d-Wizz Hankuk Travel Diary [2005]

Day 12 (2005-08-07) / Day 13 (2005-08-08) / Day 14 (2005-08-09)
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Day 13: 2005-08-08 (Monday)

My birthday!
I received calls from my family, and also from Spike in Gwangju. It was very nice to receive those calls. I was trying to organise a birthday dinner for my friends in Seoul, but it seemed that none of them were available to join in. So that was a bit disappointing. I spent most of the day making MIDI files for the Foreign Exchange project. I realised I needed to buy a male - male 3.5mm lead for the recording I was going to do in Daegu, so I went to Yongsan to get one.

On the way back to the guest house, Dae Young rang me to say he would not be able to meet me the next day as we had planned. He wanted to meet me right now in Jongno-3. I wanted to go back to the guest house to collect a special gift I wanted to give to him, so I told him it would take me about one hour to meet him. He was a bit surprised at that, but I told him not to worry and I would call him when I was getting close. When I arrived at exit 15 of Jongno-3 station, it was beginning to rain. I waited for Dae-Young. After 10 minutes, I rang him and he said he was on his way. It was raining rather heavily by now, so I had to move off the footpath to keep dry. Dae-Young arrived with his girlfriend (한경송: Han Kyung Soung) soon after and we walked along some very narrow alleyways to a restaurant where we went upstairs. Dae-Young ordered 떡볶이 (tuk bock i) for the meal as we talked about music and I introduced myself to his girlfriend. I received a pair of traditional Korean dolls from Dae-Young as a birthday gift. They looked very nice and I thanked him for them.

I had brought my Blastix with me as usual (I always carry them in my bag), so I brought them out and Dae-Young practised his drumming skills on the table. I was impressed, as was his girlfriend! Then he gave the Blastix to me and asked me to play something, which I did. I tried to play along with the radio that was playing in the background. I made a video of Dae-Young playing drums on the table. He begged me to never show that video to anybody!

It was time for me to reveal my special gift for Dae-Young - as one of my very special Korean friends, I had brought a can of XXXX beer with me. I had planned to give one to six special friends during my trip, and Dae-Young was the first. He was extremely surprised and happy to see the can of beer. I knew he would appreciate it as he enjoys drinking with his friends occasionally. I instructed him to retain the can after enjoying its contents, so that he could remember me and our time together. He promised me he would do that.

It was time to go home, so we walked to the subway. Dae-Young was going the other way to me, so we waved to each other from opposite sides of the station. My train arrived within 30 seconds of my arrival on the platform, so there was not enough time to get my camera out for one last photo. I tried a quick snap through the train doors, but I was too hasty and camera shake ruined what would have been a very good photo.

After arriving back at the guest house and indulging in another scatological event there, I went to bed.

Day 12 (2005-08-07) / Day 13 (2005-08-08) / Day 14 (2005-08-09)
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