An Ode To Hongdae

Last night I went out with fellow teachers Mahya and, well, let's call him "new guy", to Hongdae. Hongdae is a big university district in Seoul, where a bunch of clubs, bars and restaurants are located. Last time I was in Korea, I'd go there every weekend. It gets pretty damn crunk.

When we first arrived, I took them to my favorite bar in all of Korea, Bar 다 (which is pronounced Bar-Da, a play on "bada" which in Korean means "the sea"). It's incredibly small and secluded, kind of run down and dark, only big enough for 8-10 customers, but they play great music and I find it pretty fucking charming. After one drink, I could tell they kinda liked it, but it really wasn't their scene. They wanted to GET DOWN. Time to move on.

Then we got Korean barbecue (Dwejji Galbi to be exact, which is marinated pork rib). It was incredibly delicious, as always. A few bottles of soju/beer later, we went to Brickx down the road and smoked hookah. Apple. Yumz. Next we met up with LEAH FREAKIN FILLION at Club FF, and listened to some crap cover band for a bit. Following this, we headed to Tinpan 1, which I thought would be more Mahya and new guy's scene.

Sorry for the "and then, and then, and next," format of this, but here's the point of my story:

New guy made an ass of himself.

He's been in Korea for 18 hours. He got off the plane, went to the school, then left with us to go downtown. Really nice guy, but man, that soju tore him up. I'm not going to hold this against his character, because I've been there before. Actually, I was there Tuesday. But boy was it not fun dragging his drunk ass around!

At Tinpan, he saw a couple of Korean girls dancing-- and dancing quite well, I must say-- on the bar. Of course he decided to get up there and join them. His dance consisted of pelvic thrusts and self-body caressing. Then he got the wonderful idea of jumping up to grab the fire sprinkler pipe above him, and hang from it. He swung his legs up and tried to get them wrapped around the pipe, I guess so he could be upside down and continue to dance, but the ENTIRE packed bar shouted WTF! in either Korean or English. The bartenders and security rush over to pull him down and get him out, but before they can, he loses his grip on the pipe and falls. Hits the bar. Hits the barstool. Hits people. Hits the floor.


He got up and dusted himself off, and everyone's laughing at him. Then he dropped this line on me: "Dude, I'm totally not gay, but wouldn't it be awesome if we made out???"

Then he kissed me.

Ummmmm nice to meet you, new guy.