This morning I am suffering from the worst hangover in the entire history of the world, ever. In decades to come, this hangover will be given as a example to discourage foolish young people from drinking. I shall forever remember the pain of today as I vow never to drink again... Until next weekend.
I spent the majority of my first day in Daegu watching movies, and ventured out around midday to explore my area. I made my way down to Home Plus, got some food and went over to the school for a little extra training, and to pick up my new tablet. Over the course of the day, I saw three young Korean couples arrive in my hotel of sin. I found out most of the new teachers spend their first weekend here, a rite of passage if you will.
Eventually, I received a message from David after he found some free WiFi in one of the many, many coffee shops they have here. I was so happy to hear from him. It may have only been twenty four hours since we had last seen each other, but that was more then enough for me. We arranged to meet up with our fellow trainee and new Daegu resident, Raquel, for dinner and possibly a few drinks.
After purchasing a subway travel card through the medium of mime, I made my way to the platform and found a bench to park my bum. As I waited, I was joined by an oddly dressed man who came and sat next to me. Out the corner of my eye, I could see him looking at me. Nothing unusual about that, until I noticed what was in his hands. Tarot cards. With each glance, he pulled a card from the pack and closely studied it. This is weird, I thought, so I got up and walked over to the edge of the platform and pretended to read a sign for plastic surgery. He followed me shortly after. When the train arrived, I made my way down a few carriages to escape my creepy stalker and find a seat. Once again, I was joined by my new friend. For the duration of the twenty minute journey, he pulled the cards out one by one, and read them to himself. Not once did he try and speak to me, he just stared and made me feel very uncomfortable. Maybe he cursed me? With the hangover I have now, he probably did.
Downtown Daegu is a labyrinth of shops, bars, clubs and restaurants. We met a small group of people and made our way through the neon maze to find sustenance. It came in the form of galbi, a sort of Korean barbecue, which is delicious. To accompany our meal we drank soju, bloody, buggery soju. Soju is Koreas most popular drink, It's cheaper than water and ruins lives. There is a Korean drinking game where you each take it in turns to try and flick that bit on the bottle cap off, you know what I mean. Whoever does flick it off wins, and the people either side of them have to drink. We played the game for each bottle we drank, three.
Last night was a fun whirlwind of drinks, dancing and debauchery. We met so many new people as we crawled our way from place to place, mixing socially and alcohol. Mixing drinks is never a good idea, and last night I mixed an awful lot. I started with vodka, then several long island ice teas when I found out they where cheaper. Soju with dinner, beer, more long island ice tea, more beer. Shots of something which I am still unaware of and copious others I have clearly forgotten about. The drinking culture here is insane and I'm not as young as I used to be.
I had no idea what the time was when David and I left, but it was early by Korean standards. In my drunken state, I confidently hailed a taxi, asked to go Wolbae and had a very broken conversation with the driver about formula one racing. He handed me his phone and played me a video of a race, while driving. Safety first.
Waking up to the glaring morning sun did nothing to ease the agonizing pain in which I was in. I haven't had a hangover this bad in years, and I do not intend to have another like this.
Love, hugs and more paracetamol please.
Samuel James.
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