back in korea; korean style

I've been back all of two nights, and last night i didn't sleep. It's 8:22am, and i'm just getting in the door.

These Koreans are hardcore man! The thing is to just stay out so long that the subway starts up again and you can get home. 

It all started when I called my friend, and there happened to be a art installation show on one stop away on the subway, so I just walked over to the abandoned hospital it was being held in, and we got to scope out 5-6 different rooms that had been decked out in different scenarios; from a student who had cheated in school and had to run away (this work space complete with police tape), to an entire room sound-proofed with egg shell cartons and set-up to look like a news room with feeds of a man in white make up and a stuffed monkey discussing ... something. Sorry, my Korean is just not that great yet. They had a great set-up for it all though - they're all art students, and from what I was told, is that it was a srt show not supported by their professor, who they don't seem to agree with for their final exhibitions for their graduate show, so they had their own vision executed here, with live bands, free pizza, and free alcoholic beverages.

From there we boosted to one place, after another, after another, each entailing food and drinking, but some venues having karaoke and giving us a free fruit platter, eating live octopus, or a restaurant with non-stop music videos playing, even though it looked high-end other than that, but met some awesome people, and had an amazing night hanging out with them until the sun rose back in the sky.

I've got to go to bed.

Japan just stole my heart

My first day in Japan was huge. Insane even. I was literally F.O.B.; fresh off the boat, when i hopped on my first train at 9am, and then proceeded to play communication charades with these two adorable Japanese girls. I had to email my friend what time I'd arrive in Osaka so we could meet up, and after a bunch of gesturing, outbursts of laughter and a whole bunch of wrong guesses, we finally connected the dots enough for me to send a quick one liner to my buddy.

So a bullet train and two and a half hours later and I'm in Osaka, waiting for my friend in the designated McDonalds, and already people and clothes watching like mad. Then Ralph shows up with two other girls who are friends of his New Zealand neighbour, and immediately packed us into their van for some adventures. After dropping our bags off at their place we went to an ancient castle surrounded by a moat,Eeent downtown and ate some Yaki soba (octopus balls -sooo yum!), and went to see a band play! I already want to go shopping even though the Yen is at a crazy high at the moment and makingt me so cautious of spending money that I actually only ate crackers on the ship on the way over, and crackers again until after meeting everyone.

Next was a wander on the busy streets, where eveyone is dressed to really impress, whether it be clubwear, harajuku-style or even a bit Tim Burton-esque. I loved it! Afterwards, we headed to the sushi train with their mom (who speaks Korean, so we were able to talk a lot!) and other sister - holy yum. Vancouver, Canada where I was previously living is mad about Sushi and I in that sense was 100% a Vancouverite, so after non-stop Korean food for the last few months, it was totally a welcome reprieve and ridiculously delicious. Plus, there were these toy dispenser things above every table - when you were done with five plates and dropped them into the tables slot, something like a Vegas poker machine would spin and if you won, the dispenser would roll a little vending machine style present your way.

So after all this, the night still wasnt over. We stopped back home for their dad and some supplies, and headed over to the traditional Japanese baths. Its quite similar to Korea, where women and men are separated for the nude bathing part, but they don't gather clothed in a communal part, and there's also no swimming section.

After getting back to the house, Ralph and I decided to go get our wander on the local side streets, which were just too cute to resist, so after grabbing a few beers we settled onto some random tins on the road to drink, but before we even got half way, somehow the dad managed to find us an took us into his local watering hole and bought us another drink. Home at 2am, and an AMAZING first day in Japan. I'm totally smitten.