Ewwphony of the Night

"If you have nothing to do tonight, I invite you to go sing to singing room with us together." This message was sent to me by my 1st semester Korean buddy Kim JinHyeong. It was April; I am very fresh in Korea, Korea is fresh to me. I didn't know what a singing room is but I gladly obliged. I went with the other ASEAN students to meet JinHyeong downtown. He was with two other Korean buddies, Chaehun the Taekwondo champ and YeongHun the Shy Guy.

This room was unlike what I've seen before. We don't have a singing room with an interior like this in the Philippines. I thought it was uniquely Korean.

Alas, inside the sound-proof walls of the Noraebang I sang like I have never sung before. It was a wild night! And I am not showing the photos!

1 hour later, the ajjoshi (mister) entered the room to announce a "free service". Koreans broadly use the word "service" to mean freebies, extras, and discounts. The mister was kind enough to give us 20 more cacophonous minutes for free. But we were kinda worried about the curfew actually; the dorm closes at 11pm and we started walking back at 10:30. The dorm is 20 minutes away from the Noraebang by foot if we walk leisurely.

"Horeb, gwenchana", says YeongHun. I asked him what "gwenchana" means. He said that Koreans say gwenchana to mean "It's okay. Don't worry." YeongHun told me that the dorm administrator would let us in because they're friends. haha.

Ooh. I learned three Korean words today, aside from discovering my hidden talent worth hiding: noraebang, so-bi-su (service), and gwenchana. ^^; The boon of informal learning begins here.

We made it to the dorm on time, yearning to go back again to the Noraebang.

The Chronicles of the Northern Kimchi 3 of ~

After dinner and a short dabble in the East Sea, we prepared for our 3-kilometer walk towards a high-school near the 38th parallel. The place where we are now is the most proximate town to North Korea. (Unfortunately, I cannot remember the name; I hope I would dream of it since I always dream lucidly). We were chanting "dongil-euro", which means "towards unification" while walking under the pouring rain, side by side with fired-up Daejeon University students. It was good that we were provided with raincoats that we used for this march and for hiking Mt. Geumgang. This raincoat is one of my valuable possessions since it has been rained upon both in the South and North. I am keeping it safe in my drawer.

Anyhow, upon reaching the high school, we watched an on-stage performance of Daejeon University students. There were things of sorts and wacky stunts that I've never really seen anywhere: head-smashing a huge watermelon, a drama that I really didn't understand, thanks to my diligence studying Korean, and a tribute of happy (and some lugubrious) parents who are really proud of their children who are participating in this reunification march.
But what struck me most was the rubberband stunt performed by two male Daejeon University students where they both wore five huge rubberbands encircling their bodies, walked apart from each other till the rubberbands snap off, flinching their backs and tummies. Ouch, ouch! I'm so sorry for them. And I'm also sorry for the two famous rappers who took the stage and brought the house down though it was raining like hiking the next day would be impossible.

The Chronicles of the Northern Kimchi 1 of ~
The Chronicles of the Northern Kimchi 2 of ~

I Remember Saying this Line

a month to go before leaving Korea...

"I am grateful to become a victim of a fairytale that has an implicit promise to never end..."

A Kaleidoscopic Bibimbapish Post, Samut-saring Karanasan ng mga Ipinalit-pinagpalit na Magaaral

Alumni’s Experiences : International College Student Exchange Program between
the Republic of Korea and ASEAN Nations.




I belong to Batch 2007.

What is exchange student in Filipino? Anyone?