Spinning Yarns

I didn't take any pictures this weekend and I apologise: I left my camera at school. My weekend was fairly low key anyway: on Saturday night I hung out with Enda and Lisa (two other Maple Bear teachers). We were the only three around Suwon this weekend because Kerri, Kim, and Drew went to see Beyonce (which they said was a very good show... I still have my doubts), Charlene went on an Adventure Korea tour- a tour group she absolutely swears by... she's been on several trips with them around Korea over the last few months, and Helena, Chris, and Liz went on a Buddhist Temple stay for the weekend (which, by the way, is on my list of things to do). Anyway, we were the three boring people who stuck around Suwon.

So Saturday night we had some drinks and went to Now Bar, and on Sunday morning we woke up very early and went to the Big Rock Brewery in Gangnam (Big Rock is based in Alberta) for their all-you-can-eat breakfast brunch. No Kimchi allowed. We ate for hours and although Hockey Night in Canada was on, we didn't watch it. I don't really miss hockey, to be honest. Kim, Drew and Kerri joined us at the brunch buffet soon after and we had an enjoyable meal with them and two of Enda's friends who met us there.

Since I have no pictures to entertain you with, I thought I'd share a funny experience (one of many) that I've had in Korea. This gets a little explicit so if you're senstive maybe you should stop reading... Mom...

So there's this Korean guy who works at a restaurant's parking lot and who was constantly flirting with Kerri when she would ride by on her bike. She thought he was cute, and would always have little conversations with him while waiting for the traffic light to change, although his English and her Korean were both pretty limited (I have to add, though, that Kerri has the best Korean out of all of us).

One night she, Liz, and I went to dinner in downtown Suwon at TGI Fridays and afterwards decided to walk back from Ingyedong- it's a bit of a hike to our neighbourhood, but it was a nice evening. On the way back we saw a concert happening at the Gyeonggi Arts Centre, but it was just ending when we got there and everyone was staring at us, so we tried (unsuccessfully) to leave discreetly. When we were back on the road we stopped into this cute little bakery we had continuously overlooked every time we had been in the area. When we left the bakery, we almost crashed right into the Parking Lot Guy! He was so excited to see us, even though I had never met him before. He insisted he drive us back to our neighbourhood, and although I was a little apprhensive, I got into the car with Liz and Ker.

When we reached our neighbourhood, Liz suggested we all go for a drink, and the Parking Lot Guy agreed. Ker was a little less enthused about the idea, since Parking Lot Guy seemed to be a lot more arrogant in real life conversations, but she still came along and we got Kim to come along too. We sat down for a beer, which he refused to drink, showing us his biceps and giving them a little kiss. He saw Liz light up a cigarette and jokingly made fun of her for smoking. Apparently, Parking Lot Guy takes great pride in his appearance.

Trying to make conversation, which was hard because we could only talk about a limited number of things ("You like Korean Pop Stars?"), Liz asked Parking Lot Guy what he was doing the next day, which was a Sunday.

"All day, f******!", was his enthusiastic answer.

"F******?", Liz repeated- completely flabbergasted, as we all were!

"Yes! F******! All day f******!", Parking Lot Guy insisted.

He kept repeating that he was going to spend the next day f******, and it took us a long time to realize he was actually saying "Parking! Parking! All day parking!" because he had to work all the next day. By that time, I couldn't even speak, I was laughing so hard. Kerri and Liz were trying to be more polite concerning his pronounciation, but I thought he was kind of a jerk anyway, and to be honest, I simply couldn't hold back. Imagine yourself in that scenario. Too parking hilarious.

I hope this story wasn't too scandalous. I'll try to hold back next time.