NoraeBang

Remember that part of Lost in Translation where they go to that Karaoke Bar, but its just them in a room by themselves, and it looks totally awesome and fun? BBro and I totally did it the other day! In Korea it’s called Noraebang/노래방 (norae [노래]= song, bang [방] = room), and it’s literally everywhere, but somehow I’d managed to avoid doing it so far.


Now that I have though, it’s pretty much my favorite thing. You get your own room, and microphones and video screen. The videos that it plays along with the songs seem to be, without fail, Korean War re-enactments.

The selection is particularly varied, and often rather strange. Koreans have interesting tastes when it comes to American music, as I’ve come to realize from hearing what they think are “hits.” Our awesome tracklist included:

Kelly Clarkson - Behind These Hazel Eyes
Almost Paradise from Footloose (!!)
Listen from Dreamgirls
Beyonce - Irreplaceable
Spice Girls - Stop
Boy George - Karma Chameleon (BBro solo…)
ABBA - Gimme Gimme Gimme
Summer Lovin’ from Grease
Eminem - Stan
Wig in a Box from Hedwig
Breakin’ Free from High School Musical
Fame from… Fame
Blondie - One Way or Another
Michael Jackson - The Way You Make Me Feel
Ace of Base - All That She Wants

Clearly they LOVE musicals here. And trashy 80s and 90s. Luckily, so do BBro and I, pretty hardcore, so we’ll most likely be back. Soon.

Teachers' Banquet

To honor the teachers at ECCs, YBM hosted a Teacher’s Banquet at the Grand Hyatt on November 18th. The term “honor” applied rather loosely, since we still had to pay to attend. Maybe “gather” would be more appropriate. Shockingly, Bree Teacher and I managed to find it without too much trouble at all (in that Grand Hyatt means the same thing in English as in Korean, and we were practically almost to it when we got in a taxi. Nonetheless--). It was actually QUITE a nice hotel, and they had it all pimped out for us, with ECC-themed ice sculpture and all. I’m not quite sure what purpose it served, but still.

I found our table on the map (in the back row, of course; it could only be expected), Korean teachers are at #94, and foreign teachers at #95 with 4 teachers from another school. So I trundle over, and of course see the Korean teachers and Shaun sitting at #96. They beckon me over, so I sit with them, even though it’s not our table; which I tell them. But no one seems to care.

Until a girl comes over and tells us that we’re sitting at their table “but it’s ok.” Which it’s clearly not, so I move. But Shaun doesn’t, which makes me seem incredibly awkward, and like I don’t want to sit with the Korean teachers (I was beside Henna, but still--). Eventually he came and joined the foreign teachers’ table, though. Soon after, Sunny, the manager, brought us wine, which divided amongst all the teachers didn’t amount to much.

Ryan and Brendan decided that we needed more wine, so they went to the store conveniently located next door, and bought quite possibly the world’s worst wine (although I’ve yet to try the traditional Baby Mouse Wine, which adds to the fermenting process… Yeah. Baby mice). This wine was only for the foreign teachers, but it still got gone pretty fast. As did the two bottles they brought with dinner.

Luckily, the guy who sat at our table, who we called Mr. Kim (because, odds are, that actually IS his name) seemed to have some sort of connection to the waiter got us two more bottles of wine. And then what they told us was our “last bottle.” And then two more. (Meanwhile, at Bree Teacher’s table, her teachers were drinking the dregs from other schools’ bottles, and eating their leftover desserts. Classy).

The entertainment for the night included a “talent” (again, used loosely) show put on my some teachers from various ECCs, as well as singing, a magic show, and an amazing a capella group, who sang and beatboxed everything from Korean jamz to Hanson’s Mmmbop. After there, as is quickly becoming ubiquitous in Korea, there were B-Boys.

For some reason, I decided I wanted to walk part of the way home, on account of I have no idea where I was, and had never been there before. So, I took my YBM-emblazoned thermos, and headed out the door. I strolled around the city for a while, until I found a subway, and then I rode the rest of the way home

More Than Imagine

November 17th brought another in a long series of unexpected weird experiences. I was invited by one of the Korean teachers, Grace, to go to her church to see her dance. I was happy to go to support her, not so much for her plan to “introduce” us to “Jesus.” It was all part of this show that her cul---sorry, church was putting on called “More than Imagine.”

I got on the bus to church (after an ordeal which had me going to school on a Saturday afternoon to get my map), and I found the stop well enough, but I was rather struggling to find the church, as the map was rather not to scale. Luckily, I happened to look up, and saw the GIANT neon orange cross glowing high above me. Just like Jesus’ one did, I’m sure.

I arrive, and find Grace Teacher, and she introduces me to her friends, who all just giggle, because I’m white, I guess, and people still find it funny. One of her friends leans in to Grace, and doesn’t even bother to whisper “Is he Christian?” Uh… Was that supposed to be in Korean or something? Because those words are English. And I’m sitting right here, and can clearly hear and understand you.

Anyway…

So “More than Imagine” itself was… Interesting, let’s say. I wouldn’t have really gotten that it was religious, if it hadn’t been in a church. The reasons were severalfold:
-The place is lit like a disco club. Even the minister guy who prayed (or whatever, I couldn’t understand it, clearly) had psychedelic lights going on behind him.
-The house band (???) actually kinda rocked out.
-But mostly… There were B-Boys (WTF!!???)

It was a fine enough night. The best part was that, whenever anyone brings a newcomer to the church, they get money to take that newcomer out to dinner. And I was that newcomer! Score!!

Happy Pepero Day

November 11th is a special holiday in Korea (it was a Sunday, but it’s not the kind of holiday that we would have gotten off work, anyway). In Canada and America, we have Remembrance Day and Veteran’s Day, respectively, on November 11th. As patriotic North Americans, we remember war heroes, and those who risked and lost their lives for the betterment of ours. In Korea, they celebrate….

The Pepero.

A pepero is a (admittedly, rather delicious) long cookie stick, dipped in chocolate, similar to the Pocky of Japan, and otherwhere. It’s sort of like Korea’s version of Valentine’s day, in that you give Peperos to those you are fond of, and it has no particularly imminent need to be celebrated, and was conceived and sponsored entire by a company (Lotte, who owns the Pepero name, and just about everything else in Korea).

For the weeks leading up to Pepero Day, every store that sells them makes THE MOST intense displays of Peperos. Giant sculptures made out of boxes of Peperos in the shapes of hearts and arrows, and Xs and Os, and things of that nature. They have balloons all throughout the store, and more Peperos than you can shake a (chocolate-covered) stick at.

My favorite part of the whole deal is the reasoning behind the holiday. Apparently, it was chosen to be on November 11th, because if you sort of think about it, 11/11 looks vaguely like some sticks, and Pepero means “thin like a stick.” Man. Whoever came up with this holiday is a marketing GENIUS.

THE BEYONCE EXPERIENCE

November 10, 2007.

Olympic Stadium, Seoul.

BEYONCE LIVE IN CONERT!!!!

omgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomg

THE Beyonce graced Seoul with her presence for the first time ever (same weekend as Paris Hilton, nonetheless!), and I was there to experience it. And shout myself hoarse. In the weeks leading up to the night in question, I mocked the Yonce slightly “Yeah, I’m going to Beyonce, should be good for a laugh.” That kind of thing. Little did I know that it would pretty much be the best things I’ve ever seen in my life.

BBro and I arrived at the stadium good and early. Got our tickets. Got our glowsticks (they’re actually SuperJunior [a Korean boyband] glowsticks, but in our ecstacy, we didn’t notice, or care). Got in line. We saw the security guards searching people’s bags, and confiscating cameras, so I told BBro to hide hers in her pocket. Even though there were signs that said NO PICTURES, and angry security guards shining flashlights at people, we clearly weren’t going to NOT take pictures.

But before B even got on stage, there were photo opportunities galore! There were literally thousands of people out of their seats and surrounding this person. We thought they were looking at someone different than they actually were, and we were SO SURE that it was Paris Hilton. But alas, no.

But then finally—

BEYONCE!


Can I just say… I’m not her biggest fan by any means. But that lady can SING. She came on stage all slowly, dramatically, smokily, and then all this fire exploded behind her, and she started singing [Crazy In Love, probably my favorite jam of hers] and I started smiling, and neither of us stopped until 2 hours later.

And who knew, that I knew pretty much all of her songs, and especially the Destiny’s Child ones. Mind you, I don’t really know and of the words to her songs, as evidenced of the videos BBro has of Beyonce, with me shouting along in the background

TO THE LEFT!! TO THE LEFT!! DA DA DA DA DA DA DA DA DA DA DA!! BAAAAAAAAAAAABYYYYYY!!!

As evidenced hither, in my duet with Beyonce:


To contrast the fabulosity of Beyonce, we sat quite near a lady who, I’m still convinced, was Dame Judy Dench. I thought she seemed a little out of place, but you better believe that when Beyonce told all her Independent Women (part 1) to throw their hands up in the air, you better believe Dame Judy was waving them like she just didn’t care!

Beyonce’s band is all women, and they’re called Suga Mama, and they’re pretty much the best band I’ve ever heard. They totally pwned the stage. Ditto for her dancers. Ditto for everything about the show, really. Apparently I’m a big Beyonce fan, after all.

November 9/10

On the morning of November 10th, we had a training session at the Hyundae Department Store (of all places). As opposed to the other training session that I went to which was given by YBM, this one is, supposedly, sponsored by the city of Seoul. Therefore, allegedly, every foreign English teacher in the city is supposed to go. Now, clearly, there is no department store in the city big enough to hold all the foreign teachers, so there seemed to be some sort of selection process, whereby the directors who don’t think highly of their staffs send them. Naturally, my school had to go. We were even told, “You don’t have to stay, but you have to be there to register.”

Normally, I’d think this is a great idea, only it starts early in the morning, and it’s about an hour and a half subway ride away. All the teachers who live in my building (plus Naomi’s friend Cindy, who stayed the weekend with her) arranged beforehand to take a taxi there, so we could have those precious extra minutes of sleep.

That was the plan, anyway. Sleep didn’t really happen, though, because as a precursor to the excitement that the training was sure to bring, we had a night out. Now, I haven’t really been feeling the club scene in Korea, mostly because the clubs I’ve been to had been…well… rather terrifying. Some names? Club Drug. Skunk Hell. ‘Nuff said. But I finally allowed myself to be persuaded to try again, so we went to TinPan (#2. Which apparently better than the original, across the street).

So, it was because of this night out that Naomi and Cindy and I didn’t sleep. We went home, though, to get the other teachers and to find our cab. At this point, apparently, Cindy is still feeling the effects of her virgin daiquiris, because she goes up to Brendan’s apartment, and strolls right in (even though she’s never met him before). He’s still in bed, so he’s none too pleased.

The rest of the day was fairly dry, as might be expected. The lowest point is, perhaps, the Korean band that covers Green Day songs. So loudly. So badly. So Koreanly. After this, and a debacle which revealed our “free lunch ticket” as a scam by the event co-ordinators, we headed home in a taxi (which took the longest 90 minutes of my life). I changed my clothes, and went out in ANOTHER taxi for a job interview. Then went home and changed again for-----------------------

[I realize that the upside-down nature of the blog puts the next post above, and not below, and will ruin this dramatic tension, but it IS the next event chronologically…]

M/W/F Classes

This class is the Orange Kindy class. They’re 7, and it’s their 3rd year at ECC, so they’re the oldest, and the smartest Kindy class. It’s pretty fun to teach them, because even though they’re younger than the “normal” class kids, they’re way ahead of a lot of them, so they can talk to me pretty easily. Well… Some of them. We’ve got Amy, Andy, Eric, Paul, John, and Donny (who wears a Tshirt that says I <3 JESUS. With tights).


Another Playground 3 class. Ehh, these ones aren’t particularly interesting. Becky, [a little bit of Dennis’ arm and head], Annie, Justin, Adam J (for some reason he gets a last name. Or at least initial), Jack, Harry, Jenny, Kate, and John.


This is my biggest class Playground 2. It has 12 kids. And they like to change their names a lot in this one, so it sometimes makes it hard to keep track of them: Esther, Ginny, Sen, Wendy, Ryan, Julia, Eva, Sarah, Kyle, Danny, Tom.



This Playground 3 class… Sometimes I love them to death, sometimes I just want them to be dead. The two smartest girls moved up a level, and 2 more girls dropped out, so now it’s just 1 boy and 6 boys (2 of whom tend to come about 40 minutes late for a 50 minute class). It’s a rare event to get them all in class on the same day, so here we’ve got Kristine, Kristi, Jenny, Julie, Bruno, Brian, Sean, and Danny (who, the other day started singing Britney Spears’ “Lucky,” out of the blue, but has also been known to sing Mozart’s “Magic Flute” … He’s an interesting chap.


This Carnival 6 class is one of my favorites, even though the majority of the kids are sort of jackasses. The ones that I like seem to make up for them though. They’re favorite pastime is turning their eyelids inside out, which is super gross. And two of them are twins, which is difficult. Anyhoo, they’re Sean, Tommy (the ghost mask fellow), Jimmy, James (aka Highlights), Mike (aka Thing 1), Mark (aka Thing 2), Jenny, Lucy.

I also teach 3 Academy classes on M/W/F, but they're angsty teenage types who weren't so willing to have their pictures taken...

T/T Classes

This is the Brown Kindergarten class. They’re six in Korean years (which is English years is…. ??????? Why do they have different years anyway? Oh. Probably because they ate all the dogs, so they needed to put dog years somewhere). They are (L->R) Cindy, Kevin, Jade, Paul (who likes to hug me, but whose head falls exactly at bum/nads level, and who one day but his hands on his hips and announced “Whew! I’m fat!”), Alex, Lusia (who neither Naomi or I have heard talk – and between the two of us, we teach them 17 classes a week, I think), Lisa (who lives with her grandmother and has the most cracked out wardrobe ever – Barbie princess costume one day, bizarre grandma autumn dress the next… But only ever one shoelace), and Judy.


This is probably my least favorite class of them all. There was only one person I liked, but a girl from another one of my classes switched into this one, so now there are two. We’ve got (L->R) Jane, Big Sally (the one that I like), Amy, Annie, Kelly, Tom, Small Sally (and yes, Big Sally and Small Sally are they’re “official” English names, that’s what they’re registered as).


Wake Up 6B. This class I had so much trouble with that one time Henna made the bad kid bring ice cream to the good kids and me. Of whom there were 2. Now there are 3 good kids, though. We’ve got Emily (the only one who is actually smart), Paul, David, Jeremy, Jake, and Chris.


Playground 2. This is one of the smartest classes I have, and for some reason they move through the books at a snail’s pace. Playground 2, which is supposed to take 1 month, has taken them 3. Which is not pleasant for me. (L->R) John, Tim, Jane, Angela, Jay, Sally, Sue, Chris (who was registered one session as Christ, which has since provided me with quite a lot of glee… and made her hate me).


This class is Wake Up 3B. Yeah, they’re cute (whatev.), but they’re incredibly hard to deal with. We’ve got (L->R) Carl (the one with that mask on… he’s new), Andy, Jeth (who wears Uggs every day), Judy, Sally B, Sally A, Kevin (who, when we got another Kevin, told me he changed his name to Madonna Jackson), Laura (Kevin’s sister), and Helen.

And then there is probably the least interesting 40 minutes of my week. A 1:1 class with John. Who came half an hour late, even though all the other teachers are gone before this 1:1 starts (at it's regular time)... At least his mom brought me a sandwich...