DVD Bang

I forgot to talk about all the different Bangs, or rooms, in Korea. There's Norae Bangs (singing rooms a.k.a. private party karoake), PC bangs (computer rooms for all your gaming needs), and DVD bangs.

DVD bangs are places that have a selection of movie rentals that you don't take home and return, but instead watch in a small, private room at the establisment. Apparently, according to some Korean friends, these places are sometimes used by people to fool around, especially younger adults who still live with their parents (or maybe the box of tissues in the room was just in case you wanted to watch a tear-jerker, who knows). So it may look odd for two girls to go into a room together, but Erin and I don't care about getting strange looks and we found the experience to be worth the wonder.

This particular DVD Bang we went to is on the north side of Yeokgok station on the fourth or fifth floor. It was clean and the Ajuma that worked there was nice to us. We went in and decided on 2 Days in Paris to watch. For 11,000won we got to pick out a drink and sit in our own private room to watch our movie on a big screen with great sound. The room was also very clean and cozy. Well worth the money and more enjoyable than going to a movie theatre, in my opinion.

Just like being at home, but with a better entertainment system. I definitely recommend the experience if you're ever in Korea. These places are plentiful, so it's not hard to find one.

We actually haven't been back there since, but I definitely want to go again before I leave. It'd be cool to open one of the in the U.S.

점심 맛있었어요! Lunch was delicious!

Lunch is often my favorite meal of the day during the week. I never have to worry about figuring out what I'm going to eat, because I eat in the cafeteria with other teachers. Sometimes it's not exactly what I want, but usually it hits the spot. Today we actually had spaghetti with meat sauce (including mushrooms and corn) and vegetable/seaweed mixed rice patties (I don't remember the actual name of them) with orange juice. The spaghetti this time around was pretty good, not sweet like the last time. And it's funny that no matter how many carbs or starches lunch includes, you can always guarantee there will be rice. Some Koreans have told me if they don't have rice everyday their stomachs feel empty. Bread is actually thought of as an in-between-meals snack, not part of a meal like we eat it in the West. So if I tell Sun Jung that I had a bagel for breakfast or even just some yogurt or fruit, she thinks I'm not eating enough. She eats rice, soup, kimchi, and sometimes fried eggs for breakfast. After all, it is the most important meal of the day.

I'm getting side-tracked. My point is, yesterday's lunch was way better! There was 오의 김치 (cucumber kimchi--my fav), rice, orange halves, some kind of salty, brown-brothed crab soup with small crabs in it chopped in half, and my new favorite dish: 장조림!

장조림(jang jo lim) is tender chunks of beef and hard-boiled quail eggs cooked in a type of soy sauce marinade. This is the second time I've had it. The first, that I remember at least, is when Sun Jung's mom sent a package of her home-cooked food and Sun Jung gave me a plastic container of it. I love her mom's cooking so of course it was delicious then, and at lunch yesterday it was just as good.

Are you sick?

The Korean word for sick, hurt, pain, and the like is all the same: 아프다 -- apeuda, or ah-ppuh. Whether you have a headache or a cold or you fell down the stairs and broke your ankle, they will ask, "Are you sick?"

I remember the first time I got my Asian hair extensions, the girl weaving them in didn't speak much English, so she kept asking me, "are you sick, are you sick?" I was confused as to why she would randomly ask me that until I figured out she was talking about my head. Luckily, I'm not tender headed and I already knew the word for hurt, so I told her it didn't hurt, in Korean.

This came to mind today when I saw one of my 4th graders in the hall about 5 minutes after her class let out, holding a bag of ice to her ankle while she hobbled down the hall. She saw me and said, "Jessica teacher, I'm sick!" and she pointed to her ankle. I thought it was cute. I mean, she's ok, her ankle isn't broken or anything, I wouldn't laugh at that. Language translation is just...interesting, sometimes.

Everland: October 18, 2009

Everland is an amusement park in Korea, North East (?) of Seoul. Me, Erin, and a high school teacher we know, Fernando, decided to go since teachers could get in at half price before Halloween. The park was actually decorated for Halloween, which surprised me because most of my students didn't even know anything about Halloween back when I decorated the classroom at the beginning of October. Nevertheless, it was nice to be in a Halloween decorated environment and outside breathing the cool, crisp fall air in a mountainesque scene with Autumn colored leaves all around. It really set the spirit for the holiday. ;)

There was a pretty big animal section in the park. It was basically like a small zoo. Erin liked the cheetahs the best; they were behind a plastic cage/window so you could stand right next to it, and it was almost creepy because they look so viscious. I definitely wouldn't want to run into one of those in the wild. And there were baby lion cubs that were adorable. They were playing with each other and pouncing around. You could get close to them as well.

When we got to the bird sanctuary, Fernando decided he was gonna feed some birds. Then Erin decided to do the same, and just as I got my camera out, she said, "Jessie look, I got some bird food," and all of a sudden, all these birds swarmed to her, and as if she was getting attacked, she ran towards Fernando for help...and this is how the picture came out...I captured the moment a little too late because I was laughing, c'mon it was funny. :)


Sometimes you just can't pass up a funny photo op. :


Lots of animals at this theme park...kinda like Bush Gardens in Tampa.


This kid is cute, but he doesn't look real enthused about his parents forcing him to sit on the fake monkey.

Everland features the second fastest and biggest roller coaster in Asia that has a huge drop, which not only goes straight down, but also slightly inward. Erin really wanted to go on it, but I refuse to go on wooden roller coasters (they always give me a migraine headache) and I knew it would ruin my whole night if I did. So, her and Fernando were gonna go on it and I decided to just wander around to where the carnival/fair type rides were. Well they ended up not going on the roller coaster, and Erin was a little upset about it, especially after she saw that I was riding what she considers a lame kids' ride...I was just killing time, man. Anywho, we all ended up going on the smaller rollercoaster before we headed to the gift shops; it was ok, but nothing can top Islands of Adventure in Orlando...Incredible Hulk anyone? It's the best.

The Magic Swing: the ride that ruined Erin's night

We hit up the gift shops at the end of the night to discover that the merch was very reasonably priced and marked down quite a bit. I bought all kinds of Halloween goodies.

I finished the night off with some 만두 (mahn-do=Korean dumplings) and we took the two hour bus ride back to Gangnam where we had to take the subway home. The whole day would've definitely been better if we would've got an earlier start and not woke up late from being hungover, but we've been to enough theme parks for it to not really matter too much. I mean, between Jacksonville and Yorktown/Williamsburg, I've been to enough theme parks to last me a lifetime ;)