You know that saying, "When it rains, it pours."? Well, we had just that this past weekend. Friday brought yet another day with no students as my girls have all been preparing for their final exams that are taking place all this week. I set out on an adventure Friday evening after work to join other EFL/ESL teachers in my area for dinner and adult beverages (aka beer and soju).
After a lengthy discussion of where we should go, we finally just set out walking about trying to find a place to eat seeing as none of us is that familiar with the places to eat here in Pocheon. One of the teachers is a vegetarian which makes eating here slightly difficult seeing as there is either pork or fish in almost everything. I could only imagine a vegan trying to live up here... Seoul is a different story though as I know they have vegan restaurants and such. Anyway, we did manage to get somewhere to eat, just as it began to rain. **Note to self, ALWAYS no matter what carry my umbrella!** <sigh> I forgot my umbrella today! lol
We had a nice dinner with a salad bar consisting of almost no salad but items such as corn kernels, pickled radish, kimchi, sweet pickles, lychee (it's a fruit maybe misspelled), some sort of marinated beef, an overly mayonnaised pasta type salad, and I think ice berg lettuce. I had, what seems to be my typical at this point, chicken cutlet which was accompanied by 2 french fries. Very specific! haha Had my first Korean beer. I never was much of a beer drinker but on these hot humid days it actually tastes pretty good.
Upon finishing dinner we decided to meet another teacher at a coffee shop that serves this yummy dish (don't know the name) it is like Texas toast with honey inside, sounds odd but oh so good! They also had iced milk which basically looked like a milk shake. While here the rain really started in.
We decided that we needed to drink more and find a noori bar (not sure of the spelling), but basically a karaoke bar. This is when the fun really started because we had NO idea of where to go, it was pouring and not just rain drops but more like rain puddles were falling from the sky. I was SOAKED and I didn't mind it one bit. Actually I felt like I was at home in the Oregon liquid sunshine. Now, the major difference in these places here and the US, is that here anyone can go because there is no age limit. Also the noori bars have several rooms with screens, sound systems, etc for you and your friends. The one we went to cost 20,000 won an hour, roughly $20 hr. They also sell juice and beer, or you can do like we do at home and smuggle in your own beverage just make sure to take the bottles with you when you leave!
What an amazing night! We sang for at least 2 hours, I think they kept giving us free time though because the timer kept hitting 15 minutes and going back to 20. We sang and sang, drank and sang some more. Normally I am not a fan of karaoke because you are up in front of all these people in a bar, but here being so private, makes it so much fun! I will def be doing this again.
When we left it was still pouring. I parted ways with my teaching cohorts to grab a cab, at this point it was just after 2 am. The streets looked like mini rivers. I made it home safely but was still too hyped to go to bed, which led me to being up until 9 am Saturday morning.... Yeah, I am not a kid anymore and can't be doing that! haha
I was supposed to go clubbing with the other ladies Saturday night in Seoul but my staying up all night kind of put the kibosh on that! When I am 10 years older than the other teachers it shows at times when sleep is most needed! lol So, that was my weekend and my fantastic night of singing, losing my voice, and finally drinking here in SK! Oh, and that night, we ended up getting 3 inches of rain... welcome to monsoon season!
Good times!
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| Karaoke bar, Kish singing |
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| Looking for a karaoke bar in the rain |
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| ESL teacher dinner. Me, Lisha, Elliot, Chaitra, Charise, Kishmir |
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Thierry's (in the glasses and hat) birthday at Baskin Robbins the first time we got together. Then Charise, me, the owner of the store, Chaitra, Elliot, and Kish.
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I am pretty sure this was run out of someone's house, or at least the living quarters were a part of the restaurant. At any rate, the food was very good and I had an interesting time. The non English speaking teachers really want to practice their English with me. I find it quite like a game of riddles that I am constantly trying to piece together. A combination of hand gestures, body language, and Kranglish (my new word for Korean mixed with English) help us to communicate. The meals here are surprisingly cheap. For the 5 of us, plus one bottle of Makoli (Korean rice wine that is a specialty in Pocheon) and 2 bottles of soda, the cost was around $50 USD. We had traditional kimchi, pickled radish, pickles, and other accoutrements such as marinated mushrooms (also a specialty in Pocheon). The main dish was bibimbap (a combo of rice (hot), veggies, usually an egg, and meat topped with red pepper paste). It is pretty good and easy to order when dining out and you have no idea what anything else is.
This same week I also managed a night out with more of the English Teachers of Pocheon group, some of the same people that I have been to karaoke with the week before. This time we ate and then hit up the Family Mart, which is like a Dari Mart or 7-11. It was here that I discovered the goodness of KGB, an alcoholic beverage that is NOT Soju! hahaha It is actually Australian and comes in Vodka lemon or Vodka cranberry flavors. I also tried this black raspberry wine that is tasty. As I got a taxi to take me home, I realized it was the same driver that I have had a few other times and who knows exactly where to take me. I LOVE it!! :)
