Let me tell you about my weekend. Girl. There are no words to describe the mayhem that occurred "last Friday night". Thank you Katy Perry for destroying our youth with that song.
But anyway, I had planned on Friday being a ridiculous night, and boy did I get what I asked for.
It all started with a text from other Seth's couch surfing friend. We were off to meet her downtown! With a handmade "ex-pat" map thanks to some funny websites we got off the sub and walked towards the fun. Other Seth (now to be referred to as Cogner) is the kinda guy who will talk to anyone, which is a blessing and a curse. After all, thanks to his social ways he'd already scored us a friend downtown , but he also had the urge to meet strangers on the street. Ding ding ding! Thanks to Cogner we puppy-dog trailed a group of other foreigners who showed us around. They went off to do their b-day party thing, and us, not wanting to be creepy, decided to try one out for ourselves.
BAR #1
We naively walked into "Thursday Party" which according to the friendly strangers, used to be the place to be...until the US ARMY decided to annex it. It felt very much like being at home. You could hardly hear the bartenders' Korean accents. This was where it was "in" to be "out" of place. Even the staff here dressed American in flanel and baggy jeans, hey, I'll tip to that. I taught Cogner how to order a drink. Always pay with big bills so it looks like you have money, and that way you're not digging through your wallet while the bartender with an accent trys to scream you the price over all the drunk din. Just do that math, whatever you get back is the remainder of how much it costs for a cranberry-vodka:WHICH ARE NAMED "KEVINS" HERE : ) : ) I met a guy from Italy here. He was sitting next to me at the bar. He looked military. He smirked and said he just got a haircut. His half brother was from England teaching English, so he was tagging along teaching Soccer. Fair enough. I was just surprised at myself for striking up a conversation with a total stranger. Never did get his name though. No worries, everyone in ex-pat town knows each other because WE ALL STANDOUT. Sorry for the all caps. But there are so many important points to tell you about here. And when the last Lil Wayne song came on that I could handle, Cogner got another text from his couch surfing friend, and away we went.
BAR #2
Couch surfer's text said: MF BAR.....that was it. We found out that stood for "My Favorite Bar" which was its actual name. Just a short walk past the 2nd "Thursday Party" This bar was like going to Asheville, NC. 3F means 3rd floor. Surviving life in foreign subtitles requires lots of common sense and trial and error. Cogner and I walked into a hazy room with painted designs on the wall covered by new age art: trippy stacked on trippy. We didn't know what couch surfer looked like, and this was not my type of spot so I decided to post up on the end of the bar and wait it out. He texted "Green shirt, end of bar".......no answer. My instincts told me she had found us and was avoiding us, the Korean version of "Rob and Big". Cogner, who is not one to stay sitting, went off to be social and to find her. I decided to watch the English speaking movie on the big screen and sip my $6 cranberry vodka (consider it research for when Luther visits).....more expensive than the last one. Just then a beautiful dark-skinned, but not black, girl sat square in front of my view of the big screen...but she wasn't big...she was just the kind of person to take up the whole room with her mysterious personality. I never did get the nerve to say hi or buy a drink. Ah well, beauty's Canadian best friend and her drunk English boyfriend ruined the view 3 minutes later. But it was nice to meet them anyway. Then I went in search of Cogner. I found him talking to a chick. This was not couch surfer, but a girl he met while trying to find said mystery woman. This was Sarah from South Africa. Apparently everyone knows her, because when we mentioned her to some strangers outside because we were sad we didnt have her number, they happily showed us her number in their cells. Ok then. At some point we met couch-surfer Jessica outside. Good. We were off again.
BAR#3
Jessica was one of the most interesting people you'll meet. Her friend Aaron was cool too. Both very stylish, with an air of free-spirit about them. This was only to be confirmed when they mentioned going to a chill hooka-bar around the corner. Talk about nightlife variety! "Buddha" as it was called, was nestled between a double-decked trademark cherry red British bus turned restaurant and a Korean club complete with spiky haired bouncers and giggling attractive Asians in heels. You couldn't wear shoes in the hooka bar. It was almost like stepping into a cave. The walls and floor were all made of dark marble and a small fountain-stream snaked through the place between the drapes and curtains hanging everywhere. And each seating area was simply a space hewn into the stone with some pillows around a tiny Asian table. This place was supposed to be chill, but it echoed in here, and with Cogner's rather loud normal speaking voice + him being half-drunk, this conversation...well...yeah. I learned alot about what it's like to be a teacher here in Korea. Both Aaron and Jessica, swauve hippy chic types had been all over Asia trying to figure out what to do after getting some self-proclaimed useless degrees. Yup....their story echoed off the walls like it echoed through the streets of ex-pat town. Everyone here was a little...well...lost..in a way. We left after an hour. Cogner's head was on the table. My intuition said we were getting in the way of something between the two. Point taken. Aaron's suggestion to go to the Korean club next door was stiffled when I realized that going as two guys would probably seem a little creepy. That club looked like you would want some girls with you....off again.
THE "BAR" IN-BETWEEN THE BAR
A funny thing happened on the way to the Forum...oops I mean bar.....we found another bar. This was basically just a room in a building by the street with just enough space for 1 table 4 chairs and a bar. It's amazing how much Koreans can fit so much into such little spaces. Yup. I just said that. But this "bar" had two bar-tenders, Michael Jackson on the radio, and drinks they called "Vinyl Cocktails"...basically liquor in plastic baggies with a straw. Here we re-met the first group of b-day partying strangers we saw at the very beginning (gotta love ex-patriot town...everyone stands out and knows everyone). We also met two chaps from England. The first being the loud rowdy one and the second being the more soft-spoken practical one. Both were characters. And this is where I met the namesake of this post...."WHAT'S UP". He was a Korean who's name sounded alot like "whats up" so thats what he went by. Of course I bought him and everyone else in the room a 2 dollar shot of Jose. How else do you make friends at 4 am? His friend walked in on all the cheering a little late...so he missed the toast...And so, with new friends, my saga continues.
BAR#4
This place was 2F...I just remember the name being in neon red next to the club called THE FROG. Bar number for was what the locals referred to as a Soju-Hof. This was a lounge with couches and of course, the soul-stealing national drink "Soju". You can get liters of this stuff for 3 dollars so this is the drink to be shared. It's the Korean version of vodka. I never got drunk that night, but it was still great fun. The food to eat while you're drinking is spicy fried chicke--yes please. James and Jamie and I ended up talking about our countries, how much we didn't like them and why we had moved out of them in the first place. Then came Obama and the Royal Wedding. Cogner was starting to get on Jame's nerves I could tell. Here a Brit curse still makes me chuckle no matter how mad he is. Whats up was pouring us more to drink. You hit a little button on the table for service (the Koreans pride themselves on great service) and they just bring you plates of cheap good food. Oh it was magic. Whats up was cool. And so was he his other friend. We left at 4 30 am....but it didnt feel late because the city was still lively and people were still drinking!
Side note: The American version of personal space is not the Korean definition. When someone, even another guy is sitting by me and wants my attention, a hand on the knee seems normal. Hmm. And at the doctors or a church, when this foreigner is lost, I often am guided with a hand on the small of my back. Yup. It still surprises me. Still not used to it.
BAR#5
The last bar we found was one to pass the time while we waited for the trains to start back up (they close at 1130 and open at 5am) instead of hailing a cab for 20 bucks. Soju and snacks for 3 dollars....wow....so cheap. The sun was coming up. Cogner tried to get to know each other and our lives. At 5 am. In a foreign bar. Sure enough, the Korean-accent-less bartender from the first "Thursday Party" came in, nodded to us, sat down with his friends and poured himself some Soju....at 5am! God this city is insatiable! I love it. Between the beginning of bar number five and the train station...we got home (to protect other's dignity :) )....let's just say that. Complete with an old Asian man laughing and pointing. Yup.......that really just happened
