Random bits of information

1) Seoul has it's own dance. At first, I thought that was the coolest thing ever. I even learned how to do the chorus part! And just when you thought nothing bad could come from a city possessing a dance, Seoul decided to play the song everywhere. Before movies start, there is a 3 minute clip with the song and people dancing. On TV, there are 30 second commercials with the song and dance. At EVERY big event in Seoul, the song plays and people dance to it. I was at a festival on Friday on the steps of City Hall. During each change of acts, they had the Seoul dancers come out and play the whole song. The two people I was with, one American and one Italian, decided to leave and the song escorted us out...

2) Contrary to American women, Korean women in big groups are indecisive. I played tennis today and it took us 20 minutes to figure out where to eat. I understand and appreciate that they were trying to think of a place that had a vegetarian alternative, but it is quite hard to find one that doesn't. In general, only about three kinds of restaurants don't have vegetarian alternatives:
A) ShabuShabu (phonetically spelled). ShabuShabu is actually really good and unique when there is a vegetarian option. Essentially, ShabuShabu is a giant pot filled with broth (it usually isn't meat broth, but I have seen it before) that boils in front of you. The options for food involve ordering a plate of something to put inside the stew -- ranging from lettuce and mushrooms to pork to beef and so forth. The meat juices are too prevalent for me to continue eating after it has been added. Oh, also it is communal eating -- one pot on one stove for 4-6 people.
B) Although I don't know what this place is called, I could totally lead someone there. This place only had chicken...they didn't even have rice. I ate the small vegetables with my group and then stopped and bought some sandwiches.
C) Again, I don't know what this place is called, but I could lead someone there. It is like a buffet where there is a pan for 4-6 people that cooks whatever you put on it. In the back are various options of things to bring to cook. Although they have some vegetarian alternatives that I can eat, Kimchi for instance, the taste of the meat on the pan is too strong for me to truly enjoy my meal.

3) The toothpaste I have been using for the last couple weeks is Green Tea flavored.

4) A couple of the places that I visit regularly remember me.
A) The sandwich shop with a difficult name: I found this little place about three weeks after I arrived at Ewha. They had a sign advertising Egg Sandwiches so I thought I should try one, given I hadn't had bread for a month or so. I absolutely loved it! I went back at least once a week since. After my third trip, they knew what I wanted. The other day, I went to buy two sandwiches and said "two please" in Korean. The girl started to make two hamburgers and I stopped her, a little surprised. One of the other girls in the back came out and corrected the first one on what I wanted. It can be hard to learn Korean when I can be lazy and instead of saying "two egg sandwiches" I have started saying "two please." Just to clarify, they actually have a full menu and not just egg sandwiches.

B) The Bubble Tea place is humorously called bbbobbba. The card also says "funny beverage, uplus Beverage." You might get a headache trying to figure out how the beverage is funny or what uplus means. Anyways, I figured that bubble tea would be a common thing in Korea given that my Korean friends had told me American bubble tea isn't as good as Korean bubble tea...but alas, I had trouble finding my favorite drink. The first 10 times I went, the girl working there and I didn't really talk much -- she didn't speak English and I didn't know enough Korean. Probably the 11th time I was there, I asked the Korean friend I was with if the employee was the owner because she looked so young. As the conversation continued, I found out that this 23 year old woman was the owner and only employee of this particular bbbobbba tea store.

I started off slow, only going about three times a week. That was a one time thing because after that, it was 5 times a week. Now, I go everyday. Last week, Angie (her English name, closest name to her Korean name) asked me if I wanted to meet a friend of hers. I did and we had a fun time. On Saturday night, I met her friend again coupled with another friend. We drank bubble tea for a while and then went out -- and then Angie joined us later. I realized this the other day, but Angie is probably the only person that I see every single day. When I went to Japan, the first thing she said to me when I walked in was "You went to Japan?" (she said it in Korean.) I said yes and then wondered how she knew that...

C) The Pizza lady. There is this one pizza place that has a medium pizza for around $6.50. Given the normal prices for pizza in Korea (a medium between $15-$20), $6.50 is good enough to take me there every two weeks. Because there is only one pizza without meat, she also knows my order.

D) Cocktail guy. There is this guy outside the front gate that has a little kiosk selling cocktails for about $4.00. We always say hi to each other when I walk by. He usually gives me free drinks each night that I wasn't going to drink -- like weekdays. The nights that I am going out, he doesn't offer me one free. I can't turn down anything free, so I've started walking on the other side of the street and yelling hello to him. Maybe I could have myself sound a little better if I just said it was culturally rude to refuse a drink...

5) Naturally, there are some people that often test their limits of drinking. I am proud that I have only crossed my limit once and realized I never wanted to do it again. Notwithstanding, because I have successfully stopped before needing help home, I occasionally have volunteered to help somebody else get home.
Scenario A: One guy was having some problems with a girl and felt the best way was to drink his weight in alcohol. When I met up with him around 10PM, he told me roughly 8 or 9 times that he was glad to see me. The girl he liked was also with me, so he decided to leave his party and join us. We went to another bar and we stayed for about two hours. He drank a tiny bit more before we had to hide the alcohol so he would stop drinking -- which didn't stop him from quieting us all down at least a half-dozen times and thank us for coming to Korea. I was waking up early the next day and was about to leave -- and the group felt that he should probably come with me. The girl was going to stay, which meant that we had to find a way to get him to leave (he told us at least 20 times he was going where she was going). My plan was to tell him I was too drunk, didn't speak Korean and couldn't get home on my own. After much coercion, we convinced him to take me home -- but he vowed to make it back to the girl that night, despite her constant assurance she was going to be fine on her own. We walked home together, including one instance where he pulled me into traffic by saying that pedestrians have the right of way even if we aren't at a crosswalk and the traffic light is green...Notwithstanding, we made it to the dorm and I got him to his room. Actually, I convinced him to come inside his room where he promptly told me to leave and he was going back for the girl. Nobody saw him the rest of the night.

Successes on leading drunk people home when I had something to drink: 0/1

Scenario B: An American guy was having problems with a girl he liked and decided to drink his frustration away. He was pretty drunk on Thursday night and this was Friday night, where he was again drunk. I was going home somewhat early because I didn't want to sleep until the afternoon so I volunteered to take him home. I used the same story about how I had been drinking too much, how I didn't know the way home and how I didn't speak Korean (the first guy was Korean, the second was not. The speaking Korean part was added in because I was a little intoxicated, but he didn't notice at all). He vowed to make it back to the group at another bar and even ignored them when they said goodnight because he was absolutely sure he would make it back. We walked home and I got him to his room. I was with him as he laid down and tried to sleep. As an idea of how drunk he was, he asked me twice if he could brush his teeth -- I said no -- and he laid back down and called me mean. I listened to him snoring for five minutes and left the room. I showered, pretty proud of myself for successfully taking care of someone. As I walked out of the shower, two guys were running downstairs saying they saw the American sitting outside. I was a little confused how the hell he got there because I locked the window and the door, thinking that he probably had no idea how to work either at the time. Details are still a little fuzzy, but apparently, he either fell off the second floor balcony or he jumped off the second floor balcony. Nobody, including him, knows why. He broke one of his arms, sprained the other, had a couple cuts and...hmm...how to write this artistically...ok...think of sitting on a bamboo pole...now imagine jumping off a second floor balcony and landing in that position on the pole. He was in the hospital for 6 days, spending the majority unable to use the bathroom on his own. After the initial surprise, everybody thinks it is hilarious (including the American who was injured).

Successes on leading drunk people home when I had been drinking: 0/2. At this point, because of how quickly it went from missing to near death, I felt that if I led another person home it would be the last night that person was alive. I told my friends to never let me in a position of responsibility over a drunk person if I had a drop of alcohol in my system. Given that information...

Scenario C: Another guy had been drinking over girl problems. I was on my way home for the night when I saw him with three other people. He stopped me and started going on about how we didn't hang out anymore and if I didn't come with him for just one beer he would be very sad. I thought it would be the five of us going, making sure that I didn't have sole responsibility over him. After I said yes, the girls said they were going home. We had one beer and walked home. I saw him today -- he is still alive!!!! I nearly died from laughter as he walked head-first into a clear door two nights ago.

Successes on leading drunk people home when I had been drinking: 1/3.

6) Movie theaters are really cool in Korea. They have stadium seating and less seats, meaning there are pretty much no bad spots. When you buy your ticket, you also pick your seat -- so there aren't any cases of a a group of five people trying to find five open seats on opening night after previews have started. Their snacks are much cheaper and better. I have fallen in love with garlic popcorn!

7) I don't want to hurt my roommates reputation in writing or online, but I have many many many stories to tell you all about him. Okay, I have one story. Something like two weeks ago, on a weekday, I was naturally sleeping at 4AM when he loudly comes back drunk. I am able to get back asleep as he moves around the room. As he is about to sleep some twenty minutes later, he yells (literally) "goodnight Erik!" I shoot awake and sit up. Realizing what happened, I just say "goodnight."
"Oh, you're awake. I have something I want to ask you."
"Ask me...afternoon...sleep."
"No, this is really important."
I mumbled with a rising tone, trying to get our "what?"
"Erik, are you gay?"
"It isn't important. Night."
"Errrriiiik! I want to know" (he actually whined that to me).
He kept pressing me for some five minutes. I didn't ask a single question, but responded to him. He decided to change topics...
"Erik, who is the hottest girl in the dorms."
I threw out the name of the last female I talked to before I went to sleep.
"Really? Why?"
"She is really cool...like...seeing her..."

And so this continued until around 4:45. Important things we talked about that couldn't wait until the afternoon: my sexuality, hottest girl, hottest guy, my sexuality, who do I want to sleep with, why I don't bring guys back to the room, why I don't bring girls home, my sexuality, is the person I said really the hottest girl, what makes the hottest guy I picked the hottest guy, why I won't tell him my sexual orientation and finally concluding with...
"Errrrrrriiiiiiikk, are you gay? You can tell me, I am your roommate."

I heard snoring within two minutes and despite my best efforts to get to sleep as quick as he did, it took me another half-hour.

7) Sunburns hurt more in Korea than back home -- I don't know why. Koreans also get sunburned quicker and complain MUCH more than I ever expected. If you didn't catch it, I am currently sunburned.

8) Tell me what is wrong with the following text messages:

A) "hi eric~ i'm Jiyeon, jin' friend~~~do u have time in Monday~?"
B) "eric~~(^_^) what are you doing now? ;
C) "good morning eric~?^^; were we supposed to meet 11AM to 1PM?"

I don't understand why Koreans spell my name with a C. In Korean, my name is 에릭. That final character, ㄱ makes a G sound if it is the start of a syllable or a K sound at the end. I am thinking very quickly, but I don't think there is even a transliterated C character. Man, there are many many problems in the world...