Small, Small World

Last night we decided to hit the downtown here in Taegu. I am always astounded that the Koreans here don't think much of their downtown, but this is mostly because it is not Seoul. I think it's great! There is a section of several city blocks that are completely full of restaurants, bars, and clubs. We decided to start late since several of our friends play in a band and didn't get out till 1am. These guys are awesome. They've totally tapped into the international community and know all the cool little bars that play good music, have people from all over the world, and an available pool table. I spent the evening with Phillipinos, Koreans, Japanese, Americans, and even some Canadians.

In the process of meeting everyone, I was told there was another Texan in the room, and the conversation went like this: "What city in Texas?" "I'm from Waco." "No, your not! I'm from Waco!" "Where'd you go to High School?" "Midway." "No, I went to Midway!" I was elated! How is it possible that I found another human being from the same small central Texas town that I grew up in all the way across the world?! It was so much fun to play the name game. He even lived in Woodway! Unbelievable.

The other unbelievable element of the evening was the length of it. I purposefully left my watch at home with the idea that I might actually stay out late if I didn't know what time it was. As with most cities in the world, the nightlife goes till dawn here, so at dawn we all stumbled into a restaurant for some galbi. I was appalled when we left that it was light outside again! Yes folks, I got home this morning at 8am. woof. I now understand why people do this though.

The gentleman tending bar at the place we landed owned the bar and knew most of the people in it. The people there were all friends or friends of friends, so we all hung out and chatted together. I met probably twenty people, and actually had some extensive conversation with at least six of them. It was so cool to go to a bar and interact with people other than the friends you came with and the jerks that try to hit on you. I made friends! At a bar! So it was actually fun to stay out till breakfast.

Don't worry. I'm way too old to repeat that feat on any kind of a regular basis, but man it was fun.

Wicked!

British english is intriguing to me. It overlaps with southern American pronunciation, and they use the work "reckon" alot. They also fit nicely in New England with their use of "wicked." And then there are all the really fabulously fun slang words such as manky, crusty, and the myriad uses of the word piss. I tried really hard, but I never mastered the use of piss. You have to be too careful with your prepositions. Truly, dialectical variation puts a small langauge barrier up, but at least I can get an explanation in English of the words they are using.

Sorry, the linguist in me is emerging. This might be partially due to the fact that I saw the Rosetta Stone in our trip to the British Museum. Really, most of Egypt and ancient Greece are in England. This is humorously justified in most of the audio tour descriptions of the artifacts as a rescuing of artifacts from destruction rather than a looting of artifacts from less powerful countries. Nashvegans will appreciate that I saw pieces of the friezes and statues from the real parthenon, and everyone should be astounded that I was actually allowed to take pictures of everything! Who's ever heard of being able to take pics in a museum?! Oh, and the Brits have their museums right: free admission. It was awesome.

We also went to see the musical "Wicked," and it was well, wicked. It tells the back story of the witches from the Wizard of Oz. The story is good, the costuming was amazing, and the sets were stellar. Theatre is so much fun. My trip to Harrod's was not wicked. It was scary. Visiting Harrods is like going to the Macy's in NYC. It covers a city block, many floors, and you can't afford to even get a cup of coffee there. The architecture is beautiful, and they have an entire upscale market complete with sushi counter and chocolatier, but the items on the sales racks were still over $100 bucks at 75% off! I laughed out loud at one rack that pronounced everything to be 100 pounds or less! (That's the sweet bargain of $200.) I'll save my commentary on the sorry state of the dollar for another blog.

The tower of London tour is a cheery one. You can get all kinds of descriptions of torture and famous beheadings. The strangest thing is that the beefeaters (the warders who have historically guarded the tower and now give tours of it) actually live there. I think it would freak me out to live in a place where so many people met such foul endings. It is an honor though, and only bestowed upon those who have made a career of service in the English military. You can also see the crown jewels here. Look fast though! They put you on a conveyor belt so they can get as many people through as possible.

The changing of the guard at the palace is also a great sight-seeing adventure. Unfortunately, every other tourist in the greater UK is also aware of this. I'll include a pic of my view so you can get a feel for the awe-inspiring event...I challenge you to find the fuzzy hats that actually mark the guard. :)














Finally, I had three fabulous dates with a sweet young man. He took me to Hamstead Heath, which is a famous park (you've seen it in movies) that is gorgeous and has lots of people flying stunt kites. We also went to dinners and pubs, but the best thing I can say is that he made me the gift of books on the first date. Screw flowers man. Books! How cool is that?