Rick Astley meets South Korea

Wednesday is activity day for all the teachers at my school. The staff gets together for a physical activity like basketball, volleyball, frisbee, etc. We played badmitton and boy can they play. I haven't played since middle school but badmitton is a very popular sport here in Korea. After classes on Wednesday we all got together in the gym and crushed some birds for about an hour. It was myself and the physics teacher against a math and PE teacher. The game was super intense but we lost.

After badmitton me and a few of the other PE teachers shot hoops for a while. Most Korean men know a thing or two about the big NBA players but when I try to explain the Blazers to them it falls on deaf ears. Anyways, they like to bust out the trick shots so there were a lot of behind the back drives and 360s. They scream out their favorite players they're emulating like, 360 fadeaway "LEBRON JAMES" - BRICK - REBOUND. It was hilarious.

After that we had a welcoming party for myself and another new teacher. The event was in the cafeteria and was catered. Since the kids had gone home the adults busted out the soju. As I wrote about before, soju is a huge part of their culture and usually consumed in mass quantities during meals. My new friends taught me the names of a few of the dishes and proper table etiquette. Social standing is a pretty big deal and most of your actions (whether it be talking, eating, drinking) are determined by your standing in relation to whom you are doing said activity with. So for example, I was pouring drinks for people who were older than me and somebody younger was pouring my drinks. If you are the same age you pour each others, but never your own. You always use two hands when giving or receiving something as well. It is considered rude and disrespectful to say pour a drink with one hand or receive one. You have to stay on top of your game to ensure people of higher standing are taken care of at the table.

After the welcoming party we went to another restaurant dowtown and had one of the best meals in my life. Bulgogi, or Korean BBQ, is very popular here. Everyone removes their shoes on entering the restaurant and sits on the floor on pretty comfortable pads. The coolest thing is that the BBQs are on the table themselves. You are served a huge platter of uncooked seasoned meat, vegetables, and seafood and then you grill it at your own table. It is delicious. Another new thing to me is the 'create-your-own-bite' system of eating. For example, you grab a large lettuce leaf, add some kimchi, add the meat on top of that, then maybe some chili sauce, anything else you want, dip it in some sauce, ball it up and chow down. Very, very good.

After our 2nd dinner we decided to hit up the noraebang. This literally translates to 'song room' in Korean. As you may have seen in the movies, most kareoke or noraebang in Asia is done in private, catered rooms. Our noraebang was on the 12th floor of a huge building downtown. They are super cheap to rent and tons of fun. I was really surprised at the song selection- I would say about 1/2 were American or Western type songs. I plan on dropping some Rick Astley all over Korea.

It was super late after singing but we ended up going to a bakery and getting some fresh baked foods. I came home yesterday and the co-teacher who escorted me home had bought me a bag full of milk, breads, and pastries for the next morning. Good times.