I'm Powerless To Stop It

The power. The power is out in my apartment. It went out yesterday when I tried to plug a power strip in. I know not to do that anymore. I can't find Mr. Lee to come and fix it and there's no breaker box or anything anywhere. I looked up and down the inside and outside of that durn place. Nothing. So, on the positive side it's been coaxing me out of my apartment more.

Last night, I met up with some other teachers downtown and I had my taste of the downtown expat community. That place is nuts! The whole downtown area is lit up and is reminiscent of New Orleans, only awesomer. That's right, it's more awesometastic than New Orleans' French Quarter. Totally different kind of culture, but same feeling.

As an appetizer, we hit up WaBar and I actually got a Sam Adams. Oh, Sam. How I missed a halfway decent beer. Our original plan was to go to Who's Bob? for some beer Olympics, but when we went, we decided not to sign up and just gathered the troops to find somewhere else to sit and talk and drink. We found some place that apparently had a really bangin' bathroom, but they only allowed the women folk into it. I was told it had a 360 mirror view and the toilet was up some stairs like it was actually a throne. We ended the night at some other Western bar and eventually I stumbled home. I'm paying for it today.

This morning, I went to Saemun Market, a couple of blocks away from my powerless residence. It was totally like the open air Asian markets you see in the movies: fish on tables, chickens in cages, cheap clothes, fabrics, the works (a rooster crowed at me. Is that bad luck or anything?). And, it's several floors. There's even an area underground (I think it would have been more ironic if the underground market was actually an underground market). It's funny because back home the flea markets always have that crazy Mexican polka playing somewhere. Here, I swore I heard that same polka and some people speaking Spanish. I was clearly hallucinating, but it provided a little taste of home halfway across the world. I went stupidly thinking it was a more Western style department store place, as I was looking for some housewares. I am still looking for housewares. I guess I'll go down to the Dong-a Department Store where the grocery store is and have a look around there.

Peace and the chicken grease, folks.