Went Convenient Store Drinking...

on Thursday night, and it was quite convenient! This post is a sandwich.

The Bread: I'll start this post where I start most of my days, in the morning. Oddly enough, after being in Korea for a little over a week and a half I had my first experience of truly missing home. I remember waking up and looking around and thinking to myself, "being home would be nice right now." I had no time to dwell on that though as it was my second day of training and I had to get on the Korail Subway and head to Jongno 3-ga which takes about a hour. Heading out the door of my love motel I followed my typical routine of locking the door and turning my Ipod on, with the usually dilemma of what to choose (picking a single band out of 40+ gigs is a bit tedious but God Bless problems like that). My scroller lands on Band of Horses, great, I hadn't listen to them in ages. It had occurred to me that Band of Horses would be splendid walking music especially on such a gorgeously clear morning but as the album begun a feeling struck me. The same as when I woke up but now it was induce by this auditory stimulation, Band of Horses makes me miss home...and Casey Shnitzer for some odd reason (I don't know the connection either, perhaps the time we listen to them on the dock at Steve's). I didn't dwell on my homesickness for long because I was soon on the adventure of finding my way through the labyrinth of Korail Subway System, which I'm terrible at navigating.

The Meat, Lettuce, and Tomato: After a full day of TTP Training, our little group of 9 decided to celebrate the evening by grabbing some dinner together and exploring the downtown area of Seoul in which we were located called Jongno-3 ga. Rick, our trainer and trusty mentor gave us the grand advice that drinking in convenience stores is not only cheaper but much more fun that drinking at bars. Cheap is my middle name (just after Jeffery and before Danger) and everyone else agreed. We decided to make a circuit of the area drinking, while stopping occasionally at convenience stores to grab some alcohol. See, anyone can drink on the streets in Seoul and this plan was bloody brilliant plan. A beer at a gas station is anywhere from 1200 won (12 oz.) to 2000 won (liter) which is dirt cheap ($1=~1200 won). The issue we came across was finding a place we all agreed to eat at especially with two vegetarians among us, one of which was full vegan. Mind you that Korea is a country that eats dogs; finding a meal without meat is like finding a queer at the Republican National Convention. Not to mention it was past 7 which means all the businessmen are done at work and are getting started on their fifth bottle of Soju, so space for 9 loud North Americans (some of us were Canadian) was going to be a dodgy task. Meanwhile, my limp from my torn MCL was getting more and more evident and the group as a whole was beginning to feel the drinks that had accumulated over the past few convenience stores. Luckily, your trusty narrator, me, found a place that served chicken (which one of the vegetarians would eat, the other had already left us) and had room for 8. The catch was that the only place we could sit was in the back of the restaurant in the alley. I thought this was spectacular, we could be loud and obnoxious and not give a damn. Others needed more encouragement. That encouragement came with alcohol. Since we were in the back alley this meant we could scurry away quick-like and grab some Soju and drinks from the near-by convenient store. This made the night a grand time with a plethora of food and drinks for all. A plate of Korean Fried Chicken(KFC), Hot Wings(Korean Style) and a sausage plate. Over drinks we all got to know each other, where we're from, what our plans were, and why we came to Korea. Truly a great group of people, each with interesting backgrounds wrought with pleasurable tales. But in great times of enjoyment drinks go fast and food even faster. The time had arrive to move on into the night to experience the other adventures awaiting us. Like the one at Rehap, a new bar in the same district. Rehap was supposed to be called Rehab but the construction workers messed up the "b" and placed it as a "p" much to our amusement. The club was brand-spanking-new and the drinks were on the house and I don't feel the need to reiterate my frugality, so we were all in. The club was mostly dead except for us, remember it was a Thursday night. But it was a spectacular club, full of white leather furniture, chic menus, massive dance floor, lasers, mirrored bathrooms, hallways with modern art, and a hot Asian DJ that played techno from all over the world. That all said, it's not my sort of bar but when drinks are free your bound to have a good time.

The Bottom Bread: Although the night was young, I understood that staying longer would probably lead to spending more money and eventually making it much harder to wake up for training the next morning. It was time to head back to the Love Motel from which I hadn't seen since that morning earlier where I was struck with home sickness. That illness was far behind me at this point, as I had just had a great day and night with a bed to look forward to and a nights rest ahead. Getting back was a task unto itself. If the subway is hard when your sober than its a Rubik's Cube when your inebriated only with more colors. Despite my stupor I was awestruck with the number of people on the subway, so much so that I missed my transfer to Line 1 which takes me home, which meant I had to get off at the next stop and find my way. Like a fool, I left the subway and walked out only to realize that decision was one a fool makes. So I had to pay AGAIN to get back on the subway at which point I had the fortune of running into some of the English teachers I'll be working with, one of which I'm replacing. They did me the extremely kind service of being my guides back home like the great Samaritans they are. Finally, after a few more subway stops I reached my love motel and crashed down on the bed. I picked up my head and shot a glance at the computer on the counter and decided to check my E-mail before I went to sleep. This was an unfortunate decision. I found an E-mail from my mom detailing an incident that had happened a few days prior. My Chocolate Lab, Tootsie, attacked my mother's Pekingese, Punker. The fight was in the absence of myself and my father, and as such it was a bad one. Tootsie lit into Punker and damaged him quite severely. So bad in fact that Punker will be without his right eye for the remainder of his life. My home sickness had returned ten fold. Had I been home Tootsie would have never been in the position to feel any dominance in the house and even if she had attacked Punker she would've know that it meant a kick in the ribs by your narrator. But, alas, I was not home. I am in Korea and helpless. That night, once asleep, I dreamt of Punker and of A Clockwork Orange. I was the main character, Alex, in the scene where he and his "Droogs" rape a woman in front of her husband (I'm speaking of the book, not Stanley Kubricks film although it is great). The scene was vivid and exactly the same except there was a dog in the scene, Punker. I can remember seeing him and thinking of innocence. I immediately attacked my mates and awoke from the dream. Home is a powerful thing. You can be on the other side of the world and it still touches you.

This was a sandwich that came hard to swallow. Plus I hate tomatoes.

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