A 7/11 Story
An ode to the best bar in Uiseong, Korea
The 7/11 is my favorite bar in town.
It has the best beer, for the best price. And after last weekend I’d say it has the best company too.
I’ll be honest, there’s not much competition. I’m living in Uiseong, Korea – a small garlic town in the Korean countryside, home to just three bars.
The local bars aren’t really bars, or at least not in the traditional sense. None of them have a bar: There’s no physical counter where bartenders serve drinks. Instead, you walk in and sit at one of several enclosed booths, where you and your party may drink undisturbed.
In Uiseong, there’s three of these “bars.” They’re classic Korean-style bars, or “alcohol houses” (sul-jib in Korean). Each has its own kitschy appeal. One’s called “Viking Bar” and features images of pirates and miscellaneous pirate trinkets. (Yes, it’s called “Viking Bar” but is pirate-themed.)
The second bar’s a Japanese-style izakaya named “Sumo.” It’s where you go if you want sake.
The last bar’s name translates to “diary” (ilgi-jang). Its ‘thing’ is that it plays the same hour-long set of Korean drama trailers, on repeat, on a big screen projector in the middle of the bar.
The custom at Korean-style bars is to order a pitcher of cheap Korean beer and a large platter of food (anju). Maybe a bottle of soju too (Korean sake). If you go to the bar after dinner and don’t feel like eating, like I usually do, you still have to order food.
If you don’t want to order food, and you don’t want to drink pitchers of cheap Korean beer, then you go to 7/11.
7/11 has this great deal where you can get four tall boys of quality beer for ₩10,000, so about ten bucks. Ten bucks for four good beers. We’re talking Heineken, Asahi, Sapporo, Guinness. Beats a pitcher of Cass (“Cass tastes like ass”) and a platter of greasy anju any day.
Last weekend my friend Matt and I made our way to the 7/11 to take advantage of my favorite bar’s great deal. Bought two Asahis and two Sapporros. Ten bucks well spent.
We were sitting and talking in front of the 7/11 – on the 7/11 “patio” (did I mention my favorite bar has patio seating?) – when an older man came over with his dog and said hello. The man looked about 65 and had a “West Point Dad” t-shirt on.
Having older Koreans come up and say hi is not an uncommon thing in Uiseong. Matt and I are two of just a handful of foreigners in this small, rural town, so it’s normal for locals to acknowledge us somehow, whether it be a quick hello, or a long stare.
We ended up striking up a conversation with the “West Point Dad,” who turned out not to be a West Point dad (“I’m a West Point Uncle”) but a great guy nonetheless. He’d spent some time in the States on business trips and to see family over the years.
Our (little bit of) Korean impressed him, and he asked how we learned the language. Matt said he’d learned Japanese and Chinese, so picking up Korean from there wasn’t too bad. I told him I’d studied abroad in Seoul two years ago, and also studied a little Japanese in college.
“Nihongo-ga dekimasu-ka?” The older man broke out some Japanese of his own.
Two older harabojis (Korean word meaning “grandpa” used to describe older men) rolled up to observe the curious scene: two foreigners talking with a Korean man outside a 7/11, in Japanese. We invited them to sit with us.
One of the harabojis had a fascinating backstory. He had served in the Korean foreign service for 41 years and spoke Korean, English, Chinese, and Japanese. He’d lived all over Europe. He had gotten a graduate degree in Economics from the University of Manchester in the UK. Later, in the 1990s, he worked at the Korean embassy in Germany and Rome. (It’s unclear what role he served at those embassies, but it sounded like he was the ambassador.)
The “West Point Dad” guy and the older haraboji both lived in Seoul, not Uiseong, and were only in town for that night. The four of us talked about Korea and the U.S., foreign teachers in Korea, and the Fulbright program. And we laughed about how funny it was that we were all meeting here, in Uiseong, on a Friday night outside the local 7/11.
I exchanged phone numbers with the “West Point Dad” – he’s going to be back in Uiseong again and wants to take Matt and I out to dinner.
I asked the older haraboji if he’ll be back again.
“I don’t think I will be,” he said.
It was to be a once-in-a-lifetime event. Even as I write this now, the story of last Friday night has a surreal quality about it. The only thing I have to remember our night is the one photo I took on my phone of Matt and the haraboji. Well, that – and this story.
And that’s why the 7/11’s my favorite bar in town. You go for the beer, but stay for the stories.
