cups

Let me preface this post by saying that I am deep into my cups at this moment. "To be in one's cups" is an antiquated way of saying that a person is drunk.


My best friend in Korea is leaving next week. His name is Justin. I met him during my first year in Korea. At the time we both lived in the same area. When I lived in Gwangju I would occasionally return to Daejeon to visit him and others. During the past year and a half, whilst I have lived in Daejeon again, we have remained close. We've had a weekly appointment, every Wednesday night, to play Madden 12 on his PS3. We've hung out frequently. He's married now. He married an English women whom he met while he was in Korea. Now they're going to move back to the U S of A and start a life there. I'm going to miss them both dearly.

He now lives in a separate part of town, however I once again live in the area where we first met. We met here tonight after I finished work, and we ate dinner and got drunk. Our favorite pastime is to drink beers and play darts, so that's what we did, for the last time. It was fun, and now I'm drunk.

I had off last Friday. It was sam-il-jul, which, if you'll remember- because I wrote about it last year- means "March 1st Observance". When I wrote about it I didn't elaborate on its meaning, because frankly I didn't know much about it other than it was a celebration of a day when Korea, whilst colonized by Japan, began its uprising.

The actual story behind the holiday is quite compelling. You see, during this colonial period, Koreans were forbidden from displaying their flag. However, a young woman, aged 19, named Yu Gwan-Sun, in an audacious show of rebellion, went to a public park and waved the Korean flag during a protest of the Japanese occupation. She was soon arrested, and her family was killed. She spent the rest of her life in prison, being tortured, until she died. I've heard her described as the Korean Joan of Arc. I see her as more of a Nathan Hale.

Now, here's the funny part. Last Friday, on Sam-il-jul, I went out to eat with my girlfriend and some of her friends. And wouldn't you believe it, they chose to have dinner at a Japanese restaurant. There were 7 of us in our group, and I was the only one to notice the irony of us being in Korea on Sam-il-jul and eating at a Japanese restaurant. I brought this fact up to the group, and they all had a sorta moment of realization, and then they laughed it up. I mentioned that perhaps somewhere up in the cosmos, perhaps heaven, Yu Gwan-Sun was crying because of us. They laughed.

I don't mean to paint Koreans as insensitive, just that over time events lose their significance. I guess now Sam-il-jul has essentially been relegated to a Flag Day.

I'm tired now, and I want to sleep.