Christmas

As I sit up at 2.40am at the beginning of another new month in Korea, I cannot quite believe how fast time has whizzed by.

Korea was always going to be a stepping stone onto bigger things for me, but it seems even clearer to me after 5 months here that I will be ready to move on again in November, but not without sharing a few more stories. 

Before I go into the most recent of my tales, I should probably back track to Christmas morning, and the face I found myself staring at bleary eyed. 

...

So, Christmas Eve was never a big drinking time for me at home as it was always spent Christmas shopping and helping with the decorations. 2011, however, was a little different. 

During a seemingly normal dinner at our favourite Sangipsal restaurant we were invited to a traditional Korean wedding by a mutual friend. What was going to be a night filled with preparations for the next day and Christmas films, after a few soju's it was swiftly decided that a Christmas party at an acquaintances flat just outside of town was a better idea. 

Music poured out of the speakers, the booze flowed, and the drunken conversations led to drunken kisses, and apparently (if witnesses are to be believed) teenage-esque making out. Who with, you might ask? Well I feel, given the time since then it is apt to name him the Music Man. 

A tall, blonde, blue eyed Yorkshire lad from Halifax, living in a close-by city. He asked me if I wanted him to go home with me, I said yes. I was drunk, it was Christmas, and I didn't want the kissing to stop. 

After, what I can honestly say was literally the best one night stand of my life, I woke up to remember it was baby Jesus' birthday and I had once again managed to bring someone home with me.

From the moment we talked, music was playing in the background. My musical education, which had taken a back seat in recent years, began to be refreshed the moment he asked if he could download Spotify.

After a morning of brews, Christmas presents, a song or ten, and a few more frollicks it was time for us to go our separate ways. 

I kissed him goodbye wishing him a Merry Christmas, hoping that I'd be able to continue my musical growth very soon...

Then came my totally untraditional Christmas with more food than I've ever seen before prepared by my little Korean family, and my Californian friend Victoria. We cooked together, we listened to music, made eggnog and enjoyed a Christmas none of us had ever had before (sans blood relations). 

5 months on, and I have never felt so blessed to have such incredible friends. It is like being back uni, where you form friendships in that first week that you will keep for the rest of your life. In Korea, you form friendships in the same way. It's kind of like a survival technique, you choose the ones who you know will both support you and allow you to become an even more awesome version of yourself. 

But what of the Music Man. Well he will feature heavily in my next couple of blogs as he was more of a 2 month fling, than a one night stand in the end. Someone who made me test my intellect, challenge my own beliefs, taste mouthwatering food, and make me sit up and listen to some pretty sweet music. 

Sounds like my perfect relationship - great sex, amazing chemistry, growth, food, and music...(un)lucky for us, this world aint perfect.

Three's not always a Crowd...

The longer I am in Korea it would appear the crazier it gets, including my love life.

I spent New Year in Seoul, partying extremely hard, in a way I have only seen the Spanish do before. During our long weekend, I was double teamed on two separate occasions by a guy and a girl (they do say three is a crowd, right?). 
First, I will set the scene. 

So, meet my Korean-made family - Lewis (my neighbor and colleague incident), Matthew (born and raised in Kansas and more of a drama queen than me), and Jaiden (into dance and musicals and is married to Matthew). We're like a real family - we argue then forgive 5 minutes later, we cook for each other, we live in one anothers pockets, our money tends to be interchangeable, and we share everything.

Anyway, we whizzed up to Seoul at 300kmph to find a city bustling full of couple fashion (purple shell suits, running trainers, and matching bags), electronics and cheap rum; the latter being my favourite. 

We spent 4 nights in a hostel near Hongik University, where most of the nightlife appeared to be for the Korean students and a fair few foreigners. We were sharing a room with a Chinese Australian guy whose world views included America being cursed by God, a French girl whose snoring sounded like a motorbike on speed, and a couple of other drifters.

The first night and couple of days were spent meandering around the vast outdoor markets, western shops, and a trip up the seemingly love struck Seoul Tower (see photo of the thousands of padlocks attached to fences). 

When it came to Friday night we were ready to party in Korea's capital.


A girl I hadn't yet met (Niamh) but was a friend of a friend was also up for New Year and so we decided to meet up and then dance the night away. It was like going on an Internet date again - I had butterflies in my stomach and I was nervous we wouldn't get on in person. I happily dispelled those most ridiculous thoughts by the third shot of Soju as we were talking about our secret Korean hook-ups!

We were joined by people from all over the world, and we played our Soju drinking games. Amongst other things, a middle aged Chinese man accosted Lewis and fed him the free bar crisps over a beer, supposedly under the pretext he wanted to speak English, Matthew did some acrobatic trick and jumped over a banister to get to the toilet despite being able to walk around, and I landed the happy couple (Matthew and Jaiden) a free Macallan as it was their anniversary weekend.

As the night drifted on, so did we. We ended up shaking our booties (and our lettuce) in a tiny dirty little Indie club - just like in Manchester. 


There had been a trio of Frenchies staying in the hostel and they turned up at this-stick-to-the-floor-basement-club. I was asked by one of the guys if I was a lesbian, to which I said no and questioned why. He responded with a very nonchalant nod and asked if I thought his female companion was "beautiful, non?". To which I replied, "Yeah I guess but are you asking because she is?"


The answer was apparently no, and I carried on dancing. 

Not 10 minutes later did the a fore mentioned French-Algerian come and slap her lips on mine. 

Baffling. 

Although I have very little memory of other points in the night, I do remember kissing her back. Ah the things we do with Soju in our system.


I drifted back over to my friends and somehow ended up with a chubby Korean with glasses. Before you accuse me of doing the whole erotic dancing with him, I can remember clearly that I was merely dancing in his direction and nor did I encourage him to kiss me. So, with the shock only just wearing off that a girl who'd not only said she wasn't gay, had kissed me, it was doubled by the fact that this slimy guy would not let go of my arms when I pulled away after he too kissed me! 


He thought I was playing hard to get and what ensued can only be described as an unrequited, and unsuccessful, game of hide and seek in a dark dingy club with two people I didn't want to be anywhere near. 


Brilliant. 


To me, this signalled home time. I gathered up my boys and we headed upstairs to get our coats. 


As we were leaving my new French best friend decided to follow us and demanded to know why I was leaving because of a Korean guy kissing me, was I not a strong woman?! She said all of this while batting her eyelashes and pouting her lips. Really?


Now, I know girls can be manipulative, after all I am one, but are we really all that translucent? Did she honestly believe that I'd go back inside with her under the pretext that I would be sticking two fingers up to this guy, but really all she wanted was to make out with me?

If I had any doubts about whether or not I would ever drift over to the dark side, I think it is safe to say I wouldn't! I don't think I could cope with my own sex. Whilst I appreciate beauty in everyone, male or female, I think I have had quite enough of any kind of dalliance(s) with any woman.

Matthew and Jaiden, however, had their own kind of dalliance back at our hostel with one of the other Frenchies. So, it turns out three's not always a crowd!

All this in one night, and I've managed to skip who I woke up to on Christmas morning and haven't even got to New Years Eve...