Serendipitous Adventurer: Metro Munchers vs. Drunken Agishis

My experiences on the Korean metro system are always filled with ridiculousness. I'm not sure why things still surprise me. It's Korea after all. The other day on my way back from Seoul late night, I took a seat on the blue line next to a sleeping agishi. He was suited in his best hiking gear. Kate had told me earlier how Koreans go hiking and get saucy. Drinking bottles of soju instead of hydrating with you know ...water or perhaps gatorade. After looking closely I was sure that this agishi was not only tired from his long day of hiking but also drunk.

As the train sped from station to station, the agishi slowly leaned over and put his head on my shoulder. He smelled like a magical combination of sweat, kimchi and a vat of soju. After a seat opened up next to Kate I quickly left my new agishi and sat on the bench across from him. Not having me to lean on, the agishi swayed back and forth. But as most Koreans partaking in social sleeping on the train I figured he'd be fine. I thought wrong~ Well the Soju got the better of him, because as soon as the train stopped he came tumbling forward head first and landed centimeters away from my feet. ( Iwanted to take a pic, but I didnt want to seem insensitive)Shocked Kate and I reached down to help him as other Koreans barely glanced his way, as this is the norm. A somewhat worried Agishi in a shiny suit came over and help his countryman back up on to the bench. With a bleeding head, a concusion and possibly needing new front teeth the agishi went back to sleep, swaying in his seat for a few stops, then randomly waking up long enough to check if his teeth were still intact and shaking his head. Unexpectedly the agishi got up and staggered off the train. I'm not sure if he knew what stop he was at ,but I'm sure the fresh air did him some good. the moral of this story is " Maybe drinking and hiking do not mix. Next time opt for the Pocari Sweat agishi!

( This picture does the rice cake no justice)----->

Let's talk about the metro munchers, shall we? I love how Koreans are so quick to call someone fat,but somehow publicly eating somewhere near 3 pounds of rice cake in one sitting is acceptable! While on my way to Seoul as usual, I came across a beloved metro muncher. His snack attack was in full force. At first I wasn't sure what he was eating as he rolled back the plastic bag inconspicuously. I then realized he was eating the biggest piece of rice cake I had ever seen. Really though? He thought " Hmmmm...I'm hungry, better go with this rice cake that weighs more than a text book. oh mashiseoyo! nom, nom, nom" . The metro muncher devoured almost half of this glutinous snack in minutes in between taking this picture and cracking up he had almost finished it. Whoa! Easy there killer! I promise you there's a rice cake vendor at the next stop. I sooo wanted to be real Korean and go over to him smacking and say " Ooooh what is thaaaaat, it looks delicious!" however, I was afraid I might loose a limb.