So I'm a little late in this entry- and that's just due to my own laziness. That, and I was afraid I didn't have too much to post about. Of course, once I had some time to think it over, more stuff came to mind. Hence, this!

In any case- work is work, not much to say there. Things are going pretty well- I've gotten to the point where I have half an idea of what I'm doing, so that's good. Earlier in the week, I went ahead and went up on the roof of my building during a nice day- and so, here's a bird's eye view of Ilsan!

Friday night, I hit up the local expat bar- only again, I happened to go there too early. My problem is that I get off of work, and then I'm ready to do cool stuff...but the bar doesn't really pick up 'til later in the evening. And since I get there when things are slow, I usually just have a beer or two and then meander back to my place around 10-ish.

It was kind of amusing, though, as on my way to the bar, I happened to pass by this big music hall/megachurch sort of thing- at which point I had some middle-aged ladies try to get me to go to Saturday's services. I can't fault them for their prolestyzing, as they were very polite- but at the same time, it's not quite my thing. I declined as politely as I could.

But! Then, on my way BACK from the bar, a few hours later, I stop by one of the street vendor's carts for a delicious snack. At which point a Korean guy there (who...might not have been entirely sober) starts chatting to me in English. And apparently, his wife was one of the ladies giving out pamphlets the next block over. And the guy kind of rambled on- inviting me to go hiking, and to the church service the next day. Quite friendly- if perhaps a bit overly so. And given the fact that I was more in the mood to head back to my apartment, a little awkward. So I pulled the old 'pretend you just got a cellphone call' trick, and used that to make my escape. Woo.

I proceeded to catch Splice as it was playing on one of the Korean channels (they play a lot of English-language movies with Korean subtitles). It's a crazy, somewhat twisted movie- but in a good way. It's a good thing when a flick can make you go 'dang, that's screwed up' without making you want to barf.

Saturday morning and afternoon was pretty uneventful. I strolled around Ilsan, and made a stop at the local library- however, I was unable to get a library card, as apparently you need a passport-sized photo to do it. I shouldn't have been surprised, as you need a photo to do much of anything here- to get a physical, to apply for a job, and probably a lot of other stuff that I don't even know about. I also found a nice little resturant where I had some really tasty shrimp & rice. I'd say more, but I'm kind of getting hungry just thinking about it right now.

Saturday night, though- that was the highlight. Once again, I went to Hongdae, which is right by a big University. Lots of young people, and lots of stuff for young people- bars, clothing shops, fast food, dance clubs, and more bars. Kinda like Austin, only with kimchi. And a LOT more cramped, obviously. It being Saturday night, there was all kinds of stuff going on- musicans busking, vendors hawking their stuff, and, of course, people drinking. Everywhere. Korea has no open container laws, so you can just pop into one of the city's ubiquitous convenience stores, nab a beer or a bottle of soju or whatever, and then just roll down the street. The highlight of the street-sights was probably coming across a freestyle rap battle in a little park. I'm assuming the guys had some mad (Korean) rhymes, as every now and again, the entire crowd would go "OOOOOOOOOH!" and I would assume someone just got told.

It took me like 45 minutes to find the venue I wanted to go to. And literally, as I was saying 'argh I hate everything I'm gonna go home!'...I found it. As in, I was standing right in front of it, and I'd prolly passed it like three times before. Oops.

Still, it worked out quite well, all things considered! The club was a tiny little basement- maaaaybe about two thirds of the size of the room at Cicero's, for any readers who might be familiar with it.

I got there just in time to drink a beer before the first act went on, so it's not like I missed anything. And I'm glad I didn't! The first band was a Korean ska band called Kingston Rudieska. Which is kind of like calling a punk band 'Detroit Punkrock.' Funny name aside, they were really good- they had a solid two-tone sound, with kind of poppy vocals. It was funny, too, as all the stage banter was in Korean. Still, most folks were having a pretty good time, so I'd say the band was doing their job.

After Kingston Rudieska was some indie-style band made of a bunch of Americans (they might've had a Canadian in there, too). They were alright, if not amazing.

Next act was a punk band called Whatever That Means, and I have to say I rather liked them. It also helped that they came on when the bar started giving out free drinks (crappy cocktails, mind, but the price was right!). And as an added bonus, they played some Slayer during the sound check, thus giving the audience (or at least me) free reign to yell "WOO. SLAYEEEEEEER!" Because someone's gotta do it. Or something. And they did a Misfits cover as their encore, which was pretty rad too. There was even a mosh pit going! Albiet one with only like six people in it. This one girl who was rocking really hard attempted a stage dive, but unfortunately it didn't quite work- she didn't fall on her face, thankfully, but it mostly came off as more of a 'stage step-down' than anything.

There was another Korean band that came on after that- but by that point, it was 1 am, so I decided to go get some fresh air. From what I saw, they were alright, though.

All and all, I'm quite glad I went to the show- seeing live music was one of my favorite things to do in St. Louis, and I'm really glad I can go ahead and do the same in Seoul. I'm excited for the chance to go out and about and see more indie music- right now, the RockTigers are high up on my list for bands to see- because Korean Rockabilly? That's ridiculously obscure enough that I pretty much HAVE to see it, just so I have a trump card when it comes to obscure band one-upmanship.

Anyway! That's not where the evening ended, either! As once I was done with the show, I ambled around a little more...and I decided I needed a break. So I found a PC Bang. 'Bang' means 'room' in Korean, see- and PC...is, well, PC. PC Bangs are places where, for like a dollar an hour, you can sit at a computer, play video games, surf the internet, or whatever. My original plan was to hang out in one of these for a few hours 'til the trains started again. Endurance, and all that.

I probably could have made it, too! But, my cousin called me up about an hour into my video game time- and once I informed her of my plan, she said 'don't do that, crash at my place!' Which, honestly, I have to admit was the better plan. So, I walked like two or three blocks over, at which point I met up with my cousin and her friends- and after a little more effort in getting a taxi (apparently, it's kind of hard to find one who'll take you to where you wanna go for an actual legal price), we made it back to her place! We briefly hung out on the roof (time enough for me to have another beer, at least), and then wrapped up the evening at, oh...four? Five AM? This is apparently about standard for partying in Seoul.

And the funny thing is? No hangover. A little sleep deprived, sure- but on the various late, late nights I've spent out and about, I haven't nearly been in as bad of shape as I thought I'd be in. Maybe I just know how to pace myself, or maybe it's 'cause I won't touch soju, or...something. I dunno!

Regardless, Sunday was my typical 'laze around' day- I headed back to my apartment, did some reading, watched some TV (Every episode of every Star Trek ever is on Youtube these days, so that's keeping me occupied) and otherwise was a bum. Being a bum is rather enjoyable, I might note.

So yeah. Just looking at another week of school- I think we're supposed to take a field trip to the zoo on Friday, which should be fun! Or possibly depressing, depending on how well they treat the animals. Regardless, I'll keep you posted.