Christmas Eve – Korean style

Started the day by having coffee and toast (made with the new creamsicle orange appliances . . .) then ventured out on my own to see a bit of the city. Wasn’t able to get too far, because we had a staff meeting at the school mid-day. After the meeting, several of us went to eat tak-kalbi. Another new Korean dish that is delicious. Chicken and cabbage and hot sauce and pasta things and root vegetables all grilled together at the table. We decided that, since it was Christmas Eve, we should celebrate not only with our staff (the Suseong Kate School) but also with the other staff across town (Chil-Guk Kate School). It was agreed that we would all meet at Bennigan’s (yes, again . . .) downtown between 8 and 8:30.

About 7:30 the 5 of us from Suseong Kate School met to get a taxi. Three men: Mark, Ted, and Rob; two women: me and Chanta. We knew we would have to take two taxis, so we started trying to hail cabs. None would stop. At least not for us. We stood on the main street for almost 25 minutes trying to get a cab to stop. One finally did. We all looked at each other, which three should take the first cab? Chanta and I both immediately told the guys to get in the cab, because we felt we would have more luck getting a cab to stop than they would. The boys were off. Chanta and I return to the curb, taking bets on how long it would take us to hail a cab. My guess was under ten minutes. Bam! Three minutes later we were in a cab, heading downtown. Or so we thought.

Whenever we get in a cab, we tell the driver a major landmark, then get out and walk from there. The largest department store in Daegu is called Debec. And it’s a huge landmark downtown. So I told the driver Shinae (downtown) Debec. He drove, then let us out at Debec. It wasn’t until after we were out of the cab that I realized we weren’t downtown – he had taken us to the River Debec! So Chanta and I flag another cab (again, less than 5 minutes – sometimes it’s really convenient being a woman). As soon as we get in the driver says to us, “I am Korean man and I very handsome.” Well, okay, yes. He was a student and wanted to practice his English. A few blocks later he exclaimed, “Oh, I forgot meter! You so beautiful you make me (then a lot of Korean . . .)” He wanted our phone numbers (which we don’t have yet) because he said we would practice English and be best friends. It was an entertaining ride.

We walked to Bennigan’s and saw the teachers from the Chil-Guk Kate School. We asked where the boy teachers from our school were. They looked at us funny and said that they hadn’t arrived yet. What????? Chanta and I were able to hail two cabs, get lost, and get hit upon and they hadn’t even arrived????? They arrived shortly and claimed traffic was bad. The wait for a table at Bennigan’s was two hours. “Oh, darn, I guess we’ll have to go somewhere else . . .” Yeah! We wandered into a bar/restaurant, got a table for 9, and got a couple of pitchers of beer. The largest pitchers I’ve ever seen. 5000cc. I think that’s about 2 liters, right? Anyway, after a few drinks we decided we would have dinner there as well. We looked at the menu (typical bar food) – it seemed, well, sometimes English translations can be funny. Chanta and I decided to split a couple of dishes. She ordered “popcorn chicken” (yes, chicken, not shrimp) and I ordered “cooked potatoes with flavor.” Seriously. And guess what we had for Christmas Eve dinner? The smallest chicken nuggets I’ve ever seen and tator tots! Oh, yeah . . .

While we were eating the ever present techno Christmas music was playing. I was kind of dancing/bouncing in my seat. One of the teachers suggested we try to find a dance club after dinner. Yeah! I said I thought that would be a most awesome idea – that I love to dance! One of the teachers, Rob (also from San Francisco) looked at me and said, “I wouldn’t have pegged you as the going out type.” ???????? Little does he know . . .

I asked our waiter about dance clubs. He asked if we wanted a Korean club or an American one. Korean, of course! He told me the names of a few, but warned me there was a cover charge. Sure, no problem. How much? 300,000 won. Excuse me? Did I just hear you correctly? Yes, 300,000 , or maybe 400,000 won (roughly 210/250 US dollars). Per person? Yes. Okay, then, how about that American nightclub? Oh, it’s just around the corner, it’s named Elvis. So, armed with the name of the club and a rough idea which alley it was in, all nine of us head out.

We found the club without *too* much trouble. As we were walking up the stairs we heard some good beats. Chanta turns to me and says, “Oh, yeah, booty music! This is going to be fun!” And sure enough, it was serious shake your booty music. Only problem, though, no one was. Plenty of people in the club, but no one on the dance floor. So I turn to Chanta and say, “This just won’t do – come on.” And take her on the floor. We start dancing, and sure enough, within a few minutes, the floor is packed. There are a mixture of other American/Canadians and Koreans in the club. People seem to be pretty friendly. My favorite introduction of the night was this: I’m dancing and a very attractive Korean woman comes up to me and says with a huge smile, “Hel-lo, my name Kim Soo-Jun and I lesbian” and starts to dance with me. She’s with another woman (duh) and they are having a serious good time. Chanta turns to me and says, “Your mission tonight is to get her number – they look like the type of girls who know where to go to have fun.” Sadly enough, I wasn’t able to get her number, I think the only English she knew was her introduction. Alas . . .

About 4:30 am we decide to head back to our area of town. Ahhhhh, the issue of the cab. It’s Chanta, me, and Rob. We tell Rob to hang back until the cab stops. Sure enough, a cab stops for us right away. We’ve figured out how to beat the system.