d-Wizz Hankuk Travel Diary [2005]
Day 29 (2005-08-24) / Day 30 (2005-08-25) / Day 31 (2005-08-26) 
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Day 30: 2005-08-25 (Thursday)
After breakfast, we again went to Hoseo-dae. I waited in the car while Jamie went to his class. He returned about 45 minutes later, and we headed back towards his home, but I asked him to take me to his church nearby instead. I wanted to share two of my favourite activities with him: playing the drum kit and scatology, both in a worship context.
We went inside the church after sharing scatology, and continued to worship God by playing the drum kit together. We both enjoyed ourselves as we watched and listened to each other play. I was particularly happy about the level 2 buddy dump we had just shared together, and this was reflected in the energy of my playing. The drumming session lasted for about 40 minutes. I showed Jamie how to play 12/8 time and he demonstrated his rapidly improving skills as a drummer by catching on very quickly. Both of us made videos and took still pictures as the other played the drum kit.
Jamie is fast becoming a useful drummer, but (like most Koreans) he downplays the level of his skills. I encouraged him to think about playing the drum kit for a real church service, but I think he will probably be too nervous to do that, which is a real pity.
We had decided to have Shin Ramyun for lunch at Jamie’s house, but first Jamie had to actually buy the noodles, as there were none at home, contrary to what he had thought. This was not a problem though, as there was a shop very close by, so we stopped there on the way back from the church.
I had enjoyed Shin Ramyun many times before of course, both in Australia and in Korea, but it always tastes extra special when a friend makes it for you. I reminded Jamie what had happened the last time he had prepared a Shin Ramyun for me; it was in Sydney on 2004-01-02, and he had added some extra chilli paste to the soup as a practical joke, making it very hot and spicy. I had taken one small spoonful of the soup and almost asphyxiated myself, while he (and his Korean sharemates, who were also in on the joke) tried to contain themselves laughing at the ‘weak’ non-Korean in their midst. On this occasion, however, there was no prankster in him, and the soup was delicious.
After lunch, Jamie took me to SoonChunHyang University, where my sister had studied the previous semester. It was only about 20 minutes away from Jamie’s home. When we arrived, Jamie took some photos with his camera outside the dormitory where my sister was living on campus. He also took a photo of me at the front gate.
We had planned to visit Chi-Ung at his university (한국기술교육대학교: Korea University Education of Technology), and Jamie wanted Insu to come with us, but he was doing military service that day. Most Korean men are required to perform two years’ military service, but apparently, that’s not the end of it; they also have to do one extra day every year in a certain month, although they can choose the day. Today was Insu’s once-a-year army day, and he had said he expected to be finished at around 1630. It was now about that time, so Jamie called to find out if he wanted to come with us to see Chi-Ung. We waited in the car for a few minutes, then Insu said he would meet us near his home in about 20 minutes. Jamie drove there and we waited outside the car. Shortly after, Insu arrived; the three of us got into his car and we left Asan. It was a rather long drive to Chi-Ung’s university, about 45 minutes on main roads and highways. When we arrived there, Chi-Ung was happy to see us all again.
Chi-Ung joined us in Insu’s car and we all went to a nearby restaurant for my last Korean dinner. Realising the importance of the occasion, Jamie and Chi-Ung browsed the menu carefully, selecting 병천 순대 국밥 and 된장찌게 (dwen-jang- jji-gae) as their choice. I again produced an opaque plastic bag, and asked Chi-Ung if I could put it in the restaurant’s refrigerator for a few minutes. This was done easily, and we all began eating the delicious meal, which was accompanied by the usual Korean side dishes, and green chillies. I took one of these green chillies (which are hotter than the red ones) and put it in my mouth, then I picked up my camera and aimed it for a good shot, pressed the button and approved the result. My three fellow diners were unaware of my antics until I drew attention to them via the image on the camera screen. I still had the green chilli protruding from my lips like a cigar, and Chi-Ung warned me that it was “dangerous”. I think they winced when I bit the end off the chilli and began to chew. Nothing happened, so I swallowed and put the rest of the chilli in my mouth. Again, nothing happened... for about 30 seconds. Then it began. Only subtly at first, but it soon grew into a rather noticeable irritation of my lower lip. I drank some water, but the sting remained. I began to feel sweaty all over my face as the chilli took effect and held my whole body hostage for about three minutes. I don’t know if I went red (or green), because my friends didn’t say anything; maybe they were too busy chatting between themselves to notice. In all honesty, it wasn’t as uncomfortable as my writing implies, but it’s a good story all the same!
After the effects of the chilli had subsided substantially, I asked Chi-Ung to retrieve the opaque bag from the fridge. It was time to present the final gifts to my Korean friends. I attracted Jamie’s attention and revealed the last two cans of XXXX from the bag. Jamie’s response was more reserved than Spike’s, but he was still very surprised and happy to receive it. Unfortunately, I did not have another can to give to Insu, but Jamie let him sample some of his. Jamie and Chi-Ung had their photos taken holding their XXXX can outside the restaurant.
We returned to Chi-Ung’s university, and went inside a building to a room full of computers. Chi-Ung’s computer had two monitors side by side, for an extra wide display. It took a little getting used to the behaviour of the mouse, because when it went off the edge of one screen, it reappeared on the opposite edge of the other one. This setup allowed two full screens to be displayed, so it was very useful for multitasking. But the most important feature of this computer was that it had a DVD drive. I began ripping a DVD I had brought with me, so that Chi-Ung could listen to some of the hundreds of original recordings I had made from my huge vinyl collection in Australia. I copied about 8Gb of MP3s onto his computer, and he put them into his iPod. One of my DVDs was scratched, so only about half of it was able to be copied.
While the computer was copying the DVDs, I explained to Jamie and Chi-Ung some more details about the options trading system I was beginning to become involved with. I had explained about options to Jamie just before he left Australia in early 2004, and he had been very interested and enthusiastic about the concept. I had since learned a lot more about it, and I was eager to reveal my discoveries with him, and also explain it to Chi-Ung, who had also heard about it, but not as in-depth as Jamie.
I only explained the basics, as a comprehensive presentation would have taken many hours, and they probably wouldn’t have understood it just yet. They asked many questions about the processes involved in options trading and also the differences between buying options and just buying normal shares. When I had finished talking about it, I think they were a little overloaded, especially since it was starting to get late at night. Or maybe it was the XXXX.
Looking at the time, and realising we had a long way to travel back, Insu and Jamie were keen to return to Asan, so we left at about 2200 after I had copied as many MP3s as possible onto Insu’s computer.
Insu drove really fast back to Asan, where Jamie and I changed cars. We arrived back at Jamie’s home about an hour after leaving Chi-Ung.
We did not go to bed for quite a while. Jamie and I were finalising many things, as this was my last night in Korea, and Jamie wanted me to give some things to my sister in Australia from his recent trip to America. I also wanted to give him some of the MP3s I had brought with me, as I had not done that yet, and we had to find out about trains from Chonan to Busan. Jamie’s first suggestion was a train departing at about 0900, but I though this was too early, so I asked him to try another one. His next attempt was a better time, but the fare was more than I knew it could be, so I again asked him to try to find something with a lower fare. The third time, he found a good train leaving at 1034, with a fare of W20,000. I was happy with that, so we organised our schedule to leave Jamie’s home no later than 0845 in the morning, as I wanted to send the snare drum box in the mail back to Australia.
At about 0100, we both went to bed very tired.
Day 29 (2005-08-24) / Day 30 (2005-08-25) / Day 31 (2005-08-26)
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