The Real Star of Saturday

Sunday was kind of a lost day. Why? Because of Saturday night (and Sunday morning). And, before anyone virtual high-fives me for this, I am compelled to say that in the end, it wasn’t worth it. Maybe it’s my age, the amount of years I have been “socializing” vs. how many years you may have been socializing. Maybe it’s the amount of time this has happened that has lead to a perspective shift. Maybe this is the way I have felt all along but just didn’t want to admit it because I was afraid that, in a booze-a-riffic place like South Korea, to deny such excess would create a serious social scene handicap.

Well, that’s just silly.

The real star of Saturday was what happened earlier in the day. Before the booze, the 3 or 4am “brown out” (I don’t think calling it a blackout would be quite accurate) that led to me taking one of the first buses back home sometime after 5am, falling asleep at 6am, waking up at 2pm, crying while watching videos about Mr. Rogers and then falling back to sleep at 4:30pm.

The real star was spending the early afternoon with the orphans and other volunteers at Boys Town.

That just above is Katherine, who organizes these events every month. She might like to get blotto every now and then, I have no idea. But, it’s obvious that’s not where her priorities are. There were plenty of volunteers there who may or may not share similar interests in doing things not associated with unhealthy amount of alcohol consumption. It is possible.

Can you tell I feel more than a little bad about Saturday night? It’s not even like anything bad happened. And, early on, before we went out (at 1:30 a.m. Only in Korea), I was having a great time with a close knit group of chums.

For those paying attention for a long time, this man above is the man who replaced me in 2010 at Mandeok Elementary School when I went home for gallbladder surgery. He finished up his (my) year there, went home and came back. Korea has a way of luring you back in, for some reason.

No, that part was great. But, where parties often end at 1:30 a.m., this one was just beginning. It took us to several KSU expat hotspots, Ol’ 55 and Kino Eye. There are no pictures from this part of the evening, thankfully. Because had I thought of taking some, I probably would not have my camera now.

Speaking of which …

He wanted to take my picture. I thought, uhhh, OK … sure.

I’m a good sport.

Sure, one more, why not?

OK, kid, time to give me back my camera.

This is the point where another long term volunteer noted this is the kid who takes cameras that you may or may not get back by the end of the afternoon. And, it may or may not work. Uh oh.

Scuffle.

Scuffle.

Scuffle.

At this point, Orange Shirt gave me the Korean equivalent of “go eff yourself” and was on his merry way. He did come back around for a little Frisbee later, though. He didn’t steal that.

What is the point of an evening if you can’t quite remember it to enjoy it? And, what’s so wrong with having just a few drinks, instead of the whole bar? This is a question I will continue to ask myself as the next booze-centric social event inevitably arrives.

For now, I’ll share a few more photos from my time at Boys Town, the real star of Saturday.

To learn more about this and other volunteer opportunities in Busan, check out the Busan Volunteer Facebook page. And, thanks again to Katherine Herrmann for organizing.

Oh OK, one more photo from Saturday night.

It seemed like a good idea at the time.