The weekend, it was as much fun as it was rewarding and refreshing. I actually relearned a lot of old lessons that I had forgotten. I do the big reveal in later on in the blog itself.
Friday:
It’s a usual Friday. Nothing out of the ordinary happened. I went to school. I taught all of my kids and what not. I jumped into the bus around 5:50ish for Seoul and arrived around 8ish. Hopped into the subway and trained it to Itaewon. I found myself in the same place again and in the same motel. It was a nice 4x 4 cell. I met up with my buddy Stan. He had already been in Seoul for the past couple of hours. He headed into town to do some business with the American Embassy. Once we met up, we headed out to get some food. For all of you who know me and the history of food, it did not bode well. Stan had suggested a kebab place for me to get some food. I agreed and proceeded to get some food. The food was nicely wrapped in a bundle. I take a couple bites and then one of the flaps that kept the thing together opened up and proceeded to leak the juices on me. I look at myself and laugh. It had been a while since I’ve spilled something on myself; I had let my guard down. I also think that happened because of karma. I had been making fun of someone I knew that always spilled something on his shirt. I referred to him as a mess. I had been joking about that for the past couple of weeks. I guess karma has a way of coming back at you. I ran back to the room to change shirts so this way I can look presentable. We went out to have a little fun and wait for the others to come into town. Again, we had come into Seoul for another Hash. So Stan and I went to the local watering hole for the hashers. We were drinking for a while, it was a couple of minutes until all of them arrived. Our friends came in and we joined the group. The night proceeded to continue as business as usual. We were out until about 3ish. Some of us got more inebriated then other, which provided a good laugh to be had by all.
Saturday: We are going to call this day “the hash that never happened”
So Saturday rolls around. I am cursed with being able to sleep really late and waking up really early. I had gone to sleep at 3am that morning and proceeded to wake up at 7ish in the morning. My friend Stan was reported to have slept at 5am. So I started moving around. I was completely awake and bored. So I left the room and started walking around the town. If you ever go to Itaewon, remember that most to all the stores don’t open until about 11am. Apparently because most to all the stores are open until late they don’t open until late. So there I was, the only person on the streets looking for something that is open. I ended up eating at dunkin doughnuts. I had also noticed something that my friends had mentioned last time I was there. Some bars were still open. It was 8am and there were people still drinking and partying. Apparently most people stay out until the sun comes out and then some. So I was amazed and taken back as I see people just stumbling out of a bar or walking into a bar at the time. So 10 am rolls around. My friends call me to see where I had gone too. I inform them of my location and we rendezvous. Since I was the only one awake at the time I had already eaten, my friends needed to eat. So we walk around more and eventually find a diner that is open for breakfast. This place had possibly the best breakfast I have had in a while. So we sat there enjoyed our breakfast and conversation and storytelling of the past night events. In the middle of the conversations, my friend Stan informed us that he had lost his credit card. This credit card was from his Korean bank. Now the Korean security isn’t as tight as America or other countries. Most to all of the time you don’t even really get ID’ed when you use the card. So Stan was worried. He had a sizeable amount of money in there. So we had one of the waiters help him call the bank to see what to do. Apparently Stan needed some information that he didn’t have at the time. So he was given the phone number to call. So breakfast was finishing up, we had to leave by 11am to be at the hash on time. It was a baseball theme, so on the way there we picked up some baseball gear. We had run into another hasher. She had told us if we wanted to come there on time, to get into a taxi and go. So we all piled into the taxi. We inform him of where we are going. The taxi driver starts driving. Apparently He didn’t understand what we told him. He had taken us clear across town, basically in the wrong direction of where we needed to go. He gets to the place where he thinks we needed to be and we told him no. We show him AGAIN where we needed to go. So while in transit to where we needed to go, we called someone to help translate. We eventually find someone and the taxi driver finally understood. The issue with that was it took 45 min to get to the first wrong place. Someone in the taxi was still drunk from the night before, so being in a taxi for more than an hour was not a good idea. He was saying that he was going to hurl if we did not get to the place we needed to go to and soon. So about an hour or so in a taxi and 40,000 won later we get to the area. We are there kind of, we were stuck in traffic. As we were all tired of being in traffic and upset about the situation we pay and get out of the taxi. We decided to start walking from where we were to where we needed to be, by the time we get to the place it was well past 1 o’clock. Seeing that the Hash started at 12, we were running late. On a hash usually you have to find yourself to the start point first before hashing. So we spend a lot of time roaming the area looking for the hash marks. We kept on looking. Then we got a call, everyone had already finished the trail. So we were informed of where to go to meet up with everyone. Seeing that the group that we hash with is more like a big family, I was expecting to get made fun of. We start finding our way to the group. We eventually find them and they are in numbers that day. I think there was at least 20ish or more people there. I was expecting mocking and jokes from the group. Instead we were welcomed with a little laughter and understanding. We stood there as we told our tale of the taxi and of the walk. As usual we there was food, beer, and drinks. This hash was a little special. One of the older hashers was leaving Korea forever, it was his goodbye party. The festivities of that day were geared towards in saying goodbye. People from many parts of Seoul were there to hash and to say goodbye to the hasher. We were also to go to a baseball game that day. Since all four of us were tired from the cab ride and the walk and from the night before, we decided not to go. So we decided to go back to Itaewon, via subway. As we were walking to the subway someone suggested taking a taxi, because it will be easier and we won’t get lost this time. I was opposed to this idea, so was another person, but no one listened to us. We jump into a taxi again. Their hopes were up. They were saying don’t worry about it and what not. So the taxi starts driving and boom traffic. We sat in traffic for a while before we got to Itaewon. I had given my two friends the I told you so look and speech. We ended back up in Itaewon around 3 or 4ish. We agreed to meet back up with each other around 8:30ish. 8 rolls around, Stan and I decided to walk around first to find a place to eat with our other friends. We walk around and find a long hill filled with food places. We find a suitable place and call our friends. We were informed that they were not joining us for reasons and will be meeting us for drinks afterwards. So Stan and I go get food. We ended up at this place that looked fancy, and fancy it was. We order food that sounded good. We get the food and find the portions were lacking at best. We were laughing about the situation for a while. After eating, we call our friends to see where they were. We were instructed to go meet them at a bar at a certain time. We walked around a little bit more. Then we heard live music from a place. We walked up there to see the commotion. We stumbled upon a place with amazing live music. We stayed there for a while. We told our friends to come join us, but they didn’t. Stan had started a conversation with a girl at the bar, she was to join us for the rest of the night. So there we were at the bar with amazing live music. At one point there was some down time and the drummer of group starts beating away like a machine. It was basically one of the best demonstrations of drumming I have seen in a while. So I move on out of the bar. Stan was making progress with the woman, so I wanted to get out of his way. I meet up with the rest of the hashers at another watering hole in the area. The bar had some live music as well, not as good as the other but live music none the less. So I sat there made conversation and Stan and the girl eventually mosey their way into the bar. We all partied there for a while until the place got too hot. I stepped outside and what not. I was making conversation with other hashers outside. Stan and the girl decided to join us too. We ended up moving to the bar next door with a dance floor. We hung out there for a while. Another hasher (Frank) and I were getting a little board. We decided to leave Stand and the girl alone, because of well you should have the idea by now. So Frank and I started to stumble our way around the area. We went to a couple different places. We randomly met other hashers in the area doing the same. For the sake of the story, the readers and myself, I will be omitting certain details. So I ended up finishing the night around 4am.
Sunday:
I wake up at 7ish. I was cursing the world for giving me an internal clock that woke me up so early. So I woke up. All my friends were still asleep, or so I assumed because of the time. I showered up and made my way back to the diner with great breakfast. I ordered some breakfast food and drinks. As I finished my meal, my friends walk in. They join me and I have conversation with them. They were heading into another hash for the day. I had declined to hash with them. I was too tired to hash. I decided that a 3 hour bus ride home is going to be hard enough. So they finished eating. We jump into the same subway. They keep on trying to convince me to join the hash. I was almost inclined to join, but in the end I didn’t. I get to the central bus terminal. Jump into the bus that I need to go to. I got back to my apartment around 3ish. Since I didn’t hash the whole weekend, I felt bad about myself. So I decided to start walking on my own. This was going to be a good thing, because the hashers decided to do a hash in my area at the end of the month. So I walked around setting the trail in my mind. I did it for about an hour or so. Once everything was finished it was about 4 or 5ish. I finished the day by sitting by the beach enjoying the weather and the sun.
Lessons:
I learned a couple of things this weekend. Sometimes all you need to do is say hello to start a conversation. This is a lesson that I had forgotten and not used in a very long time. This is a lesson that I will not soon forget. Thanks Stan for reminding me of that little notion. The other lesson was, sometimes you just have to find it in yourself. This weekend I learned that strength and character is in me, I just have to dig deep enough. I forgot that things aren’t easy. Sometimes you just don’t have to care and do what you need to do, be yourself and you will be fine. Hopefully this will get me out of the whole wallflower thing. I need to start getting comfortable with people faster. I think the first step is to really not care what they think of me and just be me.
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The End
Sometimes all you have to do is look in the mirror and convince yourself that you are a good person.
-Cezar-
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