A Weekend with the Koreans

This weekend I had the privilege of spending time with Kim Jong-il (김정일). Jong-il is my trainer at the gym. We had worked out together a few times and I helped him with his running form. He helped me communicate with the other workers at the fitness center and I helped him refresh his English skills. The first night we went out together and ate in Hongdae. We ate at an excellent Korean fusion restaurant. I wish I remembered the name, but I do remember the location and I will certainly return. Afterwards, we went to the M2 club. Since the crowd was mostly angsty teens, we met up with Courtney Foss's brother, Chris, and headed to some foreign bars. He was out with some coworkers, both of whom were very drunk. We browsed through a couple of bars, but I wasn't enjoying most of the crowds. At one of the bars we met what Chris' coworker called "the Julian Assange of Korea." At the end of the night Jong-il and I ended of at Big Mama's bar, where we met up with his girlfriend, Iji. His girlfriend was very nice, but did not speak English at all. She drove us home at the end of the night, which I really appreciated. The next day, I was feeling pretty awful, but Jong-il called and told me to come to the fitness center. He had ordered some chumukbap and had an extra one for me. Iji was there and we used Google translate to talk to each other while Jong-il worked. She said she wanted to take me to see Seoul Tower and "make good memories of Korea." She also said we should go out to eat before. We ate at a really nice restaurant on the seventh floor of a building in Gimpo. It was nice because we could see Geomdan very well. We left and drove to the Seoul Tower, but it was closed by the time we got up to it. It was very unfortunate, but I truly appreciate the gesture. I am glad to have met some Koreans to spend time with, because this seems like something few foreign teachers do. It is a great opportunity.