The Dangers of being Welcomed.

Yesterday was my official welcoming party for one of my schools. They took me out to eat live fish. It is similar to the Japanese sashimi or raw fish. It was cool. Of course, it is traditional drinking food, so we did what we had to. We ate many kinds of fish that I had no idea what they were but I did recognize the squid and octopus. Eating octopus that was freshly cut is a whole new experience that I never thought I would have the chance of partaking in. The octopus tentacles were still squirming and when you put it in the sauce it tensed up. After placing the small pieces in your mouth the suction cups would stick onto the side of your mouth if you left it there for too long. Of course I played around and let them stick to my cheek and frantically tried to pull them off before my co-teachers noticed.

We had a blast. I learned so much about Korean drinking culture. Never refuse a drink or drink before the eldest person. You are never to hold the bottom of the bottle when pouring. You should hold the body with one hand and place your other hand either under the arm (the older the person you are pouring for dictates how close that hand is to your heart) or have both hands on the bottle. When you are handed an empty shot glass it is a sign that they like you or respect you. Take this glass with both hands and do not refuse the drink. It is not uncommon for people to drink many bottles of soju in parties like this.

Last night was my first drunken night in Korea. Bottles of soju were delivered to the table in pairs so it was easy to count them at first. After a while, the bottles seemed to be disappearing more quickly, everyone was becoming more animated and I was not as boring they thought I was. I lost count around maybe twelve bottles and one bottle of sweet wine. There was only 9 of us teachers there so we were making short work of all the alcohol. At one point in the night I walked in on an older lady on the toilet, went to use the other bathroom to have the toilet door fall on me and sat outside on a plastic chair for who knows how long. I missed 5 calls and finally the teachers came searching for me. He got me into a cab and took me home. I was told that I had probably consumed 1 1/2 to 2 bottles of soju. Oy, I am dreading going back to school and facing them all.