The asian connection (a guide to Hongdae)

First, where to begin. Nick and I arrived at Hongdae at around 11pm korean time. We we met 8 of my coworkers and 3 of there korean friends. We went to this bar/lounge place where we began drinking an excessive amount of liquor. Charles, my new friend for life, and Korean guide for the evening purchased a bottle of tequila which was finished rather quickly. After a number beers, and a variety of alcohol we proceeded to the club. This is where shit got fun. The name of the club was tin pin. It was packed solid, and it was blasting american pop al night. Hearing koreans scream Shot Shot... Shot Shot Shot... was hilarious. Charles was our bona fide pimp for the evening. He spent the entire night wrapping his arms around 3-4 girls at a time and brining them over to us Americans. They then proceeded to grind on us like whoa. Pretty spectacular thing to take part in. We then moved to another club, by which point we were bombed. Unfortunately you are not allowed to take pictures at the club, but I managed to sneak a couple anyway. At 5:00 am we were all tired and hungry. At that point charles ordered some sort of intestine dish, liver dish, rice paste, and shrimp. first meal i did not enjoy here. That+tequila does not mix. Still I didn't get sick so all is well. we got home at 5:45 am, and if you were unaware, the clubs in Korea stay open until people leave. So they can be open till the sunrise. All in all; best night yet here, and I imagine there will be many more to come.

PS: black people here are rare, and nick was like oogled by tons of people, it was awesome.

*The pics are of my friends at work, old friend suzy, charles is wearing orange, his 2 friends, nick, myself, and 2 friends of my friend suzy's. As well as the food we regret we ate.

I HAVE A JOB!!!!!!!!!!!

So lets get us up to date. To begin we had the most intensive training known to man. We were responsible for 2 sections of info 3 hours long. We were tested rigorously, and bashed consistently. To further explain the stress, we had a number of people cry, a person quit the program in the middle of a mock, and a puker. I myself have never been under so much stress. I thought about quitting a number of times, but in the end it was worth it to stay. I have been eating the weirdest food imaginable, and have had the distinct privilege of trying an assortment of strange fried sea foods. I also have found heaven in theses little vitamin C drinks I find everywhere. In the end I am a success story, and I feel for those who didn't make the cut. Monday I will have my first class. I am worried and excited to drill some knowledge, into students while terrifying them with my loud American voice.

I would also like to formally thank those of you who have listened to my venting for the passed couple days. I also wanna thank the believers, and would like to thank Eddie for great food suggestions, and letting me be his dumpring. lol One Love

* pics- of a number of dishes I have eaten, 3 members of my reading group, and my listening skills group who I am happy to say passed with flying colors.

More food and a crazy day of training, and high blood pressure?

Had some new street food, and it was dericious. Training is the most intense thing I have ever gone through. I have never been given so much information to be responsible for in my life. I have done 5 or so practice mock lessons. Some were better than others. The program is awesome as hell though, and the people are all equally stressed out. On a different note I had my medical exam yesterday. It consisted of a weigh in, vision test, X-ray, blood pressure, blood test, and urine test. My blood pressure was through the roof on my first test, so the woman freaked out, and told me to go relax. Then 20 more people followed me and had the same issue. I eventually retook it and all is well. I summed it up to stress, salty food, jet lag, and caffeine. Also there was a girl and a guy both terrified of needles, and when they got there blood drawn they panicked and cried. I felt terrible, but thats life I guess. Other than that I am golden, and very very stressed. I will be studying with my group today and will let you know how it goes. PS: I passed my exam so no worries.

Food above- street vendor crab stick thing, dumplings, shrimp chips, ramen, pocari sweat..... thank you eddie. View from hotel room sorry its a bad pic

Day one on the Korean front

I have intense jet lag, and i had only 2 hours to study for my 4 exams, so in the end i passed 3 and need to retake one tomorrow which I will dominate. Food- bean paste in waffle batter, and its yummy as hell. Other than that very easy day met a ton of people all awesome as hell, and was hit on by my first Korean mom. Very strange because all she could muster up in english was you... very handsome boy... then she touched my tie and said i like. I can see why people come here for wives. Seems easy. Not for me though so don't get any ideas.

Images above are of my landing my food on the plane, and my hotel room which is huge. That's just my living room.

PS: Korea rocks

Take off to landing to rip off

After a 14 hour flight I arrived in Seoul around 6:40 pm Korean time. The flight was 14 hours long and made me want to stab my eyes out because my butt hurt so bad. The food was yummy I had this weird rice dish with veggies and this hot red paste stuff that made me have to poop. I had a run in with a cab driver who took a hold of my luggage and told me to follow me to his cab. Once i got there he informed me I would be paying 150,000 won or 150 dollars to get to my hotel. I told him to give me my things back and he got testy to I yelled at him told him to give me my F---ing things back or I would hit him. I actually said that. Jet lag has a way of making a man unstable. Unfortunately I still managed to get myself ripped off. I took a bud into seoul only to have a cab driver charge me 20& for a 2 mile ride. All in all it could be worse.