Alex woz ere......

Alex has gone back home to sober up!

Our son, Alex, came over a couple of weeks ago for a 2 week holiday. I don’t think he knew what hit him, in terms of the culture, or our Canadian friend from across the block. I managed to get some time off with him from work, and probably just as well, as we were out on the town several nights until the wee hours. We needed to long lie-in’s to recover from alcohol poisoning.

Most nights would start of quite sombrely, with dinner at one of the many hundred of restaurants dotted in and around Ansan. We tried to make sure Alex got a taste of most things, including Sushi at the tuna bar restaurant, where he bravely swallowed down a tuna eye-ball shot. This involves a frozen tuna fish eye-ball dropped into a shot of Soju and some red food colouring added for dramatic effect. I didn’t have the heart to tell him the red wasn’t actually blood, I just looked at this face when it arrived! Fair enough, both him and our Canadian friend downed them with style – I passed on this, no way am I drinking something that’s going to eye me up before I swallow it! It was bad enough trying to force live octopus down my neck!

Several times during the holiday meant a slightly green looking Alex appearing from behind the bedroom door. On one occasion, it also happened which we were on the subway into Seoul to do some shopping – the poor lad had to run to chuck up his chips into a squatty potty at the station loo! We took him home to get a nap and brighten up a bit – he swore he wasn’t drinking ever again, until the next night at least.

One trip out took us to a bar called Gonadil, where the women can be counted on for company – I’m not saying I’m corrupting the wee lad, but he is 23, and knows how to handle these kind of things. The evening was spent in good company chatting, having a few drinks, and then Karaoke time! Even I got up to sing a bit (or was it cry like an alley cat?) along with my Canadian friend, who seems to let on he only knows 3 or 4 songs – Hotel California, Creep, Wonderwall, but to be fair, he does a good rendition of them. Alex, however, declined to display his vocal talents this time.

One night we went out to a bar called Manhattan, where all the local English teachers tend to gather, especially after 10:00 at night, after all the Hagwon classes have ended. We made the mistake of getting a bottle of scotch for the table, and paid the price next day.

Alex say’s he’s coming back next year for 3 weeks this time – poor boy won’t know what’s hit him!

Thanksgiving in Ansan....

We had our very first Thanksgiving dinner last Saturday! We had never experienced one before, and I have to say, it felt a bit Christmassy!

We first knew about it from one of our American English teacher friends over here who initially invited us over to a thanksgiving “feast” via Facebook The event to take place wasn’t exactly on the proper day, November 26th, but was arranged last weekend so lots of people could attend. The event was to be held in the teachers apart-uh which as previous readers know, isn’t usually such a big space for these kind of things, especially in the cooking department. Usual cooking appliance tends to be a small worktop toaster over, which unless is a big one, wont take kindly to a 16lb turkey being stuffed into it for 5 hours.

We thought about her dilemma, and offered up our apart-uh space and it’s larger than usual cooking facilities including a full size under hob gas oven big enough for turkey and all the trimmings. The event was scheduled to host around 20 or so guests, all friends of our friend. Feeding that many hungry American, English (1 Scottish) and Canadian gobs would require more than one turkey. We got the task of sticking the big bird (16lb) in our oven, while the smaller 8lb basked in the heat of the toaster oven back at the teachers apart-uh. Saturday morning was spent basting this huge bird, which had been pre-stuffed with a nice herby bread stuffing sticking out it’s bum. Time spent on the sofa waiting between bastes felt just like a typical Christmas morning back home. We intend to spend actual Christmas day over here probably in Seoul taking in the turkey dinner at one of the international hotels like the Hilton or Ritz-Carlton, to avoid having to do such a thing. But here I was, basting waiting, then basting again! All we were missing was the crumpled up wrapping paper strewn across the floor, and the inevitable pairs of socks for gifts or gloves because we can never think what to get each other for

gifts!

Our American friend came over at about 11:30 bring with her, loads of Tupperware dishes full of cooked and uncooked goodies, such as devilled eggs, pumpkin pies, salad vegetables etc, all fit for the feast! We had told her that we would leave all the cooking and preparation to her to sort out, but as usual, I couldn’t keep out of the kitchen, and had to help rattle up some chopped this and that, cooked bits and bob’s and other such things. The turkey came out after 5 ½ hours and was done to a treat – it took a whole load of will power not to start picking at the meat or roast potatoes on the side (OK – I admit it, I did pick but only a wee bit!)

Folks started arriving at around 5:00pm, and our friend was a busy beaver in the kitchen, mixing this, stirring that, and at this point I left her to it – this was her party after all, and I didn’t want to take any of glory. The house was full of chatter in between gob-stuffing, and everyone had plenty of room to move about, and eat till their hearts content. Drinks were available, such as the local retard juice Soju and plenty of Mecju (beer) but the invite did say if you wanted something else, then bring your own. Some folks brought more beer, some wine and one even brought a bottle of Bacardi Rum – I didn’t get the chance to sample some, as it seemed to go very quickly!

Much chatting was done, and we made a whole lot of new friends that night, some having now exchanged Facebook details with us. We think we might now recognize a whole new bunch of people when we go out on the town at night.

We might even host our own Thanksgiving party next year….make sure you’re free!

Find of the year!

On the way home in the dark to our apart-uh (Korean phonic translation of apartment) the other night, I spied a couple of unlikely pieces of wood which had been propped up against our little security hut on the complex where we live. I gave them a second glance, not quite believing what I saw. It was a queen sized sleigh bed in bits, neatly stacked and looked in great condition. I knew I was in for a bargain!

In Korea, when people move from their apartment, they tend to use this as an opportunity to get rid of anything with slight scratches or dents. Second hand furniture gets left on sidewalks (sorry, pavements!) or by security huts on complexes such as ours. They get picked up by second hand dealers, or more likely, waste disposal merchants. There are few Koreans who buy second-hand, and scorn this practice, hence the frequent dumping of these kinds of items. This bed was such a case.

I tapped the window of the security hut, and asked the guard about the bed – he speaks reasonable English, and when I mentioned the bed, he looked around the office expecting to see if one had been delivered. Bulky items tend to be dropped off here, if you are not at home. He then cottoned onto the fact that I was on about the “dumped” one outside the hut. He appeared a little incredulous that I should want such an item, as Korean’s don’t tend to do this kind of thing. The stereotypical Scotsman in me was doing a jig, getting a ”freebie” which would easily cost around 1 million KRW (about £500) new.

He consented that I could take it if I wanted, so I grabbed the end piece and made my way up to our floor. I shot inside and immediately told Sue to get her shoes on, as I had found a gem for the spare bedroom. Even she was a bit shocked at what I was trying to get for nothing. Let me explain – the bed is like an old fashioned Santa’s sleigh type bed, one which would probably sell for over £1000 back home. It has solid wood features, and has 2 box sections, also wood for the base. The top headboard is also mainly made of solid wood, (at least it seems to weigh as if it does) and is finished of with a nice varnish – see pic!

We lugged all the pieces upstairs, with the main headboard having to be carried by us both with a good few rest stops between the hut and the front door – it was really heavy!

I got in, manoeuvred into position in the spare bedroom, and started to put it together – alas! It had no fixing screws, so had to wait until I got into work the following days and find some M10 bolts to make sure it didn’t fall apart when someone laid down on it. All I need to do is buy a mattress for it.

We’re pretty chuffed with our “find! and can't wait until someone chucks good furniture out! I’m also on the lookout for a late model Hyundai 4 door saloon, or similar……