And so, dear friends, as I make mention of this epic adventure (one of many I've already had and look forward to having here in the land of kimchi), I beckon you to sit back, relax, and stare at your screen in disbelief ;-)
Last week was amazing because not only did I have the chance to catch up on some much needed R&R, but with an entire week of for the Korean thanksgiving holiday ("Chusok"), I was anxious to get out and about around Seoul! I wanted to see other sights, to explore other areas of town, to attempt speaking Korean a little more "fluently" (ha..), and yet...it was a week full of spontanaity and randomnesss.
After a delicious meal at a couple friend's apartment last Wednesday, I left early enough to knock at the door of my friend Jo, who lived in the apartment right next door to my other friends. I'd promised her to stop by for a drink and some laughs and when I entered, she was there with a few others, including one of our other teacher friends named Brett.
"Let's go rock climbing! Would you be up for rock climbing?" asked Brett as I entered the apartment at 9pm.
"Uh...sounds like fun, but not right now Brett...sorry..." I replied.
Had he realized it was 9 o'clock at night? Did he realize I was coming over to settle in for the night with a little "night cap"? No...because Brett is what like to call a "very adventurous dude".
Jo's boyfriend Sangmin soon showed up - once he arrived, him and Brett were having a hay day as they relished the idea of doing something crazy and spontaneous late at night.
Before we knew it, the boys were suggesting that we all pack up and head to Incheon Beach (near the airport) and go for a midnight swim!
"I could do that," Jo said, "but who else would be up for it?"
I suddenly heard myself say "I'll go!"
But what was i thinking??? It was going on midnight! An hour drive out to the beach and back? Ugh...I was feeling tired enough as it was....but no sooner had I spoken up when I found myself heading to my own apartment to change into my swimsuit and pack up a towel.
We left around 12:30a.m. in a school vehicle and when we reached Incheon and set up shop at the beach, we were amused by many of the Koreans that were already out and about enjoying their holiday, warming themselves by a campfire, and shooting off fireworks from the beachside (yes....fireworks....)
"Let's buy some fireworks and shoot them off from the beachside, too!" said Brett soon after we'd parked the car.
"Yea! Let's do it!" I heard Sangmin say.
And so no sooner had the boys bought fireworks and readied them for action, when I myself readied a firecraker for some serious action and explosion right there on the beach....in the middle of the night....in Korea.....:-P
After our "firework fun", it was time to run into the Yellow Sea....although the temperature outside must have only been in the upper 50s, the water was somewhat warm (despite the cold pockets that came in with the tide) and we enjoyed ourselves for about 25 minutes before finally deciding we'd had enough water time ;-)
The video below depicts some of our crazy "firework mayhem"...it may seem like we're a little out of it....but the reality was, we were! We were high on life, slap happy, full of spontaneity and excitement! Brett attempted to be the "light guy" (since he was sporting a "flashlight headband" of sorts so we could see in the dark) and Sangmin was the fearless cameraman. Both of the boys insisted this video go on the blog,despite the nonsense of most of its content:
As we headed back to the car and attempted to dry off (despite the tide's efforts to soak through our bags and towels), Sangmin suddenly said to all of us:
"uh...guys? where are the car keys?"
"you put them somewhere with your stuff, didn't you hun?" Jo asked Sangmin
"um...yea......uh....you guys? pretty sure i left the keys in my swim trunks here....and pretty sure they fell into the sea...."
No one said anything.
No one believed him
No one really wanted to believe him.
It was 2 a.m. and we had no car keys to our locked school vehicle and were surrounded by crazy fireshooting Koreans enjoying the essence of their thanksgiving holiday while the four of us miserably thought through the crisis at hand.
Despite our bad fortune, the four of us were surprisingly upbeat! We decided that since we wouldn't be able to access any sort of transportation until the early morning to get back to Seoul Foreign School, pick up the spare set of car keys, and return to Incheon to then access the car and return home, that we'd make the best of our "free time"....even if it was going on 2:30 in the morning....
So because there were numerous eateries and shops along the beachfront, we stopped in at one for a bite to eat. The boys had been going on and on about "san nachi", a korean dish that was prized in this part of Korea literally translating to "raw octopus"...
"We have to try this you guys!" Brett exclaimed (are you starting to see why Brett is what I refer to as a "very adventurous dude"???????)
And so we did. We all ate raw octopus. Nevermind the fact that the octopus was still basically alive. Nevermind the fact that the octopus tentacles were moving around on the plate and in the grasp of our chopsticks. Nevermind the fact that because the octopus was still alive and moving on our plates, its tentacles were very much still able to suck. Hence why (as Sangmin told us later) people have died from eating san nachi because as they attempted to swallow, the tentacles sucked onto their esophagus and they died.
Awesome.
But I did it! I ate the san nachi! Check out the video below.....
Afterwards, we decided we still had plenty of time, so we headed to a nori bong (literally "singing room" in Korean) - karaoke singing is a FAVORITE pastime in Korea and they have "nori bongs" all OVER the place (even on this random beach on this random night at this random time at 4 in the morning....)
I realized why I loved singing. I realized why I'd made it my career. I realized why I loved music. That nori bong experience made me feel like I had wings...it made me feel like I was the best Lady Gaga - Chris Martin -Freddie Mercury there ever was! ;-)
Here was a shot of Jo and I singing Lady Gaga's "Poker face":
The hour passed way too quickly and soon it was a quarter to 6 in the morning. We headed back towards the food shop we'd eaten our san nachi at and ran into the crazy adjouma ("elder korean lady") who beckoned us to come back inside. As we sat down and explained to her our "keyless" situation, she spoke to Sangmin (being that he too could speak Korean) and explained that she had a good friend back in Seoul that was a cab driver. She mentioned that she could contact him, ask him to pick up the spare set of car keys from the school, and bring them out to us at the beach for a cost of $45.
"Yes!!!" we all exclaimed, "how wonderful!!!"
It felt like it was heaven-sent....how awesome that such good fortune could come our way out of such misfortune ;-)
The adjouma (whose name we later found out was "Peanuts"..haha!) said her friend would arrive in about an hour.
Because we had some time to kill, Brett and I decided to head back out towards the beach...it was lovely in the daytime and as I was basking in the beauty of the water and the freshness of the new day, Brett called out to me:
"Alllllllliiiissssssooonn!!!!" He was several yards away from me, soaking his feet in the tide as it washed onto shore, "I found the keeeeeeysss!!!!" He raised his arm up and shook what seemed to be a set of car keys in his right hand!
He found them.
He found the fricken keys. In the OCEAN. He found the lost car keys in the OCEAN......seriously???? Does this happen?????
I wanted to wake up from the dream....honestly, that's what it seemed like I was living...a dream! A very long, random dream....thank God it had a good ending!
And so we soon met up with Jo and Sangmin (who had only moments before finished paying the cab driver our $45 for the spare set of keys) - they were in disbelief! None of us could believe that out of this night of no sleep, we were going back home at 7:30 a.m. and returning with TWO sets of car keys.....
We piled up in the car, buckled up, and drove home.
What a night...what a story!
What an adventure.....
;-)
God is good.
No way. You are correct m'dear, I am staring at the screen in disbelief. Impressive.
ReplyDelete-Beth