It was my friend Martyns birthday so half of Geochang disappeared into a small bar last night
I ate Octopus. Thought I 'd get the proof that it wasn't fried and that rather disgustingly you have to pull o fthe tentacles.
Hite is a popular brand of er.... coke?
I can even now sing Happy Birthday in Korean.
The traditional cutting of the cake though in this case it was an ice cream cake.
The problem with getting drunk and staying in a hotel is that they have a checkout time. here though is an excellent idea. DVD bang (bang means room). You can hire a DVD and have your own private showing for less than it costs to go to the cinema. I think most rooms are probably used by couples and people dealing with hangovers who dont wanna catch a bus home yet!
Here I am the morning after. Forget the dopey look, many of you may notice that I have been able to get my hair cut in Korea. It involved pointing a t pictures and being disappointed with the results.
Martyn seemed to cope better than the rest of us but he was the birthday boy.
Megan didn't cope well at all!!!!!
So as I mentioned it was my friends birhtday and we hit a Korean club. It was mainly R'n'B but more suprisingly it was mainly English songs (from about 5 years ago)
Only three of us made it as far as Daegu and I thought I would catch a picture of Martyn with a straw!
Random person alert! I have no idea who this person is but clearly wanted to take a picture. I remember she was Canadian. Canadian people seem to like me.
Me and Megan when we can both still stand. This was the first club we found. It was called Bubble which I found amusing as there wasn't anything similar to bubbles in there. Disappointed already.
Catching Martyn and Megan dancing without them knowing had proved difficult but soo as they got drunk it was another story.
A Western bar that treated us normally. I have gotten used to be stared at and having a celebrity status. The bar men even said "cheers mate" after I had ordered in Korean. This place was very similar to the little civic in music and decor for those that know Wolverhampton.
I don't know I feel the need to show you a hotel that we stayed in but I like the pics and this is my blog.
This is before a night out. You'll see those pics above.
Interesting side note on Korean hotels. You can't share rooms with the opposite sex over night but you can rent them for an hour. Is that strange to anyone else?
I don't know why but this restaurant is apparantly famous.
Thats right. Not only am I the only westerner, I'm the only male
You can rent the rooms for Norrybang (singing room) and because we're western we usually get more free minutes in there.
One of my Korean friends invited me over to his house for a bbq. His house is just outside the main town in the country and I like the back drop of this picture.
This is Megan and Vicky. Most of the Koreans have an English name as well which they ask us to call them (although Megan is actually Korean-American)
The host cooking away on his home made bbq. Jack was very proud of his creation and cooked us up some good food. In case you were wondering, no we didn't eat the dalmation in the back ground.
We stayed out til dark. My final introduction is another Jack in the middle. We ended up staying up pretty late that night but its good to get to know people.
Gaumbe (cheers) as the drinks did flow. In most Korean tables you sit on a raised section with only a slightly bigger section for the food. The Koreans all sit cross legged which can get a bit uncomfertable after a while but they allow westerners forgiveness for not being as supple.
I was invited to a mountain cabin with my director and the parents of some students. It was a lovely day out and a lot easier than my last trip to the mountains as we went up in a car.
The cabin was lovely with an eating area for a bbq and a lot of games. We snacked on take away chicken during the afternoon.
This is Choo teacher. She is a wonderful teacher and I wish I had the same rapport with the kids that she does.
This game is played all over Korea. Its a little like connect 4 but you have to get 5 in a row and you can 'take' other peoples squares if you block them in like Othello.
There is a pond purpose built for the cabin and it has fresh clean water pumped into it. Before we got there and shook up all the silt on the bottom it was crystal clear.
We played in the water, splashing each other for a long time. The kids and the 'big kids' all loved it.
Ah the three all look very cute. Amy (on the left) is amazing at English for her age. She wants to be an interpreter and I'm sure she will manage it as she is better than my elementary school classes.
The markets of Daegu are why it is famous. In terms of land space Daegu is actually bigger than Seoul.
Just wanted a picture of myself and thought I'd show you my hotel room in Daegu. Its pretty fancy really.
Daegu is very organised and has districts for everything. I photographed this one cos the sign was in English as well. Unless you click the photo you won't be able to tell this is Jewellry street. all of the shops are Jewellers. This is why Korea has some low prices because everyone is in competition with each other, next door to each other!
