After dinner we started the mandatory 노래방 (noribang) or karaoke. I don’t mind singing, by myself or with friends, but I don’t like standing up in front of people with a microphone and singing. There’s no avoiding it though, when your boss takes you by the hand up 3 flights of stairs to the room the school has rented and tells you they expect at least one song from you. Luckily the middle school vice principal noticed my nervousness and made everyone sing along to “Let it Be” by the Beetles with me, so it wasn’t that bad. Plus there was tons of snacks, like watermelon, veggies, nuts, and candy to snack on in the Chaos room which helped since I had pretty much just eaten side dishes at dinner.
노래방, or at least the work ones I’ve attended have been chaotic drunken messes where I tend to leave with a headache and just utterly zapped of energy. They order tons and tons and tons of beer (sometimes soju) and sing for hours, making everyone get up and dance. Luckily I was able to sneak out for a bit and walk on the beach with a coworker to get some fresh air, since our party bus had essentially been a loud moving 노래방 the entire way to Yangyang.
The hostel/hotel/pension we stayed at was part of the 일현미술관 (Ilhyun museum) campus. It was a nice space, though the key cards to get into our rooms were a bit of a pain.
We unfolded the bedding and slept on the floor. The room also only came with towels and one bar of soap (and toilet paper), so we had to bring any other toiletries we needed. It had a nice view which I loved.
There were computers in the lobby to borrow as well as a water fountain and some recreational facilities.
Honestly I didn’t sleep super well. But that’s a mix of our room being warm, sleeping in a new space, and the light at the door turning on automatically when anyone was near it. None of that was really the rooms fault, my roomates turned the A/C low and on a timer.
The following morning I popped in the art museum to search for Pokémon with a coworker but it was pretty empty. We didn’t go very far because there were lots of signs up so I think they were in the process of switching exhibits around. But there was a cool stair case.
일현미술관 was a nice place to stay while playing Pokémon Go, there was a decent amount of Pokémon around, two of the art pieces were Pokéstops and there was a gym nearby. The downfall was that there wasn’t much within walking distance, no convience stores or restaruants that I could tell. There was however a cafe that I stumbled upon in the morning where two of the middle school staff were hiding out drinking coffee.
The cafe was called 모비딕, or the Moby Dick cafe which I found fun because that’s the book I’m currently reading. I got a cup of mint tea (the menu was all in Korean) and my coworker got hot chocolate that wasn’t sweet and a bit disapointing. I liked my tea, but it’s hard to screw up hot water and a bag of tea. It was nice and quiet, I even read a little before we had to run off to breakfast.
