Chuseok

For Chuseok, or Korean Thanksgiving, The Canadian teacher, Bob and I went to Busan to visit a friend of mine from College. My good friend from back home was also there. We had purchased train tickets online ahead of time for the trip to Busan, but we hadn't purchased any for the return trip. At the train station, We decided it would be a good idea to get tickets then so that we wouldn't be stuck several hundred miles away from Seoul at the end of the vacation. There were very few tickets left, but we managed to get standing tickets.

We arrived in Busan and met my friends. I mentioned to my friend from home that he might want to get a ticket asap because there were very few left when we bought our return tickets. He went to the train station, but he was only able to get one for the next day at 6am. Nonetheless, we went out and had a great time. I was staying at my Busan friend's house, and my coworkers were sharing a love motel.

We went to a couple of clubs, and Bob had too much again. To illustrate a point he was trying to convey, he dropped his glass on the floor and it shattered. He was trying to drop it on the table, but the table was a good meter or so away. We cut him off, but we were a bit too late. As we were leaving the club, he had to vomit. He started at the entrance, and I attempted to drag him to the bathroom. He broke off, ran into the kitchen and threw up for about twenty minutes in the kitchen garbage can.

Finally, we got him back to his hotel and my friend and I tried to get a cab to take us back to his place. I don't know why, but all of the cabbies that night were jerks. None of them would take us to his place, and finally a couple of college guys helped us and jumped into the cab. They wanted to join us and practice English. We were a little uncomfortable, but we decided to let them come over anyways. They ran into a convenience store to pick up some soju and snacks. They came over and started chatting away. After a little while, I fell asleep.

When I woke up the next morning, my friend was sitting up in his bed with an odd look on his face. I turned and saw our new Korean friends. They were asleep on the floor spooning each other.