Organised Life.

It appears to me that Korea is the most organized and structured society I have yet to come across.

When meeting someone for the first time, a series of questions follow, these relate mainly to age (first and foremost) job, education and the area that you live. This allows people to know where they stand with each other in terms of honor and hierarchy. Then people can act accordingly.

When eating with a group of Koreas, the most respected sits at the head of the table. That person will start eating first, then others may join in . When that person has finished, others should also finish. No one should have an empty glass at the table, and it is very impolite to pour yourself a drink. So the tip is to top up everyones drinks, then someone will do the same for you. When pouring, you do so with both hands, and the receiving person will lift their glass with both hands.

Whenever handing anything to anyone, it is polite to use both hands again, or to extend your right arm, supported by your left hand at the elbow! It's actually more complicated than this, but I don't know all the ins and outs!

Anyway, enough about that, the point I really want to share with you, is that this structure continues into nearly all areas in Korean life, including the night clubs!

The majority of the nightclubs here are 'booking clubs'. This means you pay a high fee for entrance and the table. With the table you get a platter of fruit, nuts, little snacks and a fair few beers. It might sound a bit glam, but this is an organized meatmarket. Any man that wants any girl in there, to join him, just needs to let the staff know. Then it is the waiters responsibility to take the young girl over to the man, where he has the opportunity to try and win her over. "But what if she doesn't want to go?" She doesn't have a choice! On more than one occasion I have seen waiters dragging girls by their arm. It seems like a bit of a strange set up to me, but I'm English. The girls know what they're getting themselves into when they pay 20,000 won to get in.

Or do they? I didn't! It was my first time to a booking club, and I was there for the music, honestly! Which wasn't that great really. After being in there for about 20 minutes, sat at our table with a friend, one of the waiters came over saying "booking, booking". I thought he was introducing himself, so I told him what my name was. He looked confused and went away. Then a female member of staff came over saying the same thing. At that point I realized they wouldn't all have the same name. I looked at my friend who was pushing me out of the booth, eager to have this experience. We were taken by the arm over a table of two men. It was a bit of a strange atmosphere at the table. Their English was worse than our Korean! We sat it out for a little while. I got hand fed tomatoes and given 4 shots of whiskey, had my face stroked and was told I was beautiful. It was all a quick affair really because then the music got the better of me, and I had the urge to dance, and hide! Although I always have loved tomatoes.