Funny story

After that first game of soccer I headed home and ate dinner at McDonald's (it felt appropriate, after having been with a group of foreigners).  While I was waiting for my food two Korean marines in full dress uniform (hat and everything) were standing next to me.  One of them, with a red Asian glow, said "Hi! How are you doing?" so we talked for a little bit.  We got our food and I asked if I could join them, and they really wanted me to.  The one who first spoke to me in English went to Seoul National University (I live right by it and it's Korea's most competitive university, meaning it's about as hard to get into as any school in the world) and had a great command of the language.  That was really nice, because when they don't speak the language too well there's not much you can talk about.  The other one didn't speak English quite as well and went to a different university.  He was an aspiring artist.  I can't remember if they knew each other before the marines or not, but they were close friends. 

I asked why on earth they were in the marines...it's the most hardcore military service you can do there (all Korean males are required to serve).  You can be a policeman, and some guys can do some sort of non-combat volunteer thing.  But I had no idea why an artist and an SNU student with great English would be in the marines.  The artist said he wanted to do it for the experience, since that was part of being an artist, or something like that (his English wasn't so good).  The SNU guy did it because the marines "were the best," he said.  But they sure did hate it.  Especially the artist.  They were on some sort of leave and they were trying to have as much fun as possible before they had to go back, something they were really dreading.  Being a Korean marine is not like being in the US military, they said, it's much harder.  Judging by how hardcore their education system is, I don't even want to know what it's like to be a marine in Korea.  So I asked them after the meal if they wanted to go drinking, and they thought it was a good idea.

We went to a restaurant/bar type place and order a bunch of typically spicy Korean food and some soju.  They also called up a friend of there's who they said had good English (she didn't).  They said she used to be able to drink more than all of them, but had a stomach problem and couldn't drink any more.  After she came, she called up another friend who she said had great English (he did, he lived in the UK for two years and is an SNU student).  We played all of these Korean drinking games, a few of which have equivalents in the US.  The funniest part though is everytime you lose the game and have to take a shot, everyone does this song and dance (literally, it's a synchronized song and dance and everyone does the same motions) that I can't really describe, but it ends with all of them pointing at you and yelling "one shot!"  We ordered a few bottles of soju and some pitchers and eventually the marines (who had had a big head start, of course) passed out at the table.  We put them in a cab and sent them home, or wherever they had to go, and I went with the guy to another bar/restaurant and had some more food and drink.  As we were leaving the bar, the owner, an ajomma (middle aged woman) told me (my friend translated the Korean) that I was very handsome and that she wanted me to come in at 11 PM tomorrow to meet her daughter, who would be working there at that time. 

The next day I didn't have classes and figured I might as well go, what's the worst that could happen.  I'd talk to some disfigured Korean girl for a few minutes and leave and it would be a funny story.  So I walk into the restaurant a little after eleven, and there was a girl about my age working there who was possibly the best looking Korean I've seen in my month here.  This must be some sort of joke, I thought.  We'd talk for a little bit and then I'd see Ashton Kutcher running towards my table with a retarded grin on his face.  Unfortunately the woman wasn't there, and this girl spoke no English whatsoever.  There was no English on the menu so I picked a random item on the menu that ended up being terrible.  After a while, her mom showed up, and motioned for my phone, and through charades somehow told me to call up my friend (not sure how I figured it out).  She spoke to him in Korean and told him to come down.  He did (and commented on my terrible food choice), and she brought her daughter over. 

She was incredibly shy, but we talked to each other through my friend, the interpreter.  Have you ever spoken through an interpreter?  It is awesome!  It makes you feel so badass, and that whatever you're saying is really important or profound.  Anyways, we made some small talk, and she said she really wanted to talk to me but that she was embarassed about her English.  She didn't speak a single word of English the entire time.  My friend told me that she was the type that was obviously very shy around foreigners, but even around Koreans as well, especially guys.  He said that she was very shy to him and could hardly talk to him or look him in the eye.  She's an aspiring model and is going to school for it since someone told her she had the right facial structure or something like that, and the mom of course came over and asked if they looked alike, and was very proud when I said yes. 

Anyway, the mom spoke to my friend and we made plans to get together the next Monday for a tour of Seoul (one of the girl's friends would come along so my friend would have someone to talk to).  They asked me if I wanted to see traditional stuff or modern stuff, and I said traditional.  On Sunday though my friend texted her and she said she was too busy at work to come (obviously not true since it was going to be on a Monday afternoon and since her mom was the one who wanted it to happen and would have let her have the day off).  He told me that she was just too shy.  I wanted to go again during the week but he was too busy with school (SNU), so maybe at some point this week maybe we can convince her.  I doubt it.  But it was a funny story nonetheless.