Linda Fung Makes an Appearance

As I write this entry, it is hotter than a whorehouse on payday here in Seoul. It's about 90 degrees and I'm sitting in my underwear in front of the fan, which is on the highest setting. My hair is...a disaster. It's been a rough time.

Ah, well. Onwards and upwards!

The big thing after the triathlon was Linda Fung's visit! Yes, that's right. Linda Fung, sassy New Yorker Extraordinaire, came to visit little ole me in Korea. It was tremendously exciting and I don't know how anything else this summer is going to measure up. Let's see, what did we get up to?

Well, as tradition dictates, I picked her up from the Hyatt and I took her to the Wood Hof for dongdongju and haemul pajon. We had a few of my friends meet us and we had a great time introducing Linda to the wonders of Korean kuisine. A couple of us continued the party at Phillie's and I got to go into work with a nice little hangover the next day. But that wasn't all I brought with me...Linda got to see the inner workings of a Korean kindergarten. She hokey pokeyd, ate lunch with us, and did the Shark Song. The kids were confused that teachers have lives outside of school but they warmed quickly to her.

That night, we went to a jjimjil bang (sauna), where Linda's dearest wish came true: she got to see me naked. We got to eat delicious soup, sit in massage chairs, and sweat a lot. The next day, my friend Damien took Linda to Namsan to hike around (and NOT start fires). I met up with them when I finished work and we had grilled meat, which was very good. We were supposed to go out for ladies night in Itaewon but we were both too tired and fell asleep shamefully early.

On Friday, Linda went exploring on her own while I went to work. On my way back, I saw her walking in the wrong direction! I nearly got off the bus to run after her but I figured she'd find her way back. We went to Insadong/Myeondong to walk around and see the sites, then met up with Steve for dinner at a delicious Indian restaurant. After, we headed over for bowling at Samgakji. Oh, man! Linda is THE most hilarious bowler on either side of the Pacific. If she ever tries to mess with me, I've got a video of her bowling and I'm not afraid to use it.

Saturday was a big one for us. We started off with food from a local kimbabchongook, which is wear most Koreans eat out. We then hauled ass to Sinchon and went from there to Idae, where we did a lot of shopping and looking at buildings. We both spent more money than we meant and had a lot of fun doing it. We had dalk kalbi for dinner (it was delicious!) and went home to shower/change for my friend Craig and Damien's housewarming party. That was a good time, mostly because I introduced Linda to the joys of makkoli. After we took a stroll up hooker hill, always lovely, then went home to pass out.

Sunday, sweet Linda left on an airplane, don't know when she'll be back again. Sadly, she didn't get to have fried chicken but I think she had a good time any how.

Pictures!

Part 2 of the Continuing Saga

Ok, let's see where we are...May still...sigh...Damn it, I forgot some April stuff.

In the middle of the month, I went out for my friend's birthday and saw another friend's boyfriend pee in the middle of a busy Korean street. Nothing happened, it was amazing. Even more so when I think that a month later, I was hauled in for a camp fire.


At the end of April, I went and saw my friend Dan's kumdo tournament. It was awesome! Dan just went and attacked hardcore and the Korean dude didn't know what hit him. Sadly, his hit on the head was discounted and the Korean dude won. Dan was robbed.

Oh, sweet. According to my day planner, nothing else interesting happened in May. June, here we go! Gah, June was eventful.



The first thing I did in June was buy my ticket for India! I'm going to spend 3 glorious weeks on the beach in Goa, in the south. I fly into Mumbai on August 4th (I spend a couple days in Singapore before that) and I'm taking the train the next day. I plan on doing nothing but take pictures of churches and laying on the beach. I'm freaking terrified to be going to India on my own but I think it'll be cool. Everyone says that as long as I keep my wits about me, I'll be fine.

The weekend of June 15th, I went to Sokcho to see Steve's triathlon. That was my birthday present to him, I would travel to be a cheerleader and dude, it was the dog's bollocks! I love bus/train travel and it was rather pleasant 4 hour ride to the east coast. Steve's tri buddy Sonny was there too and he's awesome. When we got to town, I left them to do their registration stuff and I wandered around by myself (and with my new kinda fancy camera). It was weird, I was stared at so much, as foreigners aren't as common there as in Seoul. Regardless, I had a really good day. I got a seafood feast on the cheap and saw some really pretty beach stuff.

On Sunday morning, I went and hooted and hollered for Steve and Sony. They were amazing! Sony came in something like 10th overall and Steve won his age group! I think Sony was a little disappointed he didn't place but Steve was so freaking happy with how he did (he beat his personal best time by over 5 minutes!) and it was really nice to be a witness for him. I took the pictures of him on the podium and I was instructed to push and claw my way to the front and, by golly, I did.

After the race, we had a lot of time to kill before our bus back to Seoul so we went to frolic on the beach and it was glorious! The water was bracing and cold and the beach was great. I got a nice little sun burn but it was worth it. I also kicked Steve's ass at GoStop!

Happy Birthday, Diana. You better appreciate this.

Alright, I know. I suck. I am FINALLY going to update and you all have Diana Hall to thank. This is my birthday present to you, you skank.

So what I'm going to do is flip through my day planner and write about things of note since I've last updated. Let's see...how far do I have to go back...May?!?! Blerg.

The second weekend in May was a long one, so Stef-the-Housemate and I hauled our asses to Busan. This is noteworthy because Stef and I have a glorious history of not leaving a 100 meter radius during our holidays. However, Miller the Thrilla hadn't been out of Seoul her entire time here so we made an exception. It was a ton of fun, though I was a bit sick and threw up several times on our first day. Also, the weather was poo and we didn't get to spend any time on the beach.

What we did get to do, though, is explore the city itself. We went to the fish market (the biggest in Korea, thank you) and took a ton of pictures of the delicious little fishies swimming around in tanks. We went shopping in Busan's downtown area and got matching dresses from American Apparel and saw Iron Man (which knocked my socks off). Our last night there, we went to a lovely 찜질방(jjimjil bang) and had to have some locals help us call a cab back to our love motel.

Let's see...what else happened in May...oh, yeah! I was arrested! How silly of me to forget!

It started off so innocently...My friend Steve was competing in the Seoul Triathlon very early in the morning so I wanted to spend a fairly quiet Saturday night in the neighborhood so I could cheer the next day. Ha!

It was the night of the Haebangchon street/music festival and a bunch of my friends and I were hanging out at the local bars, taking drinks outside and enjoying the first really warm night of the year. Stef and her bandmates suggested going up to Namsan to a campfire spot they'd been to before and I was down. We hiked up the hill, bringing guitars and lots of beer and started a fire. Now, keep in mind the place had a stone circle, a pile of logs stacked neatly nearby, a brush to sweep the ash, and stumps arranged all around it. Looked perfectly kosher.

So there we were, a bunch of drunkies having a sing-a-long when we notice a bunch of cop cars and fire trucks at the bottom of the hill. Not having the quickest of response times, we sat there until we were surrounded by them. They started yelling at us in Korean and we quickly put out the fire and were escorted down the hill. I thought that would be the end of it but nope. They wanted us to get in the cop cars and go to the station with them. I was all for refusing but cooler heads prevailed and I got in. But! I got in with my large bottle of Cass that I absolutely refused to get rid of. That's right, I finished my damn beer in the police station (and drank some in the patrol car. Because that's how I roll).

We were forced to wait in the station for about 3 hours while they processed us. It was wicked boring and frustrating and I thought I was going to bust a cap in someone's honky ass. We got yelled at for laughing but then an older cop stole Stef's cookies and offered them to us. When we were finally let go, they told us we had to go to freaking court on June 4th.

On the court day, we were all scrubbed to within an inch of our lives. We kept repeating how sorry we were and how back home it would have been fine to start the fire, and we loved Korea, 대한민국! and all. Finally, the judge told us to get the hell out of there and we didn't even have to pay the fine. A little anti-climatic but I'm totally ok with that!

Ok, more later. Maybe we'll get up to mid-June by the next entry.