American Memorial Day weekend

On Friday, before I went to Jeff's house, I took Caroline out to meet some people. This turned into a bigger event than I thought. First, we went to see Kun Fu Panda 2 (in 3D) with a small group of people. It was pretty good and Korean 3D graphics are much better than US ones, although I still don't need them and don't think it's worth the extra money.
After the movie, we all ended up going to JiJimi's (slushie bar). On the way there, we stopped for toast at a little place near Cindy's school. Spencer and I had toast, the other 3 girls had gimbap, which took forever b/c the lady who owns the place doesn't usually make the gimbap, her husband does, and he was out drinking. She gave us extra gimbap and soup b/c she felt bad for messing it up. This took about 45 minutes and we were supposed to be meeting people, but oh well.

When we finally got to JiJimi's there were a ton of foreigners and we actually ended up getting shushed by the waitress and other Koreans in the bar. We were loud but there were around 30 people and the Koreans were being loud too. So, we decided to go dancing. There aren't many places to dance in Jinju and we ended up going to a hotel's club. The club is called "Dongbang". Yea, I'll let that sink in for a bit. Moving on. We didn't have to pay a cover, but you did have to pay for a table, although they gave you a beer per person and some snacks for the table fee. It was a very swanky club and it felt a little like something from the 50s until the lazers and Kpop started.

Our table

Beer and fruit. The other plate had nuts and dried squid (bleh)

When we got there, they were finishing a huge Kai bai bo (rock paper scissors) contest, so we had to wait about 30 minutes before dancing. Then, in the middle of dancing, they would randomly start playing slow songs and everyone would clear the floor. It was very weird. The best part of the night was when a performer came on and lipsynced while dancing. He had 2 acts - the first one ended up with him taking off his shirt. The second one involved lazers and was pretty awesome. Here's a short clip of that.

While I needed to get up early so that I could be at Jeff's in the morning, I still ened up staying out until after 2 am - oops. The next morning I got up at 6 and went to the wrong bus station by accident. So I had to take a cab to the other bus stop. I missed the first bus, but luckily only had to wait about 30 minutes for the next one to Daejeon. Then I took another bus from Daejeon to Jeff's house. I had asked my boss to double check that this was the fastest way to get to Jeff's - too bad it is. But bus to bus seemed to be easier and faster than bus to train. I called Jeff while I was on the bus to let him know I was on my way. He didn't answer after a few calls, and I ended up calling Holly to have her email him. His phone battery had died during the night and he eventually called me back. When I arrived at the bus/train station I called again and he was brushing his teeth. He told me to take a cab because it would be easier than waiting for him to come and get me. Punk ass brother.

When I got to Jeff's house, we went to the base and got some supplies for me (baby carrots and graham crackers) then we went to his office so that he could get his computer. He had a pretty sweet office. We left, then had to go back to his office to pick up some VIP parking passes for the Springfest event going on at another area on post. Then we went to his boss's house to drop off one of the passes. I finally met his boss! He said it was nice to meet me b/c he had basically met the rest of the family already. I didn't meet Miss Sue at that point because they were packing and getting ready to move back home.

Then we went back to Jeff's house to drop off the food and went back to post where we didn't even use the parking passes because outdoor parking was closer to the event. We walked through the vending areas and ended up getting some rib plates which weren't all that great - more like burnt meat than bbq. We had some beers, met the radio Eagle mascot, walked through the "fun zone" kid area and ended up going to play drinking mini golf. The course wasn't bad and we played one round and Jeff won by 1 hole. Then we went back over to the food area and got more food. Jeff got a pulled pork sandwich and I got a chili dog which fell apart the second I picked it up so then I had to eat it with a fork. While we were eating, I met one of Jeff's co-workers (Chris) and another one of the high ups (I think it was a Col.?) and his wife. We talked to them for a bit, then went back and played another round of mini golf which Jeff won again but I say is crap b/c we ended up going around some annoying kids and played holes out of sequence which threw off my game. At least that's what I'm going with.

Me, the Eagle and Jeff. Notice how I am patrotic and drinking a Bud Light while Jeff is going with the Red Stripe.

Back 9

After golf, we went back to the food area and met up with the General, his wife and Jeff's co-worker Trisha who was acting as their driver for the night. The General and the mayor of the city were opening the evening events and he gave a short speech. Then they had some Korean acts including a pop singer, drummers (and a "pipe" guy who played the worst version of "Amazing Grace" maybe ever), belly dancers, fan dancers and the Korean Wayne Newton. Jeff and Trisha didn't want to watch so we left and went back to the food area. I sort of wanted to stay, but they both looked really bored and I didn't want to sit alone. We had to wait until the end because the General was sitting in the front row and he couldn't leave before the mayor or it would have been bad. After the evening events, Trisha drove the General and Miss Sue home and Jeff drove the translator back to the train station. I feel bad for this guy because he lives like 3 hours away, doesn't get paid for weekend events and has to pay for his own transportation too. He seemed like a nice guy too.

General Thomas, mayor and Col guy

Belly dancers - they danced to "Single Ladies" after this one

After we got home, we walked to Trisha's house and hung out with her husband Kevin and 2 of their friends. We played some beer pong, then spades after their friends went to bed. I was so tired due to lack of sleep, but we didn't go home until around 3 am. Then Jeff set up his laptop to play some of his "stories" (more shipwrecks) and he fell asleep on the floor next to the couch I was sleeping on. Our intentions were to get up in time to go to the 4pm showing of Cirque de Soeil (or "the circus" to Jeff) in Seoul. This did not happen. We woke up around noon, Jeff went and got a pizza while I got dressed, then we were tired. We decided to skip the circus and go to a baseball game instead.

There are 2 stadiums in Seoul - Jamsil is the home stadium for LG and Doosan and then there is Mokdong, home to the Nexen Heroes. We decided to go to the Nexen game because LG (Jeff's team) was the visiting team. We started off driving, but then Jeff decided he didn't want to and we parked at the bus station - bad move #1. We took a bus to Seoul and the subway to the stadium without any problems. We decided to buy food at the park, but couldn't find any chicken although everyone and their brother had a box of fried chicken. We ended up with burgers which were ok. And Jeff bought some dried squid which made me want to puke. Before the game we walked around trying to find a Twin or Hero mascot so I could take a picture. Alas I did not find either, but the Hero came out later in the game. He totally violated mascot rules because he kept pulling up his face mask and talking to people.

Hero on the mike

Mokdong stadium during batting pratice. We sat on the Nexen side because the LG side was crowded

We had decent seats because the stadium is pretty small and people tend to go to the other stadium instead. I love Korean baseball. It's the same rules as American baseball, but they add cheering like in college sports. Everyone gets involved and has thunder sticks and it doesn't get boring. Plus they have cheerleaders and a drummer and a guy with a whistle. They also use American songs and change the words to Korean cheers. Each batter pretty much has their own cheer and then there are some generic ones. We found this out when I went to the game with mom and Jeff, but as I haven;t posted about that trip yet, you'll get your first taste now. Some of the songs/cheers from the Nexen/LG game were:

It's a small world

Dancing Queen

BINGO

And this one which isn't an English song (at least not that I know of).

After the game we attempted to get home via subway - bad move #2. This did not work because we tried to get an express train which was mislabeled and thus we missed all the trains and buses back to Jeff's house. So we took a cab. It pretty much sucked. The cab ride was about 40 minutes and $80 but I had to get back to Jeff's because I had to leave in the moring for work, plus it would have cost us that much to rent a room anyways. Then it was another $20 to get the car out of parking. So both of us were annoyed and tired at that point. It was after 1 and we ended up falling asleep watching X-men on TV. Then I got up and Jeff dropped me off at the bus station. It was fun weekend overall and I'm glad I went to the other Seoul stadium (that 3 down!) but now I know to get an earlier bus!