"Get outa town!": A Hap-chance Halloween(ie) Weekend- Part Three

and so it continues....

Saturday

The only thing sadder than having a hangover is what a person with the hangover thinks they have the strength to do.

Nonetheless, I bucked up and summoned up the only kind of strength available to me at the moment: That which is used to eat awesome blossoms and huge steaks.

Now, I rarely go to Outback Steakhouse back home, even though there is one located not more than 5 minutes from my house. So, under any normal circumstances, I would have waved it off... Pish-posh!

BUT... In Korea... Even in a big city like Daegu... there are NO normal circumstances. And MAN, you would thought we were some kids in a candy store... We were that excited!

Awesome blossom, warm bread &butter, rice that actually has flavor, real french fries, veggies soaked in butter, and steaks... Big, Heaping, (mostly) Raw STEAKS!

Even though I was so full I thought I was about to be sick, I kept on eating because I didn't want to glory to end... the great, western food glory.

But, as all things come to and end, so did we get the hell Out(a)back and spent the rest of the day shopping! Well, actually only myself and a friend braved the bustling and maze-like shopping streets of downtown. Kyle and a friend went to what seemed like a really cool medicine market. But go look at this blog if you want details!

Four hours of shopping later we made it back to ZOOOO4 to get ready for the Halloween party.

Saturday Night

One of the many celebrations I dearly miss from home is that spooky fav: Halloween (or Halloweenie if you're Korean). Some people hate it, but I love it.

Unfortunately, most Koreans have no idea what it is at all. Thus, there no variety of Halloween goods available. Ok, there was one place in Daegu we found that had costumes... for prices I was not willing to pay...

So, call us lame, call us lazy... But don't EVER say I won't dress up for Halloween.

Kyle and I reincarnated a costume classic... and no, the razor blade was WAY to big to fit in my suitcase!

That's right! Chicken and Cat, a.k.a COCK & PUSSY!!! For some reason though, not as many people got it as easily as back home... And these were fellow foreigners. Hmm... I guess I am from the Dirty (-minded) South.

I brought my cat mask from home for that "just in case" scenario. Kyle bought a raggedy chicken mask from a costume shop in Daegu and we were good to go!

Unfortunately we were not original enough to win the costume contest at the bar we went to, but strangely enough, even the costumes I thought we the most hilarious didn't win either. My favorites were "One Night Stand": a girl with a "lamp shade" on her head and a pizza box top made into a night stand with random things on it including a "used" condom; and "A Korean Couple": a couple dressed in exactly the same his and hers clothes, shoes and hair style who would make a heart with their arms when asked what they were. Brilliant.

Of course, I am glad that my friend "The Ballerina" won the first prize because she actually used something called her imagination and made it herself... CRAZY!

After boozing around at a couple more bars, talking (or trying anyway) to some dear friends back home, and dealing with a drunk and rather annoying Kiwi guy, we finally head back to ZOOOO4 and passed out.

Sunday

Our plan was to get up early on Sunday and see a little bit more of Daegu, but as many plans that are made while intoxicated... they fell through. We did, however, get up early enough to go to Starbucks (again) and Burger King before we had to haul as to the airport to make our flight.

Even though the above even grosses me a bit, it was SO worth it.

Sunday Afternoon

Sometimes life throws you the most hilarious things your way. And what else can you do but laugh until you possibly pee your pants...?

After we arrived back in Jeju, coming out of the airport, we saw an advertisement for something very intriguing: The World Bodybuilding Champiobships.

Yes. You did read that correctly.

And yes... We did drop our things back at our apartment, freshened up and cabbed it to the Halla stadium where the championships were being held.

Never being to any bodybuilding event ever in my life, I had no idea what to expect. Neither did Kyle or our Australian friend, Doug. But even with an admission fee of 10,000 won ($10) we knew we HAD to go in... We knew it would be worth it.

Luckily we were just on time for the excessively long opening ceremony that is standard at any event in Korea or hosted by Koreans.

Lady Luck seemed to be in a mischevious mood that day... We sat by Team USA. It's at time like these when I am traveling that I am most embarrased to be an American... Not because Americans are notoriously loud, which is true, or because (some) Americans think the US is God... But because Team USA had the most members/supporters than any other country there.

The opening ceremony commenced with a "parade of nations... It almost seemed as if we were at the UN of bodybuilding... Almost every nation was accounted for... Even the Chinese Tampei! For some strange France was not there... Hmmm... I wonder why......

We did feel a little bad for countries like the Chinese Tampei and Panama whose bodybuilders had to carry their own country signs, whereas the other countries had a representative in a suit carry the country sign for them. Maybe the arm muscles of those bodybuilders who were not carrying their own sign, were so big that they can't hold anything for an extended period of time... Or maybe the governments of the Chinese Tampei and Panama did not have enought funds in their budgets for sign representative. Who knows...

Finally the competition started! The first weight class was 60 kilograms, or about 120 lbs. The were 9 weight classes in total.

First all the competitors came on stage for introduction. The next round consisted of individual free-style 'time', when each bodybuilder would come on stage and display their muscles in a variety of disturbing and energetic moves... My favorite move by far was a fancy upside-down spread eagle; the guy who did it didn't even get 3rd place! After the individual free styles, all the competitors would come back on stage and do required positions directed by what seemed like a very gay German judge.

What was very strange was that every bodybuilder would slather themselves in what looked gold paint. A first, and I swear I am telling the truth, I though that they all painted themselves the same color so that the tanner poeple from say-- Panama-- wouldn't out-tan people from say-- Poland. Apparently, I was wrong. As we were informed by Team USA, the bodybuilders all paint themselves up in gold to accentuate their muscles, because their muscles apparently didn't look enough like obese hamhocks already.

But really, I can honestly say I have NEVER in my life seen anything so extrodinarily strange and amusing.

NEVER.

For the most hilarious picture you have ever seen in your life, go to: http://ifbb.com/page_report.php?id=21

The most amusing part of the event was watching the Brazilian team hoot and holler in support of their teammates on stage. Nothing says I fully support my teammate like yelling "Fuck 'em in the head!" in Portuguese.

Unfortunately, we did not stay the full 4 or so hours of the entire competition to see who won the winner of the best bodybuilder in the world award... Apparently it was a guy for Poland, which frankly surprised me. I swear it would have been one of the dudes from Bahrain, which I just learned is an actual country.

Remember that phrase I wrote about in a previous blog...? O.IN.K?? Only in Korea.....

Yeah, this was DEFINITELY one of those times...

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Now, THAT was a good weekend.

p.s. Pictures coming to a FB near you.