In an attempt to cheer my readers (and myself) up after the last slightly depressing post, here are some pictures from "my bar." I love this place, mainly because of the bartenders. They are great people and always seem to make me smile, even if I'm having the worst of bad days.

The guy above is Nots, or Oppa as he likes to be called. He's bright and bubbly and a little on the "pyuntae" side, though all in jest. He is also really good at flair. (Tossing around liquor bottles, for those of you who aren't bar talk savvy.) He does a weekly show involving a table on fire which is quite entertaining. He also likes challenging me to "Kai, Bai, Bo" (Rock, Scissors, Paper) and arm wrestling.

Then there is Dio, who is like the head bartender. He's the oldest and speaks the best English (though still minimal) and has worked at the bar the longest. In a way, he's kind of the big brother of the bartenders. Occasionally I get text messages from him asking where I'm going if he sees me walking home (at times I want to say, "Home, duh. It's 2 am"). And some nights when I'm bored I send him texts and we'll talk about movies or house music (my latest interest and something he loves). In a way, he's sort of become my big brother as well. He's also probably the best at flair and does a snazzy little number with two flaming liquor bottles.

The two girls, Honey and Mini are wonderful as well. Honey gives me a hug every time I walk in and tries talking to me even though she doesn't speak English all that well. We manage to have conversations in a funny mixture of English and Korean with her often forgetting that I don't understand Korean that well and going off in rapid speech. Mini is the youngest and the cutest. Everytime I walk in she shouts "Emma! Hi-ee!" which always makes me smile. And now there is a new girl, Lime, who I don't know very well but I have a feelings she'll be just as fun. I knew I would like her when they brought her over for an introduction and she immediately said that my skin was pretty, and yes I know that makes me sound slightly narcissic. (Koreans seem to be fascinated by foreigners' skin, especially the face...not sure why...)

Lastly is Hoon, who is a giant sweetheart. And not too hard on the eyes. ^_^ We all think he looks like an actor from the popular show "Coffee Prince" which is coinsidentally the bar's Saturday night theme. (See above picture. Those of you who are familiar with it can probably guess who is who. Though I need to get a new picture since they all look more like their designated roles now that some have changed their hair i.e. Honey, Hoon and Nots.)

And those are my friends from Bar Ireland...wow, I suppose this post makes me sound like an alcoholic or something since I've become good friends with the bartenders at my local bar...I don't really go to drink there very often anymore, but I walk by the bar on my way home nearly every day, so I see these guys pretty often. They make me stop and come in to chat for a little bit, sometimes using interesting measures to get my attention since I'm often listening to my iPod. Once Nots came flying to the outside patio like he was going to hit me in the head with a metal ashtray. Yea, I screamed when I looked up and saw metal glinting in front of my face.

And I suppose that's all. I'll leave you with a video of Nots doing his flair show. I wish I had one of Dio doing his, but alas he only performs every once in a while. Mostly he just dances behind the bar or comes over to bug me and Jung Min.