NoreaBANG!

I woke up early again on Tuesday and decided to walk around before I met up with Kelly for lunch. Walking around here is always interesting because I have to count and remember the amount of streets I have gone down, so I can get back. I usually pick landmarks like left at the Dunkin Donuts. I walked into a cell phone store knowing I wouldn't be able to buy a phone because I can't speak Korean. The smart phones here are around $800 USD! I later talked to Shoomee and she told me that it's the same in America where you can sign a contract and get the phone for free. However, I don't want a contract. Anyway, I kept on walking and I eventually found a park! This was exciting because I always saw the park on the map, but I had no idea where it was. It isn't an ordinary park, but I took a picture of the information so I will let you read it for yourself. The park is 1000 won ($1) to enter and 10,000 won ($10) for a month pass. Here are the pictures of my morning and from my walk:

It was a beautiful morning.

Squid!

One of the streets I walked down. You will notice everything looks the same.

The park I found.

There are fresh fruit trucks.

I got what I thought were bagels here, but they were much softer.

I love the bakeries. 

I took this picture to show how there is a lower level of floor to put your shoes before entering the restaurant. Not all restaurants have this policy but many do.

I then met up with Kelly and we walked around looking for a place to eat. We decided on The Frypan. Not frying but fry. It is an attempt at American food and it was AMAZING. We ordered chicken. It came on a platter of potato chips and with 2 different sauces. One was like ranch and one was like sweet and sour I think. YUM!

We then got a cab ride to school and observed more classes. The students here are incredible. Once student knocked on the door and when a teacher said come in he came in and said "Sorry for the interruption, but may I please speak to ____?" So polite. After work Kelly, Adrienne and I decided to go have a few drinks. We went to this Japanese place on the second floor of some building and ordered Cass and Makgeolli. Cass is Korean beer and Makgeolli is Korean rice wine. You are probably thinking of Sake, but Makgeolli is soooo much better. First it is always served cold, it is sweeter and it is much smoother (because is has less alcohol content than Sake). You also don't drop Makgeolli in a cup of beer and call it a Makgeolli bomb. I am not sure why, but I guess they save that for the Soju. When you drink here it is disrespectful at most places not to order food. Thank god everyone I have met speaks Korean! The menus would be impossible without a Korean speaker, yet I know I need to learn more. We ordered something that translates to Octopus pancake in English. Now, don't get all freaked out. It isn't an actual pancake. It was a big piece of octopus surrounded by a soft, fried dough. It came out with fish flakes on top. This is pretty cool because the fish flakes wiggle because of the heat. 

Adrienne is on the left. Kelly is on the right. The Makgeolli came in a pot.

 I love how there is a cross from a church in the background right above Mr. Bar. Mr. Bar is a bar that we weren't allowed to go into because we were women...

After this we went on to Cream beer and ordered drum roll..... Cream beer. The girls didn't want Soju, but I did so I ordered it. A bottle of Soju here is only around $4 USD. People love Soju, but they pretend they don't because it makes them black out. Ha. Anyway, we all were doing Soju bombs and then we decided to sit outside. We were all pretty intoxicated by now and I shouted out to a few Korean guys walking down the street. They came and sat with us. There names were Jerome and Jeremy. They spoke close to no English, but were really nice. When I poured them beer, Jeremy said "bottoms up" which cracked me up. 

Kelly went home and then I found myself in a closed off room doing Karaoke with Adrienne, Jerome and Jeremy. The reason I said "I found myself" is because I had no idea what was going on. I just listened to them talk Korean with Adrienne and followed. They call karaoke Noreabang here. People LOVE Noreabang in Korea. It is kind of a staple here as is Soju and Kimchi. Karaoke in Korea is different than in the states because here they have Karaoke lounges. I don't know if lounge is the correct term, but they are individual rooms where as in America you sing in front of the whole bar. So we walk to our room and there were two couches, a coffee table with a tamborine , two microphones and a song list. There is a huge TV where the words to the songs are displayed. We ordered beer and began singing. Some of the songs we sang were by Avril Lavigne, Boys 2 Men, Nirvana and John Lennon. It was a riot. It was just the four of us so we really let loose and belted out the songs. Luckily Adrienne captured some of the moment:

In the morning, we ate at this restaurant near work called Tomato Tomuto (I think :-/ ). They have rice omelettes called Omurice. I wasn't really sure what this was. I ordered a Thai Chicken Omurice. It was rice and veggies wrapped in egg. The Thai chicken was around it with a bunch of stir fried vegetables. It was a really spicy meal. I didn't take a picture, but here is a picture of an Omurice from the internet. 

When we got to work they surprised us with lessons. They had told us we would begin teaching on Thursday. I taught a writing class and a reading class. It wasn't too bad. The kids are angels, but they expect a lot out of you. Shoomee needed my passport, but I left it at my apartment. She told me that they just hired a driver (to drive teachers and staff to and from the Seocho branch that is opening shortly). How nice!? So the driver drove me to my place and then back to school. 


Friday morning we (Adrienne, Shoomee and the driver who is Mr. Wee) went to immigration. We received out health examine results and I passed everything. ;-) After immigration Shoomee took us to lunch. We went to Kraze Burger. Pronounce crazy. I got a garlic burger. It was delicious. They also have drinks and food for us whenever we want at work. Here is a picture of a mini banana I had. Something new everyday here:

Friday, I taught a reading, writing and grammar class and then walked home with Adrienne. On the way home I bought street food. I don't remember what they are called but it is shaped like a fish (not a fish). It is sweet beans in a fried dough. Pretty cool. 

 We decided to go out. We walked into another bar that was for men only. There was NO ONE in there and the bartender just looked at us and crossed her arms into an X which meant we weren't allowed in. So weird. So we moved on and went to some bar/restaurant (sorry I don't know the name) and got a hazelnut beer and Soju. Adrienne's boyfriend met up with us and then we went to Cream beer. No Noreabang this time. 

Today is Saturday and I am going to the Seoul vs. Daejeon soccer game in a few hours. I am going to have to figure out the subway again in order to go meet my friend Elena who I met in Itaewon last week. I don't think it will be that hard to find her but it is about a 40 min subway ride. Until next time! :-)