Dance Party ROK
Last Tuesday, the Vice Principal of my school came in and said, "Why are you here? The students are gone on field trips, so don't have to come back to school until Monday." This was a welcome surprise, but a last-minute revelation, so I didn't have much time to plan.
So, we first went to Seoul. A friend who lives there had brought Zac a frisbee back from an Ultimate tournament -- you can't find frisbees anywhere here -- and, itching to use it, we asked around for a park. We were directed to a big park in Seoul, and when we arrived we found it thumping with psychadelic techno music and karaoke. The place was overrun with seniors (geriatrics, not the high school kind) high on soju, a strong Korean liquor made of rice, sweet potatoes and wheat. It was 3:00 in the afternoon.
Exploring the park, we found the source of the techno and its aged devotees wobbling and jerking around an improvised dance floor. When a few of the more inebriated dancers noticed us recording the frenzied mob, they pulled us into it, passing us around so that everyone could dance with us. Either to initiate or spice us up, they shoved glasses of soju into our hands, forced us to drink them in single gulps, and jammed cucumber slices dipped in red pepper sauce down our throats. They didn't want to let us go, but we finally broke away, video files of the event intact. Click here to see it for yourself!
Before our Dance Party ROK experience, Zac and his buddy had thrown the disc around that same park as eager Korean onlookers gathered, covetous of the ability to play this strange sport and demure in their infrequent attempts to join in. One group of men, playing chess near where we set up shop, were unphased by the frisbee, however, even when it hit them in the backs of the legs.
On Friday, Zac and I headed to Korea's west coast, where there are supposed to be some pretty interesting islands. Rain limited us to only one beach on one island, but just smelling the saltwater and feeling the ambient sea breeze in my hair made the trip worthwhile. We once again wowed the locals with the frisbee, though I can't say that my performace was awe-inspiring seeing as how I hadn't picked up a frisbee in something like 15 years before that night. It's really amazing how the Korean side of the Yellow Sea is so beautiful; I couldn't believe it was the same body of water as the murky, oily one I had seen on the Chinese side.