5/24

불금

Boolkeum | Burning Friday | TGIF

My dad always told me that I'd eventually hit my partying years. I never believed him, as I had never attended a single party in high school, and didn't even drink until I was of legal age within the borders of South Korea. But less face it... I'm a party girl.

I love to dance, I have a high tolerance for alcohol, and I'm a major extrovert. Or an "extravert" rather, as with anything I do I have to go all or nothing.

But my body was S.O.R.E.

Okay, maybe hour long walks are NOT a great idea anymore. With my paycheck in, I treated myself to a little shopping in 이대 after breakfast. My mom joined my trip via kakao call, and together we hit up some of my favorite stores...

She fell asleep on the call. Twice.

Back home she is currently nursing a small puppy who has just undergone her second surgery, this time for a broken tooth. Barely able to sleep, neither was my mother, bless the heart that is too big for her own good.

I let my mom go, completing my shopping trip with a refreshing smoothie from Smoothie King. I ordered a coconut mung bean smoothie with added espresso and banana, and the barista and I shared a good laugh as he didn't even bother to complete calling out the full order. As I walk home, smoothie in hand, I realize I had a plethora or unread kakao messages... from 쩐. 

I had given him my kakao in case we got separated the night before... I just hadn't thought I'd have separated with him intentionally. The messages are in Korean, so I'll translate them the best I can:

"Do you have time?" 

"I want to discuss with you for a moment" 12:18 pm

"If its okay-"

"I still want to think of us as friends."

"It would be good to be friends." 12:19 pm

"I just want to talk to you." 12:20 pm

"I am going..."

"To Sinchon"

 "Can you give me your phone number? I'll call you when I get to Sinchon." 12:22 pm

"Can you please respond?" 1:08 pm 

I hadn't responded because I was LIVING MY LIFE. And besides I had a ton of work to get done and homework to catch up with at home. Oh, yeah. And I DIDN'T WANT TO TALK TO HIM.
God this boy was dumb.

I went home and really did get caught up with school, then got ready to meet 윤재 (Yoonjae) at 9 pm. We promised to switch things up this time, starting our night in 이태원 (Itaewon) then transferring over to 홍대 (Hongdae). We meet outside of Exit 1 and walk the streets for a bit, ending up in the first club of the night, Moon Light. 

On the fourth floor, the seating area opened up to a night sky view that overlooked Seoul. 

Inside there were two bars, a dj booth, and a dance floor encompassed by the seating area. And the bathrooms? Next level.

The music was good and the workers seemed to be on quite good terms with 윤재. One of the bar tenders approached us and gave us a free pitcher or Peach Crush. And we got two rounds of free gin and tonics. Oh, my.

We had a great time, even meeting a previously well known singer. We left the club around 11:50 pm, planning to go to 홍대, but instead wanted to use up our free drink tickets we had been gifted outside. So we stopped one floor down at the next club, Trap, and had some sort of tequila grapefruit concoction. 

Afterwards we attended a third club just for a quick cranberry vodka. 

And then we debated on if we would go to 홍대 or stay in 이태원... So I left it up to 윤재, and we ended up staying and traveling up three flights of stairs to The Fountain.

This is by far the COOLEST club... No coolest ANYTHING I'd ever been in, in the entirety of my life. Gaining its atmosphere from the essence or Rome, it also served as a museum for a collection of useless items that had no where else but the dump to go.

윤재, a practiced warrior of the club, made quick thinking, spotting two open chairs against the wall and across from two young men in business suits... with a cheese tray, bottle of champagne, and a bottle of tequila. 

She politely asked if we could take the two chairs, to which they agreed WITH the promise that we helped them "get rid of some of the alcohol". It was a difficult task, but we could manage.

And that is the story of how 민희 (Minhee | me) got free champagne in the heart of pseudo Italy.

Oh and the cheese was gouda.

The boys were actually very kind, one was Korean, but grew up in Japan, and the other was from Kansas City. 진황 (Jinhwang) and I hit it off immediately, while Cam and 윤재 were getting along quite swell, too.

We polished off the bottle of champagne (although I think 3/4 of it went to me) and the tequila, then headed to the dance floor. But it was HELL crowded.

So the boys bought a taxi and we traveled back to their apartment to drink more. 

They were actual gentlemen, as they gave up their beds and opted for the couches while 윤재 and I got a comfortable night sleep. No one night stands, no strings attached. Just a good time. 

Oh, and we also found out Cam has a girlfriend. 🙃