Aimee’s World Tour

“one side of what and the other side of what?” asked Alice.  “of the mushroom,” said the catepillar as he blew smoke in Alice’s face.

 Ok where am I going with this?  Flashback to Thursday night (key “dreamy going to the past” music)

After work I got my haircut, slightly styled, shampooed and dryed for $13!! 
I then hurried home to finish my weekly comments on my students but instead wrote my last post. Oh wait – you thought I did my comments?  I did.  THREE FRICKIN TIMES.  But they finally showed me what the actually wanted and so I got that done and met my friends a little after 8 pm.  By my friends I mean Andrea and Justine AND Angus whom I hardly ever see except briefly in school.  He actually lives two doors down from me but has a second teaching job and is always gone wakeboarding on the weekends.  Here that Jacob – you can WAKEBOARD out here and there’s no plate glass!  (For those who don’t know, Jacob was my most recent roomate along with Dave.  In a nutshell he thinks that North Korea is going to kill me.  But if North Korea attacks the US then I’m safe!  So there.)  

Back to Angus.  He was also the one that gave me the ride on his motorcycle that one time I got mixed up about my bus to school.  (enough recapping)  Angus is from Canada and is in his 4th year here.  He’s 30, turning 31 right after I turn the big 28 on Saturday!  Snap!  We were supposed to go for dinner but somehow we skipped that and went to a bar called WOODSTOCK.  This made more sense than what Andrea had told me earlier.  No way we were gonna make it back to the 1970’s with our time machine broken and all.  Ah again miscommunication.  (Daddy, aren’t you glad you paid for that communcations degree?)

 

Woodstock is a “dive” bar that lets you request all kinds of music, mainly classic rock but also has a slightly larger selection.  (ENTER LAUREN KIDD!)  I had a lot of fun putting in requests.  I put in many randoms!

 

Angus showed up at our table with tequilla shots for everyone and I thought oh Jose.   That’s REAL healthy.  And what do I want my masters in?  Oh right the study of how to make sure you live an unhealthy life.  Needless to say I licked it, slammed it and sucked it aka eat the salt off your arm, drink the shot and put that glass back on the table.  Slam is a good word bc you really do feel like slamming it when you’re done.  Yeah that was all the shots for me.  Trying to steer clear of that stuff!  After the bar (maybe 1 am – I don’t know) we headed outside and followed Angus to a Hookah bar called Rainbow.   Hookah, NOT hooker. 

Now I’ve never been to a hookah bar and I’m pretty sure neither have my parents (or have you? hee hee.)   I felt like I was Alice walking into wonderland watching numerous catepillars blowing vowels out of smoke into the air.  “A, E, I, O and U”  (It’s been a LONG time since I’ve seen that movie.) 

For the “uneducated”, a hookah is a big contraption with a hose-like extention that basically you suck in and blow smoke out of.  I guess it was tobacco but it tasted like strawberries (or “strwburries” as a South African would say).  I just liked sitting on a rug in a dimly lit room of candlelight around such an interesting object with a funny name.  Hookah.  Say it. Hookah.  Very good children. 

After Rainbow, which I first I thought would be a gay bar, we were famished (remember I hadn’t had any dinner – just some pretzels).  We went to a roadside stand that sold deep-fried Korean food.  We sprang upon it like vultures.  I was so hungry I didn’t care what I was actually eating. 

The cab ride home was a delight.  Andrea had too much “sody pop” and fell asleep; Angus had a tremendous headache; and I had to pee TERRIBLY!  That taxi really could have used better shock absorbers.  As soon as we arrived home I fled from the cab across the street to my apt. but had to run in a corner and leave a little trickle if you know what I mean.  Relief at last.  Not my proudest moment. 

On Friday I woke up around 8:30 am-ish and finish reading my book. (“A Murder Is Announced” by Agatha Christie – so good!)  I actually guessed the murderer but not the reasoning.  The explanation at then end was so clever.  

I spent a lot of the day on the internet catching up with people, etc.   Then I decided to go for a run to the park and after I showered Andrea and I went shopping.  We had hardly started walking when I saw it.  A bright yellow couch.  And it was to be mine.  And it was beautiful.   The golden rays of heaven.  Ok I’m a dumpster-diver.

Andrea offered to help me get it into my apt. (since I have only a bed and two foldup chairs) when we heard someone ask, “Do ya’ll need some help with that?”  I smiled and said “no” but Andrea said some help would be great.  Turns out that Ashley, originally from NC and a graduate of the University of Tenesse, was silently praying to help us with that couch.  Afterall she had only been here a week and knew, well, NOBODY.   

Everything happens for a reason.  Ashley lives in my building on the 4th floor.  I don’t think I ever told you I’m number 220.  Andrea lives directly across the street and I wouldn’t even call it that far.  She invited Ashely to come with us.  I bought a couple things I needed for the house and then we went to dinner.  We ate in the room that had tables with chairs.  I believe we had some kind of beef (golgi) and the sides of vegetables and soups and whatnot.  All for 8000 Won.  I thought it was funny because they give you free ice cream but you just go up to the freezer and scoop it out yourself. 

We took a walk to show Ashley where the movie rental place was.  I wanted to try watching a movie on my computer but when asked for my phone number, I realized oh wait – I don’t have my phone.  The next day I went back to that store with my Korean phrase book and managed to actually get my phone back.  It was an amazing challenge.  I was so excited I took pictures of the ladies who helped me!!  I know – I should really be with ‘my peeps in Japan’ and their cameras. 

After retrieving my phone Ashley and I went shopping.  I bought my parents and Colleen their birthday presents – HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!  I also ended up getting this rug-like thing for my apt for 9000 Won (aka $9).  I felt so guilty spending any money but I know I have been pretty good about it and these special people deserve a lil something.

Speaking of money, I got paid on Thursday!!!  The first pay check you get is actually a giant wad of money in an envelope.  Better open up a bank account fast.  The most amazing part is that I don’t have to give away half of it for rent.  LOVELY! 

I didn’t stay up too late last night but luckily I had to go to the bathroom a little before 3 am because I was able to hear the skype ring on my computer.  My parents called me but unfortunately their microphone wasn’t working.  So I talked and they answered by typing back.  They told me to keep on talking while they tried to figure things out. (wait – what?!)  Usually that’s not a problem but I was so tired and had a slight cold.  It was great to talk to you Mommy and Daddy! 

I woke up and showered in the morning to meet some friends for lunch.  I learned a lot of Korean words today and the food (again meat on the floor) was delicious.  Well I didn’t learn the words… I tried to learn the words.  

Oh how could I forget?  On Saturday I had my first successful skype phone call meaning both of us could hear each other!!  It was so exciting!!  So get it people!!  It’s free!! FREE!!!!  You just get a dinky headset with a mic and if you don’t like wearing headphones, do what I do.  Listen to the sound on your computer and just hold the mic part by your mouth.  If you want to look me up I’m under aimeezfisher@hotmail.com and I’m in Seoul, South Korea.  I believe my user name is aimeezfisher.  I think we have to be online at the same time to accept each other’s details.  And of course talk.  Der. 

There were of course complications at first.  Like any logical person, I had plugged the green wire into the green hole and the pink wire into the pink hole but when Jason called (my friend from my chemistry class this past semester) he couldn’t really hear me.  It was hilarious actually.  I was completely yelling at him.  SCREAMING.  Remember you can type at the same time and also send those little emoticons: smiley faces, etc.  When I sent Jason a tiny brown bear I tried to tell him that it looked like poop.  Then I pictured myself sitting ALONE in an EMPTY apartment with a mic practically shoved down my throat screaming out in frustration, “POOOOOOOOOOOOOOP! POOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!  I SAID IT LOOKS LIKE POOOOOOOOOOP! DAMNIT!!!!!!!!”  That’s when I lost it.   What ward did I escape from? 

After fiddling around with the computer I noticed that it indicated a blue hole for the mic and so I tried the pink wire in the blue hole and Voila – it worked!  (So… the circle in the square.  Now why didn’t I think of that in the first place?)  To allow Jason to understand just how I had been “speaking” I screamed into the mic and I think he pretty much told Ime ‘d better not ever do that again.

It was great to talk to someone I knew from the US.  We chatted about a whole bunch of nothing and then got to talking about the bailout.  That’s craziness.  I know that when I had $700 billion dollars it was considered a lot of money.  But then I got into unethical trading and lost it all.   Actually I really have no idea what I’m talking about because I’m not really up on all the happenings in America.  Sorry.  Busy picking rice off of kids’ clothes after lunch. 

I’m out like a fat girl in dodgeball. 

-Aimee

Tags: Travel

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 5th, 2008 at 4:11 am and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.