I don't care what you say, I'm not calling it 'football.'

I've pretty much given up on a regular update schedule, I think. Still! Obligatory update to let you know I'm still alive!

Things at my hagwon have been pretty damn crazy for the last week or so- the last week of the month is always a bit nuts. But it's Friday now- and a Friday leading into a three day weekend! As per the usual, I'm not entirely certain what I'll be up to, aside from 'something.'

But enough about THIS weekend- it's time to tell you about what I did last weekend! So apparently, it was foreigner night at the World Cup Stadium for a K-league soccer game. Neat!

So tickets were under 10 bucks, and you got a free (warm) beer and a (cold) hot dog. Neat! My Cousin went as well, but she got there before I did and likely got better seats. In any case, I went with some of my Ilsan-based friends (namely, The Welshman, Gundam Guy, Mr. Gyopo, and the Vegan Canadian Girls- all of whom I have arbitrarily given codenames to), and had a good time of it. I'm not really much of a sports fan in general, but I always enjoy going out to watch a game. And really, Soccer's a pretty fun game to watch.

Unfortunately, I wasn't sitting in the super-hardcore fan section- and I kind of wish I had. There was a big mass of black & red (badass team colors, I must admit) where people had flags and drums and all kinds of crazy stuff.

The game itself was kind of a beat-down- Seoul FC beat Daejon 4 - 1. Still, I guess I was rooting for Seoul, as I live closer to them. And, of course, they have the rad team colors. Makes me kinda wish someone was tooling around in a Harley Quinn getup, but I fear most Koreans wouldn't get it. Pity!

In any case, after the game, we puttered around- and wound up meeting up with some other friends of The Welshman's. Neat folks, really! One of them happened to be Iron Maiden Guy from awhile back, which just shows how incestuous the expat community over here is. Worse than living in a small town, really.

By this point, there's like a dozen of us. And we take the subway a few stops over to Hongdae. Unfortunately, this was one of those situations where there were too many people and not enough initiative- personally, I could've taken more of a leadership role, but I really didn't know them that well, and just busting out with 'FOLLOW ME, LADS!' wouldn't have gone over that well. I need to work on my charisma.

In any case, the lot of us wind up at some seafood place in Hongdae, which was actually pretty tasty. Now, my original plan was to eat dinner, then catch the subway home at a halfway decent hour.

...This didn't happen.

As The Welshman, Mr. Gyopo, and Gundam Guy said 'No! We'll hang together! We'll all just pitch in ten bucks and take the taxi home!'

...This didn't happen either.

Again, the lack of initiative in our big mass of people hurt us, as we spent a good while kicking around The Park in Hongdae. Which, admittedly, is kind of a neat place to be- there was some band rocking it pretty hard, but I'm afraid I only caught the end of their set. Not to mention it was hella crowded, so I didn't get a very good view.

By the time the band wrapped up their set, I'd lost track of my little Ilsan crew. I wound up tagging along with the remnants of The Welshman's friend's group, and hit up some club called 'Freebird' where his friend's band was playing. They were called something like 'The Scott Logan Experience' or...something. They were just a cover band...but at least they were a GOOD cover band. Eventually, they wrapped up their set with a pretty good C-Lo Green cover, and that was about that.

There also was a ninja. That happens sometimes.

In any case, around, uh...2:30 AM, I decided to call it a night, 'cause I'm an old man like that. So I meander out of the bar to get some fresh air, give some directions to a be-kilted scotsman, and I wrapped up the rest of the night by holing up in a PC Bang, where I watched random youtube crap in varying states of consciousness 'til the subways opened up again.

Sunday, obviously, was a recovery day.

So yeah. As I mentioned before, the week's been busy, but I survived! Weather's also gotten a bit cooler- some of the Korean folks are bundling up in fancy pants windbreakers and scarves and such. I might even go for the fleece myself tonight. Just a reminder of the impending bitterly cold Korea winter, I guess!

At least I've got good socks.