The Only Rainbow During a Typhoon Is In Gangnam

Aug 30 - Sept 5, 2010

Well as the weekend came to a close and another week started, my leg was beginning to show great signs of improvement. And that was a god thing because our new semester started midweek and I actually got some classes to teach. Still it was too rainy to get back out on the bike, which is probably a good thing.
Having chewed up most of Lauren's free time lately, I went down to Yatap after work on Monday to help her pack since she had to move out of her place to make way for the new teacher on Wednesday. Like a tornado with trash bags I was throwing out all the piles of stuff she had sorted through, but were still blocking progress. She had already taken a trip to her friend Shauna's house where she was gong to keep her things for the last week that she was in the country and was hoping to only have to make one more. She was throwing away a lot of things that I could tell she did not want to, but due to weight restrictions when flying to certain places she had no choice. By about 2am we had it pretty much all taken care of, and I scored a sweet set of speakers that she didn't want to leave for her replacement.
Work on Tuesday was my last official day of sitting around, so I took advantage and did a few extra crosswords and listened to music while I looked over some of the new books I will be teaching from. After work on Tuesday, the whole school went out courtesy of the owner to say good-bye to Rebbecca, a Korean teacher who was leaving, and welcome to Chrissy and June, two new Korean teachers. We went to a Korean BBQ place close to work and ate an incredible amount of food, including dwaegi galbi then bulgogi (pork then beef), the later being mostly eaten by me as the rest of the people at my table had bigger eyes than they did stomachs. Be it my luck, the owner decided to sit at my table right across from me, and since he doesn't speak much English it made communication a little hard. Luckily Jean sat with us and translated. Either way, the language of drink was on the table and he made sure that we were all getting enough beer and having a great time. The party wrapped up around midnight since everyone had to be at work the next day. Still in a productive mood, I came home to have a couple more beers and type up a topic list for my discussion class that I will be starting this semester, then called it a night around 2am when Lauren came by after being out with some friends.
On Wednesday I got up and went to meet Blake and his brother Grant and girlfriend Michelle for lunch by Blake's house. They were going to be leaving that afternoon, so I thought it would be nice to have one more lunch with them before they left. After lunch I came home to get ready for lunch and bring Lauren some halls because she was coming down with a cold from all the rain and stress of moving out lately. I went off to work and got ready for my first day of the new semester, which wasn't anything too different from the few classes I have been teaching. After work I headed towards Gangnam to have one last round of drinks with Dave and Kate at Rainbow before they left. Blake, Brady and Sohyun were all there and Lauren even joined on her way back from a get together with some of her friends. We kept it pretty laid back, had a few beers and smoked some shisha before calling it a night around 130. The problem after we decided to leave was that it was Gangnam, and on a good night it is impossible it get a cab there, but it just happened to be pouring out making it a herculean task. We managed to find cabs for all but Blake, Lauren, and I quicker that we had thought, but then had to stand out in the rain sharing umbrellas for several minutes. Eventually we got one and got out of there, dropping Blake off then heading home.
By the time we arrived in Bongcheon the storm had really taken form and was pounding us with rain. Later I found out it was the end a typhoon that had come up from the south and had really done a number on the city of night and into the morning. The storm actually knocked out the power to my apartment for a few hours throughout the night, but I hardly noticed since I use my cell phone as an alarm. The black skies were deceiving however, and every time I woke up I thought I had more time than I actually did to get to work and ended up sleeping later than I should have. Waking up at 130 I had to hustle to get ready and get out the door so I wouldn't be too late for work. Work was work, and then after work it was time to have an easy night. I just came home and worked on some blogs, then talked to Adam on skype before calling it a night around 2am.
Feeling well rested Friday I got up, got ready and went off to work. After work there wasn't too much going on with my friends and I had got an invite from Lauren to hang out with her and some of her friends at Rainbow again, so I went back to Gangnam. It was a little weird going into the bar not knowing where anyone was sitting and having to stand around awkwardly until someone saw me, but hey weird is my way it seems. After finding them ad meting her friends, I proceeded to unleash and give Lauren a glimpse of the rage-aholic that is Mark. We were sitting in a loft area of Rainbow, but with my leg being sore I had hung it over the edge because there was nobody sitting below us for it to interfere with. A little time passed and I didn't notice a group of Koreans move in below us, or else I would have moved my foot. Then out of nowhere.... SLAP... right in my sore ankle. Immediately I was in pain, but overriding that was my anger. looking over to see what the hell was going on, I saw a Korean face look up at me laugh then slap my foot again. At this I lost it, screaming a few obscenities and making for the railing in order to jump down and kick this person in the face, Lauren stopped me. I was fuming and being a very passive person she didn't really understand, and to her credit wouldn't just let me go down there. It took a little while to calm down and I'm sure Lauren was beside herself with my anger. Eventually I calmed down and went to get another beer, which was when I realized life could have gotten out of control if I had of jumped down in blind rage. It turned out that the person who slapped me was a girl, and if I had of kicked her it might have landed me in hotter water than if it was some guy. Either way it was over and we went back to having a good time, until all of Lauren's friends took of to make the last bus/subway since they all lived so far away. In the meantime Jean had showed up so we had a drink with him before calling it a night ourselves at 230. Once again trying to leave Gangnam was impossible, and we ended up walking down to Kyodae to get a cab and got home around 3am, where I proceeded to make up some food to fill the gap before morning.
Not waking up until just after noon hour on Saturday, Lauren and I killed some time before she had to go meet up with some friends and go the the stage production of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. They had the idea of dressing up as characters from the show, and in the end were the only few people that did. This is Korea you have to remember and people don't get into those things as much as westerners. I on the other hand had gone to COEX Mall to met up with some friends for the weekend wine buffet, but to our surprise it was booked solid, so we went to On The Boarder instead (also in the mall). It was my first time there, and other than being slightly more expensive than other places, it was a great meal with large drinks. After dinner we all decided to head to Kondae and do some bar hoping. As we were finishing our meal, Lauren was finishing with the show, which was also at COEX and since her friends were calling it a night she decided to come with us. She met up with us in her drag looking clothes and then changed once we got to Kondae. We started at Ireland Yuki Bar, then went to the Underground Lounge, before ending the night at Ho Bar where I had a drink called a Mexican Durango that was like drinking rubbing alcohol. it was so strong and bitter that James and Alex N both had to get one. By 2am Lauren and I had had enough and called it a night, taking a cab home and crashing out.
Sunday was another write off, as we spent most of the day in bed watching Aqua Teen Hunger Force and other stupid shows from my library. Eventually, I went out for groceries and Lauren headed over to Shawna's to get her things in order before meeting up with one of her friends for dinner. I spent the rest of the night cooking up food for the week and watching more silly videos until bed time.