A Saturday Romp

Yesterday was a blast.  We got up, went to the gym and then to E-mart to get a few things for the picnic.  Then we got all the food together (onigiri, chopped veggies, apples and imported beer).  We met Ben and Amy at their apartment and walked toward Uirimji where there's a small park tucked in the rice paddies.  I forgot to take a picture of the food we brought.  When we picnic again, I'll be sure to document it better.  We ended up sitting to the side of the pagoda (where everybody else was) because there wasn't much room, but we still got to see and talk to everyone.  Amy brought snacks and delicious homemade peanut butter cookies.  I ate two.  That's where my joyful spiral into a day of overindulgence began.  

A Korean guy who I hadn't met before (and called himself "Mountain Man") came and sat next to us for a few minutes.  His English wasn't very good, but he was pretty cool.  We offered him an onigiri and he ate it in one bite, struggling to get it down since the rice was a bit water logged and gluey.  He made quite a show of it, but then he ate three more.  So, we gave him a beer, figuring he needed and deserved it.

Here are some terrible photos of each of us, none of which feature the meal in the slightest:

Basically everyone showed up to say goodbye to Hayley, Kate and Pete (at the picnic and then later at SJ's and the bar), so it was nice to see everybody.  A few of the many, from left to right: Kate, Hayley, Pete, Liz, and Andrew.

Ben, Amy, Ian and I left to go see Robin Hood and everyone asked us to come to SJ's after, so we obliged.  After the movie, we walked to SJ's and decided to detour up to a hilltop park which is lit with lanterns right now for Buddha's Birthday on Friday.

Then we hit SJ's apartment and the evening ended in soju, juice and a streetside encounter with a few Indian men and one Korean that ended with us giving him a small banana; our gift prompted a "Who's on First?"  episode in which the Korean guy asked me about a hundred times (in Korean) how you say "banana" in English (it's "banana" in both languages). 

As usual, everyone ended up at Metro.  At one point, Ian ran to Buy the Way to get cash to pay our tab.  He got in the elevator with Jamie's wife (a Korean woman) and she asked him where we work.  Ian told her and she said, "Oh!  You're boss is crazy!"  Apparently she had heard about her when she worked at Wonderland.  It's too bad we didn't know how Julia's reputation preceded her, but it's nice to know we're not alone.

It was a long, and very fun day.

Good... afternoon!

Never Gonna Give You Up...

No, I'm not Rick Rolling you.  That title would be far too obvious, promise.

Gene told Ian that he has decided to leave Yoon's.  While I'm disappointed because Ian and I like Gene and he is completely crucial to our sanity as employees,  I understand why he is leaving.  He is paid very little.  So little that it hardly covers the cost of his commute.  Driving is expensive in Korea.  Gas prices are high and all freeways are toll roads.  Gene drives nearly an hour each direction (completely ridiculous when you think about how small Korea is) every single work day.  Julia and David treat him like an errand boy, giving him any superfluous task and often asking him to work on weekends.  He had to cancel a weekend in Busan with his wife over a holiday because they asked him to work and they didn't tell him until the Thursday before.

He's staying until they find a replacement, which means it could be ages until he actually quits (hence the title of this post).  Leave it to Gene to do his quitting on someone else's time table.  He's simply too nice.  But, I welcome the gradual change, as I'm not looking forward to having someone new be the only buffer between Julia and us.

On a completely unrelated note, I've come to believe that the girls who live across from us are raging alcoholics.  I'm not talking Korean standard soju loving alcoholism, here, either.  Each week a box of empty soju jugs (the biggest ones available) sits outside their door waiting to be pitched.  Tonight, when I walked into our building there was a girl leaning against the side of the elevator, waiting.  When the doors opened, I hesitated, thinking she would walk in first.  But, as she had difficulty removing herself from the wall, she didn't.  She staggered in after me.  As the elevator rose, she planted her feet, but her upper body betrayed her by spinning in a slow circle.  We exited the elevator and she went to the notorious soju door, tried to open the door herself, but gave up and rang the door bell.  Her roommate answered in her skivvies (or very short shorts).  This girl was trashed.  And it wasn't even 8:30.  I'm certainly not being judgmental (at least not purposefully), but I'm perplexed and curious about our neighbors and their lives.  After all, the most we see of any of the people on our floor is their garbage before trash day.

Onward to the weekend merry-making.

Good night!