In the morning I quickly packed my stuff into my new bags and headed to school, glad that classes were done for the week and we'd soon be leaving to go experience some Korean culture. Things were looking good right away: one of the younger women teachers was wearing a purple shirt with Bomberman on it, which some of you may know is a classic Super Nintendo game that me and my roommates in Madison played a lot.
Around ten AM we put away our stuff at school and headed out to the bus. Arriving at an empty row near the back, I stepped over a box full of cans and sat down, pulling out my iPod and book and prepared to pass the time on the long bus ride. About 20 minutes later, my plans were spoiled. I noticed that the box of cans which I had assumed were sodas or juice or energy drinks or something, were actually Cass beer 12oz cans, stacked 2 high in a big box, and at about 10:30 one of the male teachers had already taken one and started drinking.
Shortly after that, one of the trip leaders got up and started talking a bunch in Korean over the bus' PA system, and then they fired up the TV in the front of the bus which turned out to be connected to a karaoke machine. Now it was closer to 11, and a couple teachers came to the back and started handing out beers to everyone, and soon the "noraebus" (singing bus) was in full swing.
They provided us with some snacks on the bus which held us over until
after a couple hours of nonstop karaoke (I sang "Beat It" by Michael
Jackson) we stopped for lunch at a truckstop/rest area. I went to the
bathroom before going in to the restaurant, and when I came out I was
informed that I had been ordered bibimbap, which I was perfectly happy
with. The bibimbap came in a huge metal bowl and I managed to finish it
all but it was definitely filling and extremely delicious for a W5,000
meal at a roadside restaurant. At this point I was also given a shot of
soju. I was at a table with the principal so I pretty much had no
choice in the matter.
After lunch we grabbed some quick coffee and then jumped back on the bus, for more karaoke and raucousness until we arrived at our next destination, a Temple park. It was a pretty cool place, but the whole tour was given in Korean and I only had a couple things translated to me, but it was fun just walking around and taking pictures. Check out my pictures on flickr or facebook to see it.
From here we got on the bus again and went to our next stop, a train station. Here we took our first group photo, and we were handed tickets for the train, and we soon took a slow scenic train ride through Korea. On the train with us were a young couple and their two kids (you can see the woman and the kids in my pictures). The man was taking pictures most of the ride and near the end I offered, through gestures, to take one of all four of them. In my picture of them, you can see the kids are wearing the same "Tokyo Atom" shirt, and the dad had the same shirt as well, but I didn't get a picture of him.
The train ride ended at a different station where there was a cool red bridge over the muddy river, and our bus was there to meet us so after a couple minutes to look around we were off once more. Our next stop was dinner, which I was told would be turkey, the English teacher who told me this also informed me it was her first time ever having turkey.
Dinner was in the restaurant pictured above, and the turkey was cooked Korean style and it was good but there wasn't really anything special or non-Korean about it, even though turkey is rare here. All throughout dinner there was heavy soju and beer drinking going on, I tried to stick mostly to beer because I didn't want to get way too drunk, but it was hard. Once most people had finished eating, the drinking got worse, with everyone migrating around table to table doing soju shots (as pictured above) with various different people. The principal had it the worst since he had to go to every table and do a shot with every teacher.
It was during this drinking period that I had my first encounter with one of the schools younger, female office assistants, who came over to the table wanting to do a soju shot with me. The other teachers at the table knew I would rather drink beer so they told her "mekju" but she really wanted me to do a shot of soju so I agreed. After I did the shot she giggled a little, said "thank you" and ran back to her table where she proceeded to relay the whole episode to her friend.
Wanting to do my part to fit in, I headed over to the principal's table where we traded shots of beer and then I did one more shot of soju for him before we left the restaurant. Most people were fairly drunk at this point but I was informed our next stop would be a noraebong (singing room) for more karaoke.
At the noraebong I continued my blend into Korean culture, quickly adding my song to the list ("Like a Prayer" by Madonna) and then trading more shots of beer with various teachers who didn't really speak English. One of them wanted me to agree to go drink soju with him the next day (Friday) but I didn't want to agree to that since I knew I wouldn't feel like drinking again so soon, especially soju, and I knew we wouldn't actually be able to get together to do it since he doesn't speak English. So when he said "tomorrow, you me, soju" I said "no, tonight, you me, beer" and we did. I guess the Korean tradition not only with soju but also with beer is to drink it in "one shot," so we passed a glass back and forth, filling it for each other and then drinking the whole glass in one shot.
Eventually it came time for me to do my next song, "Midnight Train to Georgia" by Gladys Knight, so I took a break from drinking and gave a semi-rousing performance, not nearly as amazing as my Madonna performance. Of course, the Koreans still all loved it and afterward I went back to more drinking and tambourine playing, but not before I convinced the principal to sing "We are the World" with me. He used to be an English teacher so his English is pretty decent, plus he was super drunk so he agreed when I told him it was really easy.
We performed the song arm-in-arm and he did a pretty good job, I handled the tricky parts of the verses and he mostly stuck to the chorus, and I know he definitely likes me now, so maybe I'll be able to get some vacation during school if/when people come to visit.
Soon it was time to leave the noraebong, and on the way out I was told by one of the teachers that I adapt Korean culture very well. Walking to the bus, I was joined by the two young office assistants, one of whom was 24 and the other 21 (so 23 and 20 in the US) and told through my interpreter that they wanted to be my friend, and the younger one, who had done the soju shot at dinner, wanted to know when I'd be back at school so she could see me again!! She sat next to me on the bus and after passing out off and on for a few minutes she woke up and tried to tell me something about her friend who, I guess, died in a car crash, but her English is extremely poor and a lot of our conversation consisted of her saying "my English no" and making an X with her arms. Once we got to our hotel, I once again had the services of the translator but all I got was that even though she doesn't speak English I shouldn't feel sorry for her.
I joined up with the music teacher who was to be my roommate, and he led me and our third roommate, a Korean language teacher, to our room for the night, where we brushed our teeth and went to sleep on blankets on the floor.
After lunch we grabbed some quick coffee and then jumped back on the bus, for more karaoke and raucousness until we arrived at our next destination, a Temple park. It was a pretty cool place, but the whole tour was given in Korean and I only had a couple things translated to me, but it was fun just walking around and taking pictures. Check out my pictures on flickr or facebook to see it.
From here we got on the bus again and went to our next stop, a train station. Here we took our first group photo, and we were handed tickets for the train, and we soon took a slow scenic train ride through Korea. On the train with us were a young couple and their two kids (you can see the woman and the kids in my pictures). The man was taking pictures most of the ride and near the end I offered, through gestures, to take one of all four of them. In my picture of them, you can see the kids are wearing the same "Tokyo Atom" shirt, and the dad had the same shirt as well, but I didn't get a picture of him.
The train ride ended at a different station where there was a cool red bridge over the muddy river, and our bus was there to meet us so after a couple minutes to look around we were off once more. Our next stop was dinner, which I was told would be turkey, the English teacher who told me this also informed me it was her first time ever having turkey.
Dinner was in the restaurant pictured above, and the turkey was cooked Korean style and it was good but there wasn't really anything special or non-Korean about it, even though turkey is rare here. All throughout dinner there was heavy soju and beer drinking going on, I tried to stick mostly to beer because I didn't want to get way too drunk, but it was hard. Once most people had finished eating, the drinking got worse, with everyone migrating around table to table doing soju shots (as pictured above) with various different people. The principal had it the worst since he had to go to every table and do a shot with every teacher.
It was during this drinking period that I had my first encounter with one of the schools younger, female office assistants, who came over to the table wanting to do a soju shot with me. The other teachers at the table knew I would rather drink beer so they told her "mekju" but she really wanted me to do a shot of soju so I agreed. After I did the shot she giggled a little, said "thank you" and ran back to her table where she proceeded to relay the whole episode to her friend.
Wanting to do my part to fit in, I headed over to the principal's table where we traded shots of beer and then I did one more shot of soju for him before we left the restaurant. Most people were fairly drunk at this point but I was informed our next stop would be a noraebong (singing room) for more karaoke.
At the noraebong I continued my blend into Korean culture, quickly adding my song to the list ("Like a Prayer" by Madonna) and then trading more shots of beer with various teachers who didn't really speak English. One of them wanted me to agree to go drink soju with him the next day (Friday) but I didn't want to agree to that since I knew I wouldn't feel like drinking again so soon, especially soju, and I knew we wouldn't actually be able to get together to do it since he doesn't speak English. So when he said "tomorrow, you me, soju" I said "no, tonight, you me, beer" and we did. I guess the Korean tradition not only with soju but also with beer is to drink it in "one shot," so we passed a glass back and forth, filling it for each other and then drinking the whole glass in one shot.
Eventually it came time for me to do my next song, "Midnight Train to Georgia" by Gladys Knight, so I took a break from drinking and gave a semi-rousing performance, not nearly as amazing as my Madonna performance. Of course, the Koreans still all loved it and afterward I went back to more drinking and tambourine playing, but not before I convinced the principal to sing "We are the World" with me. He used to be an English teacher so his English is pretty decent, plus he was super drunk so he agreed when I told him it was really easy.
We performed the song arm-in-arm and he did a pretty good job, I handled the tricky parts of the verses and he mostly stuck to the chorus, and I know he definitely likes me now, so maybe I'll be able to get some vacation during school if/when people come to visit.
Soon it was time to leave the noraebong, and on the way out I was told by one of the teachers that I adapt Korean culture very well. Walking to the bus, I was joined by the two young office assistants, one of whom was 24 and the other 21 (so 23 and 20 in the US) and told through my interpreter that they wanted to be my friend, and the younger one, who had done the soju shot at dinner, wanted to know when I'd be back at school so she could see me again!! She sat next to me on the bus and after passing out off and on for a few minutes she woke up and tried to tell me something about her friend who, I guess, died in a car crash, but her English is extremely poor and a lot of our conversation consisted of her saying "my English no" and making an X with her arms. Once we got to our hotel, I once again had the services of the translator but all I got was that even though she doesn't speak English I shouldn't feel sorry for her.
I joined up with the music teacher who was to be my roommate, and he led me and our third roommate, a Korean language teacher, to our room for the night, where we brushed our teeth and went to sleep on blankets on the floor.
wow -- just read all about your trip--awesome-loved the pics!!