Sunday, December 14, 2008

Reunions and Rockin 80's Tunes Revisited

Tonight I sit in my apartment, letting Sarah Slean, candles and mini Christmas lights set the ambience. It has been a lovely, lazy weekend and so easy to enjoy because I still don't have to be back at work until Wednesday. Mokah was attacking my feet for a while, but the Ondol (floor heating) has lulled her into yet another nap. I submitted some photos of her to Cute With Chris (http://www.cutewithchris.com/) so who knows, maybe soon she'll be famous on YouTube. OW! Ok no, not napping as much as I thought, hold on....


Last night was another fun night of Noribang, the Korean Kareoke. You get a private room for you and your friends equipped with its own kareoke machine, two mics and some disco lights thrown in for good measure. Being a zero hero myself, and big car/shower rockstar, its my ideal night out because is actually a fun activity going on besides just the entertainment that occurs when you're wasted (fun for the drunksters but for us zero heroes, we just don't follow down the rabbit hole). Drinkers are welcome to bring their own booze and with a bottle of soju costing less than a bottle of cola, you can understand why Noribang is widely popular. It's also great because you are singing in front of your friends instead of strangers, and the scoring system on the machine is based on volume and not key/pitch of the singer! My friends in Suncheon have proven multiple times to be a great Noribang group, we often go until 4 AM and always have a great time. It must be that we share a love for cheesy ballads and rocking 80's (does Kenny Loggins count as rocking?). You can see some pics of Noribang and food fun herehttp://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2213823&l=7fe47&id=122614903.


The weekend before my good friend Kristen and I got to hang out for the second weekend in a row! Kristen was my roommate for two years in University and I guess you could say she is to blame for me being in Korea. She was the first person I knew to pursue it and she recommended Canadian Connections (http://www.canconx.com/) to me, which worked out really well! We had some great food (korean porridge and doc galbi!) and had a great time at Noribang with some friends. The highlight for me was going to the Sauna though. The Sauna always wins with me, hands down. And it was great to have a friend to go with. A lot of westerners here are shy about the sauna, especially about going with someone they know. It's one thing to go and let a bunch of strangers see you nekkid, but it takes a little more gumption to go with someone you know. I'm not sure why, I guess people don't like the idea of crossing that line. Afterall, the list of "people I've been to lunch with" is a considerably less exclusive list than the list of "people who've seen me naked". If you are one of the ones it freaks out, let me offer a few words in defense of the Korean public bath. The sauna beside my apartment building has 5 baths: hot, luke warm (with massaging jets), ice, green tea (very hot) and cedar (also very hot). It also has two sauna rooms: salt and crystal. Nothing is as relaxing as going from a sauna to a cold bath to a hot bath and back again, it chills me out like nothing else. And really, once you just get over the fact that "yep, these people are going to see me naked" it's a breeze. Afterall, they're all naked too and (surprise!) nobody looks like a supermodel, not even skinny korean women! Also, the showers have way better pressure than the one in my apartment!

The weekend before that was my first time seeing Kristen when we reunited in Seoul, the capital city of South Korea! It was a very quick visit, didn't do alot of sight seeing, but I got to eat a Subway Sandwich! And buy christmas presents for everyone! And get the dead skin on my feet eaten off by little fishes while drinking tea! AND saw Cirque du Soleil's Allegria! It was a fantastic time. I can't wait to go back and see some of the museum's and temples (and you know, write a proper description of what I saw/did...I'm sorry it's late!). Here's a couple of pics, you're the first to see em, I haven't put them on Facebook yet!

1 comment:

  1. weird...i just met Kristin last weekend when she was in Mokpo. What a weird freaking world!

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