November Daze

Dang, so November has come and gone in a blur. I pay attention to the calendar and still can't believe how fast the time goes by. In the last week, there have been a few instances of forgetting I'm in Korea. It's pretty awesome. The whole living-in-a-foreign-country thing is starting to feel not so foreign all the time.

So what have I been up to in November? Well, 2 weekends ago Michael and I took the bullet train to Seoul.
Riding the train is simply one of my favorite things. My nostalgia for it runs deep after my summer spent in Europa --and it reminded me of fulfilling a promise to myself that it would be a regular transportation option again sometime in life i.e. I need to move to Spain. Or Italy. Or France. Wherever. Taking the bullet train is the fancy way to Seoul: tickets cost around 100,000 won round trip but the ride only takes two and a half hours. Super plush, high class style. You know how we do.

Forgot to mention the reason for our over-nighter was to see Los Flaming Lips. Whaddya want from me? My life rules. We got in Saturday afternoon and hooked up with Michael's old pal Lazar. As in Jeff. As in Laser-Beam. He's awesome and hosted us well. He's been living in Korea going on 4 years and can actually speak/write/read Korean AND has Korean friends. That doesn't happen nearly as much as you'd expect so he's basically a celebrity. 

So happy to finally see fall colors!

Laser-beam and I walking to his casa. 

Roof-top of Laser's house in central Seoul. Lil hazy but still rad. 

So after grabbing some dinner, Jop-face and I headed to the show. Do I really need to say much here? It obviously ruled. Small cannon-things firing confetti. Huge balloons being hit around, eventually bursting and showering more confetti. Background video projection with  naked dancing women. Webcam on the mic so you could get a sweet view of Wayne Coyne's sweaty teeth. Giant gong. Koreans dressed up in matching orange outfits dancing on the side stage. Yuuuuuuge hands shooting green laser beams from the palms. We took some video but the sound quality is so abysmal I can't subject you to it.

What a sweet vibe they had. Wayne was really full of the love. Highly recommended. 

After the show, we met up with Laser-beam and his friend Laurie to go to a "hippy" bar. Here are a few other notable drinking spots we passed on the way. Oh, the humor of English in a foreign land. 

Mom, please note Michael took this photo. 

One of 7 locations in Seoul if you's a picky ho. 

I'd rather eat a sexy pig. 

We eventually made it to our destination in spite of the all the tempting spots along the way. I wasn't exactly sure what to expect when Laurie said it was a "hippy" bar but I was more than pleasantly surprised when we got there. It was underground and we had to takes our shoes off and put them in a miniature pillow-case type of bag at the door. The place was like some kind of hippy cave with lots of world beat playing. And it was super sweet actually. Something about dancing with your shoes off makes you feel like you're at home in your living room. We sat in this awesomely cozy cavernous floor space with lots of pillows and candles for light. Again, super sweet. The place was pretty chill when we arrived but was quite bumpin' by the time we left. I was in hardcore dance mode even though Michael could spin better deaf than the dj and there was a random drunk opportunist on the floor taking advantage of any girl unfortunate enough to accidentally bump into him. Thankfully I was sober and too quick for his inebriated groping attempts. My only gripe of the night was not taking better pictures of the place and only spending one night in Seoul! It's an awesome, yuuuuuuge city and I can't wait to go back. 

Sweet Korean interpretative dancer on the left, Laser-beam being weird with his nipple, Laurie and me. Photo courtesy of Jop-face.

Needless to say, Sunday came too soon and we were back on the train. At the station, we stopped to dig the sound of some sweet Peruvians playing magical tunes. It was awesome and really interesting for me to ponder their life over here. Michael gave them a "Que buena!" with his Spanish-speaking style and you could tell they really appreciated hearing it. Pretty cool. Take a soothing listen below. 

Until next time, Seoul.....

Daily T-shirt: MONEY IS BLOOD

"I keep looking forward to the day when music is a liquid they pour into your head." --Wayne Coyne