The Norae-bang (or Karaoke) and All That Jazz

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So, I had my first experience at the norae-bang (karaoke) last night. It was very interesting-- and quite fun-- and goes along with an interesting story.

Christina (my roommate) and I were sitting at dinner last night when two Korean girls sat at our table. There are plenty of Koreans in the dining hall at all meals, but usually our two camps (the Fulbrighters and the Koreans) don't converse-- largely due to language issues, obviously. Well, evidently, the two girls who sat down with us spoke English very well and were wondering what all these Americans were doing here.

So, at dinner, we had a nice chat with them, and when it was done, one of them said, "We'd love to practice our English. Do you want to go to a norae-bang with us?" Well, Christina and I didn't have much of anything better to do, so we agreed to meet them about a half an hour later.

And so, we did. And we went out to the norae-bang. Now, Korean karaoke (at least, that which I've experienced thus far) is very different from American karaoke. At the norae-bang you get to sit in a small to medium-sized private room with your friends and sing it up, selecting whatever songs you want and going as many times as you want until your time in the room runs out. So, the four of us had our little room with our TV screens that had the words and took turns singing until our hour-and-a-half or whatever ran out. It was really fun, and the Korean girls were really nice.

Afterward, we went out for patbingsu (that delicious ice cream dish) and talked (in English) for awhile longer before heading back to the dorms (they are grad students taking classes at the university and are staying in the dorm next to ours). So, yay for a fun night out! My first experience at the norae-bang was a hit, and I now have more Korean friends!

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Comments

[Mom]

So you found time to sing!
Dad was a little concerned when I told him that you met two Koreans and went to a 'private' room to sing it up....until I included that fact that the two Koreans were female!! Party on!!! Hugs, Ma