My first Christmas away from home. I decided to document the experience.
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christmas eve update
Just thought I’d post a little video update on Christmas Eve. I will post more videos documenting my Korean Christmas experience in the next couple of days.
I love and miss you all~
Itaewon Freedom
안녕! Sorry for the lack of updates on here lately. I have no excuses. I will post updates on my happenings here very soon. For now, here’s a video which is considered the anthem of Itaewon, my favorite district in Seoul. Itaewon is home to many foreigners which explains the random black people in this video. There are people there from all over the world, its really refreshing to go there. You can find any kind of international food and all the western commodities and necessities you can imagine. It’s also known for its outstanding night life, hence “Itaewon Freedom”. Photos of Itaewon will be posted very soon. Stay tuned!
Eating Sannakji (live octopus)
Sannakji or sannakji hoe is a variety of hoe, or raw dish, in Korean cuisine. It consists of live nakji (hangul: 낙지, a small octopus) that has been cut into small pieces and served immediately, usually lightly seasoned with sesame and sesame oil. The nakji pieces are usually still squirming on the plate. It can also be served whole. (Wikipedia)
There is a real danger when eating sannakji which is that if a part is swallowed it could become a choking hazard because the suctions can stick to your throat. It is said that some Korean people have died from being too drunk to chew properly and choking on a part. I felt the suctions sticking to the roof of my mouth and it was pretty strong.
Korean marketing at its finest
This coke vending machine in Seoul gives away free cokes to anyone who can dance with it.
a very dirty weekend
3 weeks in and I have already went on my first trip in Korea. It was my earliest morning since I’ve been here, waking up at 7am to get on the party bus headed to Boryeong beach. It was packed with foreigners, most of whom had been drinking through the night and were continuing their partying for the entire weekend with no sleep. Once we arrived at the beach, I was so excited to just be walking barefoot in sand and going in the ocean. It was cloudy and looked like it would start raining any second, but we didn’t care. We were about to get real dirty, so the rain would not even be a factor.
We spent some time on the beach then headed over to Mudfest aka the biggest party in South Korea. It felt like every foreigner in the country was there at the same time, plus thousands of Koreans. I was too clean when I got there and people were almost mocking us for how clean we were. Some people just came up to us and hugged us or spread mud on us just to make us feel welcome. By the time we finally got muddy, it was like a christening. We walked around proud, like members of a tribe. The booze was flowing endlessly and was fueling the entire mood and atmosphere of the festival, everyone without the slightest care about the less than ideal weather. People were walking around like muddy soldiers, they didn’t want to be clean. They came here to get dirty. So did we. There was something so punk rock about it. I loved the whole atmosphere. Even after mudfest was over, the after party continued through the whole night. We slept on a matted floor and we slept well. We had a late night feast of spine soup. By the time the trip was over and I was back at my apartment, I experienced for the first time the relief of being “home” in my Korean apartment. I slept hard until work the next day. That was my journey to Boryeong Mudfest and as long as I’m still in Korea this time next year, I will be revisiting for Mudfest 2013.
the beginning
June 23rd, I packed my entire life into 2 suitcases and got on a plane to Korea. This is some footage of my trip from Bethlehem to Suwon. I just got around to posting the footage now.
Suwon nightlife
its normal in Korea to be out partying until sunrise. please excuse the language, its a bar video.
NEON SEOUL 