Korean Karaoke (Noraebang)

Our first experience with Noraebang was when we just arrived here. It was our second day here and the English teachers from whom we were taking over invited us to meet the other foreigners in Seosan. We started out at a self bar. Self bars are bars where you take your own drinks out of the refrigerator and only pay once you’re ready to go. After that we went to another bar in the same street. Later we found out that the people called this street ‘Bar Street’ because of all the bars in the street. At this bar we could dedicate English songs and play darts. Here we could also drink cocktails and other strong beverages. About 2 hours later we all decide to go to a Noraebang. You know… when you’re drunk your up for anything, even karaoke.

When we walk in it is a medium sized room with cosy couch like seats in a U-shape in the room. There are 2 televisions and 2 microphones. There are even some tambourines if you feel like joining in if you’re not singing. The great thing is you don’t have to sing alone if you don’t want to.. People often join in if they know the song. Furthermore no one judges you. Everyone is there to have fun.

Noraebang has a variety of songs and they provide some snacks and you can buy beers from them.

By the time we walked out the sun was already out.

This kind of experience is not uncommon in Korea.

Arriving in Korea

Welcome to Seosan City in Chungcheongnam-do, Korea

It is not a very popular city for foreign visitors. In fact, lonely planet doesn’t even mention it.

My husband and I have been living here since the 1st of January 2015. We came here, like many other foreigners, to teach English. We left our home country on the 31st of December, spending our New Years in the air somewhere between Abu Dhabi and Korea. We left sunny South Africa, only to step onto the icy Korean soil.

Honestly we have never experienced this magnitude of “freeze”, ever…

Bearing in mind that we come from a warm country, where our winter temperatures are normally around 14 degrees and summer reaches 35+. After the initial freeze we got on a bus to Seosan-si. Our first experience with Korean buses was, something of a nightmare. In all fairness I have to say that not all the bus drivers are the same. We have had some really pleasant bus trips since then, but back to beginning. I remember thinking. Oh my word, we didn’t die on the flight over here but we are going to die on this bus. The reason being that the driver kept falling asleep behind the wheel. Swerving a little left, then a little right before waking himself with a jerk of the head. The second reason is that he drove through the tolls gates so fast that the speed limit indicators where shaking as we went past. This lasted for two and a half hours. Finally we made it to Seosan…alive. When we got to the bus terminal there where no one waiting for us. We’re in a foreign country where everyone speaks Korean and they do not understand English. Luckily a young girl offered to phone our new boss to pick us up from the terminal. And this is where our adventure began…