Shamrock in Seoul

What is less Irish than Samuel L. Jackson?...South Korea.

But that wasn't enough to hinder the small but raucous Irish community of Seoul (which is to say, any white ex-pat looking for an excuse to drink Guinness and sing along to Van Morrison) this past St. Patrick's Day. A couple friends and I counted ourselves among the Celts, if not by ancestry then by alcophelia, and put up our frothy pints of Guinness along with the rest of the rowdy rugby hooligans that descended upon the ONLY Irish Pub in the city.

The Koreans never saw it coming. You could see the bewilderment in the eyes of those passing on the street. To them, this otherwise mundane Thursday night had suddenly fallen under the irrepressible presence of Irish drinking songs, giant green leprechaun hats, mad fiddle music and incoherent accents. But for me, it was as memorable a St. Pat's as could be hoped for in a country were the only clovers you see come in Lucky Charms, and Samuel L. Jackson is still more Irish than the average Lee.