Later that night I met up with Mike Doyle (the guy responsible for 100% of the fun I had when I lived in San Franciso - AND the guy responsible for me going to Korea and Japan!) and then he got on the horn and got ahold of...
...and then 11.5 hours later, we were back in LA! We hung out for a bit at LAX on our layover, then said our goodbyes! Mike went off to hang out in LA for a few days, Andy went and caught his flight up to San Francisco and then I hopped on a plane and...
Smoking. Eating. Drinking. No big deal. This was our last night in Japan, so over dumplings we decided to make the most of it by not going to bed that night!
...a drunk salaryman passed out! Salaryman are white-collar Japanese workers that are essentially overworked wage slaves that are expected to put in ridiculous hours. Every once and a while, they cut loose and hit the town, only to end up totally overdoing it and are famous for falling asleep and/or passing out in the streets in their work clothes.
As we were about to hit the road, Mike was going through his wallet and found the piece of paper with my phone number on it that prompted him to originally call me and invite me to come teach in Korea (with less than two days notice) after one of the teachers that was scheduled to come had backed out.
Every day after lunch, the Korean teachers would take over our classes for an hour and we American teachers would get a break, which we mostly used to sneak off to secret "nap rooms" and sleep. Here's Andy and Mike conked the fuck out. Hahah.
After getting our classrooms all set up for the kids (who were arriving the next day) all the teachers boarded the bus again and we were driven 3 minutes to the hotel we'd be staying at for the next few weeks. (A real hotel this time!). Here's Mike Doyle handing out hotel room keys and laughing about...
After we'd finished up the "Beautiful Store," Mike D. kicked off the Olympic opening ceremonies and ran all around the auditorium with an American flag...
...then the head Korean counselor (I forget his name!) came running out with a Korean flag and the kids all went apeshit as Mike and the other dude ran all around the stage in circles with their flags.
After exploring the Rec Center, Mike and I went to the little snack shop in the lobby to score some exotic Korean treats. We both ended up going for these little frozen "milkshakes in a bag" that were totally delicious!
