Halloween Weekend Part I

Sometimes I feel a rather desperate urge to get out of Busan...and this weekend, further impounded by the presence of Halloween-- a holiday my poor Korean students sadly know little about other than that their hagwon is putting on a party-- was one of those times.

I hopped on a train Saturday morning to meet a friend, also from Busan, in Seoul. Since she was going to be off on some hike during the day, I met up with another friend who helped me find a hotel in Itaewon, a.k.a. Seoul's foreigner hangout. Notorious for being filled with Westerners and a lot of soldiers, since there is a post right there. Anyway, it began raining as soon as my train pulled in, so we booked it to a hotel first, then off to find food. I'd been craving Indian since the only place I know in Busan has been closed for repairs (or something, I couldn't really read the piece of paper they taped to their sign).

I dressed up as a Catholic school girl. I felt, being a teacher, this was necessary, and my friend was supposed to dress up the same...but we didn't end up meeting here...but that's later in the story. First, must address the important issue of food. We went to this Indian restaurant (so many!) called Agra.

Let me preface this next part by describing the room in which we were seated. It was set aside from the rest of the restaurant (the larger part of the restraurant made to look bigger with mirrors lining one wall). There were only two tables. As we were being seated, I noticed this guy sitting down at the other...and what with the cramped space and knowing how lonely I felt most of the time...I invited him to sit with us. He was American, military..we talked about our experiences in Korea and he seemed to be okay with his time here.

Afterwards, he took off and my friend and I wandered Itaewon enjoying the sights and people. My other friend ended up calling around eleven wanting us to go to the university area to bar hop. But since it was so late and I had to get up early for a last minute DMZ signup, and my friend wasn't allowed in that area (due to military restrictions) after 9pm...we apologized, said we couldn't make it...and I made him discuss Machievelli with me around midnight.

Anyway, that is MY idea of celebrating Halloween.