Korea Life: Drinking, Clubbing, and Karaoke Nights

My weekends have been filled with drinking and new people for the past couple months or so. But compared to the US, the drinking culture here is much different. I have realized here drinking is a marathon, not a sprint. Not a short marathon either, if you are going out for the night you aren't going home until the sun rises. It doesn't help that I feel like the clubs NEVER close here. So you could literally stay out dancing and walk out into the daylight without realizing you've been up for that long.

But lets get back to the drinking aspect. It's quite a practical/ magical thing. First, you aren't drinking hard liquor like in the US most of the time. You are drinking soju, which has a lower alcohol content than the liquors back home. But I would say the main difference here is that if you are drinking, you are eating. There are bars here that just serve alcohol, but they are few and far between. It is normal to sit at a place for hours, eating and drinking. And if you want to move to a new place, you need to order food again. Sometimes this can be a little annoying because you do get full and don't want to eat and sometimes want to just keep drinking. But I think, overall, this is a really good practice. You are never drinking on an empty stomach and the food stops you from drinking as much. The food here is also insanely delicious, so I don't complain too much about the food. Even at the clubs here, if you get a table they not only have a bottle of alcohol but also a tray of finger foods to go with the alcohol. The two things go hand in hand here. 

Drinking games are not uncommon and I have learned a lot of really fun games since I have been here. Most of the time you see people just talking and drinking, games tend to be played by younger people. They are all hand games, people are usually surprised when I whip out a deck of cards because they have never played drinking card games before. 

There is also an order of events that you start to notice here. First you go to a restaurant and eat and drink. Then you go to a club to dance and dance. Then you end the night at a karaoke place. I used try to skip the last one because I can't sing for anything but it's grown on me and I no matter how much I say I won't sing I end up stealing the microphone constantly. But it's not uncommon to want to go to a singing room here. I also feel like everyone I have been to a singing room with is an incredible singer, which makes me feel slightly ashamed but doesn't seem to stop me.