Weekend

It's Sunday here in Seoul, and I'm recovering from a weekend of action. It seems like ever since I got here, people have been keeping me from falling asleep. This is good in some ways, but not so much in others.

On Friday night, one of my coworkers celebrated his birthday at a Korean hot spot: TGIFriday's. It's funny how you see some chains that you wouldn't really expect. I've seen the usuals (McDonald's, Burger King, Starbucks), but also some oddities (Outback, Dunkin Donuts). Well, at any rate, we went to TGIFriday's and then to an Irish pub. That's where I had my first experience with Noraebang (pronounced No-re-bong). Noraebang is Korean Karaoke. More specifically, you can rent private Karaoke rooms and sing until your ears bleed. And let me tell you, my ears were not too far from bleeding. None of my coworkers are particularly gifted singers. Not that this is a bad thing; it made it easier for me to join. On a side note, Livin on a Prayer has high notes that I find impossible to hit, as did the girl singing with me. Like I said, mixed results on the Noraebang front. It was fun to participate, but no one, and I mean no one, needs to hear a Karaoke version of Night Fever. Who knew someone could sing that worse than the Bee Gees?

That was a late night, and then I had an early morning thanks to the jackhammering nearby. On Saturday, the girl I'm replacing took me around to a few places around Seoul. We went to a very cool, very overwhelming open market. On our way, we had Kimchi Dumplings, which were delicious, and Rice cakes (also tasty). The market is hard to describe. Just think of the largest number of people and things you can picture stuffed into a small space. Now double the population, add seas of pastel fabrics, live fish, and open flames, and you might have some idea. We also walked along the river nearby. In the end, we went to a Korean tea house and I had a barley tea. It was pretty good, but for a long time I couldn't figure out what it tasted like. In a moment of brilliance, I realized that it tasted just like Multi-grain Cheerios in liquid form. That piece of information kind of made me feel weird about drinking it, but I do love those Cheerios.

All in all, a strange 4th of July for me. No fireworks, but there was fire.