Suffered throughout the day yesterday from the hangover effects of my overindulgence on Friday night. I still managed an abbreviated morning Barretto walk and watched another episode of Manifest, but not much else. They say the best cure is the same medicine (but in more reasonable doses), so I headed on into town to partake.
Started out at It Doesn’t Matter. Nice chat with my buddy Chris and some drinks for my favorite waitress, Agnes. I had three soda waters with gin, then moved on to Hot Zone. It was owner Jay’s birthday, so I had two more drinks as part of the celebration.
My next stop was Wet Spot to get a first-hand account of my drunken behavior the night before. Sat with the manager, Bret, and got the low down. He confirmed that I had taken a tumble on stage whilst trying to collect my raffles coupon (the rule is you remove the prize with your mouth. They are usually stuck in the young lady’s cleavage. Apparently, I lost my balance bending down to do the deed). And yes, I had a loud sneezing fit (Aine said she could hear me all the way in the comfort room). While I didn’t engage in any rude or obnoxious behavior, I did attempt to sing into the MC’s microphone. And no, I still don’t remember any of that happening.
I intended to make Wet Spot my final stop for the evening, but as I finished my second drink, I got a message from the gals at Kamto saying they were waiting for me there. How could I refuse? So, I hoofed it on up the highway. I was low on cash, but the owner assured me I could pay my tab the next day, so the party was on. Bought all the girls a couple of lady drinks and some food from Kamto’s kitchen. I had two more (or was it three?) drinks and called it a night. I’ve got a tab of just over 3000 pesos to pay when I go out this evening.
Anyway, I did a much better job at controlling my intake and keeping my wits about me. I think Friday was just an aberration.
My neighbor has three big-assed German Shepherds. They always bark like crazy when I walk past his house, but he does keep them securely in his fenced yard. But not this morning. As I was completing my dog walk today, they were all out in the street. When they saw Buddy and Lucky, they went into attack mode. Well, two kind of held back, but one immediately went for Lucky’s throat. He had him pinned and was biting, and I was doing my best to whip him away with my leash. Then Buddy jumped in to defend his little stepbrother, and the Sheperd let go. I’m yelling and screaming and kicking this whole time and somehow didn’t get bit. Then I picked up a rock, and the kraut dog backed off. I scurried my boys into the safety of our yard, and they both seemed to be uninjured. Not the kind of excitement I’m looking for in my life.
The reason I didn’t have much cash last night was that the f’n ATMs in town were out of cash yesterday, at least the two I tried. So this morning, I went to the BPI in Subic town, hoping for a better result. I intended to walk there, but when I hit the highway, I decided the sooner I got to the ATM, the better. The last time I went on a Sunday, there had been a long line, and who knows how much cash was left to dispense. So, I caught a Jeepney instead. When I arrived, both ATMs were operational, and there was no line. I made my withdrawal without issue. Well, I did have to pee, so I walked over to the Jollibee and used their CR.
Then I walked the 6K back to Barretto. And took these photos along the way:
You can Relive my morning jaunt here if you’d like:
And that pretty much brings you up to date on my so-called life. There’s more to come, so stay tuned!
Hey[,] Kevin, look how they spelled samgyeopsal.
At least you spell it correctly! (Just remember to add your vocative commas.)
In the official government style of romanization, the “u” always represents the “ooh” sound, as in “fool,” but Koreans, when they spell out Korean terms or their own names, won’t necessarily follow the government’s schema. This leads to confusion.
A woman spells her name “Sun Ae,” so do I pronounce “Sun” to rhyme with “fun” or with “boon”? That’s why, even if it’s initially awkward for beginning Korean-learners, it’s better to stick with the official romanization: “eo” represents the “aw” or “uh” sound, and “u” is always “ooh,” as mentioned above. So the woman really ought to spell her name “Seon-ae” or “Seon Ae.”
That’s why I hate it whenever I see “Kim Jung-un.” Properly speaking, that should be “Kim Jeong-eun.” And yes, the pork-belly cut is indeed samgyeopsal, which means “three-layer flesh” (sam/three + gyeop/layer + sal/flesh).
Yeah, mean dogs suck. If I am doing any long distance hiking, I carry an ultrasonic whistle. That plus my trekking poles seems to help. But, if you are walking dogs also, the ultrasonic whistle would probably create more chaos. Maybe get Mace spray or something like that?
Do the mean dog in question belong to an expat you know or is it a local.
I assume that Lucky came through it okay?
Yeah, the dogs were all okay. I used to be a mailman, and I have a few tricks that make most aggressive dogs back off–basically, I just act crazier than they are. But three big, mean German Shepherds were more than I could handle. Chucking the rock sent the message, luckily.
My neighbor is an expat who owns one of the resorts on Baloy. We’re friendly. His dogs are normally kept inside his fenced yard, I’m sure he didn’t know they had escaped.
I used to spell it phonetically–samgyapsal–until you shamed me into changing. Of course, I have to look it up every time now. Sorry about the missing commas.
Yeah, we used to make Koreans spell out their names on IDs and documents using the USFK official Romanization. It created some issues, like when the name on travel orders didn’t match the Korean passport. And some folks had a problem with having to spell their own name wrong, if you can imagine that. I tried to get that policy changed early in my tenure with USFK but was rejected for “security reasons.” Tried again a few months before my departure and was successful. One of the big “accomplishments” in my career. Well, it was a big deal for our Korean workers.
I’d never actually seen the “three layers” meaning of samgyeopsal before. I learned something new today!
Well, “samgyapsal” isn’t even phonetically correct, so it’s good that you ditched that spelling. The middle syllable of the Korean word doesn’t rhyme with “lap” or “tap” or “gap” at all: it sounds more like “yup.” It pays to listen closely to how Koreans pronounce words.
On that note: I remember taking an adult-ed German class and sitting next to a horrible student who hated the teacher, but it was obvious that her problem was all in her head. She couldn’t even pronounce something as simple as “Ich habe” (I have)—she kept pronouncing it “Ike hah-bey,” as if she were calling for Eisenhower. I had to wonder how a person could hear a proper “Ich habe” and regurgitate a twisted “Ike hah-bey,” but some people’s brains are wired strangely. Best remedy is just to pay attention and listen closely. Oh, and practice, practice, practice.
HaHa! Good point. I’ve been pronouncing it wrong too, so phonics are out the window.