One Hell of a Hangook Weekend

Ever since I walked to the grocery store on Thursday evening and was greeted by 2Pac’s “California Love,” blasted both inside and out of our local Pruen Mart, I knew this was going to be one hell of a Korean weekend.

My love of Korea had been tested lately by a few things. Our trip to New Zealand, already described in enough detail for you to see that I’m obsessed, was so good that it was hard to come back to real life at the end. The weather here has finally become heinous, with cold temperatures, colder winds, and fewer blue-sky days than the Korean autumn and early winter had given me to expect. And finally, the Korean language, which I claimed regularly to love last year, deserted me while I was traveling in English-speaking lands. I came back more tongue-tied and speechless than I was back in October, and that was a let down.

However, things are looking up. Friday evening, after enjoying the KIS basketball double-header (girls won, boys lost), we headed out to the local Jokey Jokey (조끼 조끼) for what was intended to be an early evening: a couple of beers and a few rounds of Euchre with Ryan and Jolene. Our modest plans caused us to make one major mistake – we didn’t bring the camera (note the generic stolen-from-the-Internet pictures). One kiwi-flavored soju and pitcher of Cass led to another, but around 11, after a good card game interspersed with the exciting spectacles of a belligerent Korean who had to be tamed by the wait staff and a brazen ajumma who tried to challenge me to drinking games, we were ready for bed. However, we were thwarted in our plans of moderation by four Korean guys who invited us to one of many local Noraebangs (노래방): Korean karaoke.

The Korean landscape is littered with noraebangs – they are as ubiquitous as plain little restaurants, and cause us just as frequently as those to wonder how they all stay in business. The one we visited, a ten minute walk from the Jokey Jokey, was practically deserted. The eight of us were given a private room (Korean karaoke, like the Japanese equivalent, consists of private rooms rather than the all-bar experience common to American karaoke), where we spent a couple of hours trying to outdo each other in Korean and English singing. These guys spoke more or less no English – our Korean may have even been better than their English – but they knew enough to join in song a couple of times, particularly when I was singing Roxanne and Purple Rain (it helped to drown out my atrocious voice). Jolene kept time with a tambourine, we were introduced to several precious Korean ballads, Ryan treated us to Bon Jovi, and Chris crooned the Elvis and Neil Diamond classics at which he is so expert. A bonus to Korean karaoke is that, after you sing, you receive a score of up to 100 points. I was proud of Chris for scoring 100 on at least one song.

Since we went to bed at 5 a.m. that night, there was little hope for a productive Saturday. We had plans to meet Anne, our Korean teacher, for dinner at 7:30, and had hoped to explore the area near the restaurant beforehand. We didn’t get on the bus until after 4, so we only had a little time to wander the streets, but we did manage to hit our first Korean Starbucks (courtesy of the $10 gift certificate I won at a school in-service – we still haven’t violated our rule of never visiting Starbucks unless it’s free) as well as the Young-Poon bookstore. We got the Philippines and Tibet lonely planet books – we are planning our next few trips with excitement; February break in the Philippines, April break in Vietnam, and a June trip to China / Tibet. I also updated my Korean literature in English collection. We walked most of the way to the meeting spot, but had to grab a taxi for the last stretch, and managed to patch together a decent English / Korean conversation with the driver about Korean and American politics.

Dinner at the Marisco seafood buffet was outstanding. Anne could not have chosen a better restaurant to suit both Chris’ and my taste: this was no ordinary buffet. Usually sushi buffets are disappointing in quality, but the sashimi and sushi rolls (including a greasy kimchi-and-bacon roll I tried for the first time) were great. And there were plenty of non-fish options for Chris. One of Anne’s friends joined us and did her best to force us to speak Korean. I think we held our own, but I’m hoping that dinner with Anne can become a monthly tradition, and maybe our Korean-to-English ratio can increase with every outing.

On top of the ample authentic Korean activities we enjoyed this weekend, we managed to talk to Jen, Geoff and Dana, Barb and Mark, Chris’s mom, my mom, Doug, and Wes and April on Skype. It was a communication marathon. Nothing leaves me happier than a weekend when I can talk to the people I love and take advantage of the country I live in. As far as grading papers and planning lessons, cleaning the house, or studying my Korean goes, well, hopefully I can take care of all of that during the week ahead.