yesterday was a holiday. fudge a dudge! i don't know exactly what holiday it was, but shit, it meant a day off work. and when you have days off, there's really not much to do around these parts but drink.
wednesday night began at juliana's, as per usual. i was the only girl for a while. not that it felt any different than being one of many girls. just something i noticed. then more ladies showed up so more going away festivities for kirsten, and everyone felt like imbibing lots of alcohol. the past couple times i've seen kevin (juliana's proprieter and barkeep) he's been fucking hammered. wednesday night was no different. everything was normal, but then my former boss showed up and we kept punching each other. so both of my arms now have nice bruises, plus my left upper thigh. he knew exactly where to punch/knee for maximum discomfort. we have good times.
speaking of violence--always a great segue--there was some brazilian dude there who had commandeered the computer, playing shitty house music (i should note, "shitty house music" was just my personal opinion. i don't speak for the masses). so this other dude who's a regular decides to change the music. brazil dude didn't like that. so they threaten to fight each other for a long time, and ultimately the only violence inflicted was on the pillar in the middle of the bar. the brazilian dude kept kicking it repeatedly. he could sure get his leg up there! that was really the only thing running through my head at the time. "wow, he's flexible!" anyhoo, people fight (or threaten to fight) for a lot of stupid reasons, particularly when they're drunk. this was one of those times.
after juliana's, made our way to the black club for more molesting of korean dudes. but i wasn't really even there long enough to harass them. when i drank enough to want to make bad decisions, i decided it was probably a good time to get out of there. ate a chee-juh don-cass-uh night cap and got home around 4 am. so an early night.
the next day i told myself i was going to climb the sidae mountain. didn't happen. what i did do was eat a bunch of overpriced fried food at the outback steakhouse and regretted it later. watched miami vice and called it an early night.
something about miami vice (maybe gratuitous violence) reminded me that i saw rocky balboa a couple weeks ago in seoul. it was great. i particularly liked when he referred to adrian's "woman cancer." nice one, rock! there were honestly a couple times when i found myself compelled to raise my arm to cheer for him, even in the awkwardly quiet korean movie theatre. of note: sylvester stallone's getting up there in years, but his body's ripped. he had particularly gross and protruding veins though. yikes.
earlier today, my co-worker saw my tattoo through my shirt (sort of see through. yup, like to dress sexy at the children's library. you know how i do.). and she slapped my back. so i thought she didn't approve, but then she said "oh yeah!" (there's a certain way koreans say this. jules and roar know--the way the agimas at the norae bong would say it). so i guess that's as close to an endorsement as i'll get at the miracle library.
i had my first experience at the post office today (first time in suncheon, i should say). what a fucking nightmare. koreans seem to be lacking any inherent sense of order. i'm standing there at the counter, waiting my turn. she hands me boxes and forms, tapes one of the boxes, then helps these other customers who are all jostling for position in front of me, looking at me like i killed their children. sorry, i thought this was where i came to mail things. my bad. it's like we're at a concert trying to get into the front row, and the star we're trying to ogle was some random korean lady with a particularly butch haircut and a bad lipliner job. fuck an a, assholes, i'll just wait. but the concept of turn-taking or line-forming is completely lost on koreans. when you're trying to get off the elevator, people just rush right in so that when you finally do get to exit, the door starts to shut on you. and it's the same jostling for position on the bus, people just butt in front of you. i guess it's most aparent when you're driving or are a passenger. so many near accidents because everyone and noone has the right of way. good system. and there's no sensor telling them that maybe it's rude, not just because you're breaking what should be the inherent turn-taking rule, but because you're invading my personal space. i guess that's another thing lost in translation. anyhoo, the post office took an hour. not because i can't speak korean (all i had to say was miguk and point to some boxes), but because the woman kept helping other people in line behind me or answering the phone. "maybe if i keep pretending she's not human, she'll go away." i'm actually not human, i'm some sort of pet that has been let out into the wild so people can see how it interacts with its environment: wow! that foreigner mails stuff to people somewhere just like we do, that foreigner eats food just like we do, that foreigner wears jewelry just like we do. ha ha, those crazy foreigners!
anyhoo, it's friday. i've gotten out of my funk. hopefully the good times will last. i start the new round of english plays next week and i start teaching at a new office--more kids, woo hoo!-- which means my hours of sitting around doing nothing should significantly decrease. assah!
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