I had decided against writing about Engrish T-shirts on this trip, but when I saw the second girl with a shirt that said “POODLE BUTTS” I saw that as a sign.  So now I can mention the guy with the shirt that said “Be your Gender,” and I can invite you to speculate with me on why so many Koreans wear shirts that say “DOHC Revolution.”  They can’t all be car freaks, can they? 

We had our first day of the show and lo and behold, equipment had arrived the since day before, such as the badge reader and the extra chair.  The badge reader caused some trouble because we had to buy a Korean extension cord to get it to work and the convenience store only opened the same time as the show.  The badge reader also had a spell of bad ethernet connection and at one point decided he needed to restart Windows. 

The show went well, and most the visitors spoke at least a smattering of Korean, so I could at least hold them until our distributor arrived to take over.  I did spend a lot of time walking around and talking to other exhibitors, especially a guy from Minneapolis who’s also responsible for roughly the same region as I am. 

After the show ended, the organizers had set up a reception.  Only I went, and realized once I was there that most people were either Koreans that I could barely communicate with or foreigners talking to Koreans.  I ended up talking to another Swiss guy and to the majority of the Japanese delegation, although right after the flowery intro speeches about conviviality and making new acquaintances a band of young Koreans took the stage and proceeded to blast the attendees out of the room as soon as they had filled their stomachs.  At one point, after being introduced to the organizer of the Nano Korea despite being nearly unable to communicate over the din, I walked up to the cute Korean girl that had emceed the event in immaculate English (she’d lived in the US) and asked if there was a way to turn the volume down.  I think there wasn’t, for by the time the band got to a medley with Y.M.C.A. (original lyrics) and “Play that Funky Music” among others the hall was empty of most delegates; only the many college-age Nano Korea staff members remained close to the stage. 

I walked home and bought a stapler with staples on the way.  I’m almost certain that store would have had string and cable ties, but I purposely didn’t look. 

The lady I feel is hitting on me manned the reception.  Maybe she’s just trying to be friendly, but there’s that something extra in her look and her smile that confuses me.  I don’t know what it is, but it’s weird.  I was glad I’d gone ahead and bought a stapler and didn’t have to have a strained conversation about needing a stapler replete with deep looks.  After getting to my room, I was already on my way down again to ask for a bottle opener when I realized I’d packed my Swiss army knife this time.  McGyver saves the day!