My Birthday - Erin

Hello there!!

It has been forever since I updated this. Not so much because I am lazy or disinterested, but more because after a long day of work or sightseeing the last thing I feel like doing is writing about it! So here goes, I will try and update this thing as much as I can today..get as much of it out of the way, so we can start fresh again.

I last left off at my birthday. I will not be as wordy as I usually am, but that is to save me from writing 1o long entries. You will get the gist of what we did from the pictures and captions, so please forgive.

So we have this blog, and we get emails from people we do not know occasionally. I am okay with this, as I know that is part of putting yourself out there. I also know that I would never in a million years email someone who I did not think I would like. So one of our readers was a girl from North Carolina. She was a Korean Adoptee coming to live in the land of kimchi for a year to get back to her roots, etc. We had talked via email a couple times and she was moving to the same neighbourhood as us. We had plans to get in contact and when she called me on Canada Day and we were in the middle of that terrible I concert I told her I would call her back. I called her the next day and invited her to my birthday party. Oh, by the way, her name is LeAnn and she is 26.

So the day of my birthday we met up with LeAnn at Beomgye Station to take the train to meet up with Lisa, Ryan, Amy, Rob and Kat. (I was so happy they came in for the weekend to celebrate, the more the merrier!) LeAnn had been to Korea a couple times before, but it was her first time taking the train as a resident. I think she was a bit overwhelmed by everything at that point, but I also think back to when I first got here and was like that ALL THE TIME.

We met up with everyone in Yeouinaru where we would buy tickets for the Han River Boat Cruise. This is basically a ferry that takes you up and down the river. When we got there we discovered there was a pirate boat, but none of us were able to communicate to the lady that that is what we wanted. In then end we chose "concert boat". It was like 17000 won, which in hindsight was too much, but whatever, we were excited for it.

While we waited we bought beers at the convenience store, some people had a snack a KFC, and we boarded the cruise. It took about an hour and a half, and we were on it at dusk which was nice. By the end of it you could see all the lights and that was pretty nice. We did not ever hear the concert, but apparently there was a guy playing music on the bottom of the boat. I was hoping for show tunes, but no luck there. There was however people doing noraebong on the boat. It is everywhere!!

After the cruise we headed to Hongdae (Hongik University) to party. This place is amazing. There are thousands of people in a smallish area. The streets are packed with young, hip people in amazing outfits. There are street vendors left and right. Shops and restaurants are everywhere and you can just tell this place is alive. From what we have heard it does not stop until well in to the AM. We were so excited to be there and decided to stop for food. After deciding to eat Pho (Vietnamese Soup) we stopped at a restaurant that was closing but decided to let us in since there were like 8 of us.

The food was good, but crazy hot. Like really hot. Hard to eat. All our tongues were burning off! And Kat couldn't eat because there was fear of meat in everything but the sprouts. I felt bad, but there was nothing I could do. The veggie dishes we wanted to order they said it was not possible. So we dined and off we went. I knew where we wanted to go, but not really. We wanted a loud, live music, rock club. Lisa thought they knew where we should go, but wanted to stop at Bricxx first.

Bricxx is the same place as the last Hookah bar we went to with Lisa and Ryan. Personally, not my thing. I mean it is dark (which can be okay) and smoky (which I hate) and the drinks cost at least 5000won+ (which I hate). Apparently this place sold hummus and falafel though, so we headed in so Kat could eat. Well, the kitchen no longer serves food like that so Kat was stuck with nachos and we were stuck with expensive drinks. I hate to be a Debbie Downer, but I was just not feeling the place. Thankfully, we all finished up and decided to head out.

After much waffling, which I hate, we decided to go to Club FF or Club Funky Funky. Rob and Kat went to find a hotel and real food, they were never to return. Lisa, Ryan, LeAnn, Jeffry and I decided however, that this was the place to go. We paid out 5000won to get in, including a drink, and went downstairs. I was not sure this was what we were looking for, as there was no music pouring out the door like the other clubs. I was wrong.

This place was perfect. Upon entering you see how dirty and gross the floor is. There are people passed out on dirty couches and garbage litters the floor. You could also hear very loud, live music emanating from the basement. We headed down there to be seranaded by loud rock music. It was packed with both foreigners and Koreans. It was amazing.

We rocked out to covers of old rock music, some good, some terrible and then listened to the DJ. The DJ here is pretty good. He plays a mix of rock and dancey music. But by the point he plays dance tracks you are so into it it doesn't matter. My birthday ended perfectly. We found a place where we feel at home. I could live in this club. For the first time since we left Canada I felt comfortable in my own skin, with myself. I know now where to go to find that feeling. We also have a new friend out it, so in the end the day was pretty perfect.

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