Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Our First Visitor

Our last few weeks have been busy, busy. Andrew took command of a company but I won't steal his thunder by telling all about his new job, instead I'll say he has been working hard and coming home with great stories. I've been getting more involved with activities on the Army base and I've been playing drill sergeant, serenader, ghost whisperer, and circus performer to Korean kids.

Thankfully we had our first visitor last week to remind us that work is just work and we need to enjoy having Korea as our playground. Long-time-Austermiller-buddy John came to see us after a stopover to see Kate in Shenyang during his farewell tour of Asia . Andrew, John, and I had some wild and crazy adventures but karaoke on the last night took the cake. Looking painfully under-dressed, we bar hopped in Seoul with two infinitely fashionable Korean girlfriends of mine from work. They took us to a karaoke bar (with free ice cream) where we sang our hearts out in a private room complete with tambourines and rattles. A few lessons learned:
  • Loving Kelly Clarkson a lot isn't enough to make me sound a lot like her. Or even a little.
  • Rapping to "Forgot About Dre" doesn't work when the microphones echo more than the Grand Canyon. Luckily I doubt our hostesses knew the difference.
  • Korean pop songs are so catchy and fun to sing because each song has at least one English word over and over again. I sang several of them where all the text was in Korean aside from a few words like baby, mister, sorry, or 'I don't care.' If you feel like wasting more time on the internet, watch this video for a taste: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a13Xuy_zuLo&feature=PlayList&p=F3D39CFBE3B1C706&index=27. Then watch the video for "Sorry Sorry" by the K-Pop boy band SuperJunior here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAWqnA8PdcY&feature=channel, and you won't be sorry.
  • It's hard to take any song seriously when the music videos are all Korean men with painstakingly styled hair and tight pants. Case in point: "Forgot About Dre."
  • Private karaoke rooms are a godsend.

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