KOREA Week VIII Review

Mon, June 22, 2009 at 11:51pm

Friday night I returned to the wonderful Indian restaurant with Monica for late night dinner after classes. We shared two curry dishes, one beef and one lamb, and a spiced chicken dish. All fantastic. She is 31 years old Korean, a teacher by trade, and has studied English in San Diego and London. Korean age is approximately two years older than "American age" because Koreans count age starting with conception and every child is born at age one. So, I am actually 33 years old in Korean. Bummer.

After saying goodbye to Monica, I returned to my apartment and contemplated meeting friends at either Jacks Bar or the Pirate Bar. Instead, I opted for something I have been wanting for weeks; a late night massage from a 24hr parlor located in my building. To clarify: this was the Thai "sports massage" and was non-sexual. The famous Korean massage, sexual in nature, is about 150,000 Won, or so I have been told. Instead, and for only 70,000 Won, I was treated to almost two hours of a fully clothed Korean woman twisting my body into a pretzel and beating me with her fists. Strange as it may seem, it was enjoyable. After the massage was finished at around 4am, I laid on the massage bed in a semi-lucid state and fell asleep for an hour. This must be acceptable because the Korean women did not wake me and smiled approvingly when I got up to leave. Worth every Won.

Saturday it rained hard throughout the day. Plans to visit Seoul with U-Jin and her boyfriend were cancelled, so I used this opportunity to sleep more (8 hours Friday night + 2hr nap Saturday), do laundry, and clean my apartment. I also spent some time with my landlord, Mr. Ahn, who used to live in L.A. and speaks very good English. He informed me the school has hired a new Japanese teacher, and she will soon occupy the studio apartment next to me. This proved to be the perfect opportunity to exchange my hospital bed for a more traditional bed from the storage room, so I no longer have the geriatric features of my previous bed. Not to disappoint any fans of the hospital bed, but I now sleep a little lower to the ground and I have a firmer mattress. Sorry Japanese girl, but I was here first. Enjoy YOUR new bed!

This may surprise many people, but Saturday is actually the first time I have done laundry since arriving in Korea. When preparing to depart, I recognized I did not want to be overburdened with laundry, so I packed enough underwear and socks to last me two months. Seriously, my plan worked well and I was down to my last two clean pair. Unfortunately, there is no dryer on the premises so my apartment looked like a proverbial chinese laundry Saturday afternoon and Sunday with underwear and socks laying throughout, in addition to numerous t-shirts, shorts, etc. I was later told there are clotheslines on the rooftop of the building for drying purposes, which obviously, are used only in sunny weather. My mistake.

Saturday night I was treated to chicken dinner with student Lyn and her friend Nina. Lyn's parents own and operate a restaurant in Sanbon and, in addition to chicken, the three of consumed mass quantities of beer and soju. In all seriousness, these girls can drink and it was a struggle to keep up with them. I felt like an on old man trying to compete. We actually drank what is called so-mak, a popular Korean drink with shots of soju added to our mugs of beer (mak-ju).

Unfortunately, so-mak provides severe hangovers, as I learned Sunday. After popping many Advil and taking a long hot shower, I telephoned Tiann and the two of us ventured into Seoul for lunch. I've been hungry for mexican food and there's a restaurant named Tomatillo Mexican Grille I read about and have been wanting to try. Their menu is very similar to Qdoba and we indulged ourselves with burritos, tacos, and quesadillas. Check it out: www.tomatillo.co.kr After lunch we traveled to Cheonggye Stream and we later walked maybe 10km to Itaewon, the American neighborhood of Seoul for steak dinner at the Rocky Mountain Tavern followed by ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery. All good. Best part of the day, however, was me vomiting in the train station on the way to Seoul. Good work Ethan. Apparently the train ride was a little too bumpy for my dehydrated and sensitive 33 year old Korean stomach..