PSY - Hangover (ft. Snoop Dogg) - Korean Easter Eggs

Step 1: Watch Korean rapper PSY's newest music video for a song called "Hangover". Step 2: Seriously reconsider your life choices. Step 3: Rewind to watch again, this time taking note of everything in the video that is completely unique to Korea.

Here we go!

0:30 - PSY and Snoop Dogg vigorously brush their teeth. Koreans take brushing seriously.
0:45 - Hite Dry Finish beer.
0:56 - a 편의점 (pyeon-e-jeom), or convenience store, where you can sit and eat the snacks you've just bought, including...
1:00 - small glass bottles of energy drinks with who-knows-what ingredients inside,
1:11 - and 삼각김밥 (samgak-kimbap), triangle kimbap, and cup noodles (라면/ramyeon).
1:15 - a Korean sauna (I don't think they usually have green fountains, though).
1:35 - copious amounts of 소주 (soju), Korea's most popular liquor.
1:47 - hardy 아줌마 (ajumma), or older Korean women who can drink you under the table.
2:03 - 택시 (taxi).
2:04 - I just noticed the illustrated background is Seoul, with Namsan Tower and 63 Building visible. Also, PSY is now playing a bottle of Hite instead of a saxophone.
2:10 - 동일이발소 (dongil ilbaso) means "Sameness Barbershop"
2:28 - 노래방 (noraebang), a karaoke party room, complete with disco lights and a tambourine!
2:39 - PSY is drinking a can of something with PSY on it?
2:45 - the lyrics read, "누군지 한번에 알아낼 너의 단 한사람," from the song "나를 슬프게 하는 사람들" ("People Who Make Me Sad") by 이승기.
2:48 - BOA's "Rock With You".
2:55 - G-Dragon!
3:20 - Disco Pang Pang!
3:33 - Pool halls, where some of my old students now spend all of their free time chalking their cues instead of studying.
3:45 - PSY is eating 짜장면 (jjajangmyeon), black-bean noodles.
3:58 - a traditional bar for 막걸리 (makkeoli), Korean rice wine, where Snoop Dogg looks like he's dressed in somewhat traditional clothes (and PSY is in a Kill Bill-esque jump suit? I don't know who the girl is).
4:10 - the shake-and-chop method of opening soju bottles in order to rid it of poisonous impurities.
4:19 - love shots!
4:20 - opening a bottle of beer with a Korean metal spoon.
4:39 - delivery guys (they are not usually on fire, though) with Chinese food.
4:42 - oblivious 아저씨 (ahjussi), older Korean man.

And that's all I could catch!. What did I miss?

P.S. Please don't get any ideas about what Korean drinking culture is really like from this music video. Please also hope that rappers will stop objectifying women in their videos in the near future. But do enjoy the craziness of the video, because that same craziness is what made PSY a global phenomenon in the first place.

택견회식

택견도장에는 회식이다.

Wow, it is 1:30am on Thursday morning, and I have just returned home from a 회식 with members of my 택견 gym. Yes, "company dinners" aren't restricted to companies or workplaces; I was invited to this outing along with the director, the trainer, and the director's old students. Actually, it wasn't really an outing, because we just ordered delivery chicken and liquor and had a mini-picnic on the floor of the 도장. I was about to be worried about spilling greasy meat onto the padded floors, but 관장님 laid out newspapers and otherwise didn't seem to mind. Then we all sat down and feasted!

The evening was all in all pretty fun, taking into account the fact that I only understood about 50% of what anyone was saying and often tuned out. But we played some 족구, talked a lot, drank a lot, and devoured the 치킨 and 족발. I made a few new friends out of 관장님's former students, mostly on account of me being able to speak English. Their introductions went a little like this: "Hi, nice to meet you. How old are you? Oh! We're the same age -- let's be friends! What's the best way to learn English quickly?" Only slight exaggeration intended... But I also got to practice my Korean, talking about rock climbing (암벽등반을 캘리포니아에서 해본적이 있다!), quinoa (베지테리엔이면, 키놔가 완전 단백질이니까 건강에 좋다!), my hobbies, and more.

Around 12:30am, I started to get pretty tired, and I thought about school the following day. In addition, the conversation turned super-serious as some of the adults downed more and more drinks (we had been drinking for three hours by then, and there seemed to be an endless supply of 관장님's favorite 막걸리 brand, 국순당...). At one point two people were having a very heated discussion about taekgyeon, and everyone else became quiet and tense as they listened, but even though I could understand a lot of what they were saying, I still couldn't follow the gist of the issue. 괜찮아...

Anyway, I had a nice, 정-filled evening, and I also appreciated meeting Koreans who are about my age. I hope we can keep in touch! Even if they just want me to be their English tutor, well, at least they can be my Korean tutors in return. Win-win.