W-W-W-Wipe Out

Aug 16-22, 2010

Well this week took an unexpected turn, not so much for the worse, but for the painful. So lets get through the boring parts first then on to the good stuff. Weather wise, it was pretty nice this week. The heat had subsided a bit and the rain seemed to hold off. Work wise, I was still not very busy. In fact, it was the last week of having my conversation classes, which means in the coming weeks before the new semester starts, I will be back to doing nothing for 8hrs a day.
Outside of work life was a bit of a chaotic blur this week. Monday night to be honest I can't even remember what I got up to. I may have gone down to hang out with Lauren in Yatap, or I might have just hung out at home. Your guess is as good as mind. From there the rest of the week is more memorable. Tuesday after work I headed to Gangnam to meet up with Blake Nathan, and Emily for Emily's last night out in Gangnam. Before getting on the subway however, Blake called me and had me pop home to check a stock he had been watching that had gone way up throughout the course of the day. When I got to Gangnam, I let him know that it was still up and then we got to having a few beers. We didn't stay out too late, and by 2am we were calling it a night. Seeing Emily into a cab, Blake and I (Nate stuck around Woodstock for a bit longer) headed back to his place to see how his stock was doing. He had come to the decision that if it was still up he was going to sell for a pretty hansom profit, and I was there for moral support and to celebrate with him if it was the case. As it turned out it was still up and he sold, then we went to the bar next to his place, which we have given the name Yugi-Ohs for a beer and bite. I ended up staying at his place for the night, as it was 330 by the time we were done.
Waking up on Blake's couch Wednesday morning, I took the subway home and then decided to ride my motorcycle to work since it was a nice day, and since I was a little late. It felt nice to ride to work, but as my luck would have it, after only being at work for a couple hours it started to rain. Not wanting to ride it later in the rain, I had high hopes that it would quit and dry up before he end of the night. I got my wish and it did stop and dry up. My next dilemma, which was the one that sealed my fate for the evening, was whether or not to drive it to Bundang after work. The reason I was going down to Bundang was to have some drinks with Dave and Kate, Thomas and Jean, Blake, and Lauren was going to join us, for Kate's birthday. Though we had gone out on the weekend for her birthday, Blake and I had promised that we would come down for a more subdued night. To put it in perspective, Bundang is about an hour ride from where I work, I have never ridden that way, and didn't even know the way other than for what I had been looking at on maps all day. Having several coworkers tell me that I shouldn't all day wasn't my confidence, but then at the end of the day Jean pulled through with some encouragement, and I decided to go for it. BAD CHOICE.
I got on my bike outside of work, and took off without any problems, and for the first 20 minutes everything was cool. I was watching the traffic around me, going with the flow, and then it happened..... Korean driving snuck up and bit me in the ass. As I was slowing at a red light near Seocho, about 1/3 of the way into my trip, a truck decided to jump into my lane and slam on his brakes. Not wanting to hit him, but having no room to stop safely, I spiked the brakes and laid my bike down to the right. Since I was going just under 10kmp, I didn't slide, but just toppled over with my bike landing on my right leg because I couldn't get it out of the way fast enough. So there I was laying on the road with a bike on me and nobody seemed to care. Full of rage, I held the bike up off of myself, stood up, then pushed it to the side of the road. The guy in the truck never even noticed it happened, and before I could kick in his windows the light turned green and he took off. Taking a quick look at myself, I realized I had skinned my elbow pretty good and where the bike had landed on me I already had a baseball size lump with a few surface wounds, which made me even angrier because I knew how much it was going to hurt later when I wasn't full of adrenaline. As it was, being to stupid to call it quits, i got back on my bike and fired it up. I roe for about another 20 minutes to Daechi before I had completely forgotten where I was supposed to be going, and my leg hurt enough that I felt the need to get off my bike. I parked my bike a Daechi station, made some calls to let everyone know I was a bit behind, but was still coming, then jumped in a cab to get through the last 1/3 of the venture.
Getting down to Dave and Kate's neighbourhood of Jukjeon by 12, about 30 minutes later than expected i met up with Lauren at the subway statoin then limped to where the group was. Upon arrival everyone was in awe about my leg, but being foreigners didn't freak out poured me a beers and got me some ice. We hung out until 3ish before calling a night and going back to Lauren's to clean up my wounds and get some Band-aids. By the morning, the swelling had gone way down from the baseball it was to a large lump with swelling encompassing a good portion of my lower left leg. Knowing that my bike was in the middle of nowhere, and with the towing trouble I had with it already, I headed back to Daechi station to get it and ride it home. I was less nervous than one probably should be getting back on it, but as we've all been taught 'if you fall off, you have to pick yourself up and get back on'. The ride from Daechi took longer than i had hoped and was a little riskier given the midday traffic, but I got to work just fine and only 30 minutes late. Still having blood on my pants i went into my directors office and explained what had happened and asked if I could head home to change my pants and wash up. Shocked that I hadn't seen a doctor yet and that all I was worried about was changing my pants, my director gave me leave to get changed and asked me if I wanted someone at work to take me to the hospital. I told her that it was O.K. because I knew nothing was broken and that the bleeding had stopped so there was no need to go. I walked home, though I should have rode my bike just to get it home, changed my pants and new bandages, then returned to work to sit around for the day. Luckily the pain was pretty minimal and I got a good kick out of all my coworkers freaking out, like my leg was going to fall of throughout the day.
After work Thursday, I had to ride my bike home, which was fine except Lauren had come through to check home I was doing so I had to stop at the subway station and wait for her before riding home while she walked. She walked up the hill as I rode up then walked down to meet her, then we came back to hang out at my place where I made her and myself some Kraft Dinner and put my foot up for the night. Friday brought with it more concern from my teachers, and more sitting around at work with my leg up, telling everyone not to worry and that I wasn't going to die. After work on Friday, I took my coworker Jean to Sillim where we were gong to meet Blake
for kal-magi-sal (marinated pork strip BBQ) dinner and some drinks. To our surprise, Mike our other coworker came out. Not that Mike is a dud, but he was unsure about other plans and couldn't give us a definite answer earlier in the day. We ate and had some beers, then switched it up to get some drinks at a bar. We weren't sure where we wanted to drink since non of us planned on staying out too late, and randomly we stumbled on a new Ho Bar (weird name but popular in Seoul) where we set up shop for a few Jack and Cokes before calling it a night around 130. Mike had already left to meet up with some other friends, so Jean, Blake and I shared a cab as far as Bongcheon, where Jean and I got out and the headed home.
Not being hung over, i got up Saturday and cleaned my apartment in between bouts of putting my leg up to keep the swelling at bay. I got my dishes done, laundry washed, and even washed my floor. In the late afternoon, I grabbed a nap before getting up and getting ready to head to my briefly lived neighbourhood of Pyeongchon for Emily's good-bye party. We weren't actually staying in Pyeongchon, but one stop over in Beomgyae for dinner and drinks. I got there a little late after missing one of my trains, limp related, but made it for dinner at a Mexican place where I gave Blake and Dave an update on my condition (Kate couldn't make it due to a wisdom tooth removal Friday morning) and letting Emily in on the whole story. After dinner we headed to India bar for a couple drinks and some darts, then to Habidus for some more drinks and pool. I wasn't sure how late the party was going to go, but was quickly brought back to reality when I realized it was a going away party and that someone had brought up the idea of going to Slang, the local night club. I was down for whatever, but wasn't looking forward o the standing aspect of the club. Either way, we rolled in and kept the party going and eventually I was intoxicated enough to believe some dancing wasn't such a bad idea. Around 230 or 3 we had all had enough and left to catch cabs. After saying our final good-byes to Emily, Dave, Blake, and I shared a cab back to Seoul where I got out at my place and Dave and Blake rounded out the trip to Blake's where Dave stayed the night.
Waking up around noon on Sunday, I spent a good portion of the day just hanging out at home with Goah, watching movies and making food for the coming work week. Then around 8pm I went to meet Blake and SaeJin for some dinner in Blake's area. We had some lamb barbecue, which was delicious. From there we headed over to a little bar for a few drinks, where Lauren joined us after she was finished her Han River cruise. Together we chatted until just after 11 then got on the last subway so that we wouldn't have to take a cab to my place.

And so another week comes to an end. Hope you are all doing well.