K-Pop and Locking

Ask and you shall receive. My adventures to Asia have enhanced my life experience greatly and I have no intention to stop this. My friendship circle becomes much more international and multicultural spanning the entire globe (well except Antarctica).

Last week I put out a request on Facebook to help introduce me to some locals in Seoul. Huge thanks for the overwhelming response; I am still trying to get in touch with everyone.

Now how about I fill you in some of my new cultural experiences. My guardian angel in Singapore put me in touch with an awesome new friend. Somehow through her hectic schedule her and a friend managed to share new info for me and she also supplied a friend and I with concert tickets.  I am not talking about the Stones, or Lady Gaga, but a concert unlike any I had been to before: K-POP.  Think Backstreet boys and Spice Girls era dancing and beats.  The girls of all these bands are beautiful, so much so that many men know the lyrics to the songs, dance moves and everything.

I was never a fan of this type of music, but I walked in with an entirely different set of eyes, not much different than when I saw the Wizard of Oz Broadway show in Singapore.  This is all about the experience and indeed it was.  The light shows were incredible, the songs were incredibly catchy and the dance moves well choreographed.  Here is my favourite dance move:

Alongside the concert I met up with my neighbor from university. Clayton and I had a blast at the concert and a great catching up, both of us viewing the world in a different set of eyes compared to the ones 4 years ago in school. 

Other cultural experiences this week included a taxi misunderstanding my destination, having to pay for a 3 dollar cab with my visa since they couldn’t make change, diving into the tunnel system that is Seoul subway, and most recently Korean Seafood BBQ with Tapooki.

The BBQ was a wonderful experience, and the food was delicious. Staff at the restaurant were very accommodating to our lack of Korean and their lack of English. This was a true Korean dining experience with no foreigners there other than myself and my roommate. The table beside us was a group of 6 older men just hammered on soju, another table a young couple and another a group of women who just finished work I can assume.  My meal consisted of a large amount of Octopus. I swear eating octopus is like eating spaghetti with suction cups. 

One Sec, let me febreeze you

I am probably mixing days up but one of these recent days, Monday I think, I went shopping. Any of you that know me knows that I am not exactly a good shopper. I am learning though. That’s right, the 2-time Best Dressed of MSVU student union sucks at shopping. Someone reminded me of that the other day, when going through old pictures from university. 

The odd time I strike it well with a cool piece of clothing, but I so seldom buy clothes as I wear clothes until they wear out, not until they are no longer fashionable. Fortunately I have never been aware of something being out of style (a t shirt and jeans for example). T-shirts was exactly what I went out to pick up. Specifically, along the $10 per shirt kind of price range. Zara had some but they didn’t look that nice, not plain enough for me. Then we went to this shop, Top Man. I didn’t think we had any of these stores in Canada but Brenna informed me we do in Toronto. Anyway I found 3 stylish plain t-shirts for 36 SGD, which in Canadian dollars is about 25% less, and right into my price range. 

Hunger pangs set in, and Robyn suggested I try Korean BBQ. While I am not exactly in Rome (Korea), I figured why the hell not. Probably one of the best decisions I have made, it was awesome. And for the first time since I have arrived I can say I feel like I had sufficient vegetables, without supplementing snow peas and carrots to get there. 

With a layout fit for a king, we had beef short ribs, Kim chi (I love this stuff), and another kind of Kim chi, anchovies, black beans, onions, mini potatoes, a soybean soup, and lettuce, probably more.  Here is a picture of it.

I also learned how you are supposed to eat it. This is where I noted a difference in culture. In Canada you never stuff your face so full you feel like a chipmunk. Here it was almost expected. So much so that the point is to make it so you can’t possibly talk.

We went to a bar her friend owns after this. Upon arrival it was suggested we get sprayed with Febreeze as we smelled of fire pit. Even though I was full we were offered a complementary dish of dried meats. Harfiskurr in Icelandic or jerky to us, there was squid, a few kinds of fish and beef jerky. While the picture wasn’t appealing it certainly tasted good. Then again I have a very adventurous palate so my opinion could be a little skewed.

At the bar I had some wine type drink. It was pretty good. The bar had some really cool displays of their liquor as well. K-pop was playing and music videos were on. The dancing was hilarious to watch, looked kind of cheesy.