Home is home but it's not home

Here are some things that have made me go "Ohhh yeeeeeah" since being in Korea. "Oh yeah" as in the noise you make when you're reminded of something you know? - The traffic lights are horizontal, not vertical like NZ - The smell in alleyways - The tackyness and cheesyness that Koreans love - Awkward acting in dramas that work only in the Korean context - Glorious food - Everyone drives nice black, white or grey cars - Everyone dresses well - Population density - People's way of being nice and welcoming of you after they haven't seen you for ages is to offer endless food - The default water level in the toilets is much higher - Heated toilet seats and bidets that wash your bum for you - Korean girls are very good and clever with their makeup - People that sell really cheap stuff on subways (illegally) - Pedestrian traffic light is green for ages and then it blinks on green instead of red and then it goes straight to red - There are barely ...

We don't really celebrate Christmas in our family (for unknown reasons) so correct me if I'm wrong, but Christmas time is family time in NZ. In Korea, Christmas is all about couples, lovers, boyfs, girlfs etc. So, this may sound truly bizarre to some of you, five of us single boys went clubbing on Christmas eve. We went to this well-known, biiiig place in a young-people hotspot area called Gangnam. So here's the thing about going out partying in Korea. The subway and buses run only 'til around midnight. After that, you'll have to catch a taxi to get around (unless you get someone to pick you up). On busy nights, such as Christmas eve, the taxis only take you if you're going to make a long trip because they want more money. So, you're going to have to stay out 'til 6am when the subway starts up again. Christmas eve was no exception. Bryan and I made our way back to his house at around 6.30am. The Sun was on its way up when we got home. It's not ...

Last week we went on a ski trip. There were 6 of us boys and we stayed in a two bedroom hotel-ish place that was meant for 5 people. There was only one bed (double). I shotgunned the couch and the unfortunate remaining three people had to sleep on the floor. Korean as! We went to a resort called 'High 1.' It's relatively new. The runs were so freaking long. I wish there was better snow though. Most of the trails were quite icy which was a shame but it was still so much fun. In Korea, they have night skiing with floodlights and so we skied our asses off for the first two days. Our plan was to ski the third day as well but we ran into a bit of trouble with the people that we booked through so we ended up arguing our way through a partial refund and going home on that third evening. By a 'bit of trouble' I mean that they were late in getting our ski passes up to us and so we lost time and then they asked us to move rooms because they messed up the booking. That's...

Tonight we went out to this hip place where everyone our age goes to party. Sunday night and the place was still quite busy! Again, dinner was pretty special. Then we went for coffee at Charlie Brown's cafe. It was really cute with lots of Charlie Brown related decoration all over the place. Too bad I nwver read any CB in my younger years. We went and took sticker photos in an attempt to up our Korean-ness. I was so glad it was a tame night. Thoeoughly enjoyed it. It's funny because most of my time seems to be spent on commuting to places and I'm usually going somewhere to eat somethimg with someone. It's a viscious cycle. I travel, eat, the leave and by the time I arrive at my next destination I am humgry again! Oh well, I guess that's what living is though! I'm definitely not complaining. Ski trip begims tomorrow!

Yesterday I met up with my cousin Jose and we went shopping. Everything is quite cheap. I bought new pants, a new beanie and a new notebook. It's not crap quality stuff either just because it's cheap! So that was the happy side to cheap. Last night I met up with Bryan, Jae and Jae's friend from America. We went for a drink in a popular area called Gangnam. What was meant to be a quite, early, nice evening out ended up being quite the opposite. The drinks flowed. It was an unforgettable night. Not because it was so awesome but because I have mo memory to forget. So much regret in the morning. I have battle scars as from tumbling over. I was a disgrace. I owe one to the guys for keepinge alive. Not a hyperbole. So that's the notsohappy side to cheap. To make matters worse the subway home was like being in a mosh pit. The last thing you need with a raging hangover is to have to stand for an hour and a half surrounded by people pushing and shoving! Won't be do...

My first full day in Korea has been an eventful one. So much fun. My main mission for the day was to find my way to my grandmas old folks home. I felt so adventurous going on my own. The subway system is so efficient. Its great. The amount of people that squish on and hussle for space during busy hours, not so great. I decided to walk from the station to grandmas instead of bussing. The cold made me wonder if I had made the wrong decision but I ended up really enjoying the walk. I got to soak in the atmosphere. One particular smell caught my attention. It was a sort of dirty smell but one that was vwry familiar. Seeing my gran was a neat experiemce. 90 odd years old and she's still very healthy and her mind is crystal clear. She's a very proud woman and took much pride in the fact that her grandson had come to visit. I get to use her cellphone while I'm here. Che! Met up with Bryan and his cousins for dinner tomight. THE FOOD. OMGZZZZZ. Nuff said. I hadn't seen J...