Nori bang, trousers and Paddy's Day....
Well it has been another hectic week here in Korea. Full of triumphs rather than downfalls so that is pretty cool. First achievement had to be the purchasing of trousers last week - hooray! Just when I thought that I wouldn't be able to buy any clothes over here EVER I discovered that they do make clothes for the odd freakishly fat Korean. Most chicks have a waist about the same as my upper arm - my thighs are bigger! But I found two pairs of trousers last week and so am made up and was more than ready to wear out my new nastily checked trousers for Paddy's Day at the weekend.
But first I had to make it through Friday night. There was a right old gathering at the pub with a much higher percentage than usual of Koreans in the group - which made it even easier to order beer which was nice. Then we moved onto the soju and things started to go a little hazy for me. Just how confused I had gotten was immediately obvious the moment nori bang (singing room) was mentioned and I smiled and said that I would love to go. There was a pretty even distribution of foreigners and Koreans at the nori bang so we had a bit of a bi-lingual session. And I made my nori bang debut with no other than the first record I ever bought - 'Take On Me' Aha. Another proud moment in my life. We finished on a rousing chorus of 'My Way' and tumbled into the street. This seemed like a good opportunity to make it home before things got even more hectic so off I went - leaving the others to go off to the night club unchaperoned.
I got home OK and checked the window was still shut before entering and in I went. Time for a bacon sandwich and a quick chat to the goldfish before bed (have a strange memory of trying to stroke one of them at one point and wishing for a more interactive pet!).
Saturday morning I went down town for my traditional 'can't do anything more hectic than this' Saturday McDonalds. Then it was time to go home and pack my bag ready for the trip to Seoul in the evening.
A group of us met at the bus station. The guys all got completely eyed up by some bloke in the toilets who made a point of leaning into the urinals to get a better view. the girls fared much better, and off we went to Seoul. The journey was pretty quiet with only the odd worry about accommodation being voiced. Well, I guess that we had all relied on someone else sorting it all out and none of us did. Ho hum.
Still we made it to Seoul OK and met up with the rest of our mates in the pub (The 3 Alleys in Itaewon). We bought our official Paddy's Day pub crawl t-shirts and started on the green beer a day early. Once again it was weird to be in Seoul and so surrounded by other foreigners after all this time in Mokpo. I managed not to stare too much and because this was Paddy's Day weekend it was OK to say hi to everyone because there was a little festival atmosphere going on.
The night finished for me around 5 in the morning when I ran back to the motel to nab a space in the only room that we had managed to book between us. There was a condom machine on the wall in the bedroom and a communal brush hanging by a piece of string off the mirror in the hallway - lovely gaff.
The next morning it was Irish breakfast in the pub - which meant, of course, plenty of Guinness was being ordered. The poor Korean barman really had my sympathy and I had money on him having some kind of a nervous break down by lunchtime. He was taking orders for pints of Guinness and other bar staff were just giving them away. He even asked us if we would order something else! On 17th March - I don't think so buddy!
After breakfast we had to go to the main street in Itaewon for one of the weirdest Paddy's Day parades I have ever seen. And I marched in it!!! Surrounded by Koreans in their traditional dress and even a bunch of beautifully made up ladies decked out in full highland outfits playing Scottish bagpipes. It was surreal to say the least. I had a shamrock on one cheek and a green star on the other. We got separated and when my little group met up with the others again they had procured a huge banner from somewhere and were marching in the middle of the parade proudly bearing it aloft. All of a sudden my little white flag didn't look as cool - though I was pleased when I read the Korean (I have been practising my alphabet) to discover that it said 'Saint Patrick’
But it was very weird to see all these Koreans with green hair and even a little baby with green smudges on his face. Definitely one of my most interesting Paddy's Days even if I was knackered yesterday after having gotten back to Mokpo around 5.30am!
And on that note I am sure that you will excuse me if I leave you here.
Take care.
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But first I had to make it through Friday night. There was a right old gathering at the pub with a much higher percentage than usual of Koreans in the group - which made it even easier to order beer which was nice. Then we moved onto the soju and things started to go a little hazy for me. Just how confused I had gotten was immediately obvious the moment nori bang (singing room) was mentioned and I smiled and said that I would love to go. There was a pretty even distribution of foreigners and Koreans at the nori bang so we had a bit of a bi-lingual session. And I made my nori bang debut with no other than the first record I ever bought - 'Take On Me' Aha. Another proud moment in my life. We finished on a rousing chorus of 'My Way' and tumbled into the street. This seemed like a good opportunity to make it home before things got even more hectic so off I went - leaving the others to go off to the night club unchaperoned.
I got home OK and checked the window was still shut before entering and in I went. Time for a bacon sandwich and a quick chat to the goldfish before bed (have a strange memory of trying to stroke one of them at one point and wishing for a more interactive pet!).
Saturday morning I went down town for my traditional 'can't do anything more hectic than this' Saturday McDonalds. Then it was time to go home and pack my bag ready for the trip to Seoul in the evening.
A group of us met at the bus station. The guys all got completely eyed up by some bloke in the toilets who made a point of leaning into the urinals to get a better view. the girls fared much better, and off we went to Seoul. The journey was pretty quiet with only the odd worry about accommodation being voiced. Well, I guess that we had all relied on someone else sorting it all out and none of us did. Ho hum.
Still we made it to Seoul OK and met up with the rest of our mates in the pub (The 3 Alleys in Itaewon). We bought our official Paddy's Day pub crawl t-shirts and started on the green beer a day early. Once again it was weird to be in Seoul and so surrounded by other foreigners after all this time in Mokpo. I managed not to stare too much and because this was Paddy's Day weekend it was OK to say hi to everyone because there was a little festival atmosphere going on.
The night finished for me around 5 in the morning when I ran back to the motel to nab a space in the only room that we had managed to book between us. There was a condom machine on the wall in the bedroom and a communal brush hanging by a piece of string off the mirror in the hallway - lovely gaff.
The next morning it was Irish breakfast in the pub - which meant, of course, plenty of Guinness was being ordered. The poor Korean barman really had my sympathy and I had money on him having some kind of a nervous break down by lunchtime. He was taking orders for pints of Guinness and other bar staff were just giving them away. He even asked us if we would order something else! On 17th March - I don't think so buddy!
After breakfast we had to go to the main street in Itaewon for one of the weirdest Paddy's Day parades I have ever seen. And I marched in it!!! Surrounded by Koreans in their traditional dress and even a bunch of beautifully made up ladies decked out in full highland outfits playing Scottish bagpipes. It was surreal to say the least. I had a shamrock on one cheek and a green star on the other. We got separated and when my little group met up with the others again they had procured a huge banner from somewhere and were marching in the middle of the parade proudly bearing it aloft. All of a sudden my little white flag didn't look as cool - though I was pleased when I read the Korean (I have been practising my alphabet) to discover that it said 'Saint Patrick’
But it was very weird to see all these Koreans with green hair and even a little baby with green smudges on his face. Definitely one of my most interesting Paddy's Days even if I was knackered yesterday after having gotten back to Mokpo around 5.30am!
And on that note I am sure that you will excuse me if I leave you here.
Take care.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
posted by Helen @ 12:09 AM
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