Hip Hop Clubs and Skiing
On Friday I get a call from St. Louis Charles, and so I end up in a place called ‘Indong’ which has a lot of restaurants. It was me and 14 other Waegooks ..ahem… foriegners..(the Korean is starting to takeover) at a place that was reminiscient of Salad King. The food was delish and we than headed to a ‘Hof’ (bar). A few Soju bombs, many o’beers, drinking games, and great conversation with what was apparently, mostly Canadians, we headed out to another bar.
So there we were, 14 round-eye’s and me, and one other disgrace (non-Korean-speaking-Korean-born-abroad..or ‘Gyopo’ in Korean), marching done the street, people staring. I started to wave the Waegooks through as though I was taking’em on a tour. We get to the bar and they wouldn’t let us in.
A lot of Koreans don’t like foreigners. Most of it is probably attributed to all the GI’s from the US army bases. They apparently cause a lot of trouble in drinking establishments; though it seems foreigners in general seem to d it. So when the manager explains to me that he’s real sory that he can’t let us in because we’d chase away his regular, and understandbly more important customers, I turned aroudn to folks and said “Ok guys, I don’t wanna blow my cover, but I only understand half of what he said. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t want us here.”
A few people get flustered, pleading, a few of us head to downtown to a hip-hop club called ‘Bounce’ which I’ve been meaning to goto since I heard about it. Craving to dance to something that ISN’T techno, I was eager.
I get in, and there’s about…hmm… 13 people there. 6 of which I was with. The music was decent though and naturally, I danced my pants off. At one point I jokingly said to Ireland-Roisin (pronounced Row-shin) “Is it always this packed here?” to which she replied “Actually, this is kinda busy.”
*slaps forehead*
I think I’ll probably have to go to a Korean techno club again eventually, because it’s always more fun when it seems like a big party.
Home by 5, up again at 11, I went skiing with Samchun’s family, and his friend’s family.
I was hesitant about skiing mainly because I was worried about a silly scenario where I get to the ski-suit rental place only to find that they don’t have pants for my massive thighs; or have boots for my massive calves. But, the did have both, and I was decked out in a full-orange ski suit.
The conditions were surprisingly decent and powdery despite being entirely artifical snow. But fuck me was it BUSY. I got 3 runs in 3 hours down the beginer hill, which luckily, was a long trail, riddled with people falling over. I managed to teach my cousin, Young-shik to snow plow and was proud when he could pretty much follow me down the hill as I weaved my way down the hill, in between all the people. There was this one kid barrelling down the hill in front of me, and the whole time he was singing some song at the top of his lungs. IMagine a kid screaming “ROW ROW YOUR BOAT…” all the way down. Despite that, 45 minute waits to get up the lifts is NO FUN and really put into perspective the population density of Korea.
The driev was hell too. It probably would’ve only been 45 minutes up the 400, but being like 80% mountains, Korea doesn’t have the luxury of extpressways allover the place. Winding roads, and an uncomfortable Hyundai van, and a driver who doesn’t slow down at turns, makes me a hazard to those around me. A man of my size should not be flying around the backseat; especially when I’m sleeping. My snoring annoys AND I’m crushing you. Yes. I managed to sleep. It was a frustrating sleep, but it was sleep.
With the familiar ache of day-after-skiing soreness, sore muscles from the gym, and the lack of sleep, makes for a really tired blogging Jason.