Monday, August 4, 2008

Summer Vacation!

I was incredibly happy when I found out that my one-week summer vacation would be taking place 2 weeks after I arrived. YAY! Although in a sense I was a bit disappointed since that didn't give me time to plan a trip outside of Seoul, but considering I hadn't really seen much of Seoul yet it didn't bother me that much.

Vacation started off fabulously: After work on the Friday, I met up with my friend Scott for dinner and to deliver his precious deodorant. I can't say that I've EVER seen someone that excited to receive pit stick, but it's not like it's hard to find back home. Anyways, on my subway adventure to meet him, I realized that he doesn't live in Seoul at all, but actually in Incheon which is just outside of Seoul. I actually didn't realize I was in Incheon until I met up with Scott and he told me that's where we were. I'm a little clueless about geography! He's actually in Bupyeong which is an INCREDIBLY social district. Bars and restaurants everywhere! It was pretty intense actually, but really interesting. And I was very captivated by all of the neon signs and music and people bustling around. Very cool! He originally wanted to bring me to his favourite restaurant but remembered when we walked in that I don't eat red meat; At this restaurant, you receive a massive slab of meat and cook it yourself on the grill that's in the middle of your table. I felt really bad because he'd been so excited, but he told me that there was nothing on the menu that I'd actually want to eat (meat, meat, more meat...), so we moved on. It seemed like a typical Korean restaurant, until we looked at the menu and realized that it was quite eclectic. We we ordered california rolls, this crazy looking sushi roll that looked like lasagna in the menu's picture (it wasn't lasagna-like at all, but delicious!), and carbonara; So basically, Japanese and Italian food in a Korean restaurant. Yes, we were entertained. This didn't seem like alot of food for 2 people, but we couldn't finish it. VERY tasty though! I always forget how much I like california rolls! From then, we slowly (I repeat: FULL!!!) made our way to Rock Bar, which I was warned was seedy but that they had cheap beer. Oh my god I love that place! It was seedy, but it was playing the best (aka cheesiest, which is why I loved it!) 80's rock music. I can't remember what songs, but I do know that I sang along to most of them and was very entertained. A few of Scott's friends were already there, so we sat with them and drank massive king-sized pitchers of beer. Ok, this is what kills me: Back home, you'd EASILY pay $30 for one of those. At Rock Bar: W10,000, which basically amounts to $10. Scott's group were all complaining that the price went up, because the day before a king pitcher was W6,000, but I was too amazed to say much of anything. Alcohol here is SOOOO cheap!!!! It's insane!!! Scott's friends left after a while to go elsewhere, but we had a pitcher to drink so we hungout for a while longer. One of his friends showed up and chatted up the waitress, so she ended up bringing us a free bottle of soju. Score! After Rock Bar, we went to a dance club and I swear it felt like I was just transported back to Canada. They were playing American dance music and there were very few actual Koreans. Kinda weird, actually. There I met Val, one of Scott's friends, who was anxious to meet a fellow Frenchie. I was also excited when Scott told me that she's french and from Ottawa. Anyways, she and I started chatting and she asked me where I was from. I told her that I've been living in Ottawa for nearly 6 years, but am from North Bay. When I said this, she gave me a weird look and asked if I knew Nat S. I, in turn, also gave her a weird look and answered yes, Nat was my roommate 1st year of university and is one of my closest friends. Val: Oh my god! You're THAT Janique?!?! Me: *light bulb moment* Oh my god, you're THAT Val?!?! Val and Nat did their Teacher's Ed together at Ottawa U and as many times as Nat tried to get us to meet, it never seemed to work out. I've heard SO much about this girl, and her about me, so it was insane that we'd meet in Incheon of all places! Crazy! It was great to finally meet her (Again I repeat: CRAZY!) and I hope that we get to hangout while I'm here, even though we live pretty far from one another. Anywho, Scott and I didn't stay there too long because it was already quite late by that time, so we wandered back towards his neighbourhood. But first, the required stop for fast food after a night of drinking. We ended up at McDonalds, which after pizza and KD is my prefered post-drinking snack. For any of you who have access to my Facebook account, you've seen pictures of this outing. We had a HILARIOUS times and since Scott is quite possibly the most social person in the universe, I had fun taking his picture with many random strangers. And we found a few people who spoke a fair amount of English, so we chatted it up with them. Oh, and my favourite part: The drunken middle-aged men. It's common to see them passed out in public locations late at night. They work like crazy during the day, but it's basically the norm for them to go and get blind-drunk after work, especially on weekends. So if you take into account a +12 hour workday, combined with mass quantities of alcohol, it's not shocking that they'd take a nap (or totally pass out) in a restaurant or anywhere with a chair and/or table. I've come to realize that sleeping in public is a pretty common occurence here, as I've seen at least 5 people around me totally passed (and not necessarly because their drunk, just sleepy) out on the subway, no matter the time of day. I refer to my favourties as "the Bobbers", because their head will be bouncing around like a Bobble Head toy. Oh, and the ones who's head droops onto their neighbours shoulder is also hilarious, especially when you see the "What the hell?!" face that the neighbour is making as they try to shrug them off without being a total jerk about it. I've been immensly entertained during my Seoul subway rides!

Vacation started off great, but took a much lazier turn from that point on. All of my coworkers were gone on various trips and while I had created quite the jam-packed itinerary for myself of things hat I wanted to do/visit during the week, I barely did any of it. I'm a bit disappointed in myself, but on the other hand I think it was good that I took that week to relax and recover from my jetlag. I've been on the go for months now and it was nice not having anyone around so that I could get lazy guilt-free. If people invite me to do things, I have a hard time refusing, so this gave me the opportunity to sleep in everyday, wander the neighbourhood a bit and watch a gazillion movies; The few American channels that I have here are ALWAYS playing a movie, so that's awesome. I don't think it helped that it rained most of the week and was crazy hot, so staying in was an easy decision. Another bonus: I'm not tired 99.9% of the time anymore! No matter how much I slept during the 2 weeks prior to vacation, I was still always exhausted. So I feel like my normal self again. Whew!

The end of my vacation was more interesting (at least for those who are reading this!) than the beginning, but I just noticed the time. I'm doing yoga with the girls in 10 minutes, so I need to get ready and head over to the building next-door. Yay yoga!!!

Meaning, this entry is to be continued.....

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

LOL Sounds like you were having a blast!! I think thats crazy that you would finally meet someone whom you've heard so much about in a place all the way on the other side of the world! lol Talk about small world eh? LOL

Glad your feelin better!! I'm sure you will get a chance to see some cool things while you are there eh? Not like you will be coming back tomorrow! And now I must read your other entry and look at pictures on Facebook. :D

Woves and hugs!