Finding a new home

So I have been going threw a transitional period and haven’t been able to blog. Well my sister officially left last Sunday, and the night she left I stayed with her friend Leslie who is also in the army. The night before we went to a birthday party at this guy name Rock's apartment. It was really fun and I got a chance to meet some cool black girls, who are actually in Korea teaching English. We ended the night checking out this club called Harlem. It’s pretty fun they played strictly mainstream hip-hop, which is chill with me.

So after saying the night with Leslie I needed to find a hotel to stay in. Jaewon told me there was a lot of cheep hotels not to far from the Yolksan stop which is one stop from Gangman where the hookah bar is located. But before I looked for a place I met up with Yoshie because it was her last official day in Korea. First we went for lunch at some mall, and checked out this bookstore. After the mall we went to Gangnam and shared some cold stone ice cream. An hour later I dropped her off at the train station and continued my mission on finding a place to sleep. The first place I check was a hotel called Human Star villa. Very nice place but it was filled up for the week, so I decided to check out this place up the street called Cosmos. After fumbling around, my Hangul I found out the place was 60 bucks a night. So called Jaewon the set up my reservation for me. The hotel was small but really nice. There was a flat screen TV, computer, bed, and two extra chairs. The computer also hooked to the flat screen, which was really cool when it came to finding something to watch. I ended up staying for 4 days.

Thursday I meet up with Hanna to go get some food. We went to one of those beef grill places. Later that night we meet up with Jaewon, Leon, and this guy name Peter whose cool with Jae, at the Hookah bar. When we arrived Leon was in the restroom "asking the toilet its phone number". We where also joined by these two other girls invited by Leon, who where really nice. We all had been drinking for a while that night so I grab the guitar and decided to play for the girls. One of the Korean girls really liked my playing and insisted I keep playing until she left. That night Peter and I became fast best friends. This came about because Hanna was talking with a friend on the phone and Jae took Leon’s friends home so Peter and I had time to talk. Man that kid is goofy, if you think I'm funny then you would love peter. This was the first time we only went to the Hookah bar; we ended up leaving at like 2am.

The last few days in Seoul were pretty chill. I meet up with my friend Hong on Friday to have dinner with a few others from my school. The girl Leslie I meet was having her birthday party on Saturday and wanted me to help plan it. It was 80's theme so I was a big help when it came to music and artwork. To better help with the event I stayed with her until the big day (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday morning). On Friday I found out we could rent a strobe light from this recreational center on post. The only problem was choosing the location. The first idea was to have a roof top party; the only problem was it was due to rain to Sunday. So she decided to have a house party, to further establish the 80's theme. The prime location was at her place, but Leslie felt her spot was too small to hold the guess list. So Saturday morning Rock offered to have the party at his place, and she accepted. All Saturday morning I work on the decor for the party cutting out neon colored arrows, triangles, crazy shapes, and even did some graffiti. We then went to rocks place to set up. We also cut out famous people and families from the 80's for example, Janet, The Cosbys, New Edition, and of course Millie Vanelli. My favorite decoration was this picture of Night Rider and Gerry Colman giving the thumbs up behind the bathroom door. The party over all was a huge success; a lot of people showed up and had a great time. Everyone took a picture behind my "DOPE" tag, which was pretty funny.

The next morning I packed up my things and took a train to Busan to stay with my friend Yung Jun and his family. Yung and his buddy picked me up from the station and we caught a cab to his house. Busan is pretty cool, yet grimy place to live, and it’s a smelly place to live as well. The sewer system is pretty bad here, but it's not to bad. Yung’s brother and I were making jokes in the car calling Busan P-U son. The first day I meet some of Yung's while they where playing soccer. His friends are really funny and very nice. That night we all met up with Yung's family at this restaurant/ grill. There I met Yung's mom, dad, uncle, auntie, and cuz. They were all so nice and were really excited I was there. The food was so good we order rib eye meat and it felt endless, I could cry. I left that place full and happy. We ended that night going to a bar with the whole family. I found out Yung looks a lot like his Uncle even more then his dad.

Monday was a pretty lazy day. We woke up mad late from staying out the night before so we only went to go play basketball. That night I finished my third soulNseoul drawing. The new drawing is inspired by a blind bagger I always see on the L train. I heard he's not really blind and if you put paper in his basket he will chase after you with his stick. Today we are going to do a little sight seeing and maybe make it to the beach.

Well that’s all for now.
Ahn Yeong

BUSY WEEK

So it’s been awhile since my last blog but it’s been hard to sit down with all the crazy stuff I've been up to. On Monday Christine called me up to hang out with her and pick up some stuff from the Army store called the PX. After we handled her business we ate some food and took a walk down the Han River. It was really cool and I enjoyed just being by the historical river. Personally I would not go there at nighttime because it doesn’t look like they cut the grass very much. Who knows some one might come out of the bushes or something.

Tuesday I decided to hang out with my sister a little bit so we went out to dinner at the Stake House. This was some must needed bonding time. I have been hanging out with my friends so much I forget that I have a sister who would like to spend some time with me.

On Wednesday I went to Tae Kwon Do class on the army base. The main instructor wasn’t there but there where two guest instructors. They were really cool and helped me out with my forms. The really dope part about the class is not having to pay for it. Since the instructors where guest they didn’t realize I've never been in the class and I’m also a black belt so they really didn’t care. That night I met one of my sisters Army buddies whom actually goes to the tae kwon do class on the regular. We talked a little about the class and I got a chance to meet her three little boys. After that I met up with Jaewon, Bling and Bling's friend at this mall in Samseoung. We ate at a restaurant at the mall then went to play video games at the Internet cafe.

Thursday I got up pretty early and went to Owsan army base with my sister to do some shopping. The area around the army base was mad cheep. I found this really dope new age clothing store, and racked up on some new gear. My sister and I split up so I went to this random bar for a drink. While I was there I ran into a few Americans. One of the kids was running around the bar asking for water. Apparently one of his buddies dared him to eat this really spicy meat, dude wanted to prove him self so he went for it. As you know this was a bad idea. As I chuckled the cute bar tender asked me if I wanted to try it. Me being a strong lover of spicy foods and a bit of a show off I said why not. So this hot Korean girl comes over and let me bite off hers. At first it wasn’t that bad and actually kind of good. The bar tender and the Korean girl were impressed at my ability to handle their spicy food.... then I took a swig of my beer and all hell broke loose. I could even feel my face, but after a few drinks of water I was fine. The bar tender and I talked for a while and I found out she was an artist. She even let me see some of her work and I showed her what little I had on my ipod. After gaining a new friend it was time to head back to the Yongsan base.

Friday was a pretty fun and random day. I started off my day hitting up the gym, and then I meet up with my girl Hanna. She took me to Insadong, which is the most traditional place in Seoul. As soon as we got there we found a really cool gallery, where the artist made her sculptures out of silverware. I was really impressed with all the detail the artist put forth. After the gallery we where starving so we got some Korean food. I ate some beef spare ribs, which were bomb I must say, and Hanna got some soup. After walking off the meal we stopped at an arcade and played some shooting games. OOO if you have not played Time Crisis 5 you are missing out. While trying to get a cab to head back we found a Buddhist temple. It was so amazing and people were praying to 3 golden Buddha’s. After I said good-bye to Hanna I meet up with Jaewon. Of course we hit up the Hookah bar and had a few drinks. Friday also marked Blings final party day in Korea so we meet up with him and went to this club called Answer. The club was straight Techno, which is something I don’t mind getting down to. That night at the club I ran into at least 4 girls from my school, which was really funny. We all had a lot of fun that night.

Saturday my sister and I meet up with her friend Won and went to the Seoul Tower. It was so breath taking. I wanted to take the cable car up to the top, but my sister wasn’t having it, so we took a cap. The tower was really cool and when you’re at the top you can see everything. That night we at a "Korean” Mexican restaurant (Won's choice). The food was ok, but after being in Chicago you get real picky when it comes to your Mexican food (I wont even eat taco bell in Chicago)

Sunday I went to church. That was pretty much it at least I thought. There is this new Korean musical called Jesus Jesus (a musical about the whole bible) that’s opening this week. The church I’m going to has been hyping it up because the Pastors little brother is going to play Jesus. We even prayed for him at the end of service. Well that night I went to shoot some hoops on base and guess who shows up ALL the guys from church. Being the second "black" guy in their church they recognized me and asked me to play ball with them. It was really fun and I got put on the same team the pastors brother, whose name I think is Tim, and might I add the kid can ball. I ended up playing two games before I headed back home.

On Monday my good friend Yoshie came to Korea so we meet up and I took her around. She had to be back at her home no later then 9 so we couldn’t do much. So I took her to the mall and the hookah bar. Later that night I meet up with Jaewon and we went to another hookah bar ahaha. One of my goals in Korea was to get a really good back rub. I haven’t been able to do that because at lot of the places in Seoul don’t just give back rubs (if you know what I mean...RED LIGHT). So that night we saw a place across the street from the hookah bar that looked legitimate, and we where right. So Elgin got his first real massage, it was full body 100 mins for 70 bucks and it includes tea, and foot rub.

Well today has been very busy. My sister leaves Korea on Sunday so she had movers come by, pack up all of her stuff, and ship it. This also means I needed to pack up all my things as well. Tomorrow we move in to the dragon hill hotel to stay until its time for her plane to leave.

Well I think you all have read enough. I will try to make my next blog shorter.
Until next time
AHN Yeong

RED LIGHT

So this has been an interesting few days. On Thursday Christine told me about this MTV sponsored party at this club called The Circle so Jaewon and I decided to go. The club was really nice, and had light beams and a smoke machine, like in music videos. The only bad part about the club was the drinks and music. Every drink was at least 10 bucks and these weren’t big cubs I'm talking sippy cups with a lot of ice. Jaewon got a beer and that was ten bucks as well. Some dirty-south rapper performed whose name I cant remember, his style was very "TODAY" I don’t think I'll hear from him in 2 years. O and the music was not very good. It was a mix of old school and new school "POPular" rap. For example I never want to hear the song, everybody dance now again. But I did meet a nice girl and Jaewon got a phone number so the night wasn’t a total waist.

On Friday I needed to rest from my Thursday night, but my sister gave me a quick tour of E-mart. E-Mart is like Best Buy times a billion. Instead of having a section for games and cameras, it’s an entire floor, crazy right. While there I decided to pick up some a few bootleg movies (Forbidden Kingdom, Machine Girl, Korean movie called Kidnap, and some Thai movie).

Saturday I was really bored so I took a bike ride around E-mart so I could really check out the area. I didn’t see anything I wanted to buy so I kept riding. While riding around I turned on this strange street with a lot of glass windows. At first I thought it was a beauty supply area because the walls inside the windows were pink and had a girl sitting in a white chair. After seeming the same store down the block (and besides the fact that all the ladies were all signaling for me to come over) I figured it must be a red light district. A red light district is a block were you can pay a prostitute for sex (instead of them being on a street corner you go to there window). I admittedly high tailed my butt out of there but then realized I've never seen anything like this before, and thought this would something cool to draw. So I called Jae to ask how to say, can I draw you, just in case I got stopped. After learning the phrase I found a good corner and got started. The prostitute across from me noticed that I was drawing and signaled for me to stop. So I went over to the prostitute and asked if I could draw her and flashed 20 bucks. I then showed her some drawings in my sketchbook to show that I was an actually artist so she said it was ok. I went back to my corner and begun drawing my picture. In the mean time she went back to her job trying to get dudes to come over to her window. After realizing no one really wants sex at 4 in the after noon she decided to come see my drawing. I had only been drawing for like 3 mins so I only had the pose down and didn’t want to show the drawing to her until I was close to being done. So when she came over I tried not to show her. This upset her and so she grabs my drawing and took it out of my sketchbook, and start showing it to her friends. I didn’t know what to do so I called Jae and had him talk to her. By the time I gave her the phone she already ripped up my picture. After talking to her Jae told me that she that she only wanted me to draw her face and was mad because I was drawing her full body. Me not speaking full Korean didn’t understand this when asking her in the beginning. Well I felt really bad because it was just a mistake in commutation so I told her that I would draw her face but by that time she didn’t want to do it. So I just left it alone, and plus I had been there for long enough to draw a picture later. Still I felt bad for taking up her time so I gave her a few bucks and told her I was sorry.

That night I met up with Jaewon and Bling at the hookah bar. There was a singer at the Hookah bar but I believe she was high while singing. After the Hookah bar we went to this spot called two two chicken, which is pretty funny because in Hangeul it sounds like your saying dodo chicken. The chicken was really good and reminded me of this chicken spot in Chicago called Harold’s. We then went to play Korean style pool and ended the night at an Internet cafe.

Sunday my sister and I were suppose to meet up with Dylan but she never called back. So we watch movies and I finished the Red light district picture.

Well that’s all for now.
Ahn Yeong

easy week

This week was pretty lade back. On Sunday I got to go to church with my friend Tina Lee. The church was called Holy Jubilee. It was nice to see how people worship over seas. Which was pretty much the same as in America, oo and the church was English speaking. That afternoon I hung out with my friend Christine. She was allowed to come on the Army Base because her father works for the army. That night her parents took us to the free theater to see Indiana Jones, and my sis came along too.

Monday I finally fixed my sisters bike so I went on a bike adventure around the Yongsan Army Base. It was really cool. On my adventure I met a cute girl name Min, who's knew a few people that went to my school (small world). Also while riding I went to the War Museum. The sculptures there were so cool, and had a great deal of detail. Later that after noon I went shopping with my friend Hanna Sull. I got a new shirt, and two new CD's, MC Sniper, and Dynamic Duo (Korean hip hop groups). So that was cool.

Tuesday was a bonding day for my sister and I. early that day we met her Korean female friend Dylan. She works in a weight lost client in Myeong Dong. Dylan was so adorable and sent me a calendar, a long time ago, which my sister gave to me that day (bad sister). After the meeting with Dylan we met up with Jaewon to have some exotic Korean food. The place we went to was really grimy looking but had good food. We ate cow intestines and lever, which was actually pretty good. We ended the night by meeting some of Jae's friends at the Hookah bar. It was a really fun time. This was also my sister first time having Hookah, which I think she likes now.

As far as Wednesday, nothing really happen. I just chilled out, watched movies and finished my first soulNseoul drawing. SeoulNsoul is a series of drawings I will be doing about my experiences in Seoul. The first drawing is about the yellow sand effect in Korea. There are a lot of motorcycle delvers in Seoul, and last Friday the yellow sand from China's mountains came over to Seoul’s climate so the delivery drivers had to where mask. That image stayed in my mind for a while so I decided to draw it.

so thats all for now..
ANh yeong