hi everybody!

So yeah, I haven't made a blog post in a few days. It's been really busy around here what with the World Cup! You know, some things are just important, haha.

But seriously, the World Cup is a BIG deal here. Think about the Superbowl and just magnify that by 20 or so, and you're halfway there to how hype the World Cup is in Korea. At city hall alone, there were about 100,000 people watching the game against Uruguay. 100,000 people sat in the rain to cheer on the Korean team. Pretty awesome.



I went to a few bars to watch the game and pretty much everybody was sporting red in support of the beloved "Corea." I had never really been a big fan of soccer, but seeing how enthusiastic people were about the World Cup was really awesome. Korean girls would scream very loudly every time there was some sort of fast break...and when Korea scored that goal, the entire bar I was in just exploded. Beer was pounded and hugs exchanged by grown men and women alike. I could have told people that we had successfully landed someone on Mars and people probably would've shrugged...but when that ball went into the net it was like time stopped. Killer.

Well Korea ended up losing, end there were many sad Koreans that night. I myself was really hoping Korea would've won because I wanted to see the drunken hijinks of a nation high off of a World Cup win. Seriously, it would've been pure madness. I just know I would've seen that asian business man with a tie on his head at least once during the night. It's like seeing Sasquatch.



Oh well, nothing else to report other than difficult classes and England getting stomped by Germany. Next post will probably be about food here being totally awesome and cheap. Anyone think I should try live octopus?

Lol learning

Classes here are six and half hours a day. Plus studying. It sounds like it's about as fun as listening to a used car salesman. But check it out, two hours a day of those classroom hours are spent playing this badboy:

At the movies...

Well, for some reason my internet connection isn't working in my room. Korean internet security is really strict, so although there is nothing wrong with the network I, at times, will not get internet access.

Anywho, what I've been up to. Well I went to the movies. And that was interesting.

They don't put butter on their popcorn here, but they do carmel and cheese flavored popcorn. You can also get both at the same time, although it wasn't for me. I chose to get a mango drink instead, which was GODLIKE. The more I think about it, the more I realize America needs to catch up. We need to get up to speed on on internet infrastructure as well as mango drink infrastructure. Seriously people, let's get with the times.

Anywho, we saw the Karate Kid 3, which was basically a remake of the first one. This one takes place in China, however, and instead of Karate Mr. Miyagi we've got kung-fu man Jacky Chan as the teacher. I won't go into details about the movie, but let's just say it involves plenty of flipping, 12-year olds kissing (felt pretty unclean at that point), and Jackie Chan delivering one of his best performances yet (seriously, he was the best actor in that movie).

Going to the movies has generally the same vibe as going to the movies in America but there are differences. The first thing you will notice is that you are assigned seats by your ticket. The "best" seats are reserved for those who buy the tickets first and the last people who buy tickets will generally be put in the rows closer to the screen. What do you do if someone if someone is sitting in your seat when you get there? Just turn to the teenage boy who took your seat and yell "chugu le, papo?" (do you want to die, idiot?). Bonus points: his girlfriend will probably dump him after that. Score.

The next thing you'll notice is how clean the theater is. American theaters make you feel as though you should take a shower upon returning home. Korean theaters by constrast, have a total lack of candy, popcorn butter, soda stuck to the floor. Hooray for not feeling like a fly caught in a trap when I need to get out of my seat. Honestly, EVERYTHING is much cleaner in Seoul...especially the Metro. Oh yeah, another bonus. True players can get their mack on extra hard in Korean theaters because every other arm rest flips up to allow you and your date to embrace just as Jacky Chan is beating down some 12 year old ass. Wicked.

So you're there in your comfortable and clean seat, with your cheese popcorn and mango juice thinking, "wow, Seoul knows how to party" and then the commercials begin. And I'm not talking about some "let's all go to the lobby" bullshit. I'm talking about a non-stop power-hour of ridiculous why-would-anybody-want-this-retarded-crap commercials. It was like any marketers wet dream and it was twenty minutes long. I shit you not, close to 15% of this movie was devoted to shoes, clothing, cellphone advertisements...oh yeah, and one trailer for Toy Story 3. One particularly strange animated commercial showed factories pumping smoke into the air, which caused the polar ice caps to melt. What comes next in the commercial you ask? Well naturally polar bears dancing in hell. For some reason they were extremely happy and I could not pick out what the hell the commercial was trying to sell me. My Korean speaking friends could not decipher it either. WTF indeed. Yet another commercial featured a scantily clad women promoting Soju (a vodka like drink made from rice, like korean sake) to a crowd made up primarily of minors. What does the commercial ask them?

"How many bottles can you drink?"


======

After the movie we went out for Shabu Shabu. A place where they bring you food and you grill it yourself. Sounds like a lot of work, but it's really fun when you're pounding beer and Soju. Oh yeah, and Kimchi ages like wine. I had some old Kimchi that was so good, I can only assume that they started making it when Napoleon had crossed the Rhine. Baseball is fairly popular Korea, so during dinner we got to watch the Samsung Team pound some team not sponsored by a corporation. Poor bastards didn't stand a chance.

Oh yeah, and there was a world cup game going at at 3:30 in the morning. I didn't stay up for it, but even at 11:00 the streets were littered with girls carring around their drunk boyfriends. I assume there were many that probably did not even make it to the game.

Check in day!

So I ended up staying at a love hotel. Yup, the kind of hotel where people just use it to get it on. But, damned if it wasn't the nicest place one COULD get it on and fairly cheap, too! For about 35 bucks (which is on the expensive side, as far as love hotels go) I got a room with a flat screen TV and TWO computers both hooked to the internet and various games. I guess so both people can engage in some post-coital internet surfing. Yup, this truly is the 21st century.

Oh yeah, Korean bathrooms are totally legit. The bathroom in my room had a grate at the edge of the bathtub to catch any water that spills out of the shower. It's like a sewer for your bathroom. Why isn't this standard in every American bathroom? Why must I be subjected to bathroom rugs that feel like a wet sock when I get back to the states?

As if my hotel experience wasn't futuristic enough, when you stick the key into the wall the entire room turns on. Yes, you read that right...all the lights, power to the appliances get switched on when I put a key in the wall. Nothing quite makes you feel like a badass like starting up your room like it was Optimus Prime.

========

After I left there, I checked into my dorm at Ewha. I share a room with a German guy named Peter. His English AND his Korean are better than mine. His perception of Americans probably comes from watching George W. Bush and American Dad, my perception of Germans comes from Die Hard and Kraftwerk...I'd say there might be something we're missing from each other's culture.

========

I went on a trip to find the local arcade in Seoul and it was rough. Even after studying Hangul for about 3 hours today, I still read very slowly and my vocabulary is non-existent. I got to the right station, but still could not find the arcade once out of the station. Seoul really is something else though. I would say parts of it remind me a lot of New York City, but then again parts of it are just much more Asian feeling. For example, there are little side streets everywhere that I don't even think you could get a car through. I stumbled through the area where all the produce and seafood stand compete and people are literally yelling at you to come buy their product.

The most awesome method I saw for grabbing people's attention was two cross-dressing men banging on taiko drums and cymbals to pop-music...whatever sells dumplings I guess.

HOLY KO-RAP

So I made it one piece. You would think sitting wouldn't be tiring, but I'm exhausted. I think my mind's been working overtime trying to prepare itself for the ridiculouslessness of Korea. I was not prepared. Flying for me is usually not bad. It's actually quite enjoyable in small doses. But this was an 18 hour yell down war hell-ride of epic proportions.

From Dulles to San Fran I sat next to a snoring beast that did not look like it wanted to be woken up. I refrained from using the bathroom for the first 5 hours...BIG MISTAKE. By the time I figured I just couldn't hold it, the seatbelt lights went on and sealed my fate. I had to wait for another hour in a test of my might. I finally made it out of the gate and into a bathroom, but there was a line for the stalls. Every door to sweet relief lied before me closed. My stomach turned, my legs crossed slightly, I did a little dance...then some guy walks in front of all of us and opens an empty stall...

!!!

Anyway, when a stall finally opened up I seized that door as if I was a hippy and the door was the last joint at a Sultans of Swing concert. What followed was nothing short of a religious experience.

The flight from San Fran to Seoul was greuling. Okay, I'll put it like this...it's like a forced viewing of the 6 of the worst movies of the last 5 years. You do get to see the remake of Alice in Wonderland, but it sucks. And sadly enough, it'll be the best movie shown. And you can't sleep because the kid behind you is super stoked on kicking seats like he's getting paid for it.

Guh...

Well, my welcome to Korea was less than warm. When looking for the shuttle bus, I almost got conned by this random guy who I can only say looked like a korean version of this guy. He asked me where I needed to go and I asked him for the shuttle bus to Ewha, he told me he'd get me there at a "medium price." I asked him what that meant in Won and he wouldn't give me a straight answer. After telling him that I only had the equivalent of 10 US dollars he was like "GTFO out of here, kid!" I laughed and got on the bus which took me to Ewha for 8 bucks. NICE.

Getting here sucked because I haven't been able to check into a dorm because no one's here on Sundays. Just a bunch of couples that laugh at you every time you walk by. Even their giggles seem to yell "FOREIGNER LOL."

Oh yeah, if you go into a restaraunt and point at something that looks like Ramen don't expect to get ramen. I got a bunch of cold noodles in what looked like chocolate milk with an egg in it. Well at least it gave me diarreah almost instantly. Tasted great though!

Anywho, I'm off to meet with someone who might give me a place to stay for the night. Oh yeah, and to buy a camera and some power adaptors. Bye for now everyone!