Happy Schnew Schnear!

Well well well, if it ain't 2009 already! Seriously,...weren't we just on the verge of maybe freaking out about the possible Millennium Meltdown just a few days ago? And now the first decade of the brave new world is nearing it's end. Crazy, man.

Celebrations were pretty subdued round these here parts. I went downtown with my co-worker and found one of the few expat bars to be playing some Johnny Cash Live CD just a few minutes after the giant countdown (which we totally forgot about when we were in the taxi.) There were about ten people at the bar and I think three of them were staff. It was mellllloooowww. And I found it somewhat depressssssing. So we moved on.

Locale number two was a bit better. We ran into people we knew who had gone there in the hopes of meeting us, so that was nice. A couple women in sparkly dresses played pool with their tall boyfriends. I don't know why I was surprised to learn they were Russians. I guess I just don't meet too many of them, but I had an interesting discussion with another Russian fellow, a student at the university, about the perceptions Koreans and us folks from other countries have about Russian expats here. I didn't find Texas Street in Busan to be the friendliest of places when I've visited there, but that's just my experience. If you're a foreign woman here and you're asked "Are you Russian?" that's pretty much the same as "Are you a hooker?" Anyhow...

I guess the highlight of the night was when there was some commotion at the other end of the bar. We looked over to see a guy falling off his stool on top of the woman sitting beside him. My friend ran over to help out and as soon as he grabbed ahold of Falling Down Guy he was puked on. I came over just as my friend started to dry heave in a sympathy/gross out barf. Falling Down Guy was still hurling, so I grabbed him by the back of the jacket and held his forehead with my other hand. Meanwhile, everyone else in the place cleared a wide berth.

I stayed there holding onto Buddy's dead weight for a long time, looking around and wondering if I was going to spend the rest of the night with my hands on him. Finally my friend returned from the washroom with his arm scrubbed raw and helped me, despite still gagging from the stink, spread Falling Down Guy out on a makeshift bed formed of barstools. I was thankful and wondrously free of puke-splatter!

And so that was just about that! It's a tradition here to head to a beach or maybe mountaintop to view the first sunrise of the New Year. I didn't catch the scenic view, but I think the sun was starting to glow shortly after we exited the Noraebang. So, uhm, yah.

Happy New Year, everyone. I hope you enjoyed the holidays. For those of you who headed back to work today, I empathize. Peace.