How To Have Fun For (Almost) Free!

This weekend was my last weekend as an excessively poor man and I still managed to have a great time.  It's refreshing to have fun without spending much money and it gives me a good feeling about my ability to save the money I need this year.

As it stood at the end of the school day on Friday, I had less than 100,000 won left to my name, with my first payday looming closely on Monday's horizon.  On Friday night, Mr. Lee drove us into Seoul (only 45 minutes instead of 2.5 hours on public transit!) to meet and have dinner with Danny, my predecessor at the high school.  This was definitely the least fun part of my weekend, since Danny turned out to be a total jackass douchebag.  He  definitely came across as, in the words of my new friend Chris, a classic LBH ("Loser Back Home").  Korea is full of LBH.  They come to Korea because at home, they suck, and here, they are unfortunately considered significantly cooler.  So then they stay for ages because they know their lives are infinitely better here than they ever could be in a country where people refuse to tolerate their crap personalities. Anyway, Danny is a big old LBH, and I felt bad because Mr. Lee clearly hoped and thought that we would become best friends.  I was asleep in my uber-cheap hostel by 12.30.

On the fence behind us are thousands and thousands of locks. Couples
come up to Namsan and leave locks that symbolize their endless love.

The next day, I met up with Anne at 10.30 AM in the center of the city.  Anne takes free Korean classes at a university in Seoul every Saturday morning (which I am definitely going to do once I have a car!) and the class was having an outing this weekend, so I joined them.  We went up to Namsan, which is the mountain in the center of Seoul on top of which sits Seoul Tower (the equivalent of the Space Needle).  Of course, climbing the tower costs money, so we all ended up hanging around outside before walking back down the mountain and having lunch at the university, but it was nice because it was one of the first times I've gotten to hang out with a bunch of Koreans who were not obnoxious in a big group.  Anne and I were 2 of 4 non-Koreans in a group of about 30.  Everyone was a university student who volunteers to teach Korean to foreigners on the weekends.  I really liked most of them and look forward to taking their classes once I can get to Seoul more quickly and easily.

Afterwards, Anne and I went to Myeong-dong, which is a massive shopping area filled with rampant consumerism and religious nutjobs (example A to your left).  It was a little overwhelming so we ended up finding a DVD bang and watching "Chicago" in a nice quiet space.  Man, I freaking love DVD bangs.  Whoever decided to invent a place where you can watch a movie in your own private cinema on a plush leather couch away from crowds and people deserves some special kind of award.  It's just too bad that most Koreans use them to have illicit sex away from the watchful eyes of their parents because it is automatically assumed that you are going to screw whoever you accompany into a DVD bang.  Anne even has female friends that won't visit a DVD bang with her alone for fear of "how it would look" and told me if we ever went to a DVD bang together in Ilsan, where she lives, and her students saw us enter together that it would be a huge scandal.  Even straight people can't have public relationships in this country, it's so crazy sometimes.  I've been told that many a Korean teenager has lost their virginity in a DVD bang.  I try not to think about that when I'm sitting on the leather chaise lounge enjoying the venue for its actual intended purpose.

After a dinner at Pizza Hut (Anne was right, it really is WAY better in Korea), we went to the Lotus Lantern Festival, which was preeeeettty damn awesome.  There was a parade of lanterns, a giant Buddhist temple with lanterns all over the ceiling, and one of the most crazy-awesome stage shows I've ever seen, if only because all of the foreigners and Koreans in wacky costumes dancing and bouncing in the street were having the best time.  Conga lines and weird dancing, everyone with huge grins, set to music that I described to Anne as "Indian meets Korean meets gay club."  I freaking loved it.

Don't Stop Believin!

I knew that it would be too late for me to get home after the festival, so I had previously arranged with Jen to stay at her place in Janghanpyeong that night. I arrived at 11.30 with a thank-you bottle of wine, and she and her sister, Carley, met me outside Jen's apartment. I joined Carley, Jen, and her roommate Chris upstairs and before I knew what was happening, it was 2.00 AM and we were leaving for a norebang 5 minutes away.  Norebang are private karaoke rooms (kind of like DVD bang are private movie rooms) where groups of people can drink and eat and sing their little hearts out to each other. I've been to one in Koreatown in LA for someone's birthday and it was just as fun in Korea. The four of us and 2 other girls banged out songs until 5 AM.  It was such a fun and totally unexpected night.

On top of the mountain

On Sunday, after waking up at an appropriately late hour, Jen, Carley, Chris and I took the subway to Inwangsan, a mountain just next to Seodaemun Prison, where Jen and I met last month.  There are several Buddhist shrines and shamanist temples on Inwangsan and we just wanted something free and easy to do, but what started out as "a short, uphill walk," according to Lonely Planet, turned into a hike up the mountain that resulted in the most incredible view of Seoul I could have imagined.  Standing just next to the reconstructed Seoul Fortress Wall on top of a giant, weirdly misshapen boulder, I could see the vast expanse of skyscrapers and mountains (and air pollution, but whatevs) that makes up this city and I was just totally floored.  Again, completely unexpected afternoon, but what a great day.  At the bottom of the mountain, we had a very late lunch at a hole-in-the-wall Korean restaurant (always the best kind) and ate the most awesome bibimbap I've had since I've been here.  Then the loooong trek back to Haseong.

And when all was said and done, I returned home with 30,000 won in my wallet.  Which means I spent only $60 in one entire weekend (including transportation, one night's hostel, and all food, drink, and recreation).  Considering how much I got to do, and the fact that I spend almost nothing during the workweek, I am thinking this year is looking pretty promising.