Things I like about Korea When I’ve been Drinking

 

Maybe my first post in a while, but fair warning, I’m just between that point of drunk beyond being able to type in a web address and passing out in some random gutter (which I’ve never done in Korea, but on a side note I would be completely confident in doing and waking up with my wallet and organs intact). Given this state, I thought it to be a good time to write about some of the things I really enjoy about being slightly drunk in Korea.

Noraebang:

A cheap and easy start for any waegukins here in Korea, but I am sticking with it. I mean really, once we’ve tossed a few back, is there anything better than singing at the top of our lungs? Well here, you can do so and not only not have the police called on you, but be in a private room with equally inebriated friends with backing music and tambourines. Not only that, but additional alcohol as well as “back-up singers” (depending on your marital status) are easily obtainable for a reasonable price. What’s not to love?

You can feel completely safe:

I wasn’t kidding about what I said before about passing out. I might be going by moreYeosu visual evidence than Seoul, but I have no doubt that I could fall asleep on the street and wake-up with the Sun relatively intact in this country (although, honestly I never have. Waking up in my car in the parking lot across from a bar at about 10am my first year here is the closest I’ve ever come. Never considered driving, I swear Mom and Dad). Additionally, since there is ALWAYS cabs around you can easily get home. I can also say at least 95% of the time, in my experience, the cabbies don’t even try to run up the meter. Tonight, for example, the cabbie checked with me constantly (in Korean) that I knew where I was going, he was going the right way and that he stopped in the right place. As a side note to any Korean cab drivers who might be listening, mildly drunk foreigners who you take home without any run-around tend to be generous tippers.

Delicious, Exotic Asian Food Waiting in the Fridge When you Get Home:

Sure, I may have been living in and eating my way through Korea for the past three years, but that means 23 years were spent back in the States. Combine that with the fact alcohol acts like a time machine for my taste-buds and suddenly everything I’m eating is some Oriental experience of a lifetime. It doesn’t matter than I’m just eating 4 day old, leftover mandu (dumplings) from cheap, chinese delivery, it’s just not something I could have ever expected to find back in the States, so that makes it special. Even if your cupboards are empty, the 24 hour joints here are still serving up kimchi chigae, bibimbap, donkasu, or any number of things you couldn’t hope to find back home, let alone late at night. Admittedly, I do sometimes miss biting into an omelet from Village Inn, but hey we also have much better tasting and selection of ramen noodles, so it more than evens out.