another galbi joint with a few random Koreans while they drank Soju and talked. To wrap up this little adventure, I walked into the house around 8:30-9ish in the morning. After a little net surfing and skype called back home, I hit the sack. Definitely a unique night for me. . . but fun all the same.

Seeing Thru The Haze

This cold is still beating me down. The good news is that I have no classes to teach. The bad news is that I will be sitting here with nothing to do for the rest of the day. It’s going to be more of the same next week due to finals for the first and second years. I’ve got my Korean language book and a novel to read, but my head is so stuffy that I have no desire to try to crack open a book. All I want to do is take my butt to sleep. I might ask my co-teacher can I take the sick day and sleep this off. At the very least I need to go to the Pharmacy and get some kind of over the counter stuff to take care of my sinuses. Curse this country for not selling over the counter drugs in corner stores.

For whatever reason, Holy Grill was packed. A group of us met there to draw for Secret Santa, but everyone left after that. Justin and I stuck around and around half an hour later the place was packed. I met some people who teach at this private school run by Canadians. Then Angie and Nina showed up and ended up sitting with them along with Wes, Christy and Sybil. Sadly, I wasn’t able to stay much longer because I wanted to catch the subway instead of paying a cab.

I hate that the subway closes when it does because everyone knows Korean nights are way later than American ones. Back home, most people go out for dinner around 7-ish. Here, that’s out the window. Because so many of the Westerners work in Hagwons, they usually don’t get off until at least 9 or 10. Combine that with the fact that Koreans don’t seem to sleep and it’s common for late dinners. Hell, Commune’s open mic night doesn’t start until around 11 on Weds. and never get to stick around for that. I just see no point in paying a cab 5-6,000 won just because I want to stay out an extra hour or two.

Weekend Report: Dinner & Dancing at Arianna's

The weekend was rather fun despite all the cold weather. Grabbed dinner at Italy Italy (yes, that’s the actual name) and met up with Wes and Mo at Billibowl. For some reason I recorded the bartender’s show where they juggle bottles and throw around the burning bottles. I’ve seen it several times but I still find it entertaining. Somehow we ended up at MK (Monkey). Overall, cool, but had the most fun on Saturday.

Justin organized a dinner at Arianna’s. More people showed up for it than there was space at the table but it worked. Personally, I’m always up for a night at Arianna’s because the food is decent and the band is fun to watch. It’s hard not to have a good time especially if you go with a good group. At some point, a bunch of us got up and started dancing around in front of the stage.

After Arianna’s we headed back downtown and met up with some other’s up at Club That. Pretty much everyone just mingled and had fun.

Somehow, some of us ended up at MK and danced around again. The DJ was better on Saturday so it was more fun to make a fool of myself on the dance floor. It’s not secret I’m not dance pro, but I like to have fun regardless. As usual, I’ve uploaded pictures because that’s just what I do; facebook if you got it or picasaweb.

The band at Arianna's

Matt (aka - Double "0"Ninja) struts his stuff in front of the stage

Kelly flashing that smile as Brent shows his happiness to be in a picture.

By far the coolest person in Arianna's that night. This little guy was running around the stage the whole time.