What Is Kim Jong Il Hiding Up There?

Well, I've ended the perfect week of a combination of intense relaxation, lack of sleep, and mega money-blowing with a relatively low-key weekend. Friday night Kelly came over after she got off work and we lounged around my apartment for a bit while she showed me pictures from her trip to Singapore. I am so jealous, but I guess it's better I spend $400 on my hair than over $1,000 on a trip...right? Whatever. Anyway, we headed to the local ex-pat hangout for a bit before ending up in Anyang...I had to introduce her to my favorite new nearby dance joint. Turns out, showing up before 3:00 am at the Techno Bar is so-not-cool...with one exception, we were the only foreigners there! However, we plopped down on some stools and were quite entertained by the drunken youth of Korea...I was even fortunate to see a girl fall flat on her back. Good times.

One thing to note about Korea, and I never intend to insult anyone, but there are very, very few good-looking guys. It's definitely one of life's great mysteries that even the Koreans themselves cannot explain. There are so many pretty Korean chicks out there; however, to say that there is a lack of handsome men is an extreme understatement. The majority of Korean females I have spoken to agree that there is a serious shortage, which probably explains why so many foreigner men are dating Korean girls. Hey, where does that leave us single foreigner girls???

My favorite explanation for this phenomena is that after the war, all the good-looking men went north, and the beautiful women came south. I can honestly count on one hand how many times I have felt the urge to look twice at a fellow. Friday night, one such guy walked into the door at Techno Bar...well-built, well-dressed, and quite slick...I was immediately attracted. Next thing I know, he walks up to me and asks me, in a very So-Cal drawl, "So, are you girls American?" He's Korean-American and teaching English at a local middle school...and he hails from the very exotic Newport Beach...go figure. I guess he can't be included in the tally of good looking Korean men, now can he? This is definitely a topic I am going to have to further research.

Saturday I enjoyed another much-needed workout at the gym followed by a serious power nap. My original evening plans involved meeting Kelly in Itaewon around 8-ish, but when I awoke from my snooze around 7:45 pm, I knew would never be able to force myself to get snazzed up and onto the subway. However, but I did manage to meet up with Ryan and some of his coworkers at a bar in Pyeongchon. We played cards for a bit, enjoyed a Tom Cruise a la "Cocktail" bottle-flipping show by the bartenders, and eventually mustered up the energy to head into Anyang to, you guessed it, Techno Bar...I half-expected the patrons to yell out my name when I walked in the door. I danced until I was a sweaty mess before heading home.

Today was not unlike most Sundays here in Korea...I sat around my apartment, in my jammies, of course, enthralled in the never-ending array of American reality and teeny-bopper reruns (One Tree Hill is now my weekend passion...God help me!). It's definitely the kind of day I needed after my waste of a week...and before a fresh new week back at school!