American Indians Dominate Korea

Sorry that I’ve been slightly lacking on the posts recently, as it has been seriously hectic here.  I am taking full advantage of all of my time here in Korea and have been traveling every weekend.

Just to brief you on the weekend before last, a few friends and I decided to sign up for an organized trip to Jurwangsan and Andong Hahoe Village.  An overnight bus ride resulted in a lack of sleep and bruised knees from the loud giant in front of us.  Saturday brought absolutely gorgeous scenery- everything from mountains, to waterfalls, to caves. 

Following dinner, a few beers and drinking games built friendships and provided for a dead sleep, which was completely necessary since folk villages do not have beds and require 8 people to sleep slammed together.

 

A mask dance and trip to a “meat town” allotted for a nearly midnight arrival Sunday night.  Overall the trip was great, but as my friend Ali put it we were “avoiding loud talkers” all weekend.   Needless to say, we’ve figured out her name and will not be attending anymore trips she’s signed up for!

Now for the good part- Halloween weekend.  Although Koreans do not celebrate Halloween, as most Asian countries do not, Itaewon celebrates Halloween.  Thank you Yongsan Garrison, for being strategically placed in the middle of Seoul. 

As some of you may know, Brandon has been an Indian for the past 8 years, so of course for our first Halloween together, I figured I might as well join.  So $50 later, I was “Pocahottie”.

However, Pocahottie wasn’t the only one joining the Chief- five others later, we had a tribe.  And The Tribe came to dominate Seoul.  And that we did.

Decorated in brown attire, feathers, and war paint, we put ourselves in good contention for some winnings.  So we hopped in a cab and traveled to Itaewon to take over our first bar. 

Imagine yourself as a cab driver, who has never celebrated Halloween, nor has anyone you’ve ever known.  You drive off the highway and immediately get flagged by 3 half-naked Americans, hollering “Ahh-ya-ya-yaaa”, on just another typically bitter cold October night.  Your night just jumped from standard to quite anomalous. It was quite priceless to say the least. (I’ll try posting the video of us getting into a cab because this is quite possibly the best thing ever).

In an attempt to describe what we were, Kate whips out the handy-dandy Korean cell phone, all of which are equipped with a Korean-English dictionary.  “What does American Indian translate into Korean?... A-mer-i-can-In-di-an.  Oh American Indian.”  Well that was convenient. 

The bars were packed wall-to-wall with costumes, some Americans, and some brave Koreans.  The best costumes of the night were definitely ka-wi-ba-wi-bo (rock, paper, scissors), an escapee (basically a person walking around the streets with an IV, because lets be honest, this happens all too frequently in Korea), and of course the Indian Tribe.

Which brings me, quite conveniently, to the fact that we rolled in some cash on Halloween night.  At Sam Ryan’s (yes, this is an American bar) we opportunely marched in right in the middle of the costume contest.  Although we lost the couples contest to two guys (weird?), I got pushed on stage come “The Least Dressed Female” contest.  Don’t worry Mom and Dad, I was actually pretty clothed and Brandon was there to punch anyone’s lights out who attempted any moves.  “Least Dressed Female”- CHECK.  100,000 won bar tab in the pocket!  So come next weekend, the bar tabs on me!

Beyond excited, we stumbled back to Wolfhounds, where we had been nominated for the Group Contest.   And of course, Best Group- CHECK.  With first place, we won a nice little sum of 450,000 won (basically $450).

And I thought I loved Halloween in college.  Come real world and I’ve discovered that there’s money involved!  An excuse to dress up and money… I LOVE HALLOWEEN!