A Weekend In Seoul

To make this post better, press play and listen to Thank You by Early Adopted

Preface! Yeah I know I just moved from Seoul to Japan a couple months ago, but I missed it a bit so I decided to take a weekend vacation there. When I tell people that I chose to go so I could visit friends, it’s very surprising for them. However, if you think about it, it’s only a two and a half hour flight from Tokyo to Seoul. It’s not very far, nor is it very expensive.

I spent three years in Seoul; Bucheon to be exact. It was a great time full of ups and downs, but I could always count on my main peeps. Shoutout to my Bucheon fam and Sojuboys. In those three years I experienced the culture, learned some of the language, traveled around, and basically adopted a new way of living. I can now say I’ve lived in Asia and I continue to do so. It still sounds weird to say. In this time, I have met countless friends who I would not have come across in any other situation. They have become part of my international family that I have grown to love and appreciate it. For those who know it, it’s not possible to put a price on friendships that last a lifetime. It’s more of an endless game where each person tries to outdo each other by setting up trips, events, food, alcohol, or activities in order to have the most fun with everyone.

For example, I would rather share a bottle of nice whiskey with people I care about and drink regular tier stuff when I’m by myself. The way we show our appreciation for others and give thanks definitely says a lot of who or what we value the most. This isn’t necessarily just how we spend money, but how we choose to spend time as well.

Sorry for the long introduction. Allow me to re-introduce this post, my name is HOV! Just kidding. Basically I went to Seoul a couple weeks ago for the weekend and it was awesome. I had the opportunity to pay my respects to a community I love, remember an old friend who has passed away, and experience a comic convention for the first time.

I was invited to the event on facebook, but I didn’t see the notification because I generally use instagram and snapchat more theses days. One of my friends messaged me on facebook and reminded me. I looked up tickets and at first the price had me second guessing it. It would be $400 round trip, but it was only an hour and a half flight. After considering it for a moment I booked my tickets. I had the chance to see some old coworkers and it was nice because it felt like I never left. Shout out to Michelle and Mike and of course Ralph for allowing me to spend a couple of nights in Bucheon. You helped keep the costs low!

We visited our neighborhood bar that was having a 10th year anniversary celebration in honor of Kyu Young Hwang. The bar has continued to run thanks to the help of Kyu’s sister and the rest of the R&B staff, including Hanna aka Sparky Montana. This was a lot of fun because I really missed playing beer pong, eating American bar food, and seeing everyone. I lost at beer pong, but I got the chance to meet some new people and see some old faces. We watched some live performances from several local bands and old friends who used to be bands back in the day. I wasn’t able to sleep in very late because one of my friends told me that there was a comic convention happening the next day. I wish he had told me earlier and I would have packed some kind of costume, but I was still excited to go.

We woke up around 12:30pm and ordered Mc Donald’s for delivery because we could. Trust me, be glad that Mc Donald’s doesn’t deliver in the U.S. We would abuse it too much haha. After eating a quick and rather nutritious meal of French fries, chicken nuggets, burgers, and soda, we were off to the Seoul Comic Convention.

For those of you who still don’t understand what a comic con is, it’s a place where people who love video games, movies, tv shows, anime, manga, or any type of fandom come together to dress up and share their love for their interests. It’s pretty cool to see people who have such a passion for their interests. You can just imagine how much time, effort, or money went into making these costumes.

Tickets were about twenty something bucks. I brought my GoPro and camera so I could get some nice shots of people in costumes. My friends Ralph and John dressed up as Rick and Morty. It was fun following them around and watching how many people asked them for pictures. I didn’t take as many pictures as I initially wanted to, but it was still cool. Props to the people who wore costumes of characters that aren’t always the most famous. I really like it when I see costumes of characters who are easily recognizable right off the bat. One of my favorite minimalist costumes was were a girl put a red diamond on her hairband and made a really cool Sim.

After we spent a few hours and watched a few rounds of the costume contest, we were pretty hungry. I really miss Korean food, so I was allowed to pick what to eat. I opted for Dalk Toritang, which is a Korean spicy chicken curry. Most of us didn’t talk very much because we were all either hungry, sleepy, or hungover. One of our friends Charles wanted to hang out, so we decided to meet up for a couple of beers, but I was too sleepy. I ended up passing out on the table. Most people thought I was drunk, but I was exhausted from the whole weekend in general. Afterward I packed my bags and I set my alarm for 5am so I could make my flight.

All in all, it was a pretty productive and fun weekend. I was able to honor Kyu the best way I could, which was drinking, eating, and being happy among good friends who I consider my family. I got to go to my first Comic Con. I ate some pretty good Korean food with my Soju Boys and Bucheon family. I’ll definitely be back, but maybe next time it’ll be Busan or Jeju.