The Second Final Dinner

One year ago, Fulbright held the closing ceremony for the 2012-2013 grant year. I wrote in my blog then that the event was nice, but didn't feel so much like the end of everything for a few reasons: it was still a few weeks before the actual end of the grant, the programming was filled with talks and performances, which left little time to reminisce with friends, and, most importantly, it wasn't actually the end. Last year's "final dinner" was actually just the midpoint of my Fulbright grant period. I left the event knowing that although I was saying goodbye to some of my friends, I certainly wasn't leaving Korea: this country and I still had a whole entire year ahead of us

And now that year is over.

This past weekend was my second Fulbright Final Dinner, and it was also the last. Was it different? Surprisingly, I think it was a bit less nostalgic and emotional. I mean, it was largely the same as last year's ceremony, but I knew even fewer people. Still, as always, I enjoyed seeing my friends and having a blast in Seoul for a short weekend.

I was foolish enough to bring my camera but not my battery, so I couldn't take any nice photos over the weekend! I guess I'll have to use thousands of words instead. Haha, kidding, here are some highlights:

1. Volume 7, issue 2 of the Fulbright Infusion was released at the dinner! It is a beautiful magazine, and I'm excited to share it with my students and colleagues. Check out the website, too, to see some of my photos and pieces that were published!

2. A Fulbright Korea alumnus who did his grant year about twenty years ago was a guest at the final dinner, and even though he is a complete stranger, he came up to me and asked, "Hey, you write a blog, don't you?" Apparently, I have some dedicated readers who aren't just my Facebook friends! This little surprise made me very happy.

3. I went back to Acousticholic! Unfortunately, we only caught the tail end of my friend's performance that night, but it was great to catch up with him afterward. This guy is working for JYP Entertainment as a songwriter. I swear he's going to be really big one day...

Food from The Beastro in Hongdae (#6). Also, I'm about to stab my 삼겹살 sliders. Photo courtesy Neal Singleton!

4. A fundraising organization called Running 4 Resettlement, which was founded by a group of current Fulbrighters, held an event at a new restaurant in Hongdae called The Beastro. Donating money to help North Korean defectors adjust comfortably to life in South Korea? Check. Good drinks and company? Check. Chilling in on an open rooftop terrace in Hongdae on a cool summer night? Check.

5. That night, I stayed at a 24-hour sauna called Siloam (신로암), near Seoul Station. It's an amazing sauna, far better than any I've been to (though I haven't yet paid a visit to SpaLand in Busan...). I tried all the different hot baths and steam rooms, including one with walls made of charcoal and one that was like a pit of heated salt rocks. My friends and I chatted in the steam rooms and played Contact until three in the morning! (I may write more about this sauna at a later date, although it's too bad I didn't take any pictures!)

6. Lunch at The Beastro on Sunday morning. This restaurant is amazing! Need proof? Check hungryinhongdae. Also, more ice cream at Fell+Cole, where I finally redeemed the stamp card I've been using for a whole year. 

Katelyn, Clara, and me at Fell+Cole.

7. Followed by shopping -- I got a new shirt (and am now worried about what I'm going to do with all the clothes I've accumulated in this country over the past two years) and a nice afternoon 노래방 (karaoke room) session with friends.

And just like that, a too-short weekend came to an end. Final exams at my school begin tomorrow, which means I will still have nothing to do all day besides input grades, take care of administrative stuff, and... get things ready for the Fulbright teacher who will replace me next semester. Whoever they are, they will say hello to South Korea in one week. (Orientation begins for the new Fulbright class next Monday.) And one month after that, I will say goodbye!

Food for the Seoul

Ice cream in Iksan, Bananagrams at Belgium Chocolatier, Ben's Cookies, Myeongdong Kyoja, Monster Pizza, listening to Tim Be Told, chilling at AcousticHolic, shopping at Ssamziegil in Insadong.

My wallet has been relieved of the army of King Sejongs who have been living in it undisturbed for quite some time. In their place, a wad of receipts. A weekend in Seoul always means money spent left and right, but I had a great time and ate a lot of amazing food; it was all well worth it.

Friday Food: MEAT and a quarter gallon of ice cream
So, last Friday after school, I took a two-leg bus trip to Iksan (익산) to visit Katelyn, who welcomed me with dinner at 종로상회, an amazing barbecue restaurant with generous portions, and the traditional Iksan Initiation: a quarter-gallon of Baskin Robbins, to be eaten in one sitting. At BR, we ran into two of her students, and I was sorely tempted to pretend to be Katelyn's boyfriend. We then pigged out on ice cream and cookies we had both baked while watching Monsters University, which I fairly enjoyed despite its predictability.

Saturday Food: street food and super-spicy vindaloo
Late Saturday morning, we took a bus to Seoul for our weekend adventure. Most of this adventure consisted of shopping and eating. Our first stop was Insadong (인사동), the neighborhood best known for souvenirs and traditional Korean crafts that are made in China. Eh, some of them are made in China, but honestly I wasn't able to tell what was really authentic and what wasn't. However, I was especially enamored with Ssamziegil (쌈지길), a four-story building crammed to bursting with little shops for everything from jewelry and clothes to phone accessories and toys. Everything looked handmade, and just walking around and taking in the sights was as much a pleasure as the shopping itself. I will certainly come back to Insadong in the future, this time armed with my camera.

As for good eats, well, there's nothing like a $1 hotteok (호떡) in a cup from a street vendor on a below-freezing night. After snacking in Insadong, Katelyn, Ashley, and I joined Liam in Hongdae for dinner at an exellent Indian/Nepalese restaurant called Yeti (예티), which I featured in hungryinhongdae a while back. The lamb vindaloo was extremely spicy and caused me to sweat, but I couldn't stop eating it (and should have ordered another mango lassi to calm my tongue...) Also, bottomless naan baskets! What a deal! Following that, we hurried to AcousticHolic to watch our friends perform. I hadn't been in at least six months, but everyone still remembered me! And their performances were excellent, as usual.

Sunday Food: chopped noodle soup, cookies, egg tart, fro-yo, American pizza and a burger
In an attempt to beat the crowds at the famous Myeongdong Kyoja (명동교자), Katelyn, Jessica and I aimed to arrive at Myeongdong, Seoul's famous upscale shopping district, at 11:30am. We actually got to the restaurant at noon, and the place was as busy as a beehive. The three of us were promptly seated at a table for two, ordered three bowls of 칼국수 (delicious noodle soup that warms your soul) and paid up front in cash (8,000KRW), and within two minutes three bowls of soup and sides of kimchi appeared on our table. It was faster than fast food! I was dumbfounded. But the restaurant was extremely busy; people kept coming in, eating, and leaving in the blink of an eye. Still, the ladies and I had the time to talk and catch up, and we also got second helpings of the delicious (and bottomless/free refill) noodles.

After lunch, Katelyn and I hopped in and out of shops in the midst of post-Christmas sales, but I exercised some restraint and bought only one thing: a divinely delicious orange-milk chocolate cookie from Ben's Cookies, a chain that does one thing and does it well, with six locations in Seoul. At three bucks, it's one-third of a nice scarf from Spau, but I'd take the cookie any day!

Katelyn then had to leave for the airport, and I hung out with Liam for the afternoon (i.e. read a book and napped in his apartment). We chilled at a small cafe in Hongdae called Cafe Omao that has egg tarts from Lord Stow's, which explains why a sign for the various tarts (not just egg, but also sweet potato tarts, pumpkin tarts, red bean tarts, and apple cinnamon tarts) read, "Andrew's Egg Tarts & Coffee". 2,200KRW for a small egg tart is extremely pricey in my opinion, but it was good, and the atmosphere of the place is perfect for what Liam calls "a good cafe session", which basically means we talked at length about our various experiences in Korea over the past 18 months, how our viewpoints have changed, and what we're expecting from the nebulous and uncertain future.

For dinner, we met up with Monica, on her way back from her sixth (or six-hundredth, who knows) K-pop concert of the semester, and dined at Burger B, another hungryinhongdae favorite. The gorgonzola burger (9,000KRW) here is great, but it's not something that will fill you up after a full day of halfhearted shopping (i.e. walking around), so we hit up Monster Pizza for some legit American-style pizza. It's not your Korean Mr. Pizza or Pizza Etang, nope, this is a huge slice of cheese, pepperoni, or ham with peppers -- no sweet potato, corn, mayo, or bulgogi on this baby -- for 3,500KRW. It was amazing. I'll be back (with my camera).

We ended our evening with fro-yo from Snow Spoon Cafe, which features macarons, gelato, standard cafe fare, and, of course, frozen yogurt in a number of crazy flavors on rotation. These include: milk tea, red wine, squid ink, rice, and something called "blue" (not "blueberry", mind you, just "blue"). I got red wine and blackberry, and Monica chose milk tea with original tart. Price is based on weight in grams at 26KRW/g, which is nearly 70 cents per ounce. Extremely pricey compared to Californian fro-yo shops. Still... it's fro-yo! I quite enjoyed it. At Monica's apartment, we watched Bridesmaids, which I thought was funny albeit a bit overhyped. Still, Kristen Wiig is fantastic. Also, pomegranates are fantastic. Hanging out with friends and eating pomegranates is fantastic.

Monday Food: brunch and Belgian hot chocolate
I had originally intended to return to Changwon on Sunday evening, but decided that I'd rather spend more time (and money) in Seoul with my friends, so on Monday morning, I met up with Ashley for brunch at The Flying Pan Blue in Itaewon. My egg/ham/avocado/pesto thing on toasted French bread was amazing, and Ashley got a delicious panini. Most Americans will attest that it's difficult to get a good sandwich in Seoul (let alone Korea), so this was quite a treat. Most breakfasts, which are served all day, run from 15-18,000KRW.

Following that, we went to a cafe called... Well, to tell the truth I'm not sure what it's called. Jubilee Chocolatier, I think, but my receipt tells me 벨지움쇼콜라띠에 (Belgium Chocolatier). I should have taken photos! Anyway, raspberry hot chocolate at this joint is pricey (5.800KRW) but delicious. The tiramisu tart is pricey (7,000KRW) and not quite as delicious, or perhaps my sweet tooth was finally running out after a weekend chock-full of desserts. In any case, the best part of this cafe was that Ashley and I got to play Bananagrams and Pirate Scrabble in peace, and this is part of why I love cafe culture in Korea.

Before I finally left for Changwon, I met a friend of a friend who is in Seoul visiting family -- and we chatted as I waited for my bus. He's also a fan of Tim Be Told, aka my favorite band in the universe! Everyone go buy their newest album, Mighty Sound.

Whew!
What a weekend. I was so happy to see my friends again and also to make new ones. It's a bit tough on my penny-pinching mentality to splurge the way I did, but the good times are worth it. I'm fortunate to have a job where I make enough not to have to worry about finances. That said, I should continue to be frugal, since I have two months of vacation and ahead of me, and travel isn't cheap.

On another note, how silly of me not to bring my camera to Seoul. I claimed I was trying to travel lightly, but seriously, I missed out on a lot of great photos of interesting architecture in Insadong, friends having a good time in Hongdae, and beautiful food everywhere. I had to struggle with the poor camera in my phone, and the result is the collage you see above. Lesson duly noted: bring your camera with you wherever you go, Andrew.

- - -
Just for my own future reference, bus times and fares!
Changwon to Jeonju: 2.5 hrs, 14,400KRW
Jeonju to Iksan: 45min, 3,300KRW
Iksan to Seoul: 3.5 hrs, 17,500KRW
Seoul to Changwon: 4.5 hrs, 30,900KRW (man, that price seems to go up every time I check it...)

AcousticHolic (어쿠스틱 홀릭) - Directions and more info

Entrance to AcousticHolic (어쿠스틱 홀릭)

I've written a lot about AcousticHolic -- my favorite place in Seoul, maybe in all of Korea -- before, but I've only recently realized that I haven't shared any practical information about the one-of-a-kind guitar-themed bar.

If you're looking for a chill night with friends but also want to listen to some great music, not just talk and drink, this bar is the perfect place to go to.

A friend and I happened upon it by accident back in February of this year, but I became addicted (an Acoustic-holic myself, if you will) and have visited about eight times in the past five months. The bar has grown in popularity with Fulbrighters (and with foreigners in general, I think) lately, and I'm always eager to share it with others. So go give it a shot!

English address: 328-18 Seogyo-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul (Woorim Building B1)
Korean address: 서울특별시 마포구 서교동 328-18 우림빌딩 지하

Directions: From Hongdae Station (홍대역, Green line/Line 2) exit 8, turn right after you exit and walk two short blocks until you reach the wide Hongdae pedestrian street. Turn left and walk one block; you will pass by a few barbecue restaurants. Take the first right onto Wausan-ro 29-gil (와우산로29길). Walk for a few blocks, and AcousticHolic will be on your left, between a store called Sound Store and a small cafe called Free Heart. The walk should take less than 10 minutes, and if you're around Hongdae Station exit 7 (if you took the Airport Line or the Light Blue line/Gyeongui/경의), then you're even closer. (If you've taken the Green line, be warned: you can't get to exits 5, 6, or 7 without making an additional transfer.)

Photo by Neal Singleton

Hours: Open Tuesday-Sunday (closed on Mondays), and performances begin at 8pm. They usually last until midnight, and sometimes additional performances last until closing time at 1-2am.

Wednesday is Fingerstyle Night, when Guitar Jedi performs. I haven't been to a weeknight gig in several months, but they are usually much more laid back than Friday and Saturday evenings, when it can get quite crowded.

Fee: The entrance fee is ₩5,000. Drinks run from ₩5-9,000 beers to several kinds of mixed drinks and cocktails. There are also 안주 (anju, bar snacks) for those who come hungry.

Folks at AcousticHolic are a really tight-knit community; it seems like all of the musicians are friends with each other. Sometimes, a performance by some of the guys seems less like a performance and more like bros just jamming for the heck of it for fifteen minutes. It's sublime.

The space isn't enormous, but it is certainly cozy, with its mood lighting and tea candles set on low tables. I personally like how the spotlight and all the focus in the room is on whoever is performing on the guitar-shaped stage. It's too bad when people play a gig at a bar but nobody listens; not so at AcousticHolic, where it really is about the music. And it is amazing, amazing music. Next time you're in Hongdae for the evening, go check out AcousticHolic, and tell the Guitar Jedi that Andrew (the Asian-American who lives in Changwon) said hi.

정선호 performing at Acoustic Holic. Photo by Neal Singleton

You can paint that house a rainbow of colors

Whew. It's been quite a busy month, as I've taken on an extracurricular as well as another teaching gig, so I haven't had as much time to blog about everything. So here are some snapshots!

Some of my students presented their environmental science projects at the Gyeongnam Province Water Expo (March 22nd). The text at the top of their booth reads "Changwon Science High School".

I went hiking with friends a few weekends ago on a gorgeous day (March 23rd). On the way up, we passed this tree with a spirit carved into it, along with the axiom 過猶不及, which, according to a friend, means: "Doing too much is the same as not doing enough, praising the ability to achieve perfect balance while achieving a goal."

My friends at me at the top of 정병산 (Jeongbyeongsan), 566 meters above sea level. It took about 2.5 hours to reach the top.

Last weekend I went bowling and went on a picnic with friends from Korea, England, and the US (April 13th)! This photo was taken at Yongji Lake (용지호수) in Changwon. If you were wondering, I still suck at bowling.

This past weekend, I traveled up to Seoul to visit my friend Miyuki, a fellow Swarthmore alum who is currently globe-trotting on a Watson grant to conduct research on queer art and activist communities around the world. She's in South Korea this month, having a blast, and I wanted to join in on the fun. On Saturday, we spent the day eating vegan, shopping at Gwangjang Market, and scoring tons of free fabric scraps from the Hanbok Market.

This is actually kind of a funny story: I wanted to show Miyuki the Hanbok Market because I knew that the amazing colors and bright fabrics clustered in the narrow aisles would be a feast for an artist's eyes. It was like color heaven, and Miyuki really wanted to ask for some extra, unneeded fabric for some of her DIY sewing projects. I wasn't sure if it would be impolite or not to ask this of the tailors and shopkeepers, so I cautiously approached a kind-looking old man and asked, "혹시... 필요없는 글로스를 있습니까?" That roughly translates into, "By any chance, do you have any cloth that you don't need?" I'm sure the grammar's off, though. In any case, we managed to get our meaning across, and Miyuki showed them some of the things she'd made with leftover fabrics, such as her skirt and pins, and the man gave us several pretty squares of silk for free.

This was great, but as we kept wandering around the maze of stalls and colors, Miyuki wondered why we couldn't ask for more from the other shopkeepers. Some refused us, but others were quite enthusiastic to share -- and probably also very intrigued by these two young, random Asian-but-not-Korean foreigners in their traditional market. One man told us that the Korean word for fabric scraps is 자투리 (jatoori), and when the woman across the aisle from him heard us talking about this, she vigorously motioned for me to come over to her stall, then handed me a plastic shopping bag literally stuffed to bulging with 자투리. I was shocked, and then thanked her profusely when I came to my senses. Miyuki and I were ecstatic at this find. After we shopped for a bit -- I got a new jacket and tie -- and ate street food, we went back to her apartment to jam on the guitar and swim in a rainbow of colorful silk.

In the evening, Miyuki and I met up with fellow Swattie Jen and Miyuki for some excellent chatting and catching up at Churro 101, a cafe in Hongdae, Seoul, that specializes in churros con chocolate!

And of course, because I was in Hongdae, I had to stop by my favorite bar in the country, AcousticHolic. Folks there remembered me, even though they haven't seen me in over a month! That made me really happy. Of course, the great music made my night, as usual. In this photo, Sunho, Mijeongi, and Guitar Jedi (I found out that his name is Junho!) are performing.

Lastly, on Sunday afternoon, I attended a fundraising event for a queer women's group called the Mapo Rainbow Alliance. There was a home-cooked lunch, a tag sale, and some performances. There was also a man doing caricatures, which Miyuki gladly sat down for. Her caricature was so adorable!

Long story short, a great weekend! Cons: I keep forgetting how easy it is to blow a hundred and fifty bucks or more in just a few days when I spend a few days in Seoul. I mean, transportation alone is killer: since bus ticket prices have increased, it costs over ₩60,000 just to get there and back. Factor in food, fun, and a place to sleep, and gahhh, my wallet is left as skinny as a few receipts because there's hardly anything else inside. Another con: trying to follow and make sense of the Boston lockdown as it unfolded in real time during my bus trip to Seoul on Friday evening. It sort of haunted me the entire weekend. But I'm thankful that everyone I know and love is safe and that the ordeal is now over.

But pros! I had so much fun in Seoul, met old friends and made new ones, and had some new experiences while introducing old ones to people who I knew would appreciate it. I learned a little bit about queer (퀴어) culture in Korea, which left me wanting to know more. I watched Pokemon in Korean and ate many peanut butter and jelly sandwiches at the Yellow Submarine hostel. Most importantly, I think, I did not feel like a stranger in a strange land. I promise I'll be back again soon.

P.S. A gold star for anyone who knows where the title of this post is from.

Goodbye Seoul

Beneath Mapo Bridge (마포교) on the Han River. Taken by Ashley.

Today could have been a typical day, not unlike any other of the past month: language class, shopping, hanging out with friends at a bar. But it was special because it was the last typical day.

This morning, I went to my last Korean class at Ganada; I think normally the class period runs a full four weeks, so the last class should have been Friday, but tomorrow is Korean Independence Day, also known as Samil Day (삼일절), so everyone is on holiday. Between Samil Day, Seollal, and every Wednesday off, I feel like I haven't actually attended much class at all this month. But the final three hours were today. We went over 제30과 and also got our final exams (학기말시험, which we took on Tuesday) back. I suppose I scored all right... if you take into account my having studied for only a few hours and also coming down with a cold the day before the test. Eh, who am I kidding, I got an Asian F. Regardless, I know that I've learned a lot, and I'm ready to go back to Changwon and to my host family and use everything I've added to my Korean language arsenal.

In the afternoon, I went to 광장시장 (Gwangjang Market), which has fast become one of my favorite places in Seoul. It has tons of great Korean street food on the ground floor and a labyrinth of vintage clothes shops on the second and third floors. I promise I'll write more substantially about it in the near future, but suffice it to say that even though I primarily intended to wander around Dongdaemun and purposefully get lost in a different part of the city than I normally frequent, my feet somehow led me back to Gwangjang Market and I spent hours there browsing through racks of clothes and chatting with the shopkeepers in Korean.

And to top it all off, my friends and I all went to AcousticHolic again in the evening. It was partially a celebration of Jason's birthday (we surprised him with an ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins) and partially a celebration of our last night in Seoul. Most of us will be leaving to go back to our respective placement cities tomorrow morning or afternoon, so this was the last chance for us to hear the amazing guitarists (and Guitar Jedi) and hang out. Toward the end of the evening, well past midnight, one of the co-owners of the bar was playing through a set mostly consisting of American pop songs, and everyone sang along to Marley's No Woman No Cry, Coldplay's Viva La Vida, Jason Mraz's I'm Yours, and many more. I even joined in on the djembe when he needed a beat for some song that kept getting faster and faster. It was tons of fun, reminding me why I love this place so much. I did promise everyone that I'd be back soon, maybe in April...

(As an aside, I bumped into two Swatties at AcousticHolic! They are my 동문, or fellow alumni of a different graduating year. I recognized Aejin vaguely; I believe we worked together on The Phoenix at some point. Her friend Austin was with her - another Swattie, but one I didn't recognize. They're both class of '10 and are working in Seoul at the moment. I was so surprised to see Swatties at this tiny bar. The world isn't small; it's tiny. This brings my total of Swatties I've met in Korea since last July to... eighteen! And that's not counting all the Swatties with whom I'm not acquainted that I met at President Chopp's event in Seoul. The actual count must be over four dozen... We're everywhere, folks.)

So that's that: my last full day in Seoul. Winter vacation is over! I've had an amazing time. This has without a doubt been one of the best winter vacations I've ever had, and that's mostly thanks to it being two months long and paid, to boot. But as soon as I get back to Changwon tomorrow evening, I have my work cut out for me. Classes begin on Monday and I haven't prepared a single lesson. (I mean, I technically only need to prepare two, but that's a lame justification.) 자... Spring semester, 시작!

AcousticHolic

This is the Guitar Jedi. I don't know his real name, but his students call him that, and so will I. He is one of the owners of AcousticHolic, my new favorite place in Korea.

Kristen and I went looking for a swing dance club in Hongdae on a Saturday evening two weeks ago. Although we found the club, it was closed, so we decided to look for anywhere else to hang out. We were walking back toward our apartment when we heard music coming from the basement of a building. It was the bar called AcousticHolic that we'd walked by every day since moving in. This bar is literally around the corner from our place; you could walk from our door to it in a minute.

AcousticHolic, exterior.

We thought, why not? Some beers and live music are never a bad choice. So, we went in, and we didn't leave again until well past midnight. It was really serendipitous that we came when we did: there was a performance going on, and we settled in quietly to listen to a mind-blowingly talented guitarist play this:
It only took us a few minutes to get hooked. We got drinks and settled in for what was sure to be an amazing night. We also texted Katelyn and demanded that she come, since she was back at the apartment, singularly unaware that there was amazing music being made just down the street. The fingerstyle guitarist, 정선호, finished his set, and he was followed by a blues guitar master and then Guitar Jedi himself. I could have listened to them play for days. As it was, I only stayed for four hours!

I think for most of the night I was just in awe of how skilled every performer was. It made no sense to me that they were playing for an audience of a little over a dozen instead of in a huge concert hall with thousands of crazy fans. But from conversing with the bartenders and some other people, I gathered that all of the performers were music teachers and musicians who simply decided to have a space to jam together almost every night of the week, financed by turning the space into a bar. It was almost like a guitar 동아리 that we stumbled into; everyone knew each other and were friends. Given that, Kristen and I stuck out like sore thumbs as the only foreigners there. I got the impression that not many non-Koreans knew about this place, but that made it all the more special.

We didn't hesitate to tell all of our Fulbright friends about it, though, and the next weekend, a dozen Americans descended upon the tiny bar, much to the bemusement of the owners and performers. I wasn't there then, but I heard that it was just as good as last time -- so our first visit wasn't a fluke -- and I resolved to go again soon.

Acoustic Holic, interior. The stage and the table we're sitting out make the shape of a guitar! So cute.

The latest visit was yesterday for February 14th, Kristen's birthday. Our apartment planned a small surprise. After a nice dinner out at an Indian restaurant, we went to AcousticHolic. However, it wasn't just us. Once again, a bunch of Fulbright friends were there to celebrate. We also managed to get ahold of Kristen's family members, who were scattered across four time zones, on Skype to join in on the fun. Kristen, who loves music, friends, and family... and surprises... had a great time, and I'm sure everyone else did, too.

I suppose I can't leave out the best part, even though it's a bit embarrassing... After midnight was a sort of open mic time. It'd piqued my interest when I first heard about it; that is, until I realized that the open mic was really just for the guitar masters to jam more and impress everyone with the quality of their fooling around. My silly pop songs and I couldn't hold a candle to them. But apparently my friends had been hyping up my so-called skills as a singer and musician while I wasn't around, and they peer pressured me to sing a song or two that night. I caved when Kristen said I had to do it for her birthday. It being Valentine's Day, I decided to sing Kina Grannis' "Valentine" with Katelyn: the song we performed together for the ETA Talent Show last summer. Without any practice or warmup, it wasn't great, but it sure was fun!

A guy who works at AcousticHolic as a bartender also performs there regularly. He's a pianist and has a very beautiful, soulful voice. I guess you could say I made him into a "target friend" ever since I first heard him sing; seriously, with his level of talent he should be famous, and I enjoy the company of talented musicians. Well, after I sang "Valentine" and John Legend's "Ordinary People", he told me we should sing together again sometime. Success!

So if you ever ask me what my favorite part about living in Seoul for a month was, I probably won't even hesitate before I start telling you all about AcousticHolic and what a great, unexpected find it was for my friends and me. I'll be back there soon!

Valentine's blah blah whatever

February 14th is Valentine's Day in many countries. Most cultures celebrate with customs of gift-giving and symbols of love, either romantic, platonic, or familial. It's no surprise to me that Valentine's Day is very popular in Korea. At least, it's popular among the younger generations. Mostly high school students, actually. High school girls. They're the demographic behind Korea's obsession with all things cutesy and chocolaty.

The tradition nowadays is for girls to give gifts (chocolate, usually) to their boyfriends on February 14th. Do the boys give gifts, too? They're apparently not obligated to this time. But come March 14th, it's "White Day", the time for boys to reciprocate their romantic feelings and buy their girlfriends candy... or other, perhaps more expensive, gifts.

It doesn't stop there. May 14th is Rose Day, for couples to give each other roses. July 14th is Silver Day, for couples to give each other silver rings and other jewelry. October 14th is Wine Day. Thanks to rampant consumerism, Korea now has a "Special Day" on the fourteenth of every month. And they're not just for couples. April 14th is Black Day, a day for singles to eat black soybean-paste noodles (jjajangmyeon, which I personally find delicious) and commiserate over their singleness.

(For a detailed explanation of all twelve Special Days -- plus one that doesn't fall on a fourteenth -- click here!)

I think all of this is hilarious, but also a little bit too heteronormative for my taste. Also, I've never celebrated Valentine's Day myself, and although I am totally for doing cute things for your loved ones, I don't think very highly of building an entire industry out of it. Case in point, the United States. I'm glad I missed out on the pink and red hearts adorning every store display at the mall. At least the tacky decorations aren't as ubiquitous here in Seoul. Or maybe it's just because I'm avoiding the most popular shopping districts. Anyway, it's the epitome of Korea-cute to have all of these Special Days for couples, and Valentine's is the king of them all. So what am I doing tonight?

Well, February 14th happens to be my friend Kristen's birthday, so my apartmentmates and I are going out to celebrate with dinner and then go to Acoustic Holic, which I haven't written about yet but will soon because it's aaaawwweeesome. I'm excited to be going again tonight. And I'll buy myself my own chocolate (tomorrow, when it's all on sale), thank you very much.