Entries about soju

Even though I kind of don't feel like blogging right now, I think I should share the story of yesterday evening while it's still fresh in my memory.
So, kids, settle down and listen to your uncle 리차드.

Yesterday, I decided to go out looking for a post office to finally send a box of Sheet Masks to my friend Cleo that I had promised to send her like a month ago. Upon arrival though, it seemed like the post office was either closed because it was a saturday, or closed forever. Frustrated (as I'd have to run around all day (although it was already really late, I got out of bed at like 15:00 and didn't feel like going out until 16:30) with that heavy box in my backpack) I decided to make the best of it and just walk around a little, looking for places to take some decent pictures. I accidentally ended up walking into Book-Off, a Japanese discount store that sells Japanese manga, movies, cd's and books, where there happened to be an awesome -50% sale on artbooks, anime magazines and other manga/anime related stuff (but not DVDs, unfortunately). My mood quickly brightened as I browsed through all the awesome stuff for hours (Book-Off does that to me, for some reason. Even in Japan I always spent at least one full hour there) and ended up with a decent pile of stuff, which I then cut down to half because I couldn't possibly bring all that stuff with me in my suitcase, not even if I did leave behind all my clothes.
I ended up buying this:

It's a Hare Nochi Guu Fanbook, some crazy-ass book about the World Cup, a Limited Edition of Spawn #10 (IN JAPANESE!), X-Men: Extinction Agenda (IN JAPANESE!) and a DVD of Voices of a Distant Star (By Matoko Shinkai, IN JAPANESE! WITH ONLY KOREAN SUBTITLES!) Oh, and I bought another copy of Megami Magazine because it had some Ichigo Mashimaro posters and it was only 1,000 won.
Total Cost: ₩ 15,000 (about €10)

So anyway, by the time I came out of there I was kind of hungry, and I still had to walk all the way back to Hongdae because GaHui told me there was a restaurant there where I could eat MY NOW OFFICIALLY FAVORITE FOOD OF ALL FOODS: 제육덮밥! Buuuut halfway through my way to Hongdae I gave up; it was too cold and I'd have to walk at least 15 minutes away from my guesthouse and then back again if I wanted to eat at that restaurant. So I decided to save myself the frostbite and just eat in Sinchon. And I just so happened to be walking past a Chinese restaurant that had a giant banner with ₩5,500!!! on it. And seeing a "CHEAP FOOD!!" sign is pretty much all I need to step in somewhere.
Unfortunately, although the CHEAP FOOD!! banner had a bunch of pictures on it, the menu did not, so I was at a loss to order anything. Even though I could probably slowly make my way through the menu to find something that sounded vaguely familiar, I did what I usually do, which is go back to speaking nothing but English and waving my arms around like an idiot.

Luckily, there were some other guests in the restaurant, and one of them shot to my aid.
After he ordered from me, he asked if I'd like to sit with him and his colleagues, who were all from the Music Academy. Most of them were vocalists in indie bands, one guy was on the Korean Idol; KPop Star, and the guy who invited me turned out to be their producer, who had produced many other less-well-known bands before. I was really surprised by this weird-ass turn of events, of course, but decided to just go with the flow for once in my life, so when they asked if I wanted to drink with them, I didn't turn the offer down.
Now, you should know I am well known all over Korea for my awesome drinking ability, and that night was no exception. Koreans really respect people who can down a few bottles of soju, and they were surprised I knew about the Korean drinking etiquette (which was, coincidentally, one of the first things I read up on before I came to Korea because I was planning to do a lot of drinking).
The producer told me one of the bands would rerecord some vocals this evening, and asked if I wanted to come with them to the recording studio.
"Hell yes, sir!"

So that's how I ended up in a recording studio with someone who just got kicked out of Kpop star when there were only 15 contestants left and whose banners I've passed a few times on my way to Sinchon (Check him out here and here), a girl who'll be on TvN's Super Diva soon, three indie bands (some guys were already at the studio) and the record producer guy. The most awesome of the vocalists signed a cd for me, and I could watch him and another guy record the vocals for their new single. It was kind of surreal, really, that I ended up there just because I couldn't order Chinese food..
Anyway, on to the pictures, right?

And some videos:

After the recording, I had some more soju with the producer and singer Kang Joo Won (Some of his covers are on jewtube), before I headed home, very pleased about my day.

At the guesthouse, people are so loud I can't really concentrate, and then later in the evening they usually get me drunk, so...yeah...fucking guesthouses.

[First, in unrelated but somewhat interesting news; what you heard about Korea's weather is true. Just a few days ago, it was 26 degrees during the day and 20 during the night, and now it's suddenly like 22 during the day and 14 during the night. Fall just slammed down on our little country.]

This saturday, we visited GaHui's parents in their home near Mokpo.
Mokpo is pretty near to Wando, but using public transportation it still took us two and a half hours to get there. We ended up arriving kind of late for some reason; we got there around 20:00.

As soon as we walked in, we were greeted by GaHui's mother, who had prepared a feast for us. Their dining table wasn't even large enough to hold all the delicious food she had cooked for us.
As we were eating, she'd come in every now and then with even more food, telling us to "Mani Mogoyo" (eat a lot). GaHui's dad, who we had met before when he dropped off GaHui's luggage a week ago, came in every now and then too to hone his English skills and to remind me we'd be drinking together this evening.
"You and me....soju...ONE SHOT!"
-Okay okay okay!
(There's this Korean way of saying okay which is just 'okay' three times really fast, so I took that over =p)






I purposely left some room in my stomach for the undoubtedly significant amount of soju I'd be consuming later that evening, even though it was quite hard to leave the great food alone. This was also the first time I'd eaten meat 'Korean style', by the way. Koreans usually don't eat their meat 'straight up', they wrap it into lettuce together with some pepper sauce and some vegetables. Just as I was telling GaHui about how I thought this was such a waste because it ruins the meats taste, I realized I'd never actually even tried it, and when I did it turned out to be pretty awesome, although of course some of the meats taste does get lost in the process.

GaHui's parents own a 'Screen Golf' business, which is like indoor golf on a big virtual course. So after dinner, we were invited to sit with her father (who, funnily, is called Hyung, which means 'big brother' in Korean and is what males use to address older males) who was playing golf with his friends.







As soon as I walked in, he had the bottle of soju ready, and I saw there were already about 6 empty bottles on the floor.
Describing soju is a bit hard, but a lot of people call it Korean vodka. It really doesn't taste much like vodka, but I guess it is the only close comparison one could make. Needless to say though, drinking a lot of it will get you drunk properly, and GaHui's dad definitely didn't look like he'd be stopping to pour my drinks any time soon.

It's a Korean custom to always pour each other's drinks. If anyone at the table is pouring their own drink, everyone else should be ashamed because they did not properly take care of him or her. GaHui's father was surprised that I knew about Korean drinking customs as I held my glass with both hands as he poured my drink, and held the bottle with both hands as I poured his, as a sign of respect.
I think I also left a good impression by the sheer amount of soju I could take, as he seemed to be very fond of getting me to 'won shottu' my drink and always looked very pleased as I slammed the glass down with a 'TSSSCHHJJAHHH'.






We showed GaHui's cousins my book about the Netherlands, and they were quite curious about the foreign people that were suddenly in their aunt's home. GaHui's father as well couldn't stop asking us questions in his awesome broken English, which ensured much hilarity with his hyungs who told him to just shut up and play golf already.





All in all the night in Mokpo was amazing. I felt so welcome there, and this was the first time I'd actually felt that famous Korean hospitality you hear so much about. They're not just shoving all kinds of food and drinks under your nose because it makes them feel good, they do it because they want you to feel good, because you are their honored guest.
So even though we only slept 4 hours that night because we had to be back on time for the Mass on sunday, and even though I was like a zombie after that for an entire day, this evening in Mokpo was definitely my best memory since I've arrived in Korea.





Gombae!

This week's words: Uhn (I use this at least twice every minute); Oh! (Once every minute); DO YOU KNOW ___?
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Annyeong yorobun~!

Sorry it has taken a while for me to finally sit down and let you know what's going on in Korea.
We have been super busy the past week, and even right now it's actually already 23:30, so I'm going to keep this post a little on the short side. Mianhae.

Anyway, I will give you a giant-ass rant about my flight from Schiphol, Amsterdam to Incheon, Seoul on my regular blog (if it EVER comes back, what the hell?) but for now this will suffice:

36 hours instead of 12.
Yup.
I missed my flight because Frankfurt is retarded, so I had to SLEEP IN AN AIRPORT CHAIR to catch a flight 24 hours later ;_;

This on the left was my dinner. Seriously. Two awful buns and an overpriced beer. I have a picture of my 'accommodation' here somewhere, but it's on my phone and I don't have my transfer cable with me right now so you will get to see my agony later.
When I finally got to step in line for the Asiana flight to Seoul, I was so happy I didn't even mind all the ajummas cutting in front of me.


Okay, so, when I arrived, I had a giant jetlag (Korea is +7 hours from Holland) plus I hadn't slept much (I couldn't really sleep well in the plane, and the night before I slept in the airport) plus I hadn't showered in three days and was still wearing the same clothes I had on when I left home. And of course when I got to Incheon I didn't have even a second to collect myself because I was already late for the IWO Orientation.

Incheon Airport is actually supposed to be one of the most beautiful and awesome airports in the world (it's like in the top 5 of the official Best Airports list) but I could hardly see any of it since I had to catch the train to Seoul right away..
Also, LOOK AT THAT GREASY HAIR GODDAMN WHAT THE FUCK. This is why we shower, kids.


When I finally got to the IWO building in Seoul (it was not that hard to find, luckily) looking (and smelling) like a dirty bum, I met all the other volunteers. It was pretty weird to just drop in halfway through the ice breaking, so I was a bit worried, but it turned out everyone was super awesome and we had a great time even while listening to boring lectures about 'what kind of things to expect from volunteer work' and stuff like that.

We had a LOT of food together (Korean food is crazy; they eat a full meal 3 times a day and in between they eat lots of snacks), and obviously also a lot of alcohol since, you know, it's Korea!
You can't go to Korea and not have Soju and watery beer.
We kind of ended up having a bit too much of..well..all of it..but I'm getting ahead of myself.
The last night of Orientation, we decided we should go Noraebang (Karaoke) because it would be the last night with all of us together. Supposedly you've already seen some of the youtube videos, but in case you missed them, here's some highlights and pictures:

By then, the maekju and soju had already been flowing quite generously, but the night was still young!

So most of us went on to go to a bar and have some more Max and Cass beer and proceeded to get crazy-ass drunk.
Actually, the main reason I got crazy-ass drunk was because of Incheol's 'Daegu Stylu~'. Basically, you get a shot glass and fill half of it with soju and the rest with maekju, and then..well..you chug it. DAEGU STYLE, YEAH!

Incheol is my donsaeng (younger brother) so it was awesome when we were getting drunk together and he was like AHHH HYUNNGGG (older brother). It's surprising how much Koreans loosen up when they drink a little. They get very physical too, and it's pretty funny. Actually, with my students as well, it's very normal for donsaengs to hug and hold their hyungs or unnis (older sister), you just won't see a guy holding a girl very often.
This is a good example of what happens when you enjoy DAEGU STYLE a little too much:

By the time we left (which was WAY too late, because we had to get up early to leave for our projects the next morning) we were so drunk that we decided it would be good to just ask any random girls to take pictures with us on the street. And, surprisingly, there wasn't even one who said no.

Also, when we were bothering some staff at 'Paris Baguette', a very famous chain of bread and pastry stores, for some reason they gave us a free cake! Being white kicks ass!

The night was rather uncomfortable since I drank too much and my stomach was already bothered by getting used to Korean food, and I sleeptalked like crazy as well, but in the end we all survived to get on our ways to our projects all over Korea.

I thought my fellow volunteers would be guys since I couldn't participate in my first choice project because there was already a girl located there, but it turned out I was going to Wando with a French (Anne) and a Korean (GaHui) girl. Which could've been a nightmare, I guess, were it not for the fact that they were both pretty damn awesome.
The trip from Seoul (almost in the utter North of Korea) to Wando (almost the most Southern point) took more than 6 hours, but it was well spent getting to know the girls better and catching some well earned sleep.

When we arrived at Wando though, there were some unpleasant surprises.
First of all, it turned out IWO hadn't been completely honest when they said the Children Center was just funded by the church and not actually religious. Because it is. Like crazy fucking indoctrinating children religious.



That also meant I couldn't stay in the same apartment as the girls (they had told us we'd just live with 2 separate bedrooms) and I had to sleep in the Moksaengnim's (pastor's) apartment. Sounds pretty bad, right? Actually, it's kind of okay, to be honest. The pastor is from the Philippines and is also an English teacher, so he speaks English fluently and not living with girls means I don't have to worry about my snoring and going to the toilet :3
The Religiousness of the project does have some other consequences though. For instance, we're not really supposed to drink (although it's not like they will constantly check our fridges or anything) and we're forced to go to service on Sunday. Yesterday, we went to friggin' service from 9:00 to 15:00! Supposedly, we can dodge going to service every other weekend, but it's still quite tiring because the services are very long and very much in Korean so it's even more boring than a regular service.

Anyway, the apartments we're staying in are quite fancy. We have our own bathroom, kitchen, and washroom, air conditioning (but not in my bedroom, FFFFFFF) and they are very spacious, especially compared to some of the other..hallways..volunteers of other projects will have to sleep in.




The center itself is very modern and nice as well, just like the church. It's not some run-down backwater place like we expected; it's actually really fancy and well equipped.
The children are also much better at English than we expected. That's actually due to Johnny Moksaengnim, the Philippine English teacher, because he has already been teaching them for over a year. The kids are also so incredibly cute. Personally, I like the older ones that are good at English because teaching them is quite easy, but the young ones oh my God they are so incredibly cute I could die!
At the same time they are little devils though, don't get me wrong.
Some of the children are extremely shy, while others are very outgoing and wanting to know everything about us. Most of them keep thinking me and Anne are a couple for some reason -.-' While we were eating (lunch and dinner is provided by the center) some kids were behind us all like "OOOOHHHHH~ SARANGHAAAEEEEE~" It was funny at first, but it kinda got old fast -.-'

Teaching here is a lot harder than I wished it was, but that's mostly due to internal problems. Moksaengnim knows well how to teach the children, but the other Moksaengnim's wife, who runs the English program, has a very Hanglish way of teaching, which means BALLI BALLI BALLI (hurry hurry hurry) and who cares if it's done right. The Moksaengnim's wife actually only started to interfere with the lessons like 2 weeks ago, so Johnny is kind of venting his frustrations and we're caught in the middle. Especially GaHui, who can speak korean and english well, is kind of suffering from this because he hopes he can make her talk to the Moksaengnim's wife. I'm worried...



Anyway, the teaching is pretty crazy due to all of this. Kids keep walking in and out, they have to learn how to do everything in like 20 minutes (reading, writing, comprehending, pronouncing) and we don't even have time to think while we're doing 'conveyor belt teaching'.
Maybe it will get better the coming few weeks, but I have a distinct feeling we should just DEALWITHIT.jpg.
At least some of the children are already very good in English, so it's fun to talk to them.

Our island, Wando, is extremely beautiful.
When I read and heard about it, I thought it would be a tiny-ass little town, but it's actually quite big, and it has anything you could need but a stage for Kpop singers to perform on.
The nature is also absolutely stunning. Wando is an island with a lot of height differences, so wherever you go, there's always a lush green mountain in the background to greet you.









The people have also been very friendly so far. The island is mostly inhabited by really old and really young people, so there's no one to hit on, unfortunately, but everyone seems genuinely happy to have us here, and the children are very impressed when we talk some Korean to them.

The culture shock is quite minimal, I think, since I already knew so much about South Korea.
Sure, sometimes I forget to take off my shoes when I go inside, and maybe I can't eat all the food without drinking half a gallon of water, but overall I think I'm doing fairly well.
Anne has been in Korea for over a year, studying here, and GaHui is Korean, obviously, so I am a bit of the third wheel when it comes to Korean conversation, but GaHui is very kind and makes sure to translate all the important things for us. I do feel quite bad for her though, because since she's the only Korean in our group and she also speaks English well, she has to do a lot of work.



Now it's about 1:30 at night so I'm gonna wrap it up here.
Maybe I will elaborate on this post a bit and fix my grammar (in this one week my English has already gone from pretty awesome to explaining-stuff-to-Koreans level) tomorrow, but honestly I'm already glad I could even find the time to get this much on here.


Expect many more pictures and hopefully some good news regarding the teaching situation next week!

Groetjes uit Korea~







p.s.