Wrapping Up 2013

Living in South Korea means your life is constantly changing. Maybe it's because of a new job, travel opportunities or the coming and going of friends, but things here are always in flux. For a person with an adventurous spirit, that can be a blast.

For Jeong Mi and I -- and Liquor Burger -- we really get to see as much of that lifestyle as possible. The year 2013 was no different. We went on a variety of trips, met a ton of great people and had some fun parties. So the final two months of the year, as busy as they were, didn't catch us off guard.

The Makoli Men (November and December)

Our local band -- The Makoli Men -- have been playing a lot of shows recently. We've watched them in Seoul, Songdo and right here at LB in Yeonsu. It's always nice when you get to see your friends become successful. Unfortunately, due to the temporary status of a lot of people here, bands don't get to last together a super long time. But these guys put in a lot of shows together, and it's been a whirlwind of fun.

Here are The Makoli Men in Seoul

LB Thanksgiving Dinner (November)

Thanks to our friends Seth and Lucy, LB Thanksgiving dinner was really easy this year. They hooked us up with their friends, Joe and Sumi, who have access to the Yongsan military base. That meant picking up the turkeys was monumentally less stressful.

We had 40 people or so at LB this year for Thanksgiving dinner. As usual, the food was delicious and the atmosphere was nice and relaxed. We even closed LB down early that night to spend some time with our friends. It was a really great day.

LB's Thanksgiving Feast

After party with our friends.

Star Dance Adieu Party (December)

As everyone knows, Jeong Mi and I met through salsa dance academy. We're fortunate enough to still be in touch with friends from the academy. One of our friends (who also did both of the LB interiors) owns his own dance studio. Every year they have a fun end of the year show and party. So Jeong Mi and I went to watch and support our friends.

The show featured salsa, belly and zumba and was a lot of fun. Afterwards, we spent the night drinking, dancing and singing with our friends. We're so fortunate to have such great friends here in Korea.

Star Dance Party pics

LB Christmas Potluck featuring The Makoli Men and Dinner at Wang's (December)

It's so important to have a nice community and support system while you're living abroad. We just happen to live in the best neighborhood with the best community in Korea. Just like last year, we did our LB Christmas Potluck dinner and it was an awesome event.

Again, we had between 35 and 40 people come over with a homemade dish to contribute to the buffet. Everyone did a really great job on the food. We had a super fun Secret Santa and The Makoli Men played for us.

Check out dinner and the band here

Later on in the week, we once again got to spend time with our friends. A group of us went to Jeong Mi's best friend's house, where we ate, drank and had a great Christmas together.

Christmas with Wang pics

Trivia 100 with Dorian

My favorite weekly event is obviously our Trivia night. It's been a staple of Liquor Burger and has been a really great Thursday night get together for the neighborhood.

For the 100th Trivia, Dorian -- our original host -- came to town to run the show. It was so much fun and we had a lot of teams turn out for it.

Trivia 100 pics

Pocheon Lake Hot Tub (December)

Given the theme of this post so far, it's only fitting that I wrap up this entry with a friend-related item. At the end of December, we headed back to my favorite lake in the country with a great group of friends. Because it's winter, we stayed at a pension that is about a ten-minute walk from our usual place. The reason: It has a hot tub.

We ate and drank and hot tubbed and had a great time just being out of the city. If you're someone who loves city life, Korea is a good fit for you. But if you're not big on it, you have to make occassional trips to the non-city places in the country. Thank goodness Pocheon exists. I might go nuts without it.

Hot tubbing with buddies


What's Next???

For the first time in a long time, I don't really have an answer to this. We don't have a winter trip for LB planned yet, and we're not 100 percent sure if we'll do one at all. We will have a band and magician do a show in February, and we'd like to do more live music in general.

I'm on a soccer team for a February tournament, and LB has a floor hockey team for which we're competing over the next 10 months. At least I'm going to be in great shape.

Other than that, we'll just keep plugging along at LB.

We miss our family and friends back home a lot, but we're so thankful to have such wonderful family and friends here.

I'll keep updating our adventures as long as you keep stopping by!!!

The Beach, An Anniversary and Holidays

Liquor Burger and its various events have kept Jeong Mi and I very busy since the move to the new location. It really has been a dream move, thus far. The new place provides us enough tables and space for everyone, and the non-smoking in the bar has been received very well.

We were also fortunate to have some family visits recently. Obviously, my parents were in the country. We also got to spend time with Jeong Mi's sister, Limmy, who stuck around for about 3 months.

As the day-to-day tasks of the bar sort of run themselves, it's the extra stuff that really pushes us.

Hakampo Beach (August)
We dragged our feet a bit on putting the LB Summer Trip together. People are just so busy during the summer. So in August, we finally found a good date and location.

We took 45 people to a beach south west of Incheon. The location was incredible. The water was warm and clean and we had a large patch of the beach all to ourselves. It was a really great time.

See all the beach pictures here.

Liquor Burger 2-Year Anniversary (September)
We celebrated our two-year anniversary in September with a big party and magic show. Tons of our friends turned out for the fun. And S-Five and his friend put on a really incredible show for everyone.

It's amazing that two years has flown by so fast. We're so fortunate to have had things go so well for us. It's largely due to the neighborhood and the people living here. It's a special place.

See anniversary pictures here.

Chuseok 2013 (September)
Chuseok this year carried a sadder tone due to the recent passing of Jeong Mi's mother. The family celebration was kept just to immediate family this time around. We went to her parents' house with Jeong Mi's brother and his wife and son.

We did the usual Chuseok ceremonies and meals. We also took a couple days off from LB. It was relaxing for us.

Check out Chuseok pictures here.

LB Halloween 2013
For Halloween this year, we were fortunare enough to have two great parties.

First, we took a trip last week to a pension in Gangwhado -- northwest of Incheon. It was a great house out in the countryside. We took 35 people who all wore great costumes. It was a ton of fun.

See the pension trip pictures here.

Also, thanks to the timing of Halloween as a midweek event, we held our own Halloween party at LB in Yeonsu. We had a huge turnout of our Yeonsu friends and people from Chadwick International School. Once again, we saw a lot of great costumes and had a really good time.

Check out LB's Yeonsu party pics here.

Hedwig
We saw the musical Hedwig today. The performers did a great job, but I didn't really like it very much. Oh well. It was nice to get to a cultural event. We really want to do a Cho Yong Pil concert in December. He's one of my very favorite Korean singers.

Upcoming
November and December have been busy for us the last couple of years. We'll do Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners. We also would very much like to visit her sister and my family in America this winter. So the hunt for tickets begins for that.

Other than that, it's just plugging along here at LB. And that's not a bad thing!

Big Moves, Big Trips, Family and More!

May 2013 - Big Tree

In May, we took 42 people on another overnight trip. This time we went to the countryside in Gimpo to a place called Big Tree. It's an awesome log cabin. Unfortunately, rain once again joined our LB trip. But we had a great time. We drank, ate, played Trivia and danced the night away. It was really good.

Check out more Big Tree pics by clicking here!


May/June - The Liquor Burger Move

For those of you who don't know, Liquor Burger has upgraded a bit. We got out of our lease a couple months early, starting in May, and moved right around the corner to a third floor location. The new space is about twice the size of the old space. We had a little money saved up this time around, so we could put a little more into our interior and renovations.

It has resulted in something really great for us and our friends and customers. The new place is cleaner and nicer. And due to a new law that started in July, the size of LB means that it is no smoking now. Our smoking friends can go to the stairwell, where we installed a fan. It's a little inconvenient for them, but Jeong Mi and I are pretty happy with the lack of smoke in the bar.

Other that that, it's just business as usual with new LB. It's as fun as ever.

Check out more construction pics here!!!

Check out more new LB pics here!!!


June - Parents come once again

To help celebrate our 2-year wedding anniversary and my birthday, my parents once again took the excruciating flight to South Korea. We went a little slower this time so hey could actually get some rest. It was necessary for us as well, considering we had to run the bar while they were here.

But we had plenty of time to see Jeong Mi's family and get to a lot of sporting events. We took them to their first soccer game. And, thanks to our good friend Denny, we took them to futsal and kickboxing events at the Incheon Asian Indoor Games. Denny very generously got us some free tickets. The sports were really fun.

We also got out to Pocheon Lake -- my favorite place in Korea. All in all, we had a really great time again.

Check out more pics from my parents' visit here!!!

August - Pentaport Rock Festival

Once again, Pentaport Rock Festival returned to Songdo. Five years ago, it was in old Songdo. It was just a 5 minute cab ride away. Then it went to another area of Incheon for three years. It would've taken at least 2 hours to get there. But this year it was back in New Songdo, so we had to go.

My friends Geoff, Brent and I went on Saturday and met up with a few of our buddies, Dave and Evan. On Sunday, Geoff, Eun Hye, Q and I took the trip again. All the bands were a lot of fun, and Fall Out Boy put on a great show on Sunday night. As long as this festival is in New Songdo, I'll go every year.

Check out more Pentaport pics here!!!


Coming up - Hakamdo Beach

At the end of August is our Summer Trip to the beach. We're already a quarter of the way full. We're taking another 40 people for an overnight party together. We're really looking forward to it!

Other than that, life just keeps moving along for us with Liquor Burger. We don't have any big plans for the future. But as long as LB is going well, we're very happy.

Liquor Burger One Year Anniversary

Thank you, LB friends and family.

I want to say or do more for you guys, because you've done so much for Jeong Mi and me. It's because of your support, friendship and patronage that Liquor Burger has become what it is today.

I feel like we've built this unique, fun community in Yeonsudong. It's a group effort. And it's wonderful how it's come into fruition.

I hung those "Liquor Burger Community Center" signs on the door when we opened half jokingly. But I did truly want this place to be more than just a bar. Don't get me wrong. We're a bar. People come here and drink. But Yeonsudong and the people living here has made it more than that.

We have our events like trivia night that really bring the neighborhood together. Dorian has done such a great job of hosting it. His replacements have done admirably, as well. But it's really his personality that drives the night. I look forward to Thursday every week. And we have other LB friends who have stepped up and taken on roles in the bar to make sure events like poker night, dart night and any other fun times come off successfully. Thank you to all of you guys.

Obviously, the hours can be tough. Going from the school 3 days a week to LB really gets in the way of my sleep schedule. I don't even get to nap anymore! Just a bummer, right?

But it's been totally worth it.

As we move forward, Jeong Mi and I will continue to keep our promise to this community. We will ALWAYS be here for you. Cell phones, bank accounts? We're here for you. Need a place to stay? We're here for you. Spread the word that your boss and academy suck and you're looking for a job? Yeah, we're here for you.

We'll continue to do our very best to make sure no one experiences South Korea the way I did my first year.

I know not everything has been perfect and not everyone who comes here likes us. That makes sense to me. I know even our best friends and customers aren't going to come here every day, or even every weekend. Hey, there are times when Jeong Mi and I are itching to go to a different spot.

But we're so thrilled that you guys spend the majority of your going-out time here with us. You make our jobs much easier and way more fun. And you guys truly are the reason Liquor Burger -- in my eyes -- has changed from just a simple bar or restaurant into a true community.

You guys are the heart and soul of Liquor Burger. No matter what happens in the future, we'll be forever grateful for the support you've given us.

So as I said at the beginning: Thank you LB friends and family.

Check out pics from our 1 Year Anniversary Party here!!!

And check out a new batch of random LB pics here!

Pochan Lake -- The New Best Vacation Spot

Back at the end of July, Jeong Mi and I took a day off from the bar and went on a little overnight trip with some of our friends to a lake in Pochan.

The lake is about a two hour bus ride away from Incheon. We took the trip with our part-timer, Ji Hye; her boyfriend; our other part-timer, MOB and our friends Geoff and Eun Hye. Our other buddy drove in and joined us a little later in the evening, as well.

I used to always rave about the east coast, but this may have topped it. Over there, you get the nature and get out of the city, but you deal with big crowds.

At Pochan Lake, there were ZERO crowds. There was our group and one more group staying there. We were right on the lake. The other guys all got a chance to ride an innertube behind a boat. We also played frisbee, grilled and enjoyed some drinks. At night, the dudes all took a trip into the small town and hit a noraebang, too.

All in all, it was a great getaway and might just be my new favorite vacation spot in the country.

Check out all the pics here!!!

April and May Happenings

I wouldn't go as far to say that being busy is the reason I haven't updated this in awhile. It's more or less that I don't really want this blog to be just a big, dumb ad for Liquor Burger. Making things difficult is that even the events we do now happen mostly through LB.

Back in April, we took 40 people to a Strawberry Festival in Yangpyeong. It was really a great time. We rented a bus and took an LB crew. We made strawberry bread, picked strawberries, ate some bibimbap, rode a tractor, made some rice cake and drank some maggulli.

It was a lot of fun to see what a strawberry farm is like in Korea. Because of the weather here, they raise the strawberries in greenhouse-like tents. I guess I'm not sure how they raise them in America. I just always pictured an open field. I suppose anywhere without a perfect climate would need something this, though.

Keeping with the theme of LB events, we took about 40 people to an Incheon SK Wyverns baseball game in May. With the summer here, we wanted to do more for the Yeonsudong crowd to make they get some cool experiences in Korea. While many of them have been to baseball games before, very few of them sat right down in the reserved seat fan zone.

So we booked tickets for all our buddies, made LB/Wyverns t-shirts and went and had a great time. Fortunately for us, Incheon won. There were even fireworks!!!

We did actually take a day off and go do something by ourselves! At the end of May, everyone had Monday off from work. We decided to close the bar on Monday as well and head to Gangwondo and Seokcho on the east coast. Over there, we headed to Seorak Mountain.

Everyone in Korea knows Seorak mountain. As far as this country goes, the east coast is my absolute favorite part. It's all countryside. There are mountains, rivers, trees and clean air. It's really incredible.

So we went hiking all day on Sunday, and then just hung around the east coast on Monday, when the weather didn't cooperate as well. It was an incredible time to just be by ourselves and get away from the city, the bar and school for a couple of days.

Everything at Hambak has gone really well through the first semester. I really like my co-teachers. We don't work directly with each other on normal days. But they're very professional. We discuss everything. They don't give me late info (unless it's late because of another source). The students all know me and we have a nice vibe in our classes. It's still a really pleasant work environment, and I'm happy to still be a member of the staff there.

On the side, I'm still teaching Mr. Kim's son for two hours a week. We even added one of his buddies now, as well. It's great to have a second student in the class. One-on-one can be tough unless the student's level is incredibly high. Now that he has a friend there, he is a little more comfortable and is quicker to answer questions. It also makes game a ton more fun.

While I am tired and do get a little stressed from all the odd hours, I'm very comfortable over here professionally right now. Outside of bar business, Jeong Mi and I don't even have the smallest squabbles. And we understand that when we fight about the bar, it's business-only. I'm sure there would be tension with any business partner. Things are obviously kicked up a notch when the person is your spouse.

As the end of June approaches, we have a couple of big things happening. One is our one-year anniversary. It's on June 26 (same day as my birthday, of course). The great news is that we'll be in America for the anniversary. We'll be home for the last week of June and first week of July.

While we're gone, we'll have one of our Korean buddies and a couple of part-timers running the bar. We'll still do our usual events. This is a guy we totally trust, so we're fortunate to have him. Neither of us were really looking forward to just shutting down for two weeks.

I'm sure there area bunch of things I'm missing in this update, but that's the basic scoop of everything that is going on here.

The bar is open now, so I guess I'd better get to work! See you all in a couple of weeks!!!

Check out more of our pictures here:

Strawberry Festival

LB Wyverns Game

Seorak Mountain trip