Fun With Taeha Noona In Sangsu/Hondgae

Yesterday, I met Taeha Noona at 7 PM in Sangsu. We ate delicious dwaeji galbi (the best I've ever had). There was plenty of meat and almost no fat on it! After that, we watched "Little Miss Sunshine" and then went to a "live" music club, which had a sign that said I.D. is required and G.I.s are not allowed in. We walked in to Clapton's cover of Big Bill Broonzy's "Hey, Hey" from his "Unplugged" album. We got two iced teas that were poorly mixed and full of sugar. "Tears In Heaven" followed. By the way, the woman didn't want to see my I.D. at all and could easily tell that I wasn't a soldier and was completely harmless hahaha. People started coming to the place about 25 minutes after we got there. We just sat there, relaxed, talked, and took pics. Then it was time for both of us to leave. So, yesterday, before I met Taeha, I ate 6 nuggets at McDonald's, 6 chicken tenders at Burger King (back to back), and then had lots of pork with Taeha when we met. On top of all this, when I got back to Shinchon, I went to KFC and had a Zinger chicken sandwich. Really healthy, Dan!!! hahaha

Mr. Oh

Yesterday, I woke up late, ate at KFC nearby (the Zinger Burger is delicious!), and then took a 1 hour subway ride to Sam Sung, where the famous COEX Mall is. It's the biggest mall in all of Korea, and has the biggest record store in Korea, too. I spent over one hour at the record store, carefully browsing through their collection. Everything was way over-priced. For instance, the Beatles' "Rubber Soul" (or should I say "Rubber Seoul"? hahaha err) was 22 dollars! All the Blues albums were too expensive, though I did find and take a picture of a fantastic Johnny Shines album! I went to the Jazz section to look for Jelly Roll Morton and Billie Holiday, both of whom were absent!!! I started talking with a middle-aged man there whose name is Oh Hyun. His English was nearly perfect. His son and wife live in New York City. His son is in middle school. He said he sends them money regularly and visits New York about four times a year. Also, he owns a recording studio near Sam Sung!!! We talked about how the record business in Korea is terrible, and just as bad in America. Nobody is buying cds any longer because of mp3s. It occurred to me to mention Michael Powers and Michael's manager to Mr. Oh. Mr. Oh Hyun said that Michael is welcome to come to Korea any time to record, but he'd have to bring his whole band with him, because Korean musicians don't know how to play electric Blues or Blues-Rock, which is very true haha. It was a lot of fun talking with him! I somehow found a 3-CD Fats Waller box set for 17 bucks, and lingered around for a while talking with Mr. Oh. Finally, I bought the cd, and we both left the place. He asked me if I wanted to eat dinner with him, but I thought it was a bit odd, so I told him I was full, which I was. I became exhausted on the ride back home. 2 hours on the subway is too much, even though the subway system in Seoul is beautiful. When I got back to the goshiwon, I listened to my new cd set, talked to my brother on MSN and Skype, and became very hungry, but just ate chips and a fruit cup or two. I'm going to shave and shower soon, and get something to eat quickly. Tonight, I'm meeting up with Taeha Noona and going to a Jazz bar with her=)

Jaehong!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yesterday, I woke up early, called Noeul and Jaehong a few times, met Noeul at HyeHwa station and briefly talked with her friend, who was a tall, skinny guy. He left, and Noeul and I went to Baskin Robbins. We caught up on old times. We waited for Jaehong for almost two hours, but it was worth it! I really missed him! I gave him many big hugs! Noeul took a pic or two of us and then left. Jaehong and I ate shabu-shabu. It was my first time trying it. Then we walked around a lot. We drank maehwasu, which is like maeshil + alchohol and ate chicken wings at a nice, little, dark place where we took our sneakers off and sat around and talked. We talked about life, Stony Brook, girls, etc. He will be going to the University of Texas at Austin (I think that's the name!) in less than 1 week! So, I won't see him for over a year, probably. I wished him good luck, told him the many meanings of "fuck", and tried to introduce him to Texas/southern-style speech. Then, we went to Krispy Kreme and ate donuts and drank Arizona Iced Tea. Unfortunately, I had to say goodbye to him, and I almost cried. I will really, really miss him! He's the only guy who hung out with me all summer, besides Seong In (from the youth hostel). Namju, Dongjin, Yongkuk and all of them had no time for me; but Jaehong did! What a sweet guy! I gave him many hugs and wished him great luck! I told him to live on campus and practice his English with Americans, and also told him that he can easily get a blonde girl if he wants. I wish him the best of luck and really love him like a brother!!!

*P.S.*- He told me that my Korean got much better=)

Talking With A 75 Year Old Genius Outside A "Jazz" Bar

I didn't do much yesterday. I pretty much walked around outside the goshiwon late in the afternoon. I talked with a 75 year old man who was working in a little shitty room the size of a box, outside of a Jazz Bar. He told me the show would start an hour and a half later. We talked about Koreans, Jews, Korea, the Korean War, my troubles at the goshiwon, Namdaemun, and how he had studied at some university or college in Kansas in 1955. I think he said it wasn't fun. He learns new English words every day. He read to me from a newspaper, trying to figure out the meaning of the word "snapped". He thought it meant "broken", which it usually does, but in this case, two things had snapped into place on a Japanese space shuttle called "Kibo", I think. His English is excellent! I was amazed! It turned out the Jazz Bar was a bar with K-Pop performances. I got out of there. I was quite disappointed. I told the old man it was K-Pop crap. He loves Classical music only, and has family in Flushing. He doesn't like the Rolling Stones or the Beatles, he said. I took some pictures around the neighborhood, and that's about it. Ah, between my first time talking with the man and my trip back to the "Jazz" Bar, I ate a 12 piece McNuggets at McDonald's, and also ordered fries and a Sprite, and my stomach was quite full! At the Burger King next door, I took pictures of Everly Brothers and Ricky Nelson albums haha.

A Fun, Rainy Day With Mina Noona & A Decent Haircut & Three CDs For $25

Yesterday, I met up with Mina Noona at Ddook Sum. The meeting was at 1:30, but I got there way too early, around 12:40. So, I went to a local PC bang (for the first time in my life). Everything there was very hi-tech. I only used MSN Messenger and Facebook. Then we met up at 1:30 at the train station, went to Mindeulleh Cafe in HyeHwa, which is a nice, small, artsy town not too far from her house. After that, we saw a movie, ate seolleongtang (it was my first time eating it, and I thought it was good but bland), and then walked in the rain to Ch'eonggyech'eon. The original plan was to take a cruise on the Han River, but it was pouring rain, so I suggested taking a look at Ch'eonggyech'eon. Unfortunately, it was simply raining too hard and the area was closed to the public. So, we went to Red Mango and I got a watermelon smoothie-like thing. It was delicious and really tasted like watermelon. Mina got the mango flavored one. She realized she lost her phone, so I called her phone, and her guess was right; she had left it at Mindeulleh Cafe. So, we went back there, got the phone, walked as the rain got harder, and said goodbye at the subway station.









I woke up very late today, talked to my mom and brother on MSN but wasn't able to see them on the webcam, talked to Mike a little bit, ate at Bennigan's for the second time, asked a guy on the street if there was a cd store available, found the place easily (it's the same place from last year!) and bought three discs for 25 bucks; Jimmy Rushing, Big Joe Turner, and a Big Joe Turner/T-Bone Walker one. There was also a Sidney Bechet, a great Jelly Roll Morton that my local library has, and a solid John Hammond disc that I think is all electric. After that, I got an excellent haircut. It took almost two hours, I'd say, or at least an hour-and-a-half. The woman who cut my hair did a great job, and we talked in Korean the whole time. Then, a different woman, who is a year younger than me, washed my hair with shampoo, and then I sat back down in the original chair while the first woman styled my hair with gel. After all that, I got some honeydew/melon ice cream and then returned to my room. Right now, I'm listening to one of the discs I bought.

The Day I Didn't Sweat

Yesterday, I actually didn't sweat! It was amazing! I left my room close to dinner time, ate some slightly undercooked pork which made me sick this morning, wore my silly yellow t-shirt with Korean on it (the shirt's too small!) and spent the evening listening to music!

Taeha Noona & More Pizza Hut Haha

I don't want any more Pizza Hut!!!

Last night, I met up with Taeha Noona in Shinchon. She said it took only twenty minutes for her to get there, so I was relieved. We ate at Pizza Hut, where I never want to eat again, and then saw a movie. We had a great time! By the way, before this, I was YELLED at by the middle-aged man working here. You see, in Korea, you are supposed to take off your sneakers/shoes on the first floor. I live on floor #4. For some bizarre reason, this man gave me a key to a locker on the third floor, but the locker isn't really on the third floor; it's beside the staircase. Therefore, he decided to mix Korean and American shoe/sneaker culture and confuse the living shit out of me. So, I was in the habit of walking up to the third floor (not really the floor, but between staircases) with my sneakers on, taking them off there, and then putting them in the locker. He explained to me (well, he yelled at me in Korean) that I'm supposed to take them off on the first floor and carry them up to the third floor by hand. So, this is what I have to do to get from the streets to my room:

1) Enter code on keypad
2) Walk to second floor and take sneakers off
3) Pick up sneakers and walk with them to the locker
4) Use my key to unlock the locker and put my sneakers in there
5) Walk to floor #4
6) Use a different code on a different keypad in order to get to my floor
7) Use a different key (not the locker key) to open the door to my room

FUCK YOU, YOU STUPID FUCK!

He wrote on paper that he has cameras everywhere, and that if I do what I did one more time, he will throw me out without a refund. Why the FUCK does he think I would do this purposely? It's his fucking fault, because he is mixing Western shoe culture and Korean shoe culture together by putting a fucking locker between the bottom floor and my floor. He's making it confusing for no damned reason!