Cultural experiences

Last night I went to a birthday party of someone from my Korean class. On our way there we saw the most bizarre claw game ever. You know the little arcade game where you have to try to pick up your prize with a claw? In this one the prizes are lobsters, which were in a tank awaiting being snatched from above, dropped down three feet to where you can pick up the prize, and then... what on earth would you do with a lobster you got out of an arcade game on the street???


(The one we saw wasn't nearly as nice as the one in the video: it only had about four inches of water and three rather unhealthy looking little lobsters. Just as weird though.)

When we left the party, which took place at a bar on the fifth floor of the building, a couple of us took the stairs down since there were several elevator loads of us, and on the fifth floor there was a guy taking a piss right down the stairs. He didn't even aim into the corner of the room. Also, there was a free bathroom with multiple stalls and urinals right next door to the stairwell. It is socially acceptable to pee pretty much anywhere in Korea, including busy intersections and apparently (judging from the non-reactions of the Koreans with us on the stairs) stairwells. No wonder they take off their shoes when they enter a restaurant or home.

Afterwards about fourteen of us we went to a karaoke room and made fools of ourselves for a few hours. The best part of the karaoke rooms here is that they have videos for the songs, but the videos are weird Korean ones rather than the originals, and they seem to be chosen on the basis of song length rather than tone. Some of my favorites are the video about sniper assassins that accompanied I Will Survive and a Korean rap video (hilarious in and of itself) that was the background for Billy Joel's Piano Man.

At about 3am we went home, where John, Bo and I made our second weekly 3am romen run. Convenience stores here not only sell about twenty kinds of romen, but also have hot water, microwaves, chopsticks, and counter eating space so you can enjoy your romen right there, which is the Korean way to do it. It being 3 am, we are always a bit rowdy and probably a pain in the ass to the poor convenience store clerks, but it is an enjoyable experience.