Finally got
round to writing this one.
This was the
first year that I had spent Christmas, New Year, and my birthday out of the
country and away from my friends and family, so I wasn’t quite sure what to
expect. Christmas day fell on Wednesday, as I’m sure you’re fully aware, right
in the middle of my orientation so it would have been inappropriate to have
gone all out and celebrate Christmas as I would back home. Luckily, Susie and
James were kind enough to host a Christmas meal and drinks the weekend before
and a night out followed that evening in Itaewon.
James and
Susie worked very hard preparing the meal, and all I did was turn up with
beers. I offered to help with the cooking, but too many cooks and all that. I
wasn’t expecting meat and gravy so early into my tenure in Korea so it was a
delicious surprise.
After the
meal we enjoyed many drinks, the drinking games provided the entertainment and
then we headed out. I’ve never had such an adventure leaving a building before.
Upon leaving Susie’s apartment, some bright sparks thought it would be a good
idea to start jumping in the elevator. The elevator inevitably stopped which
left us in a difficult situation, we were trapped. A perfect video opportunity
if you ask me.
We were
eventually rescued and we took the stairs.
The night out
was great, and it was my first experience of the Itaewon region of Seoul which
is famous for the number of westerners living in and around the area. One of
the guys that was out with us, Alejandro, used his contacts to get us into
every bar and club for free! I’ve never met a Korean named Alejandro before and
I think it’s unlikely that I ever will again but he was pretty ballerific. The
nights out in Korea never seem to end, they continue until the late hours of
the morning which is good as the first subway train isn’t usually until about
5:30. Inevitably we all stumbled out of this particular club and as James,
Josh, and Susie all headed back to Incheon I was going in the opposite
direction to Hoegi. So I got the subway train alone, which seemed like a good
idea but as I sat on the warm train I started feeling drowsy and I fell asleep.
Predictably, I missed my stop and awoke somewhere unknown in northern Seoul at
7:00. I was freezing. I checked the map and had to wait for the returning
train, about 15 minutes. It was the coldest I had known Seoul since my arrival
in the country, too cold to just stand still. So I proceeded to run up and down
the platform to keep warm, the Koreans on the opposite platform must’ve been
confused watching the strange westerner run lengths as he waited for the train.
It eventually arrived, and I finally got home somewhere around 7:30 and 8:00. I
had planned not to waste the Sunday, and was going to go on an outing arranged
by the school to a royal palace with the other teachers. Unfortunately, they
were leaving at 10:00 and having just got in only 2 hours before I thought it
would be best to stay in bed.
The big day
came around, the 25th of December, Santa’s birthday! Christmas, the
time to be merry, rejoice with family and friends and get in the festive
spirit! But I didn’t really feel that festive. South Korea doesn’t really do
Christmas like the west. No decorations, only a select few Christmas songs (I
lost count of how many times I heard Last Christmas by Wham!). They almost
treat the holiday like a second Valentine’s Day. Couples will get together and
do all the typical date stuff, going to the cinema, shopping, getting coffee
etc. So I thought ‘why waste this opportunity?’ I had signed up on Plenty of
Fish a few months back and had already organised a little get-together. My
tagline is “Looking for my Seoul mate”, not bad, eh? So we had our first date
on Christmas day. Her English was good, probably a Level 6, which was good for
me because I know nothing. I’m an ignorant Brit that expects everyone else to
know my language but had made little, actually no effort to learn any language
skills. She was nice and we enjoyed pizza. Yes, while everyone else back home
was eating turkey with all the trimmings I was having very average pepperoni
pizza. ‘Tis the season.
New Year’s
came round quick enough. We had no concrete plans for New Year’s, again, the
Koreans don’t really celebrate this one too much either. I was told that they
eat tteokguk (a rice cake soup which is eaten on New Year’s Day), they bang a
gong at midnight, and children will bow to their elders and receive cash in exchange.
Not the New Year’s I am used to. Tteokguk would only be drunk on New Year’s Eve
in England if it had vodka in it and if you attempted a bow too late in the
night you’d probably fall face first into the concrete. With this in mind my
loose plan was to meet Josh, James, and Susie and see where the night took us.
As with most
nights out in Seoul with this gang it took us to Hongdae, a part of the city
with many pubs, bars, and clubs. The night started in an Irish joint called
Shamrock and Roll. We did a bit of a pub crawl and the night was tainted with,
what turned out to be, a terrible call from James. “There’s a place along here
that does all you can drink sake”. After a few pints that sounded like a great
idea. All you can drink sake for ₩12,000 (£7). Susie and James ordered, and the
sake arrived… hot. Steaming in fact. I’d never done a hot shot before and I
will, hopefully, never do one again. You’d never down a cup of tea, so why
bring me hot sake?!
Susie made the wise decision to not get involved with the
sake. James made another call “we need to drink at least 4 bottles of sake in
order to get our money’s worth”. That’s an entire bottle each plus one more for
good measure. Josh and I protested but it was to little avail, we had the 4
bottles and left.
We moved on
to a few more places then things became a blur. I’ve had occasional flash backs
but it’s like trying to piece together a 1000 piece jigsaw when you’ve only got
40 pieces. I remember Susie being worse for wear and James taking her home as
Josh and I continued to “dance” the night away into the mid-morning hours. It finally
came time to call it a night and we left for the station; it was only on the
walk from the nightclub that I realised I didn’t have a coat. It was -5°C but
it took me about 10 minutes to figure out that I wasn’t wearing the coat that I
started the night in. Only one person knows what happened to my coat that night
and it’s the person who now owns it. It was a good thing I was wearing my beer blanket.
As like most nights in Seoul, at
the end of the night I part ways with Josh at the station as he heads west to
Incheon and I travel east. I’ve started to notice a pattern, I’m not too good
at travelling alone on the subway at night, as I unsurprisingly fall asleep. I
boarded the train and was out like a light. When I woke up I had realised that
I was travelling in the wrong direction, but I had travelled so far before
realising this that it would have been quicker to stay on the train and
continue on the loop than get off and backtrack. So once again I fell asleep.
When I awoke I had missed my stop completely and had almost done an entire loop
of the green line! Off I got, changed platforms and finally reached my
destination at Konkuk University Station. I made my way home and crawled into
bed between 9:30 and 10:00. A journey that should have taken 45 minutes ended
up taking over 3 hours. Terrible by Korean standards but not too shabby by
British rail measures.
I was unable to mong-out the next
afternoon as I was to report to my new school at 14:30 to meet my colleagues. 3
and a half hours sleep isn’t enough after a New Year’s bender. I was wired on
Red Bull and coffee, but I was honestly not in the mood to discuss term plans.
I don’t think they noticed the hangover but if you can’t go out on combined New
Year’s eve and birthday bash then when can you go out?!
