Birthday Shenanigans

Hey hey

Sorry for the late post, been recovering for the past couple of days so haven’t had chance to do it! First of all I’d just like to say thank you to everybody for their birthday messages. It was very much appreciated!

Anyways, after last weeks post, I have lot’s more fun and frolics to fill you in on. After having another quiet Monday and Tuesday, I met Mark and some mates after school on Wednesday to go for some food and have a few bevs. This of course turned in to another very hefty night! There’s a Korean dude called Chris that works at Marks school and it just so happened that me and Mark ended up sitting next to him while eating. There’s a curious custom over here where your drink can never be empty and Koreans take it very seriously. This meant that every time we had some Soju, Chris automatically filled up our glasses. Being the mental drinker that he is, he made Me and Mark keep up with him. This all meant that by the time me and Mark left the restaurant, we were, for want of a better word, shit-faced! After visiting a few more bars, neither of us recollected going home or going to bed. Thursday was horrific!!!!!!!!!!!!! I’d definitely put it in my top 5 hangovers of all time! I won’t fill you in on the gory details, but it involved lot’s of sick!

After a very, very low key Thursday night, the weekend was a little more eventful. I was happy to get another week of teaching under my belt and by Friday I felt like I was finally starting to get my head round it all. The kids are starting to get to know me as well so it’s making my job a little easier. They can still be a handful at times but I think they’ve realised how far they can push me, I’ve already gone ballistic a couple of times! For the most part they’re a lot of fun to teach and apart from the odd one or two, I’ve got a really good bunch of kids. I did a bit of acting with them this week as well which was a good laugh. It’s really weird, they’re the most outgoing kids ever but put them in front of a camera and they just seize up and shit themselves!

After finishing school on Friday, me, Mark and a few friends went for some food and had a few beers. I was determined to have a quiet one because I didn’t want Saturday to be a write-off and thankfully I managed to do it this time around! Whoop Whoop! Instead of getting smashed we went to a pool hall and played for about an hour and a half, all for the price of about 4 quid each. The only downside of playing pool in Korea is the fact that they use American tables. The pockets are huge so it’s pretty easy, but makes you look a fool if you miss a simple shot. Anyways, after that, I went home and got to bed about 2 o’clock.

It was  really nice to wake up on Saturday as fresh as a daisy, but I completely forgot that it was my birthday! I was pottering round my apartment for like 15 mins before I realised, think it’s a sign of getting old! Also, it’s the first birthday I’ve ever spent away from my family or my close friends so there was nobody there to remind me. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t get a twinge of homesickness, but I guess that’s to be expected on your birthday. It soon passed though as soon as I decided my plans for the day. After chilling out and getting a coffee in Sanbon, I decided to get the subway into Seoul to visit Dongdaemun market. Dongdaemun is the biggest market in the country and has got to be one of the biggest in the world, it’s a behemoth! People had told me how big it was but It’s quite difficult to comprehend. It’s both outdoor and indoor, and different parts of it are open at different times of day. As it’s 24 hour, it never actually closes so you could go there at four in the morning and buy something if you really wanted to. I had a wonder round for an hour or so and got completely lost, but that’s half of the fun. I can’t actually describe what the market itself sells because it sells absolutely everything, from textiles and clothes, to electronics and live fish! It’s kind of like the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul but a hell of a lot bigger! I managed to pick up a cheap Casio knock off watch for two pounds fifty so it was a good days work! After finally finding my way back to the subway station, I decided to go to Myeong-dong.

Myeong-dong is the main commercial shopping district of Seoul and is absolute carnage!. You’d expect the area to be massive but all of the shops are crammed in to a few streets so it’s always packed. You have to barge your way through just to be able to walk properly. All of the buildings are high rise as well so it feels like your in New York or something (ladies you would love it!) I found it hilarious that people were queuing just to get in H&M! I don’t mean to buy stuff, I mean just to actually get in, with an actual bouncer! They were operating a 1 in 1 out policy………for H&M!!!! I’ve later found out that it’s just opened though and Koreans love anything that’s new. After spending a couple of hours fighting the crowds  I decided to head back for a snooze before the nights birthday festivities, and boy what sweet festivities they were!

After going round to Mark’s for a couple of beers and a Fifa, we headed out to meet some friends in Hongdae, the main university district of Seoul and incidentally, the main clubbing area. Ben told me before I came out that it’s the most European type area he visited and it’s definitely true. I don’t think I’ve mentioned yet that Korea is predominately  made up of high rise tower blocks. This isn’t just for the housing, but for everything. I guess it’s due to a lack of space (it being such a small country) but it’s perfectly normal to go to a bar on the 7th floor of a building. For example, in my block alone, there’s housing, restaurants, bars and a karaoke room. You really don’t get a true perspective of Korea until you look up! Hongdae on the other other hand, isn’t really like this. All of the bars and stuff are on street level so it kind of feels as though your drinking in Manchester or any other big British city, but with lot’s more neon! I’ve never seen so many bars and clubs in such a small space, it literally is just drinking establishments, nothing else!

Going against a sacred British tradition, we decided to kick off the night with an authentic Turkish kebab from a takeaway. I expected this to be dirt as Korea isn’t exactly known for it’s Turkish kebabs but it was delicious! It was more like the kebabs I had in Turkey than any I’ve ever had in Britain. Think it helped that the owner was actually Turkish. After filling our belly’s, we went to meet an old friend of mine who’s also living in Korea. My mate from school Jenko has been living here for about 18 months and I’ve not seen him for a few years so was great to catch up with him. He took us to a club where his mate’s band were playing and it was a really good laugh. The club was basically like every other indie club ever invented but the bands were outstanding. We just caught the end of Jenko’s mates band but the Korean band on after them were, in the words of Frank….epic……absolutely epic! They basically decided to sack off the vocals for 45 mins to make a f**##n racket! After spending a couple of hours in the club we decided to go to Tatooine, or at least a club that did a damn good impression of it. Needless to say there were Star Wars references flying about everywhere! The inside was made up of little caves that you sat on the floor in and smoked hookah pipes, always good fun. For some reason somebody decided it would be a really good idea to leave bongo’s and other various instruments lying around……..I couldn’t resist!

After Tatooine, we headed to another club that must have known we were coming, as soon as we walked in the door The Smith’s started playing! I honestly did feel like I was back at 42’s. They then knocked out Common People, which actually made my night! For some reason, we then decided it would be a great idea to go to the shop , buy some booze and just hang around the street for a bit. Everybody just drinks on the street here, nobody cares at all. I then thought it would be a great idea to ride a giant plastic apple (??????). I smashed my knee in real good trying to get up there, and have got the bruise to prove my accomplishment. After heading to one more bar out of sheer desperation not to go home, we finally hailed a taxi and rolled back in to Sanbon about 7.30am. One final word on Hongdae, it’s the first time I’ve seen mainly white people since I’ve been here. That’s not necessarily a bad thing but I’ve kind of got used to being a minority, so much so that I quite like it now. I like not knowing what the hells going on. It’s nice not to have to listen to other people’s conversations when you’re out. 

Sunday was an absolute write-off, I slept pretty much all day and all night. Yesterday and today has been quiet but tomorrow I’m going out for my mate Enoch’s birthday so should be another monster hangover on Thursday!

Right, and that about brings me up to date! Photo’s of my birthday night out are up on Facebook courtesy of Mark. I have a few of my various escapades but haven’t had chance to put them up as I’m having to use a PC room for the internet. I should be getting a laptop in the next 3 weeks so I’ll put them on when I can.

For now, peace x