Dinner consisted of some more Korean bbq...I think the best decision I've ever made was to start eating meat again before we got here. I would be missing out on all of the best food I've ever had!!! This time it was galbi, which is basically thinly cut seasoned beef and ribs cooked at the table on a charcoal grill with the dozens of assorted sides. Kimchi (obviously), various pickled vegetables, hard boiled quail eggs, corn salad (one of my personal favorite sides, it's about as common as kimchi), a delicious spicy soup, and a boiled egg dish among other things. For dessert it was cold noodles. It was a feast! As is every meal here!
Mr. Na and the boys were downing soju every few minutes while Sandra and I stuck to beer for the most part (a good decision since it turned out to be a very long night). After dinner Mr. Na took us (minus Brice, who had band practice) to a Nori Bhang, which is a room where people get together with friends, drink, eat and do karaoke. Our room had a large table, seats, a large screen, two microphones (perfect for duets), a disco ball with flashing colorful lights...you can imagine. Ben took to it right away...belting out Bon Jovi songs, Foreigner songs and any other outrageous songs he could find. And we found out Mr. Na is a karaoke master! He had an amazing voice and knew all the good songs to sing. As the time passed, more food consumed, and even more drinks downed it just got more and more ridiculous! At some point Mr. Na, Ben, and Erich were all dancing around belting out love ballads. It was an absolute blast! I would never do karaoke in the states, but at a nori bhang nobody cares about making an ass of themselves in front of their friends.
You'd think we'd stop there, but after karaoke Ben, Sandra and I went to the university area to meet up with Bryce (her boyfriend). We then went to a bar called Miller Time (it's a chain here where you can get Miller lite for cheap, a nice change from the Korean Cass and Hite beer). We then proceeded to drink pitchers of Miller lite for the next few hours.
Koreans are always eager to talk to foreigners, especially in the university area, so we also had several "guests" come by and sit and talk to us as we sat outside. Our first guest was a nut! He told us he was Condi Rice, he was a stem cell, and later told us he was telepathic. I couldn't stop laughing!! Some Koreans came and sat at the table next to us later and we chatted with them. They actually spoke pretty good English, one of them studied for 12 months in New Zealand and Australia. They shared their $11 nachos with us ($11 for 11 nachos mind you) and convinced Bryce to pull out his saxophone and play for a bit. If we weren't the white people sticking out we definitely were at that point. Several people came by to say hi and watch Bryce play. One guy stuck around the whole night. After the Koreans next to us left some other Korean guys from inside Miller Time (Jun and Hammer) came out to "talk" to us. They barely spoke any English, Ben and I know virtually no Korean, and Bryce and Sandra only know a little bit so it was pretty funny. What's good is we are used to talking to little kids who don't know what the hell we are saying and trying to get them to understand...the same kind of thing works with older Koreans.
Later Jun and Hammer, Hammer's girlfriend Jun and their other friends came out and begged us to go drink soju with them. At this point it was probably around 1 or 2am. So we finished our beers and (along with the strange Korean man who had been hanging around all night) went to a restaurant next door where the Koreans treated us to copious amounts of soju and beer and bought us sausage and french fries!! It was such a great time!! Koreans love Americans and they love to drink and they are sooo nice!
Finally around 4ish Sandra and I decided that the boys needed to go home. We then walked the few miles home while Bryce attempted to ride his bike. Eventually Sandra took over *note don't drink and ride!!!!
So needless to say it was a pretty ridiculous night! But Ben's and my first experience hanging out with Koreans was pretty amazing. I can't wait for the many more nori bhang, strange Koreans, and soju filled nights that await!
On a completely different note... Our first week of work is over and we survived!! Everyone says the first week is the hardest since you have no clue what you're doing and the kids don't really know you yet. Ben and I were given a new weekly lesson plan pretty much every day! It was very annoying and confusing, but we made our own lesson plan for next week so now we know what we are doing and we won't have any changes. I think the kids are already warming up to Ben and me. They love to say our names and give us hugs or punches depending on the kid. They are all very smart, but so young! I have one girl in my class (the most advanced class) who is only 5 years old and she is the brightest one!
I'm really enjoying the teaching part so far. I think Ben is having more trouble...but only because the first week was so confusing and we were getting our classes switched around all the time and he's not used to being around little kids. The kids really, really like him though! They are always talking to me about "Mr. Ben" or as they say here "Ben teacher".
Also this week we've gotten to know our fellow teachers Bryce and Sandra. They were traveling in Japan when Ben and I got here so we met them on Monday. They are the same age as Ben and me and have been dating for 4 years, just like Ben and me. They actually live in the apartment below us. So I'm sure we will all be hanging out a lot.
The other night they took us out for a dinner of Beebimbop or Bibimbop. Beebimbop is what Jeon Ju is known for so I had been wanting to try it for some time now. It's a pretty simple dish, but so delicious! It's a bowl of rice, vegetables (like bean sprouts, dried spinach, lettuce, zucchini), seasoned beef and chili pepper paste (also usually served with an egg) that you mix together. It is very delicious and something I could eat every day and not get sick of! We also tried a kind of rice wine that was heavily seasoned and very sweet. It was like drinking dessert, but very good. The place we went to also gave us more little side dishes than I've ever had before. There had to be nearly 20 just for the four of us. Even at big tables table space is a problem because of all the dishes you get. And the side dishes are unlimited refills so if there is something you really like you can keep getting it, and getting it, and getting it.
Ben and I are pretty much pros with the chopsticks these days and before coming here neither Ben or I could even use chopsticks! ! In Korea they use thin, slippery metal chopsticks as opposed to the nice large wooden ones they use in Japan. Eating was a pretty messy ordeal at first and in fact we don't even have a single fork at our apartment. Everything we eat, even at home, is with these little metal chopsticks!
Well this is plenty long enough so I should cut it off, but we will be posting soon and now that we have the interweb at our apartment we can finally post some pictures. Also we are going to set up Skype in the next few days! We'll keep you posted!
Talor
