This City is Play-doh....

Happy New Years!

I hope everyone at home and abroad had a great New Years, all in all mine wasn't too shabby. I'm still making these updates from PC Bangs so once again no pictures yet. But I'm building up a stockpile to swamp facebook and smatter around here when I can.

So for my New Years really started the night before, with a going away party that my boss was throwing for Fred. Now Fred is an old pro at this stuff, this being his second year in Gwangju that has just passed and the man has become a really good friend of mine in these short weeks. Its wierd to explain but every once and awhile I meet a guy that I just click in with right away, Phippy was one, Luke is another, and I guess that over here its Fred and Paul.

But alas, yesterday was Fred's last day at our school so Don took the entire staff out for dinner. We went to a Galbi Restaurant not too far from here. Now Galbi, for the unaware, is probably my favorite Korean food. How it works is that they bring out these plates of leaves and a whole bunch of veggies, sauces, and things that you're never sure what you're eating, and then they take these sort of sheets of beef, normally attached to one bone, and cook it in front of you. You cut it all up as it cooks then you put your meat in a leaf with rice, sauces, veggies, whatever you want and you chow down! So we ate, and ate, and ate... and chatted and all the things friends do, and after that we all went to a Norea Bang. This is those Kareoke type places you may have heard of, You and your friends get a room and basically sing to each other. But its addictive! I have no idea why but this is one of the funnest times I've had in a long time. Its nerver wracking getting up at first but after that you really want to go back up. I sang twice, both times with Paul, the first time we sang "wake me up, when September Ends" and the second we sang "Burning Love" which we got a score of a hundred on!

The next night my co-teachers and myself went to Sharon's and made chicken Fajitas, they were delicious! After that Sharon and Jolene decided to call it a night, Paul, Fred, Myself and our bud David went downtown to the Egg Bar.

Now I know a few were hoping for pictures of the Egg Bar, but you're going to be dissapointed. I mean I took plenty but the egg didn't come until long after I had forgotten about taking pictures, and aside from that the place just looks like a bar. But we had a huge crowd out and I met a lot more people, and got closer with the boys. I met some more new people and some old pros. We drank Soju (disgusting!) and Fruit Soju (Delicious!) Fred, Paul, David and I shot fireworks off in the street (Its accepted here a lot more, though I was later told, just as illegal...oops...^_^) And Fred and I had a lot of deep talks and heart to hearts. I've promised that I will be visiting him in his new home on Jeju Island whenever and as often as I can, and he gave me a lot of good advice. Explaining to me that Gwangju is not Seoul and it's not Busan, and that this place can be horrid or it can be fantastic. This place is what you make it. All of this was expertly capped off with "This city is like Play-doh!"

In the short time that I've known him Fred as become a sounding board, a good friend and a mentor and I'm sad to see him go. Can't wait to try surfing with him this Summer though!

So that was the end of my 2008. Its wierd, if I was in Canada I either would have gone to a party or gone out for drinks with my friends, and here on the other side of the world, I went out for drinks with my friend! There's a quote from the movie "The Beach" (I never actually saw it, heard its awful) "People will travel across the globe, just to wath movies" And honestly, it as at least partially true.

I'm not going to go into today. 2009 has not started off pleasantly for me at all, but I've got some time to turn it around.

see ya!

J