A predicament on Drinking.

Whenever I think of Korea, I would always think of the drinking culture. I think it goes hand and hand. Koreans drink so much that they should have a city named after 'soju' (their most prized drink..).

There are a couple of occassions I fell victim to this infamous drinking culture. But before anyone start to judge me, I'll stress the fact that I am not an alcoholic nor a heavy drinker. I always think that drinking comes with occassion, in relation to this, I acknowledge that I drink occassionally.

Studies show that there is nothing wrong with drinking, unless you become a slave to alcohol. I regularly drink a glass or two of my favorite Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, or Sweet Wine. It helps me relax a bit when I'm tired or stressed. From time to time, my friends and I would would go to a bar to unwind and would drink beer (I leave the 'hard-stuff' to the boys). I hate the calories it gives, but it's all part of socialization.

But this changed when I got to Korea. I'm not really good at drinking hard liquor so there were several occassions when I got really drunk. One time with my old friend Mcqueen (an english name he took from Alexander McQueen), a student from the academy where I taught in Q.C. He introduced his friends from Anyang over grilled meat and soju. It tasted like vodka and it went down pretty easy. After a couple of shots, I felt dazed. I had to take a taxi from Ansan to Suwon cause taking the subway felt difficult. Another occassion was with B.J., a university guy who befriended me at the plane.. Together with 3 of his friends, we went to Jongro for a swig. I was surprised how well korean girls drink. Bottles after bottles of soju and the worst they got was slurred speech. Again, I got drunk after 4 - 5 shots. I had to meet Chris in Bupyung with his high-school classmates at that time and I was drunk. So I took a taxi from Seoul to Incheon and fare costs a staggering 40,000 won. Two more occassion came, but good thing it wasn't far from home. But in those two occassions, I woke up not remembering how I was able to go home that night. After that, I sort of made a promise to myself to stay away from soju.

It has been more than 3 months since I last tasted any form of alcohol, but I'm about to break that tomorrow when I go to Embassy for a girls night out. I'm actually not in the mood to party.. But I'll be away for a while and wont be able to see them, so might as well enjoy my time while I'm still here.