The day before Monday

A great example of why so many companies refuse to sell their products in Korea.

The weekends over. Thats pretty sad.

As you know drinking makes me pretty depressed - and after a night of drinking I feel so crappy about everything that the only thing that seems to make things okay is another drink. Tis a vicious cycle! I am the king around here of saying, "I am never drinking again. No, I mean it. Never" as I struggle to open a bottle of cheap wine.

Usually after saying this I find myself with SoJu dripping off my chin trying to explain the hardships of turning 27 to anyone who will listen (usually the men at naked fun spa time swim away). Since SoJu is so cheap, yelling "the next round of SoJu is on me" isn't followed by cheers (its usually jeers or 'stupid old cheap bastard')

So Friday night I just wanted to stay in and relax (as Tuesday night was lots of drinking), but after dinner Kevin and I and a couple of friends from my area went to a nearby bar, next thing you know we're at a popular foreigner bar - Kevin leaves - and the next thing you know we're at some place called Club Neo with 4 of my Korean co-workers and I am shooting pool against some silent Korean gangster while his English-speaking assistant translated his grunts. I remember he insisted on playing me alone. I assume this was because he saw me making insane shots while obviously drunk (using the pool cue to see "how low I can go" and promptly falling over). They wanted to play for $100 a ball, but apparently "Are you fuc*ing crazy?! Look at how I dress?! Look at me!" works in every language. He beat me with only one of my balls left on the table - but I left with the 2 I came in with - so fun was had by all! The next thing you know I am slurring my way to ordering a Big Mac combo (they call it 'set' here) with a few of the guys from my area at 5am. Next thing you know I wake up with a stinky dry mouth, my man-purse in bed with me and the plastic McDonalds cup I had used safely wrapped in a spare t-shirt.

Though I wanted nothing more than to just rest all day I had told Kevin a week prior that I would go out to dinner with him and a couple of Korean guys he'd met at his gym. Since bailing out on Kevin is like Michael Douglas being told breakfast wasn't being served anymore in the movie Falling Down (to a violent, yet sociologically correct outcome) I lay in bed watching Discovery Channel all day and ordered my liver (and bowels) to stop crying. "Once more unto the breach old friends!" I cried moments after meeting up with Kevin, fully expecting another hard night of boozing. Instead it turned out to be just Kevin, myself, and a fellow named Mr. Kim (the 27-year old manager of Kevins gym - a very friendly guy who is married with one baby). We went out for fatty bacon, nursed a couple small glasses of beer and talked about anything we could really think of. Kevin used his Korean (which is improving daily), I used my English (which is regressing hourly) and Mr. Kim spoke a fair bit of English (far more than I thought he would be able to).

Next thing you know I wake up and its Sunday. Dammit.

June 14th I turn 27. Joy.