November 2019: Maybe Daejeon Isn't So Boring?
Hello dear readers, it’s time for the November monthly update–coming at you only a day or two late. This is a little series where I talk about the past month’s updates, cool places I’ve gone, and how I’m doing in Daejeon, South Korea.
Tattoos and Tatooine
This month was special because I got my second tattoo: a scene of the binary sunsets from Star Wars: A New Hope. I’d been planning this one for a while, and I am SO pleased with it.
Star Wars is one of my favorite things ever–it’s one of those things I share with my dad and my brother. The scene itself makes me think of the wonder and hope you get when watching the movies for the first time. All of this made for a perfect second tattoo.
I went to Boni Tattoo in Daejeon, and she’s incredible. My friend actually went to her this past weekend after seeing mine!
Speaking of Star Wars, I can’t get over Baby Yoda–so much so that what little art I’ve done this month has been of him.
Babies, of the human sort
The first half of the month was generally quiet for me–I stayed home a lot, cooked at home a lot (made a giant pot of chili….it was okay). But I did get out to Burgiz, a super yummy (vegetarian friendly!) burger joint. Also, Johnny’s Pub, a beer and pizza place in Tanbang, and our usual go-to locale. We met up with our friend Robyn, who’s five months pregnant. Side effects aside, she’s pretty excited about her new baby, and we are too.
I tried knitting a hat for the new bb–I say tried because it turned out far too big. Oh, well the baby can grow into it! you say.
Yeah, this hat? Probably not for another 14 years or so. It was a pretty big hat.
Anyway, so I’m going to another knit a hat for both her baby, and my cousin’s–who’s due literally any day now! When I visit home in January, I’ll get to meet the new…second-cousin? Or is it cousin once removed? What do you call cousin’s babies anyway? I’ll go with cousin, although that seems weird.
Friends n thangs
Holidays are rough. I don’t get homesick, generally, until the end of the year hits and then suddenly I realize how much I have back home. Calls with friends and families help, but another big puzzle piece is food.
My friend, Dom, spent hours cooking for me and our friend, Sean, for Thanksgiving. She did an incredible job and I was genuinely emotional at both how hard she worked and also how much I missed some Thanksgiving staples, like dressing, pumpkin pie and mac and cheese.
The weekend after Thanksgiving, another set of friends and I had a second one–this time in the form of a Brazilian steakhouse, Coba Grill, in Eunhangdong. This kind of restaurant is rare in Daejeon, but we got a tip from one of our Korean friends. They offer an 8 course set for $20, including a salad bar. When we arrived we also saw they sell $4 sangria, or $11 for a pitcher. It was well worth paying a little more.
After, I went to my friend’s play, or rather, a showing of six ten-minute plays, including some funky poetry in-between that none of us were super into. My friend was amazing, though.
What You Make of It
I think something I continue to realize is how much Daejeon has to offer. People often pity me, or even laugh, when I tell them I live in Daejeon. It’s seen as a sort of backwater, small town (despite having 1.5 mil residents).
And honestly? It can easily feel that way. I don’t have any huge love for Daejeon, and when I write about places in Daejeon, I don’t do it to convince anyone Daejeon is more glamorous than it is.
I simply believe it has more depth than people give it credit for. The key to Daejeon is digging into its underbelly, finding the secret clubs and not-so-well-advertised events around town.
For example, after the plays, we headed to my favorite bar in Daejeon, Bidol (비돌), which is full of comic books, trinkets, memorabilia, and a cat. The drinks are cheap and the atmosphere is pretty damn cozy. Most of the books are in Korean, but you can find some in English, too.
And after that, we found another bar, which kind of had a more club-ish vibe–Watermelon Sugar. We stumbled upon this one, but we will definitely be coming back. There’s no cover, drinks are cheap, and people don’t smoke inside. It’s small, but full of….interesting…set-pieces.
They have a giant stone penis.
Let me repeat that.
They have a giant stone penis hanging from the ceiling that they set on fire. And they serve you the leftover alcohol after.
sorry for the pic quality but you can understand
So, point encapsulated: Daejeon can be boring by default, but if you try to do something more than drink outside the CU in Dunsan (nothing wrong with that) you can find art showings, cool shisha bars, cozy diners, and bars with giant stone penises hanging from the ceiling.
….I plan to continue to write about that.
Teaching & Travel and All the Rest
I always like including a section about teaching, because it is my job and what I do five days out of the week. I’ve written more about imposter syndrome when I first started, but after 1.5 years of it, I’m far more confident and at-ease with leading the classroom.
Teaching has been really the same for the past 8 months or so. It’ll get shaken up soon, though, as my sixth graders are about to graduate. These are the babies I’ve known the longest, so I’m not ready. But I am proud.
What else?
I finally made it out to Daegu this past weekend, which I’d been meaning to do for months now. I wrote about it here. It was a quiet, cute little day by myself and the weather was absolutely gorgeous. Not much more to say about that one–check out the article if you’re curious. It was good to get out of Daejeon for a weekend, do a little explorin’.
Looking (Lightyears) Ahead
December has two vitally important events up ahead: the first, a worldwide phenomenon, a family affair, deeply historic and religious monument–oh, and Christmas. I’m ready for Rise of Skywalker.
I’m excited to continue doing what I always do: hang out with friends, make some art, play some video games (the current game on the block is the Outer Worlds, next will be Jedi Fallen Order, then a long-awaited replay of the Mass Effect trilogy). I’ll be starting my cafe review series this next month, so watch for that. (update: this did not happen…not yet.)
That’s it for November. If you observed NaNoWriMo or No-Shave November, I hope whatever you produced was impressive. Thanks for reading!