first night out

I don’t know why I’m coming home at 5:45 a.m. on an early Wednesday morning, but I know that I am. I also don’t know why an embarrassed looking Korean woman just pounded at my door, said something to me that I didn’t understand, bowed and walked away, but I know that she did. I went out last night with three new friends from England, Wales, and Canada after my first night of observation at my school. Of these new friends, Chris has been in Korea for six years, Michael has been here just over a year, and Kelly, like me, is a newbie; I learned a lot. I had my first taste of Korean food, which consisted of kimchi [a traditional Korean dish (fermented cabbage) that is served at basically every Korean meal], various side dishes and condiments, and a peppercorn-laced pork substance that was grilled directly at our table. Basically, you are given a few burners on which to grill your food, and everyone digs into to these dishes family style, grabbing whatever you want with your chopsticks and putting it directly into your mouth rather than on a plate. It initially felt rather savage-like, but I soon remembered that I like feeling like a savage. The food was good and the conversation was better so I suppose this is the reason why I’m coming home at 5:45 on a Wednesday morning. We drank entirely too much beer and soju (which basically tastes like watered down vodka) at the Korean restaurant. We then went to a Japanese bar where we drank entirely too much sake. If I remember correctly, I had to squat down on the floor to urinate in this bar. It was difficult, but I succeeded. If I remember correctly, we had extended conversations about the following topics: religion, politics, our mutual appreciation for dry humor and sarcasm, the personality differences between Prince William and Prince Harry, the fact that I am a self-loathing American who constantly feels the need to apologize to the rest of the world for the war in Iraq, and the movie Dirty Dancing (because this topic invariably comes up in 100% of my drunken conversations). If I remember correctly, I inevitably began to speak with a British accent because, for reasons beyond my control, when I drink too much soju and sake and am in the presence of people who possess an accent different from my own, I involuntarily begin to take on their accent and vocabulary. If I remember correctly, at some point, we got onto the subject of roadkill and I blurted out a drunken confession about the fact that I inadvertently ran over a tiny kitten on the highway about 5 days ago; I am now known as the cat killer. I think I like Korea. I think I like it a lot.