This particular night happened a long time ago in Korea. It was one of my first nights in South Korea and it was epic.
I had been invited by one of the fellow Dangjinites, one I hadn't actually met yet, to a group night out at the batting cages. There were supposed to be tons of foreign teachers there from not only Dangjin, but other areas in the province, as well.
I didn't know anybody when I got to the meeting place, but everyone was really friendly and, peculiarly, they were all wearing crazy hats. Little did I know, crazy hats are a common theme. Lucky for me, one of the ladies brought some extra bunny ears so I sported those for the night.
I met up with some people I'd met the night before and attempted very poorly to hit super fast baseballs flying at my head and, of course, the consumption of alcohol also began to take place.
A group of three Korean men came over to me and the other women I was talking to and claimed that they were English teachers in one of the local schools. They attempted to impress us with their pseudo-stellar English skills and one guy kept referrring to me as "Jessica" and asking me for my number. I said, "No, my name is Erika." His response, "Ok, Jessica, number so you can come over."
He spent a ridiculous amount of time telling me that his kindergarten-age child would love me and I should come over to his apartment to talk to and play with his son.
"You come to my house, Jessica, so beautiful. Play with my son. My wife will not mind."
"Umm, it's Erika," I say.
"Ok, Jessica, come over."
"Umm, I don't think your wife would like that too much," I say.
"Ok, Jessica, you come over. My wife not home."
"Uhhh, yeah, I don't think so," I respond.
I then tried to escape and hide in the bathroom, but the freak was standing outside the bathroom waiting for me. Luckily one of my friends realized how distressed I was becoming and came to my rescue and finally the guy left, but not until he made sure I knew I was more than welcome at his home to play with his son anytime.
"Jessica, see you soon! Come over!"
There was plenty of testosterone running through the men in the group, as they were all kicking the crap out of the punching bag game, kicking soccer balls and slamming baseballs. All of us girls were enjoying lovely adult beverages.
When the boys finally got bored, we all made our way down to Saeyugi, a local hof, that eventually became named 'Old Faithful' because we always, undoubtedly ended up there.
The hof was pretty busy and then about 20-25 foreigners showed up and took over one side of the hof. More beer was flowing and the Honorable Members of the Dangjin Committee were named. The night began to turn ridiculous as more soju and maekju was consumed. The owner and staff of Saeyugi became less and less impressed with us, especially when one of the girls got on a table and then two of the guys jumped on top of her. Chairs were knocked over, bottles were broken. Good times all around for us, but not so much for the Koreans in the crowd.
There is a giant stuffed polar bear statue at the entrance of Saeyugi and as we were finally paying our bill to move on to the next stop, one of the girls in the group decided it would be a great idea to grab the bear and ran off with it. I was watching her and I knew what she was thinking and it was like the whole thing happened in slow motion. I could tell her brain was targeting the polar bear, processing what it would take to run off with it and then she put the plan into action and off she went with the polar bear out the door and down the stairs. I couldn't do anything but just stand there and awkwardly laugh.
When the rest of us had gotten down to the street she was standing there with the polar bear body in her arms and the poor polar bear's head had fallen off in the scuffle, so the poor polar bear's head was rolling around on the sidewalk. She tried to fix it by slapping the head back on and putting a giant hat on it. Yeah, didn't work, the head just kept rolling off.
The owner of the restaurant was not impressed. And a famous quote occurred following the incident that night, "Shit man, I think that polar bear gave me a rash!"
The polar bear and his head were returned to the livid restaurant owner (the polar bear actually was missing from the restaurant when we finally decided it was safe to return months later, but then finally made an appearance again with his head bolted back on) and we went on to another drinking establishment called Boobi Boobi.
Boobi Boobi in Korea refers to dancing and the way young men and women try to cop a feelski while their dancing. Basically Boobi Boobi is dirty dancing. We got a couple private tables enshrouded in curtains. More alcohol was flowing, the Korean drinking games began and became increasingly louder and a few members of the Honorable Members of the Dangjin Committee began passing out at the table. It was shaping up to be a good night and by this point it was about 5 in the morning.
I had to meet some friends, that were smart enough to go home hours ago, at the bus station at about 7 a.m. to go to Seoul. So naturally I decided around 5:30 a.m. it was probably a good idea to call it a night.
A group of three Korean men came over to me and the other women I was talking to and claimed that they were English teachers in one of the local schools. They attempted to impress us with their pseudo-stellar English skills and one guy kept referrring to me as "Jessica" and asking me for my number. I said, "No, my name is Erika." His response, "Ok, Jessica, number so you can come over."
He spent a ridiculous amount of time telling me that his kindergarten-age child would love me and I should come over to his apartment to talk to and play with his son.
"You come to my house, Jessica, so beautiful. Play with my son. My wife will not mind."
"Umm, it's Erika," I say.
"Ok, Jessica, come over."
"Umm, I don't think your wife would like that too much," I say.
"Ok, Jessica, you come over. My wife not home."
"Uhhh, yeah, I don't think so," I respond.
I then tried to escape and hide in the bathroom, but the freak was standing outside the bathroom waiting for me. Luckily one of my friends realized how distressed I was becoming and came to my rescue and finally the guy left, but not until he made sure I knew I was more than welcome at his home to play with his son anytime.
"Jessica, see you soon! Come over!"
There was plenty of testosterone running through the men in the group, as they were all kicking the crap out of the punching bag game, kicking soccer balls and slamming baseballs. All of us girls were enjoying lovely adult beverages.
When the boys finally got bored, we all made our way down to Saeyugi, a local hof, that eventually became named 'Old Faithful' because we always, undoubtedly ended up there.
The hof was pretty busy and then about 20-25 foreigners showed up and took over one side of the hof. More beer was flowing and the Honorable Members of the Dangjin Committee were named. The night began to turn ridiculous as more soju and maekju was consumed. The owner and staff of Saeyugi became less and less impressed with us, especially when one of the girls got on a table and then two of the guys jumped on top of her. Chairs were knocked over, bottles were broken. Good times all around for us, but not so much for the Koreans in the crowd.
There is a giant stuffed polar bear statue at the entrance of Saeyugi and as we were finally paying our bill to move on to the next stop, one of the girls in the group decided it would be a great idea to grab the bear and ran off with it. I was watching her and I knew what she was thinking and it was like the whole thing happened in slow motion. I could tell her brain was targeting the polar bear, processing what it would take to run off with it and then she put the plan into action and off she went with the polar bear out the door and down the stairs. I couldn't do anything but just stand there and awkwardly laugh.
When the rest of us had gotten down to the street she was standing there with the polar bear body in her arms and the poor polar bear's head had fallen off in the scuffle, so the poor polar bear's head was rolling around on the sidewalk. She tried to fix it by slapping the head back on and putting a giant hat on it. Yeah, didn't work, the head just kept rolling off.
The owner of the restaurant was not impressed. And a famous quote occurred following the incident that night, "Shit man, I think that polar bear gave me a rash!"
The polar bear and his head were returned to the livid restaurant owner (the polar bear actually was missing from the restaurant when we finally decided it was safe to return months later, but then finally made an appearance again with his head bolted back on) and we went on to another drinking establishment called Boobi Boobi.
I had to meet some friends, that were smart enough to go home hours ago, at the bus station at about 7 a.m. to go to Seoul. So naturally I decided around 5:30 a.m. it was probably a good idea to call it a night.
