Halloween

Halloween 2009- where to begin?

First, the Halloween party at school was great! We had a "Store" where the kids could spend KKW dollars to buy little toys. They practiced their English by asking, "How much is this?" and things like that. We also had a "Movie Theatre" and showed the film, Up!. It was a great flick. Kind of sad but overall an awesome movie. The kids could buy food at the movie theatre as well; chips, pop, corn dogs, and ddeokbokki. The snacks and movie were a huge success.

Second, it's been a lazy lazy Sunday (recovery-mode). We ventured into Seoul for Halloween festivities. Started in the eastern part of Seoul at a friend's apt for a Halloween party (lots of yummy Korean and western foods). Then went to the Funky Dunky (western-type bar) for some ridiculous dancing at 9pm. A teacher in our group was dressed as Jack Sparrow and he won the costume contest- a bottle of JB 12-yr.

From there, our group took cabs to Hongik- a very popular area and home of Hongik University. Tons of bars and foreign teachers dressed up for Halloween. To put it bluntly, it was a shitshow. Felt like Happy Valley, football weekend, night game. We went to Club FF for live bands (playing from 10pm-5am) and free booze from 11pm-midnight! 10,000 won to get in but free booze for an hour. Sweet deal. The choices were vodka & OJ, gin & tonic, or rum & coke. The drinks were served in small paper cups and the liquor was pretty cheap, so the best method was to drink quickly- one person in our group was drinking slowly and attempting to "savor" the beverage... that method didn't last very long.

The bands were GREAT! There was a Michael Jackson cover band who was phenomenal and the crowd was loving it. Costumes ranged from giant pumpkins, to the Clue characters, to Jesus Christ, to a White Board. Very eclectic group. Overall, it was a fun Halloween... I'm still meeting tons of new people. Last night was a bit of an overload being surrounded by so many foreigners. It felt a little like being at a frat party at PSU. It was a good experience but I'm not in a rush to go back into a crowded bar any time soon.

I think the plan for next weekend is taking advantage of the awesome hiking Korea has to offer.