Visiting friends in foreign lands requires a certain amount of adventure and willingness to partake in local customs. Marie had several "Korean Experiences" she wanted me and Robyn to have, among them legally drinking beer in the street. One can go into a mini-mart, buy a beer, and either sit on the picnic table or the curbside outside the shop and drink away. And we did!
So there we were sitting in the muggy afternoon heat of a July afternoon in Seoul, drinking bad beer out of cans and discussing that night's dinner plan, when Marie suddenly yells, "Grab your stuff and get inside!" My stomach dropped and I immediately (and shamefully) thought someone was coming at us with a gun. Robyn and I jumped up and as we turned around we saw a cloud of gas coming toward us. We ran into the mini-mart, hearts beating, beer still in hand..., and then we heard Marie laughing. While this sort of calmed me, I was wanting to know what the heck was going on.
Marie explained that there is a huge Mosquito problem in Seoul and they go around "bug bombing" neighborhoods to kill as many pesky mozzies as possible. As it's quite a dose of toxic fumes, obviously she didn't want us to inhale it. It was scary and funny at the same time. When we felt it was safe, we left the mini-mart and were walking home... When we heard another BOOM!, and Marie yelled, "RUN!" Sure enough, another bomb had been set off and was following us down the street.
Beer cans still in our hands, beer sloshing onto our arms and legs, we ran away from the fumes laughing our heads off. And, clearly, I stopped to take pictures.
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