After being here for a while and witnessing the daily stumblings of many Koreans, I realized why alcoholism runs rampant here. It's all about the food they eat.
All food here seems to be paired up with an alcohol. The most eaten is some form of Korean BBQ, there are a few varieties. What goes best with BBQ is soju, which is basically a weaker form of vodka. The thing is, that you don't mix or chace anything after taking the shot. And Koreans are famous for cheersing and telling you to take "one-shot", which means down it! So it's usual to go through many bottles of soju while eating dinner. By then you're well on your way and tend to just keep going.
The second famous pairing is beer and chicken. Koreans love their chicken! There are so many restaurants that sell just different varieties of chicken and nothing else. This is also the popular food at baseball games.
So, in addition to the food pairings is the fact that the bars don't have a closing time. So, while you're drinking and making merry the time flies by without you knowing. And by the time you look at your watch is 5am or you see the sun coming up. Then you stand up and realize how drunk you are and still have to get some sleep before going to work the next day.
I mean, I wouldn't know this through experience or anything (wink, wink). I'm also used to stepping over many piles of vomit in the morning on the way to school. It's funny but at the same time it's a little sad. But, I don't really know how different it is from back home besides the bars closing at 2am.
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