I'm on summer vacation. It's become a bit of pattern for me to start a job and then be rewarded with heaps of vacation time within the first month when you're not tired yet. Unfortunately summer vacation only amounted to a 4 day weekend, but I can't really complain. And what have I done with my summer vacation, you ask? The two things I seem to spend most of my time doing in Seoul: shop and drink.

The adventure began on Thursday afternoon when Toby and I met a few of his students for a movie and dinner. We went to see Terminator 3, which is not exactly the movie that I thought the wealth 30-something housewives would choose. Toby and I liked the movie, however Marilyn and Christine did not. Then we went for dinner and the "rich" student met us. Her name is Amy. She treated us to some good Korean barbeque. Then we went for coffee, where Amy told us that "Toby is not handsome." Such a nice lady. There is this tendency for Koreans to be what they call "frank" with foreigners. I don't know if they talk that way in Korean with their friends or university professors or colleagues, because I can't understand what they're saying. I don't think it's frank though. It's downright rude.

Then the three ladies took us out to the Hyatt hotel in Seoul. We weren't really prepared for the Hyatt hotel, but we managed (one of us may have had to wear hotel issue pants as shorts were not permitted). In the basement of the Hyatt there is a "famous" club. Famous is Korean English for a popular that everyone wants to be able tell their friends they've been to. Unfortunately, these famous places are seldom accompanied by the equivalent atmosphere to have made them "famous". The place was ok, and the music didn't suck, but it was 10,000 won for a pint. Luckilly, we didn't pay for much.

Then, on Friday it was a day of shopping. We headed down to Itaewon, the foreigner shopping hotspot to have a look around. We didn't buy anything, but I found some dresses that are bigger than a size 2, so it was a good afternoon. We dined at a Mexican restaurant where we got to hear several informal speeches made by American military personnel, always a treat, let me tell you, and then we headed to a nice garden patio at Gecko's for a couple of bevies. After a few hours on the patio we decided our wallets needed a break, and we headed to our favourite little pub in Itaewon, a place called Bricks. They serve pints for 2,000 won a peice, play funky music, and have a bar that's fun to sit at. We're becoming regulars there, so we're becoming friendly with the owner and one of the bartenders, who happens to be a former teacher from Edmonton. Not much else happened. I hit the gin after about two more pints, and it was soon time to go home. I don't drink gin very often in Korea. About 6 months before leaving Calgary I switched from tonic to soda as an accompaniment for my hard alcohol of choice. While tonic is plentiful in Korea, soda is very difficult to find. However, our dear friends Julio and Soo Jin keep Bricks well stocked with Canada Dry soda. Julio told us that he had to move out of his apartment and is currently staying in a hotel, so we offered him a room in our palace. If he accepts the fee will be a mere can of soda per night.

We headed home somewhat early, around 2:30, I think, after stopping for late night street food. Street food in Korea is fabulous. You can buy the most amazing things after the bar here. Lately I've been on a dduk-bogi train, but Toby always has his mandu. I had a fabulous drunken tirade while wearing a sarong and plugging in a fan at home that Toby *luckilly* captured in 3 separate videos with his fancy new camera. I'm really quite obnoxious when drunk and babbling. Who knew?

The liver needed a break tonight so I've just been grocery shopping, and now am at the computer room. I think I need to buy a computer though. I'm spending at least 10,000 won a week on internet use and it would probably be much better to have one at home. Anyone want to buy me a notebook?