Seoul Searching

This is my second blog and I am already behind on the updates but I'm going to sum up my five days in Seoul:

The dormitories in Seoul were a reliving of college crammed into five days. You meet people with the desperation of soldiers about to go off to war. We'll be in the ESL trenches and we need weekend drinking partners. We are stranded on an island out here in South Korea. In fact I think of this peninsula as a series of Islands filled with stranded westerns using the cheap public transportation as a life boat.

The bootcamp consisted of lots of hour long workshops led by ESL teachers already out in the field. There was also quick survival Korean lessons - in which most of us learned nothing. And the took us to a Museum and some other historical places but I think the most important part of it all was the networking opportunities so we wouldn't be so lonely for the year we are here.

I met some interesting people at the ESL bootcamp. So many people had their own interesting stories about how they ended up in SOuth Korea. The general consensus is the need for money and the thirst for adventure. Many people have done interesting things in the past like running a restaurant, delivery sandwiches, or working at a group home. The nations represented were England, Ireland, Scotland, USA, South Africa, Australia, Jamaica, and New Zealand. Its interesting that England is that well represented, only two or three people, yet here we are all teaching English. The most prominent presence is the US and South Africa. In fact I partied one night in Itaewon - the American sector of Seoul - with six South Africans, and one Kiwi and it all felt quite natural. I took it as a compliment when they said I was not like the Americans they were used to. All of us citizens of the world loudly sang along to Bohemian Rhapsody in a bar full of Koreans. They forgave out obnoxiousness because the song is just so magical.

Then we hopped back on the subway and ended at this bar called "Bun Ker." We were walking down this street in Seoul, in the university district, that looked like a cross between Bourbon Street and Time Square when a few fashioned dressed Korea guys in the early twenties flagged us down and beckoned us down into the basement bar. Bun Ker was filled with locals and the DJ was spinning lots of American hip hop but also some great standards like Michael Jackson. The South Africans and I had a great time down there.

The bar is so great that everyone decided to return to the same bar the next day. Our last night in Seoul as a big group. Unlike the night before we went with over 40 people to this little bar. When we showed up there were only five locals. Over the night we drank all the beer they had. This was the end of ESL bootcamp before we all shipped off to the bumfuck-middle-of-nowheres where we would be stationed for a year.

Most of the westerners quickly start getting wasted by playing drinking games but I'm just sipping my beer and dancing. I've never really been a fan of drinking games - I like to drink at my own pace and I'm not a fan of getting wasted. If a booze, beer, or wine is worth drinking then it should be worth sipping.

Eventually the dance floor really gets going. I kind of move out of the mass because there is some unused space on the size and I think the bar is getting a little too crowed. There is a hip Korean guy that gives me a thumbs up. I think he likes my style 'cause I am i dressed up in my usual flashy thrift store suit style.

I take a break and lean against the wall and notice that this Korean girl is makes eyes at me and then she stands right by me and drops her phone. a couple of the pieces fall off it and I help pick it up. She says thank you and soon we start dancing together. She seems like a rather mild mannered girl but she is really getting into the music. She is wearing a sweatshirt over a button up shirt and a couple layers of tights. As we dancing she slides up the tights and then takes off the sweat shirt. She is really starting to get freaky with the bumping a grinding. getting down on her knees in front of me. Then she takes off the dress shirt and she is down to a tank top and really starts dancing close. She is with a few other girls. She says they are family. I assume cousin or sister. She asks my name and I ask hers (it is Do-Ya) and then she wonders what it is that I do. I tell her that I am a teacher and it makes her smile. I certainly prefer her charm to the girls that hang out in Itaewon dry humping the American GIs in the bar. I ask her a question that was more complicated than it should have been and she cleverly looks at me and says "I'm Korean." in a kind of "dumbass, lets keep the conversation simple" way.

It isn't until after she kisses me on the cheek that her cousin takes her into the bathroom. She isn't drunk at all, I just think the cousin is worried about such familiarity. When she comes back out her cousin has makes her put a couple layers back on but keeps dancing with me. A western guy comes over and dances near us like he is trying to get in the mix and she tries to get him to dance with her cousin but he drops the ball and misses the signs. Her cousin is just as cute as the girl dancing with me, maybe not as charming, but attractive nonetheless and the dude just doesn't go with the flow. This same guy tried to obnoxiously hit on some girls the night before, to no avail, but maybe the night before he was drinking Soju and tonight is a vodka night for him and that could make all the difference.

Quickly enough the music gets more and more to her liking and sure enough she is back down to the tanktop again. The rest of the crowd as started jam dancing in the circle. Everyone showing off one at a time but I'm off to the side dancing real close with Do- Ya. Then we hear some cheering and my kneejerk worry is that it is some machismo cheering for me but thankfully it is cheering for someone that has done a great move in the dance jam. In an instinctive desire for showmanship that I can certainly relate to Do-Ya wants to upstage whoever got cheered. She drags me into the center of the circle. and we start dancing hot and heavy. She gets down on her knees in front of me then gets up. i lift her up and she straddles my waist and then she takes her shirt off so she's only wearing a bra. We bump and grind like that few seconds and then she kisses my cheek. I put her down and we go back off to the corner to keep on dancing.

Her cousin informs her that they have to get going. She asks me for my telephone number. i don't have one yet so i had her right down her name and number. She gave me a kiss on the mouth and then left into the night.

In the morning people had talked about the incident and a few folks asked me about it as well as told me some of the stuff that the other guys were saying. Apparently a bunch of the westerners thought i was gay because of my affinity for pink shirts but I guess pink pays off in the end.

After all those nights of commotion we board our buses and I head for Chungbuk - not knowing exactly where I am going - But still, on my way.