<--- Jon's placeAnother weekend has come and gone.
Sorry I didn't write on Sunday night. I got 3.5 hours of sleep on Sunday morning, so I lived very few hours that day. I was asleep at 8:30 pm.The Saturday performance I had to work for was basically babysitting 102. Give these kids bananas and make sure their face isn't dirty. Help them change. Attempt to keep 10 kids quiet for 2 hours doing nothing but sitting on a mat on the floor. Nonetheless, I enjoyed their incessant affection and mauling. I had to make a mad-rush for Itaewon for a custom suit fitting after my school obligations were completed. Pretty simple, make this shorter, this should be a little longer, joa (I like it) etc. Then it was all Subway sandwich (English free transaction!) and a long subway ride to meet Yumi and Jon for Bjork.
Bjork, wow! Theatrical indeed. She had great light effects, day-glow face paint, and a like 20 piece brass section. They did cool synched shit. She had the cutest accent and expressions ever, and everything, everything sounded fucking perfect. I have never heard such great sound at a show. It was in a large venue (think Boston Garden for those Bostonians, be creative others) Practically full. Her voice is huge, and haunting live. Top 3 concerts easily, for sound, performance, and experience / company. Jon, Yumi, and I headed in nearly an hour early so we could get a good place. We ended up about 40 feet back before Bjork started, but once she began, herd-like compression put us more like 30 feet away. Seriously, I'm still short in Korea, it hurts, oh the pain, even Yumi is about a centimeter taller than I am. Needless to say, after about 3/4th's of the show, I couldn't see shit because some pushy Korean guy oblivious to my lament, weaseled his way into my already small window of Bjork viewing. When the crowd began moving forward, much to my enjoyment, Yumi reached behind her, grabbed my hands, and wrapped them around stomach. Not a bad start, I thought. To sum it up quickly, the show kicked ass, holding Yumi, perfect music, falling fog of confetti (spelling?) at the end.
Then to Hongdae, (this surprises no one, it's my typical Saturday night adventure) I still haven't gone to all the cool bars even. It was Jon and three of his friends from school (all female), Yumi, and I. Yumi and I took a different train so she could chat with her friends for a few minutes. Then her and I went to a cool cafe for some dinner. She suggested a large grilled chicken salad for us to share, eating off the same plate, another great sign I thought. We chilled alone for an hour or so and talked about Korean, music, a few movies, then met Jon and his friends to go to a cool bar called Stereo, Because Nabi (our favorite spot) was completely full. This place plays great music. We had a few beers and headed to Nabi. Nabi is low (near only candle) light, Hukahs, chilling on the floor, surrounded by pillows, in nooks, greatness. We smoked a hukah, chatted, Jon played the Djembe, I drank more than everyone else, Jon and his friends passed out in near simultaneous succession. At 4 a.m. Jon and crew departed to Yumi's and my own barely concealable relief. At about 3a.m. she had told me "I have to tell you something." "ok, I'm listening", "When we're alone, ok." This could go either way I thought, but she keeps holding my hand, 80% chance it's good. It was just her and I then, so I asked her what she had to tell me. (* I previously had asked Yumi in these words, "do you have romantic feelings for me?" She replied, "I don't know, can I think about?") I think relaying the conversation nearly word for word, now that the setting is clear, would be the most descriptive and simple manner to approach this. It went (to the best of memory) exactly like this.
"What do you want to tell me?"
"Remember what you you asked me before"?
"I asked you a lot, what do you mean?"
"You asked me if I have romantic feelings for you"
"Yeah I remember, so"
"Ask me again"
"Do you have romantic feelings for me?"
"Yes"
"Perfect, so what does that mean"
"What do you want it to mean?"
"I want you to be my girlfriend"
"Ok"
"Kisu Juseo" (please give me a kiss)
"Not here, later"
"Ok"
We spent the whole night together, finally fell asleep well into daylight at 8a.m. and it was perfect.
And so it is, my patience has landed me on the other side of the river. Rad. Needless to say, I have been in high spirits about this.
I have been trying to figure out a way to study Korean with someone 2 times a week at least. All the options I have found as of yet are $200 a month. I am studying pretty hard by myself right now, learning vocabulary, and trying to wrap my mind around Korean grammar. It's daunting, but I'm a fairly determined person when I want something bad enough. I really have to do laundry, and study, and watch this movie "There Will Be Blood" tonight, so I'm gonna make this a short entry. But before my departure, I want to share some quirky things about Korea that I keep forgetting to note. I know I'll forget some, so from now on if you see a final paragraph labeled "Only In Korea" it is the perpetual continuation of this little rant. Here goes...
"Only In Korea" (ok Probably other places, but I haven't been there yet)
*Beer cans with braile on the top.
*Taxi door handles with braile on them.
*Everything is recycled except food, and random unrecycleables such as cloth, wood, etc.
*Men wear man purses, many of them, I'm not talking messenger bags, this shit's Gucci, LV, and they are not gay.
*Men hold hands, and keep their hands on each others thighs, sleep on each other's shoulders etc. (not as common as the purses) and they are not gay.
*Miles of sidewalks paved with rubber running track material.
*No trashcans, one just throws their trash on the ground in piles on the sidewalk by the street, and some mysterious underpaid individual picks it up before dawn.
*Everyone has a washing machine, even in the tiniest studio apartment, but dryers are next to impossible to find.
*Taxi's are freaking nice! And yet they are half the price of Boston or New York.
*To get your waiter or waitress, you have to yell "Yogiyo"(come over here), or Push these buttons built into the table that ring a bell. It's not rude.
*There is no good beer.
*Free purified water everywhere nobody drinks tapwater. Bathrooms everywhere.
*Street food is part of the cuisine, excellent, cheap, and fucking everywhere, and by everywhere I mean fucking everywhere.
*I saw over 100 people in one day with professional quality 5-20 thousand dollar cameras in one district. (Even with light meter professional)
*Koreans dress up way too much to do anything. Full-on racing gear and pro-quality bikes for a few guys riding around Seoul, Full-on we're gonna climb Denali gore-tex'ed out, trekking pole toteing, 3000cu through-hiking pack wearing day hikers. *Also, refer back to cameras.
*and seriously couples wear matching shit like it's cool, there are even many stores devoted to this disturbing cross gender coordination. I'm talking beyond the tacky "I'm with stupid" t-shirts, this is jacket, hat and shoes disturbing.
-Ok, that's enough for now. I'm inevitably forgetting the best examples. Call it the CD shopping phenomenon.
* (Most of these pics are from Hwaseong fortress wall in Suwon, Jon and I went there last week. He takes all the photos, I just beg for them. I'm trying to get some from Bjork, and Nabi too. I'll post as I receive)
Until next time
"What do you want to tell me?"
"Remember what you you asked me before"?
"I asked you a lot, what do you mean?"
"You asked me if I have romantic feelings for you"
"Yeah I remember, so"
"Ask me again"
"Do you have romantic feelings for me?"
"Yes"
"Perfect, so what does that mean"
"What do you want it to mean?"
"I want you to be my girlfriend"
"Ok"
"Kisu Juseo" (please give me a kiss)
"Not here, later"
"Ok"
We spent the whole night together, finally fell asleep well into daylight at 8a.m. and it was perfect.
And so it is, my patience has landed me on the other side of the river. Rad. Needless to say, I have been in high spirits about this.
I have been trying to figure out a way to study Korean with someone 2 times a week at least. All the options I have found as of yet are $200 a month. I am studying pretty hard by myself right now, learning vocabulary, and trying to wrap my mind around Korean grammar. It's daunting, but I'm a fairly determined person when I want something bad enough. I really have to do laundry, and study, and watch this movie "There Will Be Blood" tonight, so I'm gonna make this a short entry. But before my departure, I want to share some quirky things about Korea that I keep forgetting to note. I know I'll forget some, so from now on if you see a final paragraph labeled "Only In Korea" it is the perpetual continuation of this little rant. Here goes...
"Only In Korea" (ok Probably other places, but I haven't been there yet)
*Beer cans with braile on the top.
*Taxi door handles with braile on them.
*Everything is recycled except food, and random unrecycleables such as cloth, wood, etc.
*Men wear man purses, many of them, I'm not talking messenger bags, this shit's Gucci, LV, and they are not gay.
*Men hold hands, and keep their hands on each others thighs, sleep on each other's shoulders etc. (not as common as the purses) and they are not gay.
*Miles of sidewalks paved with rubber running track material.
*No trashcans, one just throws their trash on the ground in piles on the sidewalk by the street, and some mysterious underpaid individual picks it up before dawn.
*Everyone has a washing machine, even in the tiniest studio apartment, but dryers are next to impossible to find.
*Taxi's are freaking nice! And yet they are half the price of Boston or New York.
*To get your waiter or waitress, you have to yell "Yogiyo"(come over here), or Push these buttons built into the table that ring a bell. It's not rude.
*There is no good beer.
*Free purified water everywhere nobody drinks tapwater. Bathrooms everywhere.
*Street food is part of the cuisine, excellent, cheap, and fucking everywhere, and by everywhere I mean fucking everywhere.
*I saw over 100 people in one day with professional quality 5-20 thousand dollar cameras in one district. (Even with light meter professional)
*Koreans dress up way too much to do anything. Full-on racing gear and pro-quality bikes for a few guys riding around Seoul, Full-on we're gonna climb Denali gore-tex'ed out, trekking pole toteing, 3000cu through-hiking pack wearing day hikers. *Also, refer back to cameras.
*and seriously couples wear matching shit like it's cool, there are even many stores devoted to this disturbing cross gender coordination. I'm talking beyond the tacky "I'm with stupid" t-shirts, this is jacket, hat and shoes disturbing.
-Ok, that's enough for now. I'm inevitably forgetting the best examples. Call it the CD shopping phenomenon.
* (Most of these pics are from Hwaseong fortress wall in Suwon, Jon and I went there last week. He takes all the photos, I just beg for them. I'm trying to get some from Bjork, and Nabi too. I'll post as I receive)
Until next time
No comments:
Post a Comment