Traffic laws here in Korea are merely suggestions. The the only difference between a red light and a green light is the color. Crosswalks are an invitation to a false sense of security and jaywalking is the norm. Apparently, it is not all that uncommon for people to get nicked or hit which is decidedly inconvenient for an individual like myself who can barely cross a street in New Jersey. My basic rule of thumb is to follow the lead of the person or people that I'm walking with which means that, in effect, I am placing my life in the hands of my ambling companion/s on a regular basis. Still, it's not all that bad. It's been over a week now and I'm still in one piece (Knock on wood).

It's Tuesday morning now and I have experienced my first Gwangju weekend. On Friday we started our evening with dinner and some soju at a nice little place in our neighborhood. The food was good and the soju was sweet so the evening kicked off rather auspiciously. At the beginning, our company was a trio, composed of one fellow teacher, the boyfriend of another teach and yours truly. The conversation was dominated by talk of New York sports when I learned that the latter of the two was from "north" jersey which actually just meant he was from Paterson. Surprisingly, he was entirely unaware of our little hamlet situated on the northwest border of Jersey and New York dominated by a place I affectionately know as Mountain Creek.

Following dinner we made it out to "downtown Gwangju" where you will find anybody who is anybody in Gwangju society, although largely dominated by college students, new professionals and my demographic, expat teachers. Our first stop on out tour of the main hits of downtown was a bar called "Speakeasy" and is known as THE foreigner bar of Gwangju. I find that it's somewhat oddly named from my perspective because foreigner, in this case, means people more like me than everyone else in the city. Then again, I'm still getting used to being considered a foreigner as well. The bar was small and dimly lit, but the boyfriend of our coworker has recently started working there so it was nice to have an in with bartender even if we didn't get any specials deals. The second bar was the most impressive because it was a "German" bar in the heart of Seoul, run by a completely Korean owner. There is nothing terribly German about the place except that he brews some of his own beers, two of which are heffeweisen beers. That being one of my favorite types, I was compelled to try them. Though not impressive or remarkable in any way, it was good to mix it up with the more traditional Korean styles. Also, I was able to snag a solid video of the owner, well on his way to intoxicated oblivion, singing Frank Sinatra on the karaoke machine in front of the entire bar. We continued on our quest to two other bars that weren't terribly noteworthy in any way but were still great places to hang out and throw a few back. The benefit of the first bar, Soultrain, was that it had a circle bar that was accessible from all sides and the second bar, Crazyhorse, was decked out in random paraphernalia including a Green Bay Packers helmet. The night, overall was rather uneventful save for my random encounter with a Brit at the foreigner bar who was dissatisfied with my backing of Chelsea in English Premier League soccer. I should've said West Ham.

The second night started out at the apartment of another co-worker where we did a number on a few bottles of Soju and raspberry wine before venturing forth into the night. We started with about four or five but as we made our way to the German bar we met up with a good four or five more acquaintances and ended up showing up with a solid crowd. We had a few beers there and got to see the owner's apparently nightly routine as he belted out yet another litany by our dearly departed Franky Blue Eyes and headed over to Crazy Horse.

It was at Crazy Horse that I came to discover an extremely peculiar aspect of being an American in Korea. For most over here, we are a novelty, and that is no more apparent anywhere than in the romantic field. Korean girls are far less bashful when approaching Americans. This, of course is a double-edged sword. It's always nice when less proactive bachelors such as myself are given more to go on when meeting new people but at the same time it can be very misleading. The motive for women to approach Americans is threefold, at least. There is, of course, the most romantic motive which is a genuine interest in the individual but it's also a great way for Korean women to seek foreigners who will teach them English at no cost and there is also the type that will look to find an American to promise marriage and, therefore, secure a comfortable livelihood in their future. I think, or maybe just hope, that these two other motives are far more rare than the others.

While at the Crazy Horse I was told, directly, that I was handsome. Apparently, this is a common conversation starter and, for me, an effective ego-booster. I was told that I look like I could be a movie star like Tome Cruise and, that I look extremely American. I'm not entirely sure how to take that last part but I'm gonna call it a compliment for now. Either way, it was an interesting experience as I continued to talk to this girl and while I do not anticipate any future, intentional encounters, I can say that it livened up my evening.

As I complete this entry it is now 8 o'clock at night and I am now two days into teaching full days with my own classes, even though I am a sub. The classes have continued to go well and I'm growing more confident as I go. There is talk of possibly heading to Seoul this weekend though it is still very much in the planning stages. I have also learned that I have to start making my travel plans for my Summer break in the next few weeks so that I can keep the prices low. Though my initial plan was Japan, the idea of Thailand has its appeal as a cheap country to visit where a lot of English is spoken. It's considered a good "beginner traveler's" destination.

We'll have to see.