I’m now back in New York and already miss Korea. Didn’t know how good I had it…

The last night I was there, I went out with a few friends to Hongdae. I wanted to see the “other” nightlife area of Korea besides Itaewon. Differences? Lots more Koreans, a lot more places to dance, but also a lot of empty or near-empty clubs (or maybe we just picked unpopular places). We went to Sensation (cool bar, cool DJ, no cover) and one other place that I forgot the name of.

Even though we weren’t in packed places, we still had a good time. Hookah and drinks at Sensation while watching my friends dance to trippy hip hop/techno. More techno at the other place; I liked it.

Street carts line the blocks up and down in the wee hours of the morning. After dancing we ate at a kabob cart but it’s more like a gyro. Good eats.

After being back in New York I can truly appreciate how nice Korea is. I am seriously considering teaching English there now.

What I miss about Korea:
- The cleanliness of their streets and subways
- Cheap food and cost of living
- My extremely nice relatives who took care of me and gave me $$
- The great friends I made during my short stay there (most of them are English teachers from Canada or the US)
- Inexpensive nights out and cheap cabs
- Looking at cute girls with their cute outfits, dressed to the nines
- Flavorful fruits and vegetables (getting back to NY, none of the produce I’ve eaten was as tasty as in Korea… probably cuz we use massive amounts of hormones to grow such big veggies)
- Having a guaranteed, easy job with my uncle
- Cheap subway fares

What I missed about New York:
- Authentic NY pizza (though when I recently had a slice, I was wondering if it was always this greasy)
- Vietnamese and Malaysian food, and take-out Chinese
- Cleavage baring! No one did it in Korea; just bare legs up to the crotch
- Seeing people of all different colors and sizes

Yeah I think Korea wins for now.

I’m going home on August 8th. Home is on the horizon.

And yet, I know that once I’m gone, I’ll be missing this crazy place. 3-for-chun won ($0.80) boong-uh ppang (fish-shaped pastries filled with red bean filling… yum). $3 soon tofu. $1 kimbap. $2-3 earrings that look damned good, $4 graphic tees. Cheap everything, really, except for fruit (paid about $9 for 2 pounds of grapes, eesh).

Maybe this should’ve been a food blog. Oh well, too late now. I am seriously craving some New York style pizza… thin crust with piping hot cheese and sauce… mmm. And  a few other home comforts like my canine companion and pals.

To make the most out of my stay here, I’ll be trying to do the following in the few days I have left:

• Visit some family on my mom’s side and see my adorable 2 girl cousins… haven’t seen them since they were 4 and 6
• Get new luggage and gifts for friends
• Go to Hongdae and check out their nightlife and dance clubs
• Wrap up all leftover work at the office including translations and convention details

I think that’s doable.

My time here has been insightful, filled with a lot of fun but also loneliness,  constructive, and rewarding. I haven’t achieved nearly all the things I’ve wanted to (becoming fluent in Korean and figuring out what I want to do with my life) but it has lead me on a direction towards that.

Random fact about Korean people: They think it’s weird to sit side-by-side when at a table/seating area. And my 13-year old male cousin is afraid of cats.

I have no more. Will update with my Hongdae experience in a few days :)

Apologies for my woe-is-me rant in that last post. No, I won’t get rid of it :p

It is about Week 8 into my Korea furlough. I’ve started to have bouts of homesickness, especially when concerning my dog Aji and my good friends back home. Though I’ve made a slew of awesome new people here (funny how a chain of events, through one person, can alter the course of your stay/life…).

Went to Mudfest ‘09 in Boryeong this past weekend. They say the mud from this area is good for your skin so the townspeople organize a festival for it every year. They haul in truckloads of the mud and have all sorts of activities for people to just get dirty and rowdy. With cheap alcohol, loads of 20-somethings, and bare bodies, yeah it can be a recipe for trouble… or just wicked fun, whichever way you look at it!

I got painted on with mud, handprints on my ass/boobs, and for the first time had a decent amount of beer (about 8 ounces or so). Alcohol’s not really my thing, but what the hell, we were at Mudfest and I let loose!

The girls all went out at night and 2/3 of them came home with tales of late-night makeout sessions and discovering “19! He was NINETEEN!” (ahem, I won’t mention any names!). I took way too few clothes even though my bag  weighed about a ton. Had some awesome soon-tofu with Kathleen.

I’ve wanted to post a bunch of pictures on this blog but Facebook is way easier for adding pics… Maybe I will make them public :) Some of them, anyway.

Since I’ve been here I’ve not bitten my nails once and they are freakin’ long! Longer than I’ve ever had them, I think… though I find myself wanting to bite all the time rawrgh.

This post is all over the place but that’s ok. I think I will come back and add to it later.

I didn’t expect this night to include a cocktail, with plumes of hookah smoke escaping my lips…

My friend and his pal showed me around Itaewon today. To those unfamiliar, Itaewon is a part of downtown Seoul popular for its foreigner population. Lots of foreigners = lots of Americanization, foodstuffs, and shops eager to take the bek-in’s cold hard cash. And of course that means places to party.

There are countless bars, clubs, and the infamous “hooker hill” where lady boys won’t hesitate to proposition any passing male. Sure, there are regular lady hookers as well, but I was surprised at the number of man-ladies preening at passerbys.

Last night was the first time I’ve really done anything “adult” in this country. On the surface, Koreans are a modest people, and they usually don’t wear revealing clothes or act too outrageously. But here, after the sun goes down, people watching is fascinating: girls of all races in clubbing gear (yes, including Korean gals who’d normally never reveal that much skin outside of Itaewon), more gay Korean men than I’ve ever seen in my life congregated on one street where all the boys clubs are (one aptly named Always Homme), and places of establishment created purely for the purpose of “giving some”; when there’s a customer, the storefront’s door remains locked.

This is the seedy underbelly of Korea. Rumor has it that the police sometimes goes into clubs and demands to drug-test everyone in there. You cannot refuse; that will land you in jail. If you do have anything in your system, expect to be jailed anyway, fined thousands of dollars, and deported, but not before getting to know the inside of the Korean prison system intimately. (At least there’s no ass-raping in these prisons.)

We went to a place called Bricx, a cool underground lounge-type bar with a dance floor and dim seating areas. Non-abrasive techno blared from the speakers and smoke wafted from nearby patrons with hookahs. A couple of drinks and Apple-infused tobacco smoke had me feeling pretty good for the night.

This place is pretty much the only place in Korea where people don’t bat an eye at interracial couples. All night I saw Korean girls leaving with white or black guys, and usually, the girls were way hotter than the guys (just callin’ it as I sees it). To them, the foreigners are a novelty… Girls have been known to come here to try new blood, so to speak. My pal commented that to be a female in Itaewon would be like being at a never-ending smorgasboard, but is it ever hard for a female to get laid in any country? Yeah, I thought not.

The night ended on a high. Buzzed from the alcohol and a bit lightheaded from the hookah, we made our way to an American-style diner (Copycat was the name of the place) where the proprietors claimed the best burgers in town. They were right (though the heavily promoted curly fries were nowhere to be seen).

Mmm… Itaewon cheeseburger.