This weekend I was intent on having as much fun as possible to make up for last weekend's distinct lack of fun. So Friday night I went out with all my coworkers for a belated "Welcome Chris and Courtney Dinner" (Courtney is a new teacher at the branch who arrived maybe two weeks ago). I always feel privileged to raise a glass with my Korean branch manager. At the office the guy is friendly enough in an awkward, standoffish kind of way, but put some Soju in his hands and it's a whole different story! There are a few social rules here regarding drinking: A) It's impolite to fill your own glass. B) It's impolite NOT to fill the glass of somebody else if it's empty. And most Koreans are pretty vigilant about keeping the glasses full. There are also many drinking games that involve drinking your whole glass at once (they call this "one shottuh" because they can't quite say "one shot"), and then your glass gets immediately refilled. Basically, the only way to avoid getting hammered is to sip your drink slowly but keep your glass full.
Saturday morning I left on a sweet rafting trip that went until Sunday afternoon. The Korean rafting is more relaxing than exciting, but this is okay. I was actually on what they called a kayak, but is really more of a two-person raft. Kind of an inflatable kayak of sorts? Once again, I was impressed by the prodigious amount of drinking that accompanied this venture. I could relate the amount of alcohol my group of twenty twenty-something English teachers consumed over the course of the evening, but that would take too much space. We all slept on the hardwood floor with only a few blankets and pillows for comfort, so it's a good thing we prepared ourselves with a few nightcaps.
On the way back to Busan from the rafting trip, we made a stop at Jinju castle, an important historic site outside of Busan. They had a decent museum and the grounds were pretty enough, but overall I was underwhelmed. It didn't have the kind of impressive architecture I've come to expect from these Korean historical sites. In fact, there wasn't much of a "castle" there at all! Still, I felt culturally enriched.
Sunday, I went with my coworkers to see the Lotte Giants play a baseball game! (Remember how in an earlier post I talked about how Lotte is a huge conglomerate here? Well the Giants are one of the TWO baseball teams Lotte owns. To me, this would be kind of like imagining the "Coca-Cola Red Socks" or the "Philip Morris Mariners." Just doesn't feel right.) The game was entertaining enough--Koreans love to get really, really excited at these events. Give me a sunny day at the stadium with some beautiful mountains in the background, throw in some home runs, some dancing cheerleader girls, and strange orange trash bags that everyone wears on their heads, and I'll be happy. And all of these factors were present. Also, the stadium was naught but a short bike ride from my apartment, so that was also advantageous.
Another complaint I meant to mention in my last post: At night time, it's pretty common to see drivers riding around with no headlights on. The streets are so well lit in most parts of Busan, it's probably pretty easy to see where you're going even at midnight. But it does make it dangerous for everyone else! My guess is that most of those lightless-drivers are, themselves, lit. They say that the number one mistake intoxicated drivers make is failing to turn on their headlights! (Thanks, Chevrolet, for giving me running lights so I NEVER have to worry about this.)
