One Night Only

Well, after the first day of the new school year, we all went out to dinner to welcome the new teachers. Thankfully, we went to my favorite restaurant in Korea. It's a Korean barbeque that serves duck. Oh, I love duck, it's so good. The unnerving thing however is that raw duck and duck that is done looks a bit too similar. So, when the principal starts eating, I tend to wait a bit to make sure that the meat is cooked. With my stomach I don't need to chance it with some undercooked water fowl.

Well, after the dinner I was taken to the noraebang. Now, this was my first trip to the noraebang, which is Korean for "singing room." It's Korean karaoke. Well, I didn't really want to go, but I was kind of forced to go. Well, let me describe it for you. The building has several rooms in it. Each room is the size of a living room. A couple of couches, one wall has about 9 tv screens on it. There are disco balls, and black lights, and black light stars and planets. There are loud speakers and two of the worst microphones ever.

There is nothing that can compare with middle aged Koreans who are slightly tipsy singing loudly in such a confined place. They tried to make me sing, but I wouldn't do it. The vice principal also was a bit inebriated. He told me I was a good teacher, and asked me to stay another year. Then he hugged me and told me we were brothers. It was a strange evening to say the least.