Full Circle

I know this is really late, but a late surge of jetlag finally hit me the last few days, so I haven't been exactly ready, willing, and able to finish my story. And in reality, it really is a story...it was a trip filled with craziness, sexiness, and coolness, just like Justin Timberlake would say. I really felt like I became a different person: maybe it was the air, maybe it was the food, but somehow I feel changed. I haven't really come back from the trip, mentally at least. Sitting at work the last few days, I just wasn't there. But now all I can hope for is that a lot of my good fortune from SK will carry over back into my life.

But anyway, on to the last leg of the trip. So we met up with the girls eventually, over an hour later, mind you. We weren't too happy; my friend especially wasn't happy because his date, unfortunately hadn't magically converted to Halle Berry like he wished (she was more like a heavier Whoppi Goldberg). My date, however, was still in good condition, like a Ken Griffey, Jr. rookie card (does anyone even collect cards anymore? I actually have a Griffey rookie card; I feel like it'll be worth a maximum value of $10 if he makes it to the Hall of Fame). Anyhoo, we met at this really chill hookah lounge, a place I didn't think existed in South Korea. I had already consumed a few beers, so I was feeling very relaxed. I was a little nervous; I knew if I wanted to "close" this girl I'd have to be on my game. I couldn't bring her back to my friend's apartment, mainly because it was too tiny and had paper-thin walls, but also because it just wasn't very polite. The hotel room was the only option. Knowing this, I went into full on debonair mode. She was giving me a lot of good "kino touches" as Mystery says, and I knew I just had to work her a little more to get the desired outcome I was looking for. My friend also gave me a quick pep talk, telling me that I had to go in for the kill or else she'd feel rejected. He always knows how to inspire me. After we left there, everyone was a little tipsy, which always works out in the guy's favor. As long as they're not puking, you're ok. Wow, that sounds like a future rapist...

Anyway, after that, it was noribong time. We sauntered into the karaoke hall, and my friend and I immediately chose the perfect song to set the mood: "Nice and Slow," by one Usher Raymond. I must say, this was a very wise choice, as the women immediately began to swoon and I waited for the panties to be thrown like a Tom Jones concert. Alas, no panties were, but still, they were loving it. Once the girl I was with lost her cigarettes, and my friend told me to go with her to buy more, I knew it was my chance. So as we left, that's when the story picks up. So we go to buy the Menthol Marlboros at some corner store (only $2 a pack there...I should have bought a shitload of cartons back and I would have made a fortune), and go back to the room to find my friend and his black beauty making out hardcore. Sensing I would have been a buzzkill to the situation, I told the girl I was with (we'll call her Sally), that we should take a walk to give them some time alone. I must say, even though I really only wanted sex from Sally, it felt kind of good to walk around a big city like that with a girl. Somewhat romantic, I guess. We were holding hands, and it felt like we were in a relationship or something...but no one wants to hear the mushy stuff. Let's keep going.

So we walk around and come back...more of the same, my friend all over this girl like a cheap suit. So I finally told Sally, "Let's just go to a bar and wait it out." She wanted to get her bag, but I told her it wasn't possible. We'd gone too far. So we went to the bar across the street, where they gave you really cool matchbooks (there was just a really small scratching part on it...I actually started one up right away, and it made me look really good). We drank more, her not so much, she was already "gone." I had to drink mine and hers while we waited. We small talked more, I'm not even sure about what, but things were going very well, we'll just say that. So we went back, for the third time, and this time, I was amazed at what I saw: my friend, laying on top of this woman, about to pull down the front of her shirt, Girls Gone Wild style...before I peaked in and they stopped midway. I didn't intend for them to stop, but they did. Then my friend gave me the ultimate sign: the wave-off. You don't get this too often, but in this situation, I knew I wouldn't see him for the rest of the night. Like Kurt Russell said as Hugh Brooks in Miracle, it was my time.

So we left the lounge, sans her bag of course, and headed off into the night looking for something to do. Or at least kill more time until we went back to get her bag. Soon enough, I lost track of time, and realized our time at the karaoke was probably up, and that we had to get her bag, because I sure as hell wasn't paying for the rest of the night if we did anything. So we headed back and were not surprised to see my friend and his date were gone, like Kayser Soze in The Usual Suspects (cue the blowing into your hand and symbolizing wind). Since her phone was, of course, in her bag, I had no way of getting in touch with my friend. But, this is where preparation pays off. My first night there, my friend (I'm sick of writing my friend, we'll just call him Steve) gave me a small piece of paper with his address, cell phone, and directions to his apartment in Korean, in case I never needed it. Since this qualified as "needing it," I pulled it out of my wallet and just needed to find a phone. Since Korea has about as many public phones as it does escalators (so zero), I had to result to having Sally ask random people in Korean for a cellphone to borrow. And if you know actual Koreans (not the fake ones you buy in the stores, obviously), they are not the most giving bunch. Eventually I had her ask this attractive duo of girls to come back to the hotel with us to "get crazy." No, just kidding, I had her ask them for their phone. After some prodding, I got them to dial Steve's number. I got him on the phone, and asked where he was. "She was tired, we're back at my apartment," he said. "You have to get a hotel room." Now, I had been telling myself this all night, but now it finally hit me: I wasn't going back to his apartment at all. It was on me to make this happen. I kind of nodded, asserted myself, and hung up. It's Clooney time (that's whatever I say when I want to go into full mack mode...though arguably, Clooney doesn't need to prep himself, he's always on), I thought to myself.

So now I had a new agenda: hotel room, or rather motel room, since I was trying to save money. Unfortunately, she wasn't as willing as I expected I had made her. She continually kept saying, "I don't do this," sounding embarrassed. But, I kept reassuring her. I didn't think I was capable of this, but after I bought her a water and some ice cream (because who isn't a kid at heart?) and she was sitting down, still hesitant, I put my hands on her face, brushed her hair back, and said, "Do you trust me?" I said this a few times. She said, "Ok," and I was back in. Couldn't of written it better. All I needed was some dramatic music and the mood was set. So we went off, her still hesitant to ask anyone for directions, me futily trying to speak Engrish (Korean English) to the locals. I got such varying directions: one cab driver said it was "five minutes away," another person told me to walk eight blocks and then make a few turns. Finally, I got Sally to ask the second cab driver for the nearest hotel. We got in, and he said it was about 3 or 30 meters away, I don't remember. I guess too short to get driven to. So off we went, in a general direction, both unsure where the hell we were going, and me the whole time telling her, "We're too far from home...I can't go back, you are too far also...you have no money, this is the best option." Finally, after what seemed like ages but was probably only 5 minutes or so, we found it: "Hotel." Not the motel like I was looking for, but a room nonetheless. I paid the fee ($60 USD...apparently they have rooms for $40, but I wasn't going to look...it was pretty late at this point) and we went upstairs. It was weird, the lights kept turning off like they were on a timer, and somehow the manager must of knew this, because he called the room and instructed us to insert the key into the holster outside the bathroom and, voila, we had lights. So we went into the bathroom and brushed our teeth together, continuing the fine oral tradition of the country, and then I went to the bed. "This is it," I said. I had brought a Trojan with me in the event something went down, because I wasn't using a foreign rubber and definitely wasn't going raw dog. A child is the last thing I needed, especially not a foreign one. Anyway, I sat down and took my shirt off, just to set the tone, and also because I was hot. She smoked a cigarette (gotta love those Menthols), and we kind of waited...until she laid on the bed and I went in for it, like a cobra striking after a field mouse. I'll spare you the details once again, but just know it was probably the best moment in my short sexual history...I took charge like a field general, directing different positions and movements, doing everything I wanted to. She was wearing like 50 layers of clothes, so taking each one off took like an hour, but it was worth it. I felt like the man. I couldn't sleep much the next day, probably for a lot of reasons, but it was nice to wake up to someone and not hating it. We kind of snuggled a bit (now this is getting mushy again), but headed out shortly thereafter, looking for Steve. I should have pushed for the "morning quickie," but I failed to do so.

We took a cab and met Steve at his apartment. When I opened the door, I was surprised to see black beauty wearing the bunny ears he bought at the amusement park and wearing his slippers. Shortly thereafter, they left. I gave Sally my number and e-mail, again making a rookie mistake and not getting hers. I don't know if I'll ever hear from her again; I like to think maybe, but I shouldn't get too hung up on it. It was a fling, nothing more. But it makes me want to recreate that same magic back home. And after all of this, I feel capable of doing so.

I later found out from my friend some interesting details from his night: mainly, don't put fingers in places you're not sure about. I'll leave it at that.

For some reason, they shut his water off so we had to shower at the spa place by his house. After that, we hung out and discussed our nights (where he continued to say how much it sucked for him, understandably). Then it was off to the casino that night...but not before seeing some crazy old Korean woman wanting sex outside the convenience store and getting food. We should have eaten before, but waited til we got to the casino, which by the way, is a really awesome place. Looks really nice on the outside and apparently caters to foreigners (even though I saw a lot of what appeared to be locals there). To be honest, I'm getting tired of typing, and I want to get this done, so I'll just sum it all up: we went to some cheap restaurants to eat first (had some really good chicken and beef), went back to the casino (after taking a cab to the restaurants, we took another cab back...though it was cheap so it was ok), I lost $30 after being up about $90 (but $2.50 buy-ins in roulette is a damn steal), and forgot my umbrella in coatcheck.

I packed my stuff up the next day and had an ok flight back. Had a delay in SF of course, but I made it home, about 9:30, my third time zone of the day. I'm a little tired but overall no major jetlag.

So that's basically it, in a nutshell. I hope this entertained you...now let's hope the good fortune carries over back home. I'm not fully "home" yet, but I will, eventually....

Cheers.

Last Night Already

So this is it...like Huey Lewis, this is my last night here. I can't believe how fast this all went. But I must say, I have no regrets. I did everything I could while I was here...from seeing a folk village to eating live squid, I covered all the bases. Thursday we went to an American diner, where we had a waiter that spoke perfect English; kind of surreal. I did all my souvenir shopping then; I wanted to get some authentic Korean things there, but ended up just getting what I thought looked cool. So I hope everyone likes them. Also on Thursday, I finally tried the live squid...it was as disgusting as it sounds. It has a really slimy texture and it even sticks to your lips if you don't eat it right away. You can dip it in a garlic flavored sauce to cut some of the taste, but it doesn't really help. The girl we were with, a Korean, must have ordered five persons' worth of squid and not one helping, because they brought out what looked like 10 pounds of live squid. It was moving just like they advertise; I even saw the eye in there. It took a lot of courage and Soju (a Korean dry vodka that tastes like rubbing alcohol) to gum those pieces down. It wasn't very filling though, even if it tasted good. My friend spent most of that night downing shots to numb the taste, and he got drunk enough to throw the Korean girl into a dirty seawater tank...safe to say, the female owners were not happy. I ended up going to McDonald's since the squid didn't do it for me. I broke three more stacks of tiles too; the third time, a woman paid me to do it, because I was "very strong" and I think her boyfriend wasn't. I kind of gave him the "I don't know" sign when she was soliciting me. I made sure that she paid me to do it, since I wasn't giving her a free show. I did end up breaking the stack no problem, and my friend told her to kiss me on the cheek. I felt like the naval officer in Times Square that dips the girl and kisses her. Who knows, maybe I'll stay here and become like Christopher Walken in The Deer Hunter: have people bet money on how many stacks I can break. My hand will be raw when I get back.

We even did some more karaoke after that; I ended up doing that three times in three days the last leg of the trip. My friend was worried we wouldn't be able to. I am now obsessed with some Korean songs, like "Insomnia" and "8282." We went to a bar after that, just to hang out, and that was our Thursday.

Friday was wild. We woke up at a typically late hour and went to a late Mexican lunch at On the Border. It sucks, but I have eaten better at the American restaurants than the Korean ones; it's not that I haven't tried the Korean food, but it is just too spicy for my liking. The waitress was also really cute, but since there was a language barrier, I passed. We then went bowling in this large complex. It was so hard to find; you had to go up to the 3rd floor, walk over, and then go to the 4th floor; it was like a goddamn maze. Anyhoo, we got there, and we had made a bet earlier that the loser would have to pay for drinks later that night. I ended up sweeping the three game series; I bowled a 163, 152, and a 140 something I think...I was pleasantly surprised. It was so hot in there; no windows, a lot of machines running, just bad. After that we came back and got ready for our double date. The girls ended up being almost an hour late, but they made it.

UPDATE FROM SAN FRANCISCO AIRPORT OVERPRICED INTERNET HUB: So basically I'm about to head home and I will finish the rest of the weekend when I get home: it involved a casino and ending my trip on an extremely high note...see you soon.

Halfway Point

I'm so beat after doing roughly an hour of straight Noribong (karaoke), so I'll just do a quick update and do more tomorrow. But, as a sidenote, my friend and I got four straight scores of 100 and nothing lower than a 94 after, doing every song from "Never Gonna Give You Up" (the lead off song, obviously), to "Thriller." I have no voice left, but well worth it to impress the two chicks with us. The older woman who owned it gave us an additional 20 minutes extra after our initial shift was over, and then was going to give us free beers and another 20 minutes, but we were so exhausted we (or had the girls, who were Korean) politely decline the offer.

Today was an adventure: we went to Everland, the biggest amusement park in Korea I think, though it took us awhile to get there and we only had about 5 hours to enjoy it. I even went on a rollercoaster somehow. It's like the Korean Six Flags. We even made new friends: Jun, a stocky 12 year old who we met on line for the coaster, and Yung, a 20ish hipster with a hot girlfriend who said we made some type of "connection" on the coaster since we were both in each other's pictures. How do I attract only men? The streak continues.

I also finally had Domino's. I have been craving this for months, and they had one nearby, so I scarfed down a large pepperoni like it was my job. I'm gonna stop here. Tomorrow is likely bowling and then eating LIVE SQUID. That'll be interesting. Cheers.

UPDATE: Rest of Wednesday...the theme park was really cool. The lines were really long, but that's to be expected at a theme park and at 5pm, when it closes at 10pm. Over here, every girl wears heels too...no matter how old. The guys here dress oddly too: I saw a guy with a t-shirt and a bowtie and some crazy storm trooper boots. And apparently that's trendy! So glad I'm untrendy then. I went on the rollercoaster just to keep with my mantra of "No Regrets," but regretted it as soon as I dropped what appeared to be a million feet down. It's an all wood coaster too, so my friend saying things like "I hope this doesn't break when we're on it" didn't help at all. While on line, we met these precocious kids, one named Jun, the other was a skinny kid who kept touching and poking Jun. They looked like they were like 10 years old, tops. They kept looking at us, mainly because my friend bought these fake bunny ears that he was wearing on top of his head, but maybe because they thought, "Who the hell are these old guys?" After we left the park, we ended up seeing them leave, so we waved to Jun like a mom saying goodbye after sending her son to sleepaway camp. He waved back, wearing a huge cat's paw. It was quite a moment. I ended up buying these ridiculously expensive plush boxing gloves, with one being in pink because they didn't make blue left hands, for some odd reason. We came back, exhausted, but still went out for some drinks with these two girls my friend knows here. One was definitely into me, although she had a subpar face but a very nice body. I felt bad that I had to speak to them like a caveman ("Me tired"), but they didn't really grasp the English language all that well, even though they were Korean teachers teaching English (weird, I know).

Sidenote: I forgot to mention two days ago, we went back to "Times Square," except not to do anything sexual (though we were propositioned by what appeared to me a female pimp). We met up with my friend's friends at the batting cages. I did OK, it's been awhile since I have swung a bat, but I got it back after a bit. I also did a game where you determine your punch power; I ended up garnering the second best score of the night, right-handed no less. I tried to win a cool (fake) BMW lighter in the grab machine too; but unfortunately was unsuccessful. I was also able to drink a huge Korean 40 oz. (or whatever the non-metric equivalent is) in the streets, which was cool. I'll miss that when I go back. After all that, I kept coming back to this area in the middle of the street where you could break these boards for prizes. Like breaking wood in a karate competition, except it was these tiles. I'd say they were a little stronger than ceiling tiles. I saw all these guys doing it, I had to try it. I was a little nervous I'd break my hand, and didn't really want to check out a Korean hospital. But I saw these guys who looked less stronger than me doing it, even though they were using a lot of forearm and elbow. So, I tried to channel my inner Bruce Lee and focus all the power into my hand. Holding my breath, I jumped up and drove through like a hammer hitting a nail...and BOOM, they all break. All 10 of them. I was exstatic, feeling like I could take down the world. I won this stuffed toy coyote; ugly, yes, but still a decent toy for $5. My friend told me I should give it to one of the good-looking girls watching, so, feeling very Clooney-esque, I did. The only problem was, she spoke no English. So even after having one of my friend's friends try to talk to her, it didn't work. She apparently wanted to talk to me, but couldn't. She kept looking back as she walked away, but I did receive a handshake and two hugs. The guy in front of me, who was like Obi-Wan to my Luke in terms of telling me how to be victorious on board breaking, said I was "Casanova." Long story short, I broke another stack, though it was the same amount unfortunately, as I asked for more but was denied. I guess they were afraid I'd hurt myself and sue or something. My hand's a little sore, and my pinky's a little swollen, but all in all, a success.

We went to a bar after for a bit and some guy basically followed me into the bathroom as I went...he was like literally an inch away from me...so weird. Later, he was upset at us for speaking English in the bar, and everyone wanted to fight him, but he was supposedly "connected" so we walked away. It'd of been better for him anyway...there were four of us there, and one of him. Even in other countries, people just don't know how to have a good time.

Sidenote: Everyone here eats squid jerky like it's regular jerky. It's so disgusting. I tried it; it tastes like shit-flavored wax. Now it's off to live squid!

Only Tuesday?

I feel like I've been here forever...and it's only Tuesday. I got here Thursday night, but it's been so busy. So where did I leave off? After the whole "making out on the dancefloor" Saturday, I slept in until about 4pm Sunday (I still am pretty low on energy; I want to sleep like 20 hours but that'll ruin most of my week). We woke up and went to this local Korean place for quick food; I had some dumpling soup (ok, but I didn't like that they had egg in it), some chicken with mayonnaise (they love to put this on everything...yet they are so skinny), purple rice, and miso-esque soup. Maybe it's the American in me, but I really could only eat the chicken and rice...I just don't have the palate for the Korean stuff. We then went to the Buddha festival in another part of the city (it was his birthday). We got there and it was pretty awesome; they have a huge parade down one of the main streets in the city and everyone and their mother seems to be involved in it, from kids to adults. I saw a bunch of non-Koreans in there, and my friend and I desperately tried to jump in at the end of the parade...alas, there were a lot of cops around, and I wasn't looking to spend the rest of my money on bail money. It was quite a sight; at the end of the night there was a big concert. Imagine what appears to be the entire city dancing and doing conga lines in the street...amazing. That money I ended up saving, however, would be used to buy these awesome beer goggles; literally they're beer-shaped frames with a yellow tint. My friend tried to talk them down from the $8 asking price (they were probably worth $4, even with their awesomeness factor added in), but they didn't budge. I walked out and walked quickly back, since I didn't know where else I could find them, besides maybe eBay. I went to a few other stores and bought some t-shirts (one for me and my brother; both equally cool with Korean writing on them, I hope) and then we headed over to a gingibong (sp?), which is Korean for "spa." This one, however, is not dirty; it's like a big fitness club, with saunas, steam rooms, even places to sleep. They have saunas that are like almost 90 degrees Celsius, which is still pretty hot in Fahrenheit. They even have some pools you can swim in. The place is open 24 hours. It was something they totally couldn't have in the states, my friend and I thought. Too many bums and vagrants would sleep in there, since it never closes. After that, I was still hungry, since I hadn't eaten much, and we went to a Burger King, where I wolfed down a Whopper meal and fries. It was by far the best meal of the night and week. While I've tried everything so far, this was just like home, and well worth the wait.

Monday I woke up exceptionally early for some reason, since I had trouble sleeping. I woke up my friend and he begrudgingly woke up and we left by about 11am, a far cry from the 4pm of the day before. We went to a really good Japanese noodle place, where I had my second best meal of the week (besides BK). They even had an Italian restaurant in there, which I found funny. They sold a lot of "sparghetti." From there, it was off to the Korean Folk Village, which is basically just a huge historical park with a lot of old-time Korean things. My friend and I enjoyed playing with the cheap toys (toy pullstring mouse, which my friend bought, and large inflatable weapons) there more than the park probably. But the scenery was great and the weather was terrific, so it was the best time to do it. We even watched a really low-grade 3D movie there, with a projector operated by a man wearing lipstick. Only in Korea, I guess. We also wanted to go on the kiddie amusement park rides, but many of them were shut down, and I doubt they would have wanted two 24-year olds breaking their equipment. They also don't like you playing with their toys outside, which my friend can attest to, as he was yelled at at least 3 times for it. We stayed there for basically the whole day, and were going to go to the 9-hole Par 3 golf course next door, at my suggestion, but it looked closed and it was a very steep walk up a long hill, so we passed. That's another thing about this place: there's stairs and uphill climbs everywhere! Subway: 15 stairs. Restaurants: 10 stairs. Hills. No wonder they're in shape; they have to traverse up so many plateaus to get anywhere.

I'll continue with the rest of the night, which was rather quiet, later. Since we're all off and everyone else has work, there's not much going on. I'm eating live squid Thursday, and meeting up with some girls (my friend put that plan into motion). Saturday will be a soccer game, and a visit to the casino. But for now, I'm just focusing on Tuesday night. Cheers.

Bad Movies, Huge Turtles, and Salaciousness

Well, second day here. Little tired from being up from 4am EST to 3am Korean time, but somehow I'm functioning. Last night after coming home from the airport, we went to my friend's apartment (which has a bathroom that is the shower...I have a picture, you'll have to see it to believe it) and rested until we went out to this "Ice Bar," a huge open pit filled with domestic and "imported" beers like Miller Light and Stella Artois. I ended up having a Tsinghao, a Chinese beer, and a Pilsner from the Czech Republic. Not too bad, little bit of an aftertaste, but OK. My friend got a chicken wing and mozzarella stick combo (they actually serve that here), but he said the sticks tasted like fish sticks and the chicken wings were greasy as hell. The bar was actually supposed to be a "Western" themed bar, complete with the waiter wearing a "Texas Palm" button down shirt and speaking a bit of English and also told me I was "very handsome." So continues my streak of men saying compliments to me. Actually I am such an American snob; I expected more people to speak at least a little English; but basically besides a stray word here or there, I am the outsider. Luckily my friend knows a bit, but even his knowledge has a limit...so we just hope we're not getting screwed over anywhere.

After dinner, we went to this other part of the city to look for some salacious things...the initial place we went to was shut down, so we had to take another cab (the problem here is that you must take a cab almost everywhere...the subway shuts down at like 11pm and doesn't reopen until 5am) to what was like the Times Square of the city... a lot of bright lights and barber poles outside that symbolize where you can get everything but a haircut. We met up with one of my friend's friends, a person who had a better grasp on the language than we did, and had him negotiate a rate at a very nice establishment to the attractive cashier who clearly hated us due to our lack of the language. I was led into a small clean room with a shower and tub, with mood lighting and a massage table. I sat there on the table, with the establishment-provided slippers, fully clothed, unsure of what to do. After all, I had never been to a place like that, and wasn't sure of any rules or protocol to follow. So I waited, a little nervous and shaking, but more because I went out with a light button down shirt and it ended up raining hard and became extremely cold and wet. Finally, after what appeared to be hours but ended up being like 2-3 minutes, the "help" came in. A fairly attractive (probably about a 7, 7.5 with nothing on) woman walked in. Not knowing what to do, she quickly instructed me to disrobe. Even though I had to brush my teeth (Koreans appear to have a big thing for oral hygiene, which I don't mind), I was led into the bathroom/shower, and was washed for the second time in the day (took a shower earlier before I went out), though it's not as infantile as it may seem. Pretty erotic, actually. After the shower, I was led into the massage table, and laid down. From there, the kindly woman began to rub her oiled up body all over my back, and even sucked my toes, which again, sounds weird, but feels pretty great. I won't paint you a picture with what happened after, but suffice to say, it was great. They bath you after (don't jump in the tub, to my dismay, just wash you down), and then you basically leave. I had to wait in some waiting room for my friend to finish (you can actually sleep there if you want, and a blind person, a woman but unfortunately sometimes a man massages you the next day), and wasn't allowed to sit in the lobby, as apparently it looks bad, even though everyone knows why they're there. You're not there to sing karaoke, that's for sure. Not too expensive, thanks to my friend's friends bargaining, and certainly worth it. Everyone must try this at least once, but I can see how it can become addictive.

After, we went to a bar to discuss our evening and drink some authentic Korean beer, Cass...bit of an odd aftertaste, but cheap. It was like 40 KRD, but that transfers to about $4 USD (basically the way it works out is you take the first few numbers and that's the USD equivalent). I wanted to swipe the mug and accompanying bottle opener (every beer is not a twist-top...wow, Americans are so lazy), but decided against it...damn my morals. We ended up taking a cab back and went to sleep. Overall, I woke up at 4:30am EST, and went to bed for good at 3:30 Korean time, Friday. Somehow, I didn't crash and burn. More tomorrow.

Update on Saturday: we went to the biggest Skyscraper in Korea. It has a Seaworld, an IMAX movie, and an art exhibit. Before, we went to a Korean BBQ, where I tried numerous things, including squid. It has a weird texture but is not horrible. You have to eat almost all your meal here or it's looked on as being rude. Then off to the skyscraper...to summarize, Seaworld was good (saw the biggest turtle in my life, and also took a picture with two decent looking "princesses" although in the picture it appears that I have a pair of man-breasts), IMAX movie was basically a PSA wrapped into a kid's movie (global warming is bad! Also, women on other planets dress very sexy), and the art was good, except for a few odd ones that I didn't even really consider art, and continues to promote my idea that anyone can be an artist. We left there and came back before going out, first to a burger place that is fairly American (Kraze Burger), and then off to a place called a "Soju Tent," where you drink this vodka-esque Soju drink in, of all places, a tent. It tastes like a bitter vodka; it doesn't go down all that bad, but if you drink enough of it (which happened), it can make you feel drunk. I also ate a bit of a potato pancake, even though it was spicy as hell (all Korean food seems to have a lot of spice in it). Then off to a Korean club/bar, I forgot the name, but it was cool. I thought it would be easier to approach women here because of the language barrier, but therein lies the problem. I approached a few, but had no luck...they're quite dismissive if you're not from there and speak the language. So, somewhat dejected, I left and went to another bar to grab some food and chill. I ended up staying there for a bit with my friend and his friends (two pretty cool guys, both teachers like my friend), arm wrestled all three of them (and winning, in case you wanted to know), and leaving. We actually went back to the first bar, to give it another crack...I don't remember why; I wasn't that drunk, but the lack of food and sleep was probably cutting off the oxygen to my brain. So we went back, and I still wasn't having any luck. Then my friend put his wingman cap on and went to work. He approached this somewhat attractive (he'll say she isn't...but she is) African American gal, and I went up to her friend. Now, this is where things started to move very quickly. I approached her, maybe got her name, and all four of us went to the dance floor. Then, while there, I proceeded to make out with her hardcore 6-7 times, and grinded for at least 4-5 songs non-stop. At the end, I was dripping sweat with sore legs (I actually picked her up a few times...this is typically a risky move, but somehow I pulled it off), but I kept going. It was one of the few times I felt like everyone was watching me out there, jealous, and were powerless to stop it. Felt great. We went outside where she had a cigarette (I unfortunately joined in...actually really regret this), and talked a bit. I really don't remember anything about her; my friend had to tell me her name and where she lived...but I did get a number. I may see her again Friday. For now, whatever, I had my fun with her, but obviously, doing more would be great. We'll see what happens...keep you posted. I better run now; it's like 4:22am, and I need to get some sleep (or lack thereof). Later.

I'm Alive...

Made it here alive...the flight was brutally long and uncomfortable (I think I'll pay the extra money next time for first class...they have damn seats that pull out into beds!), but at least I saw some movies...Defiance, Valkyrie, and Seven Pounds. Defiance was by far the best; Daniel Craig is just the man. Period. I'd write more, like seeing the slap fight break out between Korean girls walking to Customs, or the unbelievable cleaniness of the airport, but I want to get ready and go out a little and experience Seoul. I thought I'd be more tired, since it's like a day ahead here, but I'm ok...I'll probably just pass out at a bar; so nothing really will change from back home (kidding). Update more tomorrow.

First Post...Not the last

Started this to keep the few people who care in the loop of my trials and tribulations in Seoul, South Korea. This'll be short, since I have like a 20+ hour flight tomorrow (including connections). I hope this isn't the last time you hear from me, in more ways than one. See you later.