A new bar, in a new city, in a new country.  Two weeks ago I was in Belledune, New Brunswick, nine days ago I was leaving Montreal, today I'm in Pusan, the second bigest city in the R O K.  The new bar truely is a new bar, it only opened yesterday and it isn't just any new bar, it's a new western bar.  Those of you in the west probably don't see the humor, i was thrilled to see my first western bar, and was quickly, and somewhat mockingly told that their were thousands of western bars.  Though I suspect their are none that would that would meet that definition at home.  Actually I'm starting to think that it means the bar has western tables and chairs, instead of the low tables and mats that so many of the restaurants have.  That would make sense, and everything here makes sense, if you look at it from the proper prospective.

  The staff is a mix of youth and experience.  The three waiters are young men who seem to be bursting at the seems with enthusiasm, they are neat and very polite.  The waiter closest to the door doubles as the doorman.  Two older men work behind the bar, I'd guess they are in their thirties but that would only be a guess.  One is dressed in a suit, and the other wears a white dress shirt.  The man in the suit seems to see everything but say nothing, posessing a quiet dignity that he will likely have till the day he dies.  He fills the draft glasses and gives them to the waiters to distribute.  It would not be unfair to say that he has not really mastered the art of pouring draft yet.  Each glass I order arrives with about an inch of foam floating on top of it.  On the plus side it is very cold and it's served in frosty mugs, the ones that have a layer of ice traped in the bottom and sides of the mug.  I presume the man in the white shirt is the bartender, he may even be the owner, I'm not sure what I do know is that he is the lynch pin of the whole operation. Both in the sense that he is the boss and in the sense that he sets the tone for the rest of the staff.  After speaking to him and watching him interact with other people I concluded that he has the ability to put people at ease.  I struggle to find the words to explain it, he is friendly but not puppy dog over attentive, cheerful but not silly, quick to smile and laugh, but always with you and never at you.  I suspect that he intuitively does many other little things that I don't even notice but react to emotionally.  It is a rare gift, and it is one I wish i had.

  The bar itself is like a thousand others I've been in.  Stained wooden walls, with wooden tables and chairs, and a long wooden bar.  At home it would be narrow and deep, but here it is quite large.  There are surprisingly few decorations on the walls, the other bars I've been in, all ten or so, have had almost every available inch of wall space decorated.  This is much more to my liking, the places that seem like the inside of a casino start to where on you after a while, in my case, a very short while. I think business if pretty good, there are about twenty-five koreans in the place, which i suspect is ok for a Tuesday.  I am the only foriegner.  "What's Up" the song by Four None Blondes is playing on the stereo.  I have always liked the song, though I suspect that the writer and I would not agree on a single thing if we met in person and had the oportunity to talk.  But as I wrote before, I always liked the song.

  The thing that I have found most striking about Korea is the shear number of people, often I find it almost overwhelming.  When I'm walking in the street I find the people blend into a huge homogenous mass that seems to flow bye me like some giant lazy river.  In bars and restaurants the numbers become managable and I start to see people as individuals again.  This bar, on this day felt familiar, it could have been anywhere, university students out with there friends, trying to blow off a little steam before they head for home.  Well it could be anywhere accepting the fact that people spend the lulls in there conversations looking at me.  Please don't misunderstand me, it is not out of conceit that I say this, at home I don't warrant a second glance, but here, i might as well be the entertainment.  Surprisingly it bothers me very little, if nothing else I don't have to worry about paranoia, here everyone really is watching me.

  The belle of the ball is a woman wearing a black t-shirt.  She is so caught up in her friends that she may not have even noticed me.  She is incredibly petite, i would guess that I outweigh her by at least a hundred pounds, maybe even more.  She controls the people at her table with mischeivous smiles and laughter that rings out clear and high.  I feel like she weaves a spell of happiness around her.  Even sittling three tables away I can feel it, as though I'm somehow getting back some of what life has taken away from me over the years.  Bitterness and resentment seem to be, for the moment at least, washed out of my soul.  It is a fleeting moment and I understand that it will pass.  I'm begining to feel that living in Korea is about moments. Some of the moments are good, some are bad, so far I feel I've had more good moments than bad.  Taking stock of my options I order another beer, this moment may be fleeting, but I won't do anything to end it.  I look around the bar but everyone else is oblivious to the magic.  Her friends, accustomed to it, take it for granted and everyone else is too preoccupied to care.  Perhaps it isn't really fair to say that, but I've never really been accused of being fair either.  I choose to waste no more time on these thoughts, instead I settle in to bask in the moment, pausing only to acknowledge the waiter when he brings me another beer. 

Authors note:  During the period of time that I was too lazy, busy or drunk to edit this story, the man in the suit has learned to pour draft.  I've learned that
the name of the bar is the Rodeo,though the name only appears in Korean.  I have assumed that the man in the white shirt is the owner.  And finally I've learned that the Rodeo is the perfect place to have a beer after teaching my children's classes in the afternoon.

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