happy birthday dr. baker!

Saturday, May 18

We're all well aware of the legal drinking age in America - 21. Well, the drinking age here is 19. I am 19. Excellent.

My first full day in Korea, Uncle Brad and I were up and at 'em by around 11AM (pretty good for this "jet lag" I was supposed to be experiencing). We were on our way to meet up with Alex, my uncle's friend. On the way, we picked up some beer and passed through a small market.

This market was one my mother would absolutely hate. The tiny alleys were lined with tent after tent of vendors. Various foods were available but the most eye catching of all was the seafood. We passed many tanks filled with octopi, squid, fish and shellfish. It is very common to select your seafood from a tank and the vendor will then cook it for you. It is also common to eat live octopus with the suction cups of the tentacles fighting your mouth as you eat it. Talk about fresh! I told Uncle Brad that we must try it.. just maybe not any time soon. It was just a tiny market, but it sure was a sight to see!

We finally reached Alex's place and drank a few cold ones up on the roof before heading to Itaewon. For those of you who follow up on Uncle Brad's Korean adventures, we hit almost all of his usual spots.

First, Seoul Pub for some beer. Shortly after, we trekked up to the 3rd floor of a building to another bar for a little more beer. When it was time for dinner, we went down to a Brazilian barbeque restaurant on the 2nd floor. Many friends joined us to help make the celebration a truly memorable one. Again, the food was delicious!

(SIDE NOTE: When everyone had eaten their fill, we had birthday cake topped with fruit. I picked up what I thought was a cherry but bit into it only to discover it was actually a tomato. A tomato on a cake, what?)

A special thank you to those who covered the cost of both of our meals!

After dinner, we all headed a few buildings down to yet another bar. This is where the night really began. Many more of my uncle's friends, who didn't go to dinner with us, joined us here. We decided to play a few drinking games, which was fun until we started playing all of them all at once. I'm talking more than five different drinking games happening at one time. We spent many hours here, including the midnight hour during which we serenaded Uncle Brad with mixed slurs of "Happy Birthday."

I thought we would end our night at iLot. The number of people at this "dance club" increased nearly ten fold when our group stumbled down the stairs into the tiny basement. I must admit, it was much more fun than I originally thought it would be; however, I am very grateful no one else seems to remember as much as I do.. That, or, I am grateful no one talks about that night! I'll leave those shenanigans to your imagination. I've decided that what happens at iLot stays at iLot.

Finally, we ended up back at Seoul Pub to top off the night. I managed to stay awake for the cab ride home and the climb to the 4th floor before curling up in my bed in what seemed like the middle of a spinning room.