After a day of fun in the snow with the kids of Sonbul Seo Elementary, it was time for a great weekend. This one, the weekend just prior to Christmas, was among my favorite yet in Korea. With the snow, Korean people really seem to slow down as much as they panic, and I think most foreigners in particular were just really excited to have some snow on the ground. Though there was considerably less snow in Haenam, where our friends Zach and Monti live, Erik and I decided to come down for a night of food and drink. What you'll see first are some snapshots from the night.
This was a brand new concept that blew my mind. What you see in the middle is really lean, delicious cuts of beef there were delicious...and you can also catch the familiar look of garlic frying on the side, to the lower right, but what exactly is all that yellow stuff? As it turns out, this restaurant in Haenam specializes in mixing things up a bit--on the left, you see egg that is to be fried for a lettuce wrap, and at the top of the grill, you see cheese that is also melting and will be combined with everything else. Korean barbecue is delicious on its own, but add egg and cheese and...well, damn.
Here is the finished product: beneath all of this, we have our usual layer of various lettuce leaves, while you see a nice cut of steak topped with red pepper paste, garlic, egg and cheese, and a tangy salad-like mixture of greens for garnish. Wrap it all together and WOW.
After dinner, we decided to check out a soju room. This is where, more or less, you sit in a room designed for anywhere between 1-6 people and drink soju/beer and eat chicken and other good snacks. They have a sliding glass door that closes you off from other rooms, so it feels a little intimate and still doesn't feel like the right drinking concept for many of us. But we're free to make plenty of noise and have plenty of ridiculous conversations. Here are Erik and Monti thoroughly enjoying.
Ah, and this was an interesting guy! Monti opens his apartment to others looking to "couch surf," which many of you have no doubt heard of in passing--couch surfers, more or less, travel the world and check a main website which details those people willing to host said travelers for free on their couches or other facilities across the world. So, if anyone ever stops through Haenam, South Korea, Monti's couch is an adequate spot for just about anyone to spend the night. This particular weekend, we were blessed with the presence of Remi, a 30-something-year-old Frenchman who came to Korea for an apparently epic crane migration in Suncheon. He was awesome to go out and have some beers with, and talk to about just about anything--beers, France, women, the world, etc.
And here are some other dudes from the general Haenam crew. On the left is David, a big, jolly, bearded dude from Canada's East Coast, and William, a hardcore leftist Texan. Also, Hampyeong's very own Erik Gray. This is taken at Haenam's Wa Bar, which is a big pub that feels very similar to home and carries an adequate beer selection on bar with bars from home--familiar beers from all around the world.
And then it was time, on Saturday, to make the trek to Mokpo (about a 40-minute bus ride from Hampyeong and about an hour bus ride from Haenam) for the big pre-Christmas party. By 5:00 p.m., it was time to put on the Santa hats and start drinking. Moe's is Mokpo's little bar where many foreigners hang out, and it tends to host just about every foreigner event. This was no exception.
This is Marie, a delightful girl from California, who is one of the more energetic, positive and kind people I've had the pleasure of meeting in Korea. She lives and teaches in Mokpo, and was one of only a few folks actually dressed in the full Santa swag.
And here's my oldest friend in Korea--Gina, who, as I've said time and time again, is the reason I pretty much came to Korea. She's an old friend from home; I've known her since I was about 8, and she made one hell of an argument about why I should come teach here. Great to catch up with her a bit.
And here are our lovely bartenders, who claim to be sisters--Lindsay and Jinny are what I believe they call themselves.
And this photo marks the beginning of the 2011 "Running of the Santas" Christmas hash run. Now, I should explain: a "hash run" is a tradition that began among foreigners here in Jeollonam-do province, specifically on weekends of holidays and special gatherings. A "hash run" consists of participants dressing up in some ridiculous or festive outfits (Halloween costumes, Santa hats and suits, robots, zombies, they've tried many things), running around the city of said "hash run," and drinking before, during, and after the run. Typically, in warmer weather, booze will be hidden across the city as part of the fun festivities--and it is the participants' job to drink until it's all gone, and until the race is complete. There are signs, as you can see, written on the ground in flour, including crosses (indicating that the correct route is one of 4 directions), arrows (indicating a correct direction), and abbreviations like "BN," which means "Beer Is Near." Koreans laugh and take picures, we laugh and take pictures AND drink a bit, and everyone is happy. This run was my first, and the first for many foreigners, and we accordingly drank a bit more than our colleagues. All in good fun. Cold night, though!
Here are hashers Gabe, Gina, Britney, Marie, and Hayley all sitting down for drinks. As I said, usually, the drinks are served outside (bottles of beer, for instance, hidden in bushes), but on such a cold night, the pit stops for alcohol all included nice, warm pubs.
Me and Marie enjoying the night thus far.
Friends Mackenzie, Marie, and Monti enjoying the festivities.
Here's one of our last stops on the run, a noraebang (NO-RAY-BAHNG, literally "singing room"), or more or less a karaoke hall, where all 30-40 hash runners were able to engage in some Christmas carols on top of our delicious 2-carbon beverages. Here, as you can see on the screen, are foreigners rocking out to Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline."
And offering a hearty "cheers" to yet another successful hash run in Mokpo.
Readers, I don't believe you've yet met Dan Glucksnis, so here is your introduction. He's straight out of Reading, Pennsylvania (close to home for much of my family), but went to school at Northern Michigan University (in my neck of the woods), so we talk about all things Northwoods and hockey. He lives in Yeongam, not far from Mokpo. Happy to see Dan and his beard this night.
The one thing you must make sure of, after each hash run, is that you've saved enough energy for the rest of the night's festivities! After this particular hash run, there was a big party at Moe's, and many more foreigners filled the joint. These two beautiful faces belong to Nathan and Rachel, my two favorite North Carolina natives. Although I've only seen them in Mokpo on these party nights since orientation, it's a treat to spend some time with such good people.
Here's the scene--just a lot of cool foreigners in great Christmas gear drinking beer, dancing it up a bit, and having a damn good time.
Mokpo foreigners Shari and Sarah got a hold of a Moe's patron and did not let him go. Made for an awesome picture.
The next morning at E-Mart (more or less a Korean all-purpose store like Wal-Mart), Monti found a bottle of Manischewitz, a favorite Christmas (ney, Hanukkah) treat for many of us back home. Who woulda thought?
A quick look at the (limited) Christmas gear in my apartment. Here is a tree I bought at E-Mart for roughly $3. It came with cheap ornaments, in a box, with fold-down branches. Cheap, but effective.
Some tinsel and holly I used to decorate my bookshelf. Again, cheap but effective.
A Christmas stocking that hangs over my night stand. For merely $1.
With that concludes this post on pre-Christmas festivities. I must say, as I always am, I was absolutely blown away by the 48 hours of camaraderie I was able to experience, far away from home as I am. Can't thank everyone enough for making my holidays a little bit easier to get through. Another great weekend was over, but it meant a great Christmas weekend just down the road.
Thanks for reading! The countdown to my Thailand trip is at 6 days, and I've been staying busy doing some day trips around Korea to pass the time before my flight. Hoping to have my blog completely up to date by the time I leave. Lots of love, and all the best.
-Sam
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