Birthday Weekend

Ok, as many of of you knew, (and many didnt), Friday was my birthday so this post is about my celebratory weekend. A quick note before I start, while I turned 23 "American," I was 24 in Korean years because everyone in the country automatically gets a year older January 1st. Weird, I know. Also, my camera has been out of batteries so my personal pictures of this weekend are non-existant but I will get the ones from my friends and post them soon.

So I want to start by saying (again) how awesome the teachers are that I work with. I have not known them more than 2 weeks but they put together some funny decorations and a big dinner for me which was totally unexpected. When I got into the bus on Friday, there were the always appreciated "Happy Birthdays" which are always appreciated but as soon as I sat down, the driver, Mr Na, who knows practically no English, handed me a box and said "Happy Birthday." Inside was a charm for my cellphone (whether for a male or female, they are big here and accepted, trust me) that was a little cloth square, almost like a mini pillow, with a mirror on the back attached to a string to go on the cellphone. Im not sure how much use it will get but it was a big deal for him to even get me anything.

When we get to school, on the door to the teachers loungs/offices, there is a big piece of poster board with the words Happy Birthday Quincy written on it and a blown up picture underneath. I recognized the picture immediately, it was from College of Charleston's Alumni Ball that I went to this past May. The picture is me with my arms around my girl friend, Holly, and good friend, Alexis, only in this picture their faces had been replaced with faces of two teachers I work with. Again, I will need to post a picture, but it was really funny. The rest of the day was uneventful, but we had dinner reservations at On the Border that night.

I know what you are thinking, why eat at an American Mexican chain when we are in Seoul? I wondered the same thing but the teachers said it was a good place because they had lots of room and there was something everyone could enjoy. Turns out they were right because my meal was great and we needed the extra room becuase 25 people showed up, about 10 of which I didnt even know. The unknowns were friends of friends and teachers from the other campus (whom I work with as of today) and were all really nice and I appreciated meeting new people. So, after everyone had some tequila and a good, American-style, Mexican dinner, we went back to Gangseo-Gu, the district we all live and work in.

The first place we went to was this bar called Miller Time that served American beers and overlooked the nightlife of the streets below (it was on the 2nd floor). We didnt stay long there and instead opted to go to a nightclub nearby that everyone had heard about but no one had gone to. When we get there, we immediately walk down some stairs, like we are going into the basement. When we get about 1fl down, we are met by music and two large Koreans in suits and sunglasses. They quickly usher the girls we are with past a velvet rope and down more stairs and then, (Im not kidding), they give all the guys in line orange juice boxes. So, we are all drinking these juice boxes and end up waiting about 10 min and then we are led down the stairs and into this huge, dark room with a stage at one end and tables filling up the rest. The tables are designed to seat 8, but they only put 4 of us at each table. We see the girls as we are being sat so we dont really worry about why half of the table is open. As soon as we sit down, a waiter comes over and takes drink orders and when those come, another waiter comes but instead of drinks, he is leading two Korean girls and sits them at their table. It was then that we realized what type of club this was and a Korean friend described it as a "forced social situation." What that means is that men and women come here to meet eachother, nothing sexual, but it is the staffs duty to make sure as many people mingle with as many other people as possible. So, we tried to make the best small talk with could, which is difficult with none of the guys at my table knowing Korean and none of the girls knowing english. This went on for about 3 different sets of girls and it was just getting tedious to know that you cannot speak to these people and the point of these clubs is to meet new people, meaning we were not supposed to sit with the girls we came with. They, on the other hand, had better luck and said they were introduced to a few guys who spoke very good english which sounded like a lot more fun that what happened to the guys. Anyway, we left soon after that and it was late and I was exhausted from teaching 11 classes that day so most of us went home. Some people went to a Karaeoke bar but I was not part of that adventure so I cannot write about it.

A funny note about the club before I wrap this up, the MC on the stage was supposedly famous and would play a song and everyone would dance and then he would do about 5min of standup comedy which seemed to be funny based on the laughter. An interesting combination.

So thats Friday, I promise I will write about Saturday soon.