Total Immersion

These past few weeks, through song, dance, and attending my first professional soccer game, I think I've been officially been initiated into Korean culture.

Song- If you want to make friends with Koreans, go to noraebang with them. I think I mentioned noraebang in a previous post but never explained what it is. Noraebang literally means "singing room," and it's Korea's version of karaoke. It is HUGE here; Koreans love to sing, so you can find a noraebang on nearly every corner. You pay about 15,000 won (which today is sadly $10.38; the exchange rate is awful right now) an hour for a private room with a karaoke screen, usually a few tambourines, two microphones, and mini strobe lights and/or disco balls. I had gone several times with fellow foreigners, but a few weeks ago, I went for the first time with Koreans. A group of teachers from my school went out to dinner & noraebang after the midterms and invited me along. Noraebang with Koreans is something else. After a few glasses of Cass (the water-flavored beer they drink here) they really cut loose. They all sang Korean songs (very enthusiastically, see the pictures), and I did a few Abba tunes because they know Abba here. I was a smash hit; not that they didn't like me before, but teachers who had never spoken to me before made a point of saying hello the next morning. It seems to be the ultimate ice breaker; you're not friends until you noraebang.

Noraebang with my coworkers, 10/8/08


Me with the Chief of Academic Affairs, the principal, and In Young (biology teacher)


Dance- Before coming to Korea, I had been taking jazz/hip hop classes at my sister's dance studio in White Bear Lake, and it was the highlight of my week. I decided that I wanted to continue to take classes here in Korea, so I've been going to drop-in classes at POZ dance studio near my school. Not only do I pick up a few new words in Korean every time I go, but one week I learned the dance to the latest "Wonder Girls" hit. The Wonder Girls are one of the hottest pop groups in Korea, and I make references to them all the time when I'm modeling sentences or teaching new vocabulary to my students.

Knowing the "Nobody" dance has proven to be another cross-cultural bonding method. I've busted it out a few times in class and my students go nuts. I also hung out with another foreign teacher recently and her coteacher, who made me teach her the dance. Now my coteacher, Minjung, wants me to teach her the dance because she and her husband tried with little success to learn from the music video. I'll post a link at the bottom to the "Nobody" video on youtube, because it's pretty awesome.

Soccer- I have never cared about or paid any attention to soccer, and had never actually sat through an entire match before coming here. But when my friend Jamie had an extra ticket to the Asian World Cup Qualifiers, I thought it would be a good "cultural experience." I dressed up in red and bought devil horns for the occasion since Korea's mascot is the red devils, and I had a blast. I never knew soccer was so much fun! Everyone was decked out in the team's colors and waving flags and chanting; it was much more entertaining than sitting through a baseball or football game. Whenever Korea scored a goal, there was confetti and toilet paper sailing through the air; even a red hand-held flare at one point. By the end of the match, I was waving the South Korean flag and singing along to all the chants. One of our friend's Korean co-teachers was there, and he commented on how "Korean" I was.

South Korea vs. U.A.E., 10/15/08


In the two months I've been here, I think I've adjusted pretty well to life in Korea. There are a few things that I will never get used to, like how people, mostly men, will hock loogies all over the streets and sidewalks. I cringe every time I hear someone gargling the mucous in their throat; it's so gross.

I also HATE fish and seafood, which they serve nearly every day at my school. I get really excited when it's a "no fish day," and there's something I can eat besides rice and kimchi.

These are very minor complaints though. Overall I still love living here; I was lucky to be placed in a nice area and in a good school, I get a along with my students and coworkers, and there are always people in the S.M.O.E. family to hang out with in the evenings and on the weekends.

I do miss home a lot and sometimes wish I could fly home for just a week to visit and maybe eat some Chipotle and buy shoes that fit, but I have to remind myself that when I do go back home, I will miss the friends I've made here, noraebang, bibimbap, galbi and other Korean foods I love. I'll miss living in this massive city where I'm constantly discovering new little neighborhoods and restaurants and shopping areas, etc. So I'm trying to live in the moment and just enjoy myself, and not worry about whether or not I'm going to stay another year or what I'm going to do when I go back home, etc.

That being said, I'm going to go meet up with some friends now instead of worry about how to wrap up this post :)

*As promised, the link to "Nobody" by the Wonder Girls