Random Asides

This weekend topped my previous weekend with respect to going out, but that's easy to do considering that since orientation I haven't really gone out at all. So, this weekend I went down to Seoul Friday night, which ended up being a great idea, especially considering that I don't really have classes this week. Instead of 18 hours of classroom time, I actually only have 8 hours, three of which will be spent reading a book while the students study for exams. As such, I didn't really have to plan for classes, and so was able to kick back and thoroughly enjoy my weekend. ^^

Friday night I met Beth and Bekah at a Mexican restaurant. I had already eaten at home before leaving, and so I didn't eat anything. We got up to their place and hung out for a little while, watching some t.v. As people started coming over, we moved the gathering to the rooftop which I had described before, but is pretty sweet. There were about 10 people at the height of the gathering, which is cool with me. We were just hanging out, drinking, playing games. We played never have I ever, and this game where someone says "who is most/least likely to..." and then on the count of three everyone points to the person they think is most/least likely. There are other rules but that's the premise. Everyone presumed me the prude of the group through much of the game, which is fine by me. IMO, better than everyone presuming me the skank.

Anyhow, so then we headed back downstairs and hit the sack. Slept in Beth's bed again, and evade fan death AGAIN. Boy, we are lucky lucky girls. Anyways, so we had practice at 1, so we all slept in until like 11:00 or so. Bekah and I went down to the Waffle Factory for good old American breakfast with Carne and Vernal, two guys who played ultimate at UCSD. It was delicious (pancakes, bacon, potatoes, scrambled eggs, ham, maple syrup and HONEY butter, hellz yeah) albeit a bit pricey. Headed to the fields via taxi (definitely the easiest way to get there from their house). I balled at practice, which was awesome. I felt really good at practice, no aches/pains, and my throws looked solid. After practice, a group of about 9 of us went to this delicious burger place, where I had a bbq bacon cheeseburger (OMG, so delectable) as did half the table.

Headed back to Bekah & Beth's place for showers. Given that there were like 7 people showering,this ordeal took quite a bit of time. Beth and I managed to get back first and so we were able to take the first two showers, which was awesome. Ventured over to a micro-brewery called Ka-Brew (I love the name) for all-you-can-drink beer for 10,000 won, which is just under 10 bucks. In good ol' gainesville, cup nights are usually less than that, but in Korea, that's a regular steal. Plus it wasn't just cass or hite. They had a dark ale and a weizen that were pretty decent. Did a little boatracing (two times, two Ws, reppin' florida to the fullest) and this game called Ts&Ss, a game Tweazy introduced. Basically it's a word association game, but the word you say cannot begin with a T or an S, nor can it be a name. Obvi, breaking the rule means you lose. I was okay, although I did try to start a round with table, which is obviously illegal and it wasn't even a free association, it was the word I started with (which is 2 drinks). Then went to Itaewon, a really ex-pat laden area. Went to this one bar where we all had a shot of whiskey and a jagerbomb (my first ever!!) before dipping. Then walked up "hooker hill" which is exactly what it sounds like to Polly's, a shady American dance club. But the music was good, even if there were creepers that I had to be saved from on more than one occasion. Danced like crazy, got home around 3:30.

Went to bed, evaded fan death, league at 1:30= Paris Baguette at 12:30. Got to the fields, won a game real fast, had a beer, celebrated Jin's birthday. Got hit on (sort-of) by really really really drunk jin. Went out to eat at this awesome spicy soup place. omg, so effing delicious. Got really drunk at dinner, thanks to the abundance of Koreans with us. The soju and mekhju were flowing. Did a sort of soju bomb, which was disgusting, but the presentation was impressive. I own Jaebom 13,000 won for dinner, because I was straight up out of cash. Went to Yongsan shopping center/tracks/idk what to call it, and found an open terrace-y area where we drank some more, threw around some, and danced on a stage to Korean music. I got octopus danced. I played some flutterguts (went 1-2, but I did pretty well until the last game, for the championship, when I fell apart). Then went back to Bekahs to try to catch a bus back to Incheon. I left their house just before midnight, but all the ATMs in their entire neighborhood don't dispense cash at 11:30, so I couldn't get cash to pay a taxi driver to take me to the bus station or for the bus thing. I couldn't even recharge my t-money card because you have to use cash. Stayed at Bekahs, woke up at 5:10 and took the subway back to Incheon this morning. omg, SUCKED.

So that was my weekend.

Onto what this post was initially supposed to be about:

My phone story:

I had been having problems with my phone for a while, pretty much from the second day I got it, but I had been ignoring it. My teacher had called twice to ask for help, and they said I had to go to a special service center. Then I called their English service line, which was of no use because I hardly talked to the lady once, because she need a translator, that being a student of mine/another English teacher. I had a student write down an explanation in Korea of what was wrong with my phone (can't place calls, can't receive calls, send/receive texts, but only sometimes... error message: use after registration). So, I figured that hopefully I was prepared enough to have my problem fixed. I was hoping I could just waltz in and have them either fix my phone or offer me a new one really quick and easy. So that's not exactly what happened. Basically I went to the service center, and there was a whole group of women dressed up really cute and matchy, and I got signaled over to one, where I sat down, gave her my phone and my notebook with my student's explanation of the problem. She asked me for my name, phone number, etc. I gave it to her. She then said a bunch of stuff in Korean that I didn't understand and handed me a buzzer of sorts with a receipt taped to it. She put my phone in a little silk embroidered bag and carried it off, motioning me to follow her. We went to the back, where about 6 tech people were working on different phones. There were people sitting around. I walked up and sat down, and handed the guy my notebook, declaring, "I don't speak Korean, sorry." Still, he spoke Korean to me and I was just like uh, I don't know what you're saying. And he clearly was embarassed (for me, by himself, idk), and I felt really bad because it's not his fault I don't speak the official language of the country. It was really hard because he obviously had questions, and he couldn't communicate them to me. I spoke slowly in english which I think he could understand more or less, and I explained my problem. I tried calling a Korean friend, with no luck. Then another guy came over and got on his phone speaking Korean and looking at me like a retard. He eventually handed his phone to me, saying talk to my friend. I answered the phone and this lady translated some very basic questions. How long have you had this phone? when did this start? How long will you be in Korea? etc. I told her, handed the phone back. Then the guy basically just said to me *korean korean korean* upgrade *korean korean korean* and all I heard was upgrade and I was like yes yes yes yes yes do that. So they upgraded my phone and all it took was three phone calls to a translator, two brief cries, two really wonderful Korean phone service people, and a lot of my remnding myself "if this is the worst thing that has happened to you here so far, you are a lucky little bitch"

So it was a lot more traumatic at the moment than it sounds now, but this story was recapped in like 10 seconds for what actually took almost an hour (and only should have taken 20-30 minutes if only I could speak Korean). It was rough. Trust me.

But now my phone works like a charm. As they say in Korea: FIGHTING! (pronounced: pie-ting), which is a cheer of encouragement.

I'm gonna drop another Korean phrase on you:

Go, go, go! (said quickly with an overly perky high pitched voice).

I'm out.

xoxo,
A