Clubbing in Korea

 

Photo taken from Google.

One of the most unforgettable experiences I had in Seoul was going to a club for the first time ever in my life! I have never gone clubbing before, not in Singapore, not in Australia so going to the club in Seoul was a real eye-opener and unexpectedly awesome.

I have always had the conception that clubs were sleazy places for people to hook people up or get hooked, and that it will be dirty, filled with smoke (from the smoking) and crazy drunken people. I guess clubs are more or less like that, but the club I went to was a little less like that though it was still rather smoky in some areas.

I went clubbing with bf and three of my classmates (a Chinese girl, and two other Koreans who were born in US and Brazil). SS (Chinese girl) was three years younger than me so she has never been to a club before and she was really curious as to how “clubbing” was like. That was the same for me. I was curious too. And since we had a classmate (the Brazilian Korean) who frequently went clubbing few times a week, why not join him for a night and experience it for ourselves?

I actually thought that people are supposed to drink tons when they go clubbing. But of course, the choice is up to the individual. That night, bf and I only had one bottle of beer which was actually a free drink that was part of the very expensive club entrance fee, 30-freaking bucks (apparently it was a special night for that particular club we went to). We only drank that and danced the rest of the night away!

I do not really know how the clubs in other countries are like but in Korea, MOST of the guys (not all) are really GUTSY and they throw out their conservatism completely out of the club’s door once they enter. On the dance floor, when a girl is dancing alone, she is most likely to be grabbed by a guy or crept up upon from behind while dancing. Those are from my own observations and personal stories told by my classmates. My Chinese friend actually experienced both grabbing and being crept up on while we were there! It was probably because she was dancing alone… my bf was always beside me so thankfully I did not experience that (or maybe I’m not hot enough? haha). A lot of times, if the girl allows it, the guy can get really touchy feely…! I’ve seen a few of such cases while I was dancing and it gave me the creeps.

What I really enjoyed while clubbing was dancing on the dance floor however you want! I mean you don’t have to be a great dancer to enjoy club dancing. Just move to the music and dance your stress/worries away! I also got the opportunity to flaunt my shuffle dance moves when Party Rock Anthem started playing! Not that I’m a pro but I actually tried dancing while at home because it seemed so easy when you see so many people doing the dance. But it was surprisingly difficult at first and it took me a few practices before I got the hang of it. Anyway, I love how HIGH the atmosphere was while on the dance floor. Even if you’re not a dancer, you would get pulled in by your surroundings (the people and music) then eventually move to the groove!

However, the downside was dancing too much made me rather tired and it was way past bedtime so for me, I cannot really stay the entire night or for a veeeeery long time like how most would do when they go clubbing. I actually got tired at around 2+am (we went there at around 12+), rested and pulled through until 3am when I finally admitted defeat and asked to go home.

I did enjoy the overall experience but I am not the kind who can go clubbing regularly. Too much smoking and too late into the night.

A Peek Into His Home

Okay, so here are some photos I took while I spent the Lunar New Year over at bf’s home in Daegu. (Finally some photos to show!)

This is the front of his home.

The backyard where two dogs used to live. I saw the dogs last year but they’re gone now. One was given away while the other was… I shall let you guess what happened to it.

The entrance where we take off our shoes.

The corridor that leads into the living room, Kitchen and the rest of the house. The door right there at the back leads to the toilet while the room (at the left of the photo) right in front of the entrance is his sister’s room.

The kitchen and dining room where the family never fails to have a meal together when they’re all at home. (That’s bf’s hand)

Next, a peek into his grandparents home where his eldest uncle and family is staying at as well. Their house is more traditional and you have to go out of the house whenever you want to go to another room.

Now the surroundings of their village:

As you can see, his home is located more in the rural areas of Daegu. His family owns a cow farm so that’s why they live in the countryside. It is kind of inconvenient since one really has to have a car to travel in and out. But his village is not as far from the city as it seems. By car, it only takes about 25-30mins.

Back to Singapore…

Yes, I landed at exactly 12am this morning from Seoul. Already I’m missing bf badly, and missing everything about my life in Korea. I loved my life in Korea, the times spent in school, with my classmates and of course, with beloved bf. My heart felt so heavy when I had to leave that place, I wanted to stay longer, I had that bit of impulse to prolong my stay there, but I can’t… because of the dreaded last semester I have left in Aus.

Isn’t it amusing that there is such a bipolar difference in my response towards my study abroad experience in Australia and Korea. Albeit it was a pretty short stay in Korea, but I still loved everything about it. I wanted to stay longer, even if I have to study… in fact I loved studying there too. In Australia, I just want to complete my studies ASAP and get out of that boring country. I never fail to look forward to leaving Aus… Always counting down to leaving during vacations, not really missing that place much besides the awesome weather. One of the reasons I dreaded leaving Korea was because of the fact that I knew the time for me to go back to Aus was nearing. If Aus was out of the picture, I wouldn’t be as reluctant. Oh wells. Too much for me to state WHY I feel this way so I’m going to leave it for now. Anyway, I’ve come this far, just one more semester and I’ll be out of the bore-hole for good!

Although I’m no longer in Korea now, I’ll continue to blog bits and pieces of my experiences in Korea!

Living in an ice box…

Actually the weather these days may well be colder than an ice box. Today’s weather is presumably the coldest this season, with the lowest temperature at –17dc in Seoul. Fortunately, having lived here for more than a month I have learned to dress warm so I don’t feel that frozen when I’m outside wrapped up in warm clothes. I have a great Fubu padding coat, a pair of cute ear muffs, gloves and mufflers to keep me warm!

Two days ago, it snowed really heavily. Although the aftermath of a snowfall isn’t pretty, I still find snowfall beautiful and enticing. My bf is sick of snow due to his snow-clearing duties while serving in the S.Korean army. He had to spend hours clearing piles and piles of snow in kangwon-do, the province that experiences the most snowfall in S.Korea. He added that snow causes accidents around the country too. Yes it ain’t all that pretty when you’re around to experience the aftermath of a snowfall especially when the melted snow on the ground freeze into ice, making it hard to walk on slippery areas that has the potential to make you fall and break your bones. Thus, the past two days has been quite a chore for me while travelling to school especially when the snow doesn’t melt that quickly since SNU is located in the mountains where it’s colder than the other areas in the city. Besides the caution I have to take while travelling to school, I still love walking on (non-slippery) snow and I still love snowfall. It’s still beautiful no matter how awful the aftermath may be. Perhaps people from tropical countries (Singapore, other SEA countries) may share the same sentiments as me!

Lunar New Year in Korea

Lunar New Year has always been my favourite holiday of the year as I get to spend a lot of time with my family and relatives. I get to meet the relatives whom I get to see only once a year during that time and we always gathered to play games, make fun of each other and catch up on each others’ lives. This year though, being in Korea, was the first time I spent new year away from home.

I got to experience how Koreans celebrate lunar new year when I made a trip down to Daegu with my bf to visit his family. It was my second time meeting his family so I wasn’t as nervous and I felt much more comfortable while I stayed at his home.

Before LNY, my Korean class actually had two chapters that covered the customs of Koreans when it comes to celebrating LNY. So I basically had the knowledge of their customs but really experiencing it was another thing.

Just like Singapore, Korea has two days of LNY holidays, 23rd and 24th of Jan this year. Bf and I stayed at his home from 20th to 24th Jan but we had to leave for Seoul on 24th Jan so we only celebrated LNY on the very first day.

On the morning of 23rd Jan, the first day of the lunar calendar (설날, new year, 初一) bf’s family and I woke up earlier than usual. The men had to wear formal suits for the ancestor ritual (차례) which is usually done on every major festivals such as New Year and Thanksgiving Day (추석 aka Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival). Thus, in the morning, bf’s family and I headed to his grandparents’ house (5mins walk away from their home) where most of his paternal relatives have gathered. Before having breakfast, the men of the family would pay respects to the ancestors. The altar is a table filled with all kinds of food prepared by the women of the family, along with a tablet with Chinese characters (I assume that represents the ancestors of their family). The ritual lasted for only 5-10mins.

After the ritual, the women got down to preparing breakfast while the men sat together for a drink of the wine they offered to their ancestors. I didn’t have to do anything although I am a woman because I’m not part of the family and was a guest so they kindly offered me a cup of the wine. After that, when breakfast was ready, the men sat around to have breakfast while the women continued with their food preparations. Women of the family are the busiest on such huge festivals as they have to prepare a lot of food for the ancestor ritual and for a large number of family members since they have all gathered. As for the men? They sit around, watching TV, talking and just eat. Such is the life of a conservative Korean family. If I were to marry Bf… I wonder if I can take on such a traditional role of a woman… … …

Anyways after breakfast, the men proceeded to visit another relatives’ house while I stayed behind with the women, who rested, watched TV and napped while waiting for the men to come back. Bf’s grandparents live in a traditional house, a very very humbled version of hanok so I basically sat on the floor the whole day. I watched TV and ate the whole day, all done sitting on the floor. My whole body was aching by the end of the day… ><

Just like Singapore, Koreans have their owns games played during LNY. The most popular Korean card game is called Hwatu. I’ve learnt it from Bf more than a year ago when he was in Australia and have never played it after that so I’ve sort of forgotten most of the rules. However, Bf’s family didn’t play any games at that time so it was quite a quiet new year’s day for me. This compared to the new year spent in Singapore where it’s always crowded and noisy for my family.

Spending LNY the Korean way was a new experience for me and it was good meeting bf’s relatives. However, I still prefer Singapore’s style of celebrating LNY, the noisy way, from the chattering of the aunties/uncles, shouting during gambling and all the RED-ness.

Classes made more interesting

For the last two days we had interesting activities replacing our normal study period. We had a class dedicated to ‘Arirang’, a popular Korean folk song that actually has numerous versions from different provinces around Korea. The most popular one would be the 경기아리랑, Kyeong-gi Arirang, the one which K-pop singers would sing at the end of a major K-pop concert. Well, that’s the only reference I can give based on my own experience with the song… Okay, a video should be way much better:

On that day, KLEI invited a couple of Korean students majoring in Korean traditional music to perform arirang for us during our last period of class. They attempted to teach us but the response was a little lacklustre. All 4 morning classes of level 4 gathered but our voices cannot be compared to the main singer who came to perform for us. Still, it was an interesting experience and after hearing the word ‘arirang’ so many times, I finally learnt more about its origins and meaning.

The next day, we actually had to put up a play of an old Korean folk tale about ‘흥부와 놀부’ aka the Heung-bu and nol-bu brothers. The story is about how the kind brother received good fortune while the evil brother was punished for his misdeeds. I played Heung-bu’s wife and had to put on a hanbok for it. It was actually more fun than I expected. ^^ Luckily we only had to perform in front of just ONE other class instead of the entire level 4.

I think it’s great that KLEI has such classroom activities that involves a deeper understanding of Korean culture and at the same time, enhances our Korean language ability! I wish UQ’s Korean major could organize such activities when I took Korean classes in UQ. Okay, actually UQ’s Korean major cannot be compared to the Korean classes that I’m having now. In 10 weeks, I can actually learn so much and for that amount it probably will take me a year to learn in UQ. The learning pace in UQ’s Korean major is not only insanely slow, the teaching standard is not that great as well. Okay, maybe I should stop defaming the Korean major in UQ… or leave it for another blog post next time! 

Already halfway through my stay in Korea

5 weeks have past since I began studying at the Korean language education institute in SNU. We have even taken the mid-sem exams last week. I did pretty well for the exams even though I studied last minute… something which I hope won’t happen again during the final exam as I’m going to aim for an even higher score!

From my exams, I realised my weakest point is my Korean listening skills. Somehow my listening skills aren’t always the best even with English and Chinese. I remember that I don’t do very well for my listening tests when I’m in primary school. So from now on, I’m going to make myself listen to Korean radio everyday. I actually have two Korean radio channels i listen to occasionally:

1) Park So Hyun’s Love Game

2) Super Junior’s Kiss the Radio – Has an iphone app which you can listen and watch them live while they’re on air! :)

I am absolutely loving the life I’m living right now in Seoul, enjoying every moment, even when I’m in class, even when I’m studying! The past 5 weeks in Seoul couldn’t beat the 2 and a half years I spent in Aus even though life in Aus has been great fun. Here in Korea, I get to spend a lot of time with bf, Korean lessons are interesting (not always but most of the time), and I get to use Korean everyday and everywhere I go! I feel much more confident using Korean right now.

The only downside is that I’m not making Korean friends in Korea because I’m studying in a Korean language institute so there is minimal chance of meeting other Korean students. Luckily, I made Korean friends while in Aus and have met a couple of them since I came to Korea. One of them, 수빈언니 (Subin unnie) has invited me and bf to her house for dinner tomorrow! She has been so nice to me, providing me places of interest to visit in Seoul, many of which are not the usual tourist spot but she highly recommends them.

The weather in Seoul is freezing but it isn’t as cold as last year. 5 weeks in Winter Seoul, I’ve probably become used to the weather already. Every morning, I make sure to wear enough before stepping out of the house. In the past, even though I know it’s cold I thought I would be able to tolerate the cold, so I wear a knit sweater and a winter coat on the outside. But that’s actually not enough especially when it gets below 0dc. Two layers underneath is the least that one should wear not to feel COLD (like trembling cold) outside.

Right now, I just have to make the best of what Seoul can offer me and spend the next 5 weeks working hard towards improving my Korean even more.