Weekends in Seoul
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| Gangnam, Seoul |
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| A nightclub in Hongdae |
I often go out with the other foreign teachers from my school, and I also have met up with the teachers from my training class a few times. On New Year’s Eve we got together in Hongdae first for drinks at a bar, and then for a late night session of Noraebang. Noribang translates directly into “song room” and is basically like a karaoke lounge. Each group gets its own room and pays by the hour. It is insanely popular here in Seoul, and you will see them in every busy part of the city.
I have already been twice so far, and they are a ton of fun. I am an awful singer and typically don’t like to embarrass myself in front of others, but that is encouraged at the Noraebangs. It also is a lot easier with some liquid courage too. My strategy so far has just basically been to yell out the song and not even worry about getting the tone or pitch right. Why worry about something that you know you can’t fix, right?
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| Singing with a few teachers I met during training. Soju will give you all the singing confidence you need! |
Often when I go out to another part of the city I end up waiting to take the subway back in the morning. The people I go out with generally do the same thing, and it is nice not to have to pay for a taxi. The taxis here aren’t super expensive, but it can still add up if you are taking a half an hour ride across town every weekend. The subway doesn’t start until 5:30 though, so if I decide to wait it is going to be a long night.
There have been a few occasions where I don’t get back until the sun is coming up in the morning. Luckily lots of bars and clubs don’t really seem to close (or at least they are open until the subways start to run), so there is still entertainment to be found if you want to stick around until the first subway. I still enjoy those nights out, but it can really eat up your weekend if you sleep in until the afternoon! I think I will try and limit the early morning subway rides to at most once every couple weekends.
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| Late nights out can be fun, but since the subway doesn't start up till 5:30 I end up ruining the following day! |
This past weekend the foreign teachers at our school decided to throw a housewarming party. We started off at Matt’s place at 8 pm and moved around to all four apartments, staying at each for an hour or two. Two of our Korean co-teachers showed up, as did a few foreign friends. It was a good turnout – if it had been much bigger we wouldn’t have had room in our one room apartments. We bought more alcohol than we needed, plus guests also brought their own along. I started with a bottle and a half of wine (left over from the last teacher), soju, beer, and Korean rice wine.
When I examined what was left the next day I found most of the soju, half a bottle of my red wine, a bit of white wine that someone brought, some stale beer open on the table, and Canadian Club whiskey. I guess I will just have to have another party with the leftovers (minus the stale beer of course)!
A group of us went out to a bar after we left the last teacher’s apartment, and of course it was another late night. I woke up at three on Saturday and still felt tired! Matt and I grabbed dinner a bit later and we both decided to make it a calm evening. After watching Frankie Boyle’s stand-up with Matt (hilarious by the way) I got to bed much earlier than the previous night. On Sunday we took the subway to an area north of the city to go hiking.
There is a Seoul Hiking Group which organizes events around Seoul, and it sounded like a great way to meet some more people. The hike lasted for close to four hours, counting several breaks. It was definitely more challenging than I had expected, but that was a positive for me. We also grabbed dinner afterwards and took the subway back together. The dozen people who went along all seemed nice, so hopefully I will get a chance to meet up with them again soon!
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| We made it to the summit! |
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