Welcome to Korea.

Now that I'm a little more coherent, I would like to say just one thing. Big groups of uni+ aged boys have not been my favorite demographic since I got here. I've had more than one nasty run-in, and more times than not, they frankly tend to act like twats in the street. But last night there was something really cool about the way things were. There was a serious, serious slant in the boy-to-girl ratio, but shit didn't get stupid like I would have expected it to back home. There was no grabbing, no saying disgusting things -- none of that territorial nonsense that goes hand in hand with alcohol and the male ego.

And my favorite part? No girls? No problem. Korean men don't give a fuck. They just dance with each other. And I mean, full-on dance.

But my original point was just to say, that the handful of foreigners that were there last night were brought right into the fold with open arms. No staring. No cussing or muttering in Korean. Just made right at home.


I keep trying to understand what exactly happened last night that completely shattered the infamous and long-standing Liz Doesn't Dance policy. You could say it was the alcohol, but I've been plenty more blitzed than that, and no dancing has ever occurred before.

What it really is, I think, is that I'm fucking starved for social interaction. Keeping in touch with people back home and other places abroad is a struggle, with limited capabilities on all sides and a horrendous time zone situation. And work has been weighing heavy on my mind, with all of the problems I face there every day, not speaking Korean.

I'm in this wonderful new places surrounded by all these wonderful new things and people, but I'm fucking stunted on how far I can with the latter.

Basically, it just felt really good to be in a situation where it didn't matter who spoke English and who spoke Korean -- couldn't hear a fucking thing anyway, unless you were shouting with your mouth against someone's ear. Just to go be with people without the nervousness and the struggling and the wide awkward pauses.

Person after person just pulled me into their circles last night, and, after the obligatory, "Sorry. My English not so good," they would lean over and shout into my ear while we danced:

"Are you happy? Right now, are you happy?"

"Neh!"

"Good! Welcome to Korea!"


The big hit of the night, of course. Must have danced to it at least four times: