Korean Job Discussion Forums

[canuckistan]

Waking up in a strange place with a bump on your head was the least of your worries. Be happy you woke up to see another day. The scary part about drinking to the point where you pass out and throw up is that so many people die each year choking to death on their own vomit. At least they never knew what hit them.

[peppermint]

Bulsajo beat me to it, but yeah it sounds like you need to find new people to drink with, if you do drink ever again.

[katydid]

Hiya...

Make that three people saying the same thing. The buddy system when you go out drinking, especially in a country where guys think they rule the world and can do whatever they want, is SO important to use. We're all miles (or kilometers) away from home, and we should really try to look out for each other while we are here. I know I would never want to hear that someone I knew (even if it was just barely) and was drinking with got into serious trouble after they left the crowd to go home alone.
And SOME guys will go after girls who seem drunk out of their wits, even if their hair was double dipped in puke. Rape has nothing to do with finding someone attractive, and everything to do with an exertion of power and control and the ability to violate someone.
Please, ladies, my sisters be safe out there.

[JustCruizin']

What the last three poster said is kind of what I was trying to say.

Would you want to or brag about passing out drunk in a park in a large city in the west ?

Be safe and aware of the dangers of the booze. Use the buddy system. Know your surroundings at all times.

Have fun, but be safe.

[rawiri]

i think there may be a cultural component involved here. kiwi's tend to really hook in when it comes to drinking, someone tried to explain it too me by blaming the 6:00 pub closing times like 20 years ago or something. because the pubs shut so early it was a race to get in and pour as much larger down your throat as quickly as possible ( hence the term 6:00 swill) and it was explained to me that psychologically as a country we are still kinda in swill mode even though we now live in an age of 24 hour bars.

then again could be a load of s$%t

[katydid]

Oh CLG, by the way, how is your vow of perpetual sobriety holding up??

[Blue Flower]

Theres a lot of helpful info here. I would like to defend the guys that CLG was drinking with. They are really good guys, and wouldn't let anything happen to her. But if I remember correctly - she just took off. I do that - it is a marker of how truly wasted I am, when I just take off and wander round alone. I am not proud to say that New Years - I was in Queenstown, with a friend, hardly new anyone, never been there before, got utterly wasted, and wandered off out of the bar. The amazing thing was that I didn't get lost! It's amazing how helpful men are when they sense a drunk damsel in distress!

Anyway - I am sure we have all been there, and I can imagine some have far worse stories to tell than waking up in a park covered in vomit. At least the park was still in Incheon!


On a completely different aside, this has reminded me of something - does Korea have any issues with womens drinks being spiked in bars? At home it is a real issue at the moment. I've even had it done to me, and it wasn't pretty. It's just something extra I would like to be careful of, so if someone knows, could they let me know please. I definately do not want a re-run of that night!!!!

[ulsanchris]

Blueflower i don't think there is a problem with that because generally there is less drugs of any kind in korea. However if there was a problem with that I am sure we wouldn't be hearing anything about it. Koreans shut up when it comes to sexual topics (unless there are US soldiers involved). Also I would doubt that many Korean would come forward if that happened to them. I'm sure that eventhough they would be completely helpless in such a situation that they would get blamed for it.

[crazylemongirl]

And I'm back.

Well it seems that you don't realise how much time you spend in bars till you stop drinking. So yes, you don't live longer if your not drinking it only seems like it. So I've almost finished my fourth day sans the demon drink.

Since that evening I've only had one night at home, and out with various people since then, but did not drink. I had a bit of bad news yesterday from home, and really felt like getting hammered and was even in place where they serve booze. But my coworker was giving me grief so I didn't partake. As one of my final acts of defiance against booze I have purged my apartment of all booze, around 60,000 won down the loo. Perhaps the twin images of being lost in incheon with vomit in my hair and pretty much flushing my hard earned won down the toilet was enough to keep me from drinking.

I'm in for some long nights as my only cure (apart from not sleeping) to the whole insomina thing (of which so many people I know seem to have problems with) was few drinks before I went to bed. Hmm perhaps I need to take up a late night hobby (expect a lot more late night posts from cLG in the future).

To defend my drinking buddies. First up, I went on a drunken walk about. The guys said that I announced I was going to the bathroom and was lost by the time they I was gone. I did get a lot of phone calls that morning from my drinking buddies to check I was ok. They are good guys, I am an idiot.

As for bragging? That sort of stuff isn't cool, esp. when your 23 and should know better. I'm kind of ashamed of the whole matter to be honest. The inabilty to know my limits and stick to them isn't something I'm proud of.

The whole double standards thing here sucks... however in defence I'll see esl4kids words on the matter from this thread

[kiwiboy_nz_99]

I think Poscotrumpet may have over reated to your story, albeit out of genuine concern. Your story doesn't neccessrily mean you are an alcoholic and need to give up booze altogether. Maybe you do and maybe you don't, only you will know that. I think it's more likely that you just need to learn how to drink better. It would be sad to have to give up all alcohol, it can be a fantastic social lubricant and catalyst for great nights with interesting people. You say you're 23 and should know better, that's YOUNG baby! A lot of people are still f-ing up an booze at that age, and it doesn't mean they need to give up completely forever. Like I said, only you know what you really need to do, but perhaps a good drying out period, and back into it at a more mature and stately level. I rarely drink more than five or six stubbies, and have good, big nights that go till the sun comes up ... it's all in the attitude

[rawiri]

crazy lemon girl,
i dont know what poscotrumpet's on about with all the alcoholic info, hitting the turps is the way to go over here, especially if your 23, get into it, live it up and go hard but keep it together enough to know the difference between safe situations and potentially dangerous ones.

Dont worry about that waking up in the park bizzo, just chalk it up to experience and take precautions not to let it happen again, but if its happening week after week thats when i would be seeking help.

theres nothing wrong with having a couple of wines before you go to sleep, look at the stress were under over here in terms of being a long long way from home and for some of us feeling pretty isolated. lately ive been walking to and home from work and dragging myself to the gym a couple of days a week at least so generally i feel like karking out around 12ish maybe you might benefit from something along these lines.

ive managed to find a nice zone as far as drinking go's i'll binge on weekends or during holidays but when i know ive got things to do the next
day ill take it easy and lay off alltogether, i figure thats the difference between alocoholics and people that are inclined to binge now and then.

so get into it and have a wicked social life and so long as your lifestyle is relatively balanced then sweet as!.

[ulsanchris]

I think if CLG wants to go dry for awhile thats fine. its probably even a good idea. Sometimes a really bad drunken experience is a good lesson. I've had a couple.
My own philosophy is to drink only when I am in a good mood.
if i drink when i am sad or angry I just feel worse. alcohol is not a good escape.
I don't drink much anymore and the problem I have now is that when i do drink I don't know my limits very well so i get too drunk and have a bad hangover the next day.

[bucheon bum]

freshman year in college, some drug/alcohol counselor gave a talk to all of us in my dorm. His suggestion was, "Take a break every once in awhile; go 2 weeks w/out drinking. If you can't manage to do it, I'd say you have a problem."

One of the students: "2 weeks in a ROW??"

No dude, two days in a row 7 times. I wouldn't be surprised if that guy is an alcoholic these days. He was a huge drinker then and I doubt he's let up.

Unfortunately I can't remember if the guy meant not get drunk for 2 weeks or stop drinking entirely for 2 weeks.

As a bunch of others have pointed out, you are the only one (on this board at least) who can know if you have a problem or not. Probably good to take a break in any case.

[Dalton]

Taking a break is smart if only to prove to yourself that you can.
I love the taste of whiskey. CC and VO especially. It's like chocolate.
Now I don't drink it. I'll drink rum or scotch or something that doesn't taste quite as good.

I have met three bona fide alcoholics in my life. They drink all day. If you don't do this then your not likely an alcoholic you just need methods or a system to help slow down your ingestion of alcohol. Learn to pace yourself. These little tricks helped me. I've only had 1 embarrassing incident in 20 years. I used to have them every Friday night. Fighting was my thing.

I eat a lot before going drinking. I mean I am so full that I have no room in my belly.
I drink lager beers like OB because they seem to be filling. Maybe it's the extra fizz.
I have a big glass of water on the table and take a drink from that between alcohol.
I have learned that the first time I have to relieve myself after I start drinking is a warning sign. Time to slow down.

All those things just helped slow me down. Took the pressure off my will power. I have become a slow drinker. People seem to think that I can drink a lot. That's because I am successful at pacing myself. I once read that it takes 40 minutes for alcohol to leave your system so I developed my little tricks to help me start the night drinking slowly. Incidents like yours supplied me with the motivation.

Relax, remember your motivation, pace yourself and have fun.

[rawiri]

i figure the whole 'alcoholism' thing is relative to what you perceive as an alcoholic. in my case i spent a year in aussie and for the main part was doin the backpacking fruit picking.

in aussie fruit picking attracts a WHOLE lot of unsavoury type characters ( druggies, alcoholics, people fresh out of jail, canadian backpackers) due to the fact that most farms will accomodate their workers, bascially the farms take anyone going.

i met HEAPS of bona fide alcoholics and druggies, people that basically lived to drink or smoke weed and had nothing to show for themselves besides their clothes on their back.

after living and working with some of these cats i know that my drinking is never going to get out of hand to the extent that its going to dominate my life the way it does these people.

i have to agree that you shouldnt drink if your sad or angry as bad things are more likely to happen and if you are able to put this into effect and find other ways to sort out whatever is bumming you out or whatever as opposed to lurching for the bottle then id say you have a pretty good handle on the situation.