Not sure if everyone knows, but I lived in South Korea back in 2003/2004 and taught English at a private school.
Tonight, for some reason, I was fiddling around on YouTube and decided to search for the 2 main songs that defined my Korean experience.
The first is a Korean song that was HUGE at the time – and was played at every bar we ever went too. I really liked it too
Just hearing it brings back so many memories!
The second is a song that another teacher (from the US) shared with us that is absolutely hilarious! We spent the entire time there (and back at home) singing the chorus, because I mean, really – “Make up your mind…do you want to pump the butt…” is possibly the funniest chorus ever and is amazingly catchy! Trust me, listening to the song is worth it!
It starts at 0:54 . . . but the chorus doesn’t come in until 1:40-ish.
I’ll leave you with some pictures… although I can’t seem to find a lot of them…hmm…I’ll have to post more another time.
Here is me and Tim at “The Chicken Place”. The real name of the restaurant was unknown because it was in Korean. We either went with Korean friends or pointed to pictures on the menu to order.
The owners of The Chicken Place really liked us, and when it was my birthday they gifted me this these:
If you look very closely, engraved on the sausages is “Happy Birthday Natasha”. No joke.
[Click on the pictures to enlarge them]
The owners also owned a noribong (a karaoke room – in Korea they were small rooms that you rented so it was just you singing and drinking with friends, not a whole bar). And we used to hang out there until 8am… those were the days…
I wasn’t actually very unhealthy there despite the above. I practiced Hapkido for 2 hours a day, 5 days a week.
Here’s a picture of me and Woo-ga, my awesome Korean friend, on our way to a tournament when we were yellow belts. If you look closely, we are both wearing heels because we forgot to bring sneakers! (you practice in bare feet)
I really enjoyed my trip down memory lane!

You look SOOO young in that first pic, like a teenager.
What an awesome experience for you, I wish I had done something like that. I would love to see some more pics of your time there.
SO cool! It sounds like you have had some amazing travel experiences in your lifetime!!
A-MAZ-ING!
You and Dr. look so happy & young! Must have been an amazing experience, and lots of experiences!
Love it!! What a great little trip of memories!!