"Excuse me, where are you from?"
Thats's how it started. An innocent, friendly question from a kindly Korean gent. It ended with me waking up the next morning in a place I like to refer to as 'Struggletown'. How did I get there, you ask, well read on and all shall be revealed...
It's Friday night, much like any other, and me and a mate from work are roaming the streets of our neighbourhood trying to decide on where we should eat dinner. Spoilt for choice, we eventually decide on a little Korean seafood restaurant that we have noticed is always busy. Unsure of what to order, we decide to accept the recommendation of the hostess, even though when it arrives we notice that we are the only patrons dining on it. Just as we are taking our respective first bites, we hear "Excuse me, where are you from?".
His name was Baek Gi-sung, he works in contruction (I don't think the same way as Tony Soprano works in 'construction') and hs 2 daughters. He instantly took a liking to us when he found out I was from Australia. "I have a daughter who lives in Melbourne" he said. Upon learning what we ordered for dinner, he informed us that our dish was ordered by less than 10% of those who frequent the restaurant. He also added that his dish was the house speciality, ordered by around 80% of the time, and that he would gladly share it with us.
It was damn tasty. Called 'Dulumoggoi' in Korean, it was served as a whole fish, complete with egg sack. Kicked the crap out of what we ordered, which left us feeling like chumps. Clueless Western chumps. In appreciation, we sent a bottle of soju to his table. This token of gratitude was reciprocated and then some - our new friend sent us 2 plates of cuttlefish and some beer to wash it down with. The friendly banter between our tables continued and he left - but not before demanding that he (his company to be exact) paid our bill. He also left us with his business card and the words "Call me if you have an accident and need a Korean friend to fight for you". Brilliant.
We barely had time to digest what had just taken place, when we hear "Excuse me, where are you from?" We look up to see 2 Korean university students standing over us with a bottle of soju. "We really want to practice English and make foreign friends, may we sit?" "Sure."
I could only recall one of their names the next day, Kim Min-su, but both were good guys. We drank soju. They regaled us with stories of studies in New Zealand. We drank soju. We discussed the state of Korean soccer. We drank soju. We sympathised with each other about how hard our respective languages are to learn. We drank soju. We laughed about the stupidity of Korean TV dating shows. We drank soju. We debated which girls were the most beautiful - Korean, Japanese or Chinese. We drank soju.
I was actually relieved when the restauranter asked us to kindly "make a move". Again, our Korean 'hosts' refused to let us pay the bill, and we evetually relented. Two hours solid of drinking soju takes its toll, and it was no mean feat negotiating the one step to exit the restaurant. I managed to stumble home and find my bed, and moments before passing out out I recall thinking, 'Damn you, Korean hospitality, damn you'.
Ok, 'Pointless Korean Fact' time. This time it concerns the cause of my misery the morning after the night I have just recounted. Soju dates back to the 13th century and is distilled from potatoes. Its 20-25% alc vol, and costs a mere $4 a bottle (thats in a restaurant) and tastes like rocket fuel. Koreans drink it like it's water....
Photos this entry are just random photos of Seoul I have taken during my time here.
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