I Heart F4!

I am pleased to report that as of episode eight of Boys Before Flowers, Jan Di finally picked Goo Jun Pyo. However, I think she is starting to see how the class differences might be difficult and of course there is his super controlling mother, the president of the Shinhwa Corporation to which Goo Jun Pyo is the hier. She already has his future bride picked out and that is definitely not the dry cleaner’s daughter. Poor Jan Di, this lady is going to do horrible things to her and Goo Jun Pyo isn’t going to protect her. I can feel it in my bones. And I don’t think Ji Hoo is over her, he is torn between his first love and Jan Di and he can’t quite move on from either. And I am in anticipation of Jan Di’s friend from the porridge shop and Jun Pyo’s potter (I don’t mean pot head, I actually mean potter, he is gifted in the art of pottery and women) friend hooking up. It’s going to happen, she will tame the player. Tomorrow night I will be able to watch Monday and Tuesday’s episodes with English subtitles. I’m pumped.

There are many reasons why I love Korea, but one very important reason is the noraebang. You can’t walk five feet without seeing a noraebang, in fact the Korean for noraebang is one of the first words I learned to recognize. Literally translated into singing rooms, the noraebang is essential to a good night out. Usually prohibiting alcohol, the noraebang is the last step, the place you go to eat ice cream, sober up, and often wait for the subway to start running again. It is super fun.

At first I was intimidated by the noraebang. I’m not a good singer, especially alone. Also, not until you actually have to face song without singing along to you realize how little you know the song. I have stood in front the of screen many a time, prepared to sing my heart out and realized that I only actually know the course and barely at that. Also, the girls that have made friends with are not afraid of anything and have a much better grasp of mainstream music, past and present, than I do. But, much like with dancing, I quickly realized that nobody is judging and they are indeed, barely listening. When one is not singing, one is scouring the English section of the song book looking for the next song to sing.

In Busan we went to a noraebang two of the three nights we were there, a dark and seedy place with a surprisingly delicious fruit platter. The weekend before, Sally, Sarah, Amber, and I went to the luxury noraebang in Nowan, where all the employees dress in black dress pants, white dress shirts and wear little black vests. They make you take off your shoes and they bring you complimentary soft ice cream on a tray. On Friday, we girls hit up a noraebang near Sally’s place after drinking too much and devouring kimchi pancakes, cheese (real cheddar cheese that Amber had splurged on, it was awesome), and the fruit that I had brought along. It was almost one o’clock before we finally left Sally’s place and walked the 50 feet to the nearest noraebang. That is actually the scene of my second noraebang experience, on Wild Wednesday, the director took us there. It is not luxury like the one in Nowan, but it is nice and cheaper. However, you have to bring your own ice cream, which we did. Ice cream sooths the throat from all the horrible signing that occurs at the noraebang. There are similar places in Winnipeg, but they are not open into all hours of the night. But perhaps I will be able to convince friends that this a good way to spend an hour or two when a party gets lame.

I guess the Steelers won the Super Bowl. Not that I care, but last night, after work, Sally and traveled all the way to Taereung and were propositioned by an old, drunken, deaf Korean man just to watch the big game on a computer. I only went for the friends and the food. However, Dave, Sarah, and Ryan were really into it. Lisa was kind of, Amber, Sally, Carolyn, and I mostly just made fun of them. I already knew how won because I read CBC headlines everyday, but all the other folk had made a conscious effort to avoid all forms of media that might spoil the game. Dave and Sarah were cheering for the red team (Cardinals?) and Ryan was cheering for the Steelers and there was much cussing and using of out-door voices inside. After the game we set of roman candles and then took taxi’s home.

About the deaf men... Sally and I had to wait outside the Taereung station for Dave to find us so that he could lead us back to his apartment. Just outside the station was a plastic restaurant. (It was one where the owners pull a truck up onto the sidewalk and set up a plastic tent around truck and then unload the box and use the box as their counter and cooking area.) In the plastic restaurant there was a group of deaf mean drinking soju and eating whatever delights this plastic palace had to offer. Dave and Lisa live pretty far from the station so it was along wait. At one point the men finished and left the restaurant. They stood around smoking for a while and then it became clear that they were talking about us. They were gesturing in our direction and laughing a lot. Soon one of the old men came to us and, standing a little to close, started making unmistakable signs. They were old and drunk and only half serious I think, but it was still upsetting and gross. Eventually, one of his friends herded the old pervert away, although the man was pretty persistent even after Sally and I walked away a few feet and refused to acknowledge him. That is the first time that anything like that has every happened to me here.

Back to the regular teaching schedule, thank goodness. I finally have my mornings back to take long ambling walks and update my blog unnecessarily. I have to read and drink gallons of tea and generally enjoy daylight. The weather is expected to be very nice in the next couple of days, around 10 degrees or higher. I do not expect that winter is actually over yet, being only February, but I am optimistic that there will only be one more cold spell before we finally welcome spring here in South Korea. I am going to go for a long walk now and count the number of Kimbob restaurants on the way.