We went out for Reuven's birthday last night. It was an ordinary Wednesday night out at the bar until about 11:00. The bartenders were mixing drinks, showing off with a little cocktail flair. Then out of nowhere, regular customers started coming up to the bar and adding their own special ingredients such as spit, socks, cake, you know the works.. and thank god, tons of alcohol to get rid of all the bacteria (yeah right). Anyways, like a big dum dum, I thought they were just doing this for fun and games. Why they would mix a big bowl of nasty was beyond me, but so clear to everyone else that it was intended for Reuven to drink. I started to catch on when the bartender, Pooh, filtered this concoction through his own sock and into a nice martini glass. I've seen this kind of thing take place before at army events I have catered to and thought it was beyond odd. But since the army is cult-like, frat-like, I took it for what it was worth. Initiations and rights of passage are all the rage in the army, but to see this kind of thing in your average local bar in Korea was a shock. In a country so conservative at times, I had to ask myself how this was an acceptable social norm.