Take me out to the ball game, take me out to the crowd...

Last night I ticked off another item on my bucket list: Eat dried squid, fried chicken and drink soju at a baseball game. Bonus points for figuring out how to cheer along.

It wasn't my first baseball game, but it was the first time I completely satisfied the criteria of it. And now I'm going to tell you how to do it.

Step 1: Acquire tickets in the party section. You can buy tickets for the 'free seating' area at the stadium, but the party zone usually sells out quite quickly. If you want to sit around and watch the baseball seriously and be glum, and the very idea of fun repulses you, you'll like the free seating area.

My first baseball game, sitting in the free seating area. I still had fun, though! 

If, however, you want to get the full Korean baseball experience, then there's really only one place to be: the 'Blue Zone'. Party central. This is the area that has sexy cheerleaders, free stuff, a lot of shouting and singing, beer challenges, kiss cams, cutey dance cams, couple dance cams, and so on. If you're a foreigner, there's a good chance of you appearing on the screen, especially if you're decked out in the paraphernalia of your team.

I got a free towel! YEAH!

And if you're in team gear and going for it with the cheers, then the Koreans around you will love you. And they'll befriend you, and give you food, and stuff like that. Last night I was given chicken and dried squid, which is the closest thing I can get to biltong in this country, although it tastes completely different.

Eating ramyeon with new friends. We kept hitting him with our thundersticks, by accident. 

So, yes. The party seats are DEFINITELY worth it and they only cost about 1000 won more. Ticket prices vary depending on who's playing. You will need to buy them online, using something like ticketlink (which I'll write about another time because I don't know how to do it and I rely heavily on a fabulous friend who buys them for our group).

Step 2: Acquire food and beverages.

An awesome thing about Korean baseball stadiums is that you can bring in whatever food and drink you like. I've seen people walk in with huge boxes of pizza, chicken, hamburgers... Last night the group in front of us had a mountain of sushi. You can also bring in whatever booze you like, as much as you like, and no one cares. But you cannot smoke in the seating area of the stadium. You can smoke in the back, by the toilets, if you want to. You can also buy snacks (anything from ddeokbokki to squid to ramyeon) at various stores within the stadium. DO bring your own toilet paper. 

Step 3: Find your seat

As you walk into the stadium you'll see a map. Check where your seat is - make sure ALL the numbers match up. Remember that Korean addresses go from biggest first to smallest. When you find the seat that has all four numbers matching the four on your ticket, in the same order, sit there. 

Time for the game! Now, as a South African, I know an awful lot about cricket and rugby but absolutely nothing about baseball beyond a particularly American song that's been stuck in my head for hours. Here is my own Koreanised version of it:

Take me out to the baaaaall game

Take me out to the crooooowd

Buy me fried chicken and ddeokbokki

Mekju, soju and makgeolli

Let me root, root root for the home team

If they don't win it's a shame

Aaaah, for it's one, two, three strikes - you're out!

At the old ball game.

Anyway. I think I'm starting to get the hang of this, so here goes:

A Brief Guide to Baseball for People who are Less Free than 'Muricans.

There are two teams and they take turns throwing and hitting the ball. 

They're trying to hit it hard so that it goes far away, so that they have more time to run to the next sandbag. The sandbag is called a base. Once a player has made it all the way around from base to base, and back home to the dugout, he has completed a run. A run is one point. If they make it all the way around with just one whack of the ball, then that's a home run. If the ball goes too far to the side of the field, it doesn't count. 

This is how you watch baseball.

If the pitcher (the thrower) throws badly a certain number of times, then the batter just walks to the next base. Sometimes batters who are on the bases try to sneak a bit closer to the other ones so that they can quickly run there when the ball is hit. The pitcher can turn around and throw the ball to the base they were supposed to be on and that's irritating to watch when they do it too much. If the batter misses the ball three times, they are banished to outer Mongolia. If three batters are out, then the teams switch places. This switch happens nine times - that is one inning. There are nine innings. Top of the inning - the away team is batting. Bottom of the inning - the home team is batting. 

The team with the most runs wins, like in cricket.

So now you understand the game, or at least you know when it's good and when it's bad. This means you can cheer. YAY!

My students support the team and chose their shirt as their outfit for sports day. 

Step 4: Cheering along in Korean

On the screen and scoreboard is a list of the names of the players. If you can read hangul, this will help. If you can't, it's good practice and you'll see their names briefly in English on the screen. 

The most basic cheer is (Name) ANTA! Which apparently means 'Hit it low'. That way it will bounce and they won't be caught out. 

If you copy exactly what the cheerleaders and cheer guy are doing, it will help. In the Blue Zone, you can see them easily. 

Sexy cheerleaders. Also notice the emptiness of the free section and fullness of the party zone. Because that's exactly what you're looking at, right?

Some players have their own songs or cheers specially for them. Even if you don't know the song, it's pretty easy to clap and wave along, and you can join in when they say the player's name and ANTA or HOME RUN!

When our batters go out, we sing them a little goodbye song, waving them off the field with a sort of bunny gesture. 

A little bit like this.

And that's about it. I love baseball, I love going to games, and I love that my team, the Samsung Lions, are the undefeated champions. They've just reached number 1 in the country's league stats, which is awesome, and they absolutely decimated the Seoul Twins last night with 9 home runs! Bad asses. Samsung Lions! Yes, Keep Going!

Yeah, I realise their catchphrase is cheesy as hell. Cheesy is classy. Pictures in this post were edited using powerpoint, in lieu of photoshop, gimp or paint. Lolly is a goat.

Packing for Korea

I've got a tricky situation in that I'm going skiing with my parents right before I head to Korea. Then I have 5 days in Seoul before going to orientation. So, here's my packing strategy. It should also give you an idea of what sorts of things people are taking for the Spring 2013 intake. Well, what I'm taking. I have no idea if I'm taking the right things. I decided to do a trial run.

Bag 1 (Hardshell)
After spending days and days looking for hardshell suitcases with clips (and not zippers) because my dad is worried that Bad Guys will open the zip and stick drugs in my bag, leading me to be holed up in prison for the rest of my life without trial...

I'd sell her for a pack of smokes if she wasn't the only other English speaker here...

This bag contains:

• winter shoes (hiking boots, trainers, teacher/smart shoes for orientation, flipflops)
• long-johns (2 sets)
• thick, fluffy and ski socks
• tights (2 pairs)
• smart-casual pants
• suit 
• jeans (2 pairs)
•  scarves
• coats (raincoat, ski jacket, denim coat)
• jerseys (SO MANY JERSEYS! Lots of different kinds, with the idea of layering).
• flannel PJs 
• warm-ish gym clothes 
• bras (SO MANY)
• 3 large spray deodorants, and 3 roll-ons (they last a bit longer, I find)
• ski jacket and ski pants (X2)
• thick winter skirt
• smart-casual skirt
• hats and gloves
• frequently used toiletries and makeup

Bag 2 (soft shell - to be wrapped in 8km of plastic until arrival in Daegu)

Ensuring that the dead bodies in the bag stay dead.

• 
  Swimsuits
• more undies
• shorts
• jeans (x1)
• summer dresses (X2)
• smart-casual pants and skirts
• gym t-shirts
• smart-ish t-shirts/tops
• some jerseys that didn't fit in bag 1
• sarongs and other such beachwear
• summer hat
• sandals
• high heels
• infrequently used toiletries and medicine
• small towel
• handbags
• teddy bear
• scuba fins 

Hand luggage:

Mary Poppins' Handbag:

• kindle
• kindle charger
• ipod
• ipod charger
• travel documents
• camera
• GPS
• notebook
• pens
• re-spectacles
• smaller clutch bag
• sudoku book
• extra hat and gloves 
• flash sticks

Pull-on suitcase:

• Orientation documents (certificates etc)
• hairdryer and hair straightener
• gifts for co-teachers, principal, etc
• posters for class
• books and resources for teaching
• backpack
• scarf
• jewellery
• scuba mask

Laptop bag:

• laptop
• cables
• flashdrives

And on the plane I'll wear a pair of jeans, long johns, jersey, heaviest coat, scarf, and some winter boots. 

I think that's me sorted. I'm not that attached to any particular spices or foods so I don't really see the point in bringing them with me, as they'd add extra weight. And if there's anything I do desperately crave, my mom said she'll send them along to me. I am a bit sad to leave my wetsuit behind, but as I'll only be diving in the summer, that will be one of the things I will ask my mother to post to me.

I haven't weighed anything yet. To be honest, I am afraid to. I'd take photos of what my packing looks like, but I've lost my camera charger, terribly conveniently. 

Some tricks that I used to pack can be found in the video below:

Note:

From what I've seen on the interwebs, there are several items that they recommend you bring with you because they're either hard to find or very expensive in Korea. I've touched on that before, in this post.

Eating my Kimchi

After a few days of fermentation we decided to taste this concoction that I made. In my second attempt of the paste, I added soy sauce instead of fish sauce, by accident. So then I added fish sauce as well. Maybe one day I'll cook as if I can read, instead of like this.

Appearance: Not bad, for shrivelled old chinese cabbage and brown bits. Kind of like coleslaw that you forgot about in a drawer a decade ago, with a steady drip into it. The spring onion adds some nice non-rotten colour. I thought it would be redder. Maybe I should add cayenne pepper and not just chili powder next time. I can handle the heat...

Texture: Still slightly crunchy. The sogginess of the kimchi is freshened up by the crunchiness of the daikon. Mm. Yeah, I can see this working. I would even consider adding some more crunchy things to it to freshen it up, like celery or cucumber.

Smell: PEEEEE YOOOOOO! This stuff smells strongly, of garlic and... well, fermented cabbage. Not for the faint of heart. Not too bad if you're okay with the smell a sushi take-out box gets the next day; it's the same kind of strong, vinegary, soy-sauce smell. Possibly because I added soy sauce, which I'll leave out next time. My eyes were bleeding a little bit.

Taste: Mostly coming from the sauce, I can taste the fish sauce quite well. The soy made it a bit too salty but the ginger and daikon definitely save the day. Far too much garlic; the recipe called for 4 cloves. I think you could get away with using 2. But from what I've heard, Koreans like their food pretty garlicky. My mom and I like it, but it was too garlicky for my dad.

All in all, a success, although the recipe (and my reading skills) could use some tweaking.

Making my own Kimchi

Ha, I don't even know if this recipe is real kimchi. The recipe book calls it 'Pickled Vegetables' but please. It's kimchi. Call it what it is. If that's what it is. I won't know til it's fermented. But as far as I know, kimchi is cabbage that's been fermented in chili, salt, fish sauce and stuffs. So... That's what I'm making. But this recipe book is basically full of asian recipes without hard-to-find ingredients. YAY!

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:
1/2 a small chinese cabbage
1 litre cold water
100g salt
4 garlic cloves
4 spring onions
2.5cm fresh root ginger
10cm piece of daikon, weighing about 175g
15ml chili powder or 5ml cayenne pepper
30 ml fish sauce
5ml sugar

1. Rinse the cabbage. Seriously. There were all kinds of weird insects in mine. I think they were evolving new species. Rinse that stuff. Rinse it good... Put the water and all but 1.25ml of the salt in a large bowl and

OH CRAP

I put 1.25 ml of salt in the bowl and the rest in the paste. Well, less than they asked for, more like 3 tablespoons, but still... Oh god oh god oh god.

...

Maybe if I don't tell anyone, they won't know.

...

Anyway, stir til the salt has dissolved. Add a plate to weigh it down and keep it covered. Leave it to soak for 8-10 hours.

2. Set the flat side of the cleaver on each garlic clove; strike it with your fist. Discard the skin and finely chop the garlic. Trim the spring onions, leaving some of the green tops. Cut across and coarsely chop.

3. Scrape the skin from the root ginger with the cleaver. Slice the ginger, cutting across the fibrous grain. Crush each slice with the flat of the cleaver, then finely chop the slices.

4. Peel the daikon and cut it crosswise in half. Cut each half lengthwise into 3mm slices. Stack the slices and cut into 3mm strips.

5. In a bowl, mix the chili powder or cayenne with the fish sauce, sugar, and the remaining salt (1/4 teaspoon) using the chopsticks. (or, if you're me, a kak ton of salt. Oops). Add the garlic, spring onions, ginger and daikon strips and stir until the mixture is all red.

6. Drain the cabbage, rinse with cold water, and squeeze it between your hands to remove all the moisture. Place the wilted cabbage, cut side up, on the work surface. Beginning with the large bottom leaves, pack the daikon mixture between each leaf.

7. Fold the cabbage leaves and push them into the jar. Pour any leftover daikon mixture on top. Cover with the lid, and leave in a cool place to ferment, at least 3 days. The cabbage will wilt and produce liquid.


I really hope this isn't too salty. Good thing we don't know how it's supposed to taste anyway... *cough*

Trying Soju for the first time.

On Friday night I popped over to Lara's to try some soju. And, well, the best way to drink shots of anything is with a movie drinking game. Low on choice, we decided to watch Brave (drink on every other "Och!") and out came the soju, which she'd brought back with her after her trip.

The brand we had wasn't even anything particularly high quality - it was this stuff, a generic brand from a convenience store:

chummy booze: 참이슬.

As I was the youngest, I poured the shots, holding the bottle in my right hand with my left hand lightly supporting my wrist or elbow. If they hadn't been comfily slouched back in their deep and poofy couches, my friends would have held their classes nicely with both hands. Instead, they hurled mockery at me instead.

I handed out the shots; we lifted them aloft and shouted 건배! I turned away from the oldest male and knocked the soju back. 

I fully expected 소주 to taste like its Chinese counterpart, Baijiu (which we like to call 'Foot Juice' because it smells and tastes like toe jam):

Provided freely by restaurants in China, this will strip away the lining of your intestines before it runs off to beat up your children and set fire to the polar ice caps. 

As the cool liquid flowed smoothly down my throat, leaving a slightly sweet, and slightly vodka-like aftertaste, I was over the moon to discover that Soju is nothing at all like Baijiu. 

Thank God. 

Because I was really worried about that for a second or two. It tastes a bit like if you took some nice vodka and added slightly sweetened water to it. 

The flavour changed as the night went on (and we ate different snacks), becoming tastier and fruitier and more scrumptious as the Ochs rolled in. Our throats and souls warmed, and our vision swimming, we also started to realise how strong soju really is (even though it doesn't taste like it).

10 Ways to Make Time Fly In October

So you've run around getting things stamped and signed, and maybe you've sent your mountain of paperwork in to your recruiter, or directly to EPIK. Well, if you haven't sent them in yet,

What the hell are you waiting for?

Get a move on! EPIK started accepting applications sent in by recruiters today. And it's first come, first served.

If you're on the ball, and have sent all the things in, you've levelled up! Congratulations. You have progressed to the next stage: Waiting for an Interview.

And waiting... And waiting some more...

Even playing your invisible playstation won't help that email come any faster.

It's so close, but just out of reach. So, how can you make October go by a little faster? Well, let's think positively and assume that you will get the interview, and you will pass it.

1. Make a bucket list.
List all the things you want to do before you skip town, or all the things you want to do in Korea.
For bonus time-wasting points, research all the things and find out how easy, cheap and amazing they will be (or won't, depending). Make a horribly complicated spreadsheet with all this information on it. Colour code it.

My list is here.

2. Inevitable Facebook time-wastage.
Post links to anything and everything vaguely related to Korea on the EPIK facebook group and get sucked into absorbing, exciting and interesting comment threads with your future potential friends.
For bonus time-wasting points, face-stalk the members of the group. Creep.

In the end, everything comes down to the hip thrusting.

3. Get to know your POE/MOE on Google Earth.
Not as dull as it sounds, actually, and you can spend hours and hours following bike trails along rivers - wait, what the hell is that, Daegu?

Is it a maze? Some kind of weird Korean Sports field? A macrochip? A very well-groomed crop... rectangle?

4. Start learning Korean
There are some great websites with free resources for you to start teaching yourself Korean. Let me break it down for you:

KWOW - Korean Word of the Week. I found this youtube channel a while back, which helps with some vocab in her KWOW program, as well as various other cultural snippets. She's also ridiculously adorable.

Korean-Flashcards.com sends (sometimes awkwardly funny) sentences of the day to your inbox, as well as having a bunch of vocabulary-building resources on the website.

The best so far, however, is Talk To Me In Korean - amazingly well-explained and in-depth lessons that teach you not just handy phrases here and there but actually how to correctly construct sentences, and what all the bits and bobs mean. It's awesome! I worked through ten lessons today, and now I can have this hypothetical conversation:

Waegook: 이거 커피 예 요        This is coffee.
Coffee:  안녕하세요! (^_^)         Hello!
Ajumma: 이거 뭐 예요?              What is this?
Waegook: 커피가 예요.              It's coffee,
Ajumma: 커피가 예요? 아니요... 이거 커피 는 이에요!    You call this coffee? No... THIS is coffee!
Waegook: 저 친구가 없에요... (ᅲ.ᅲ)         I have no friends.

So, you know... Useful things.

5. Become addicted to K-Drama
K-Drama refers to soapies made in Korea. But they're not quite like what your western idea of a soapie is.

Less this:

More this:

He has to clean up her puke AND give her a piggy back? Seriously?

Some recommendations to get you started:

Films:
My Sassy Girl - Better than the American remake, and pictured above. Boy meets girl. Girl passes out. Boy drags girl to love motel. Less creepy than it sounds. Maybe.
I'm a Cyborg but that's OK. - Girl thinks she's a robot and has to be checked into a mental institution. Kinda cute, actually. You'll like this if you enjoyed Amelie.
200 Pounds Beauty. - Who couldn't love a movie whose message is that the only way to succeed in life is to have extreme plastic surgery? I am not being serious. I am being sarcastic. It's a fun movie though.
Oldboy - A change in tone. Disturbing. Not for the faint of heart (or stomach). Best known for the infamous Octopus scene.

Series:
Boys before Flowers: Uh. I don't even know how to begin to describe this. Basically, 4 ridiculously 'attractive' (by Korean standards) men at an elite private school rule the school and are fundamentally evil bullies, in my opinion. But we're supposed to like them anyway. I think the main character, a working-class dry-cleaning girl, makes this show worth watching.
You're beautiful: A catholic nun stands in for her twin brother (whose plastic surgery has gone horribly wrong) in an all-boy band. She's in drag, and wonderfully androgynous. Light and entertaining. A fair bit of projectile vomiting and suggested nudity. Hooray for Korean TV.
Coffee Prince: More androgyny (get used to it!). So butch she's kicked out of the girls' section of the jjimjilbang, this poor delivery girl ends up working at a coffee shop staffed by studly men (and pretending to be one). Hilarity ensues. Some weepy bits too.
Love Rain: A couple of boy hipsters fight over a girl-hipster. Lots of rain and arty shots. Nice music, though, and some good writing.
Moon and Stars for You: horribly cheesy and yet hopelessly addictive, and bizarre series revolving around people involved in the running of a bread company (in which bread is seen as the holy grail of foods, more like cake than like the thing we use to get tasty spreads/sandwich fillings into our mouths) and a whole lot of love triangles.

6. Learn some catchy K-Pop songs
I'm not talking about Gangnam style, now. Everyone knows Gangnam Style. I'm thinking more along the lines of songs by Wondergirls, Big Bang, Super Junior, B2ST and so on. They're corny as hell but learning the lyrics can be a bit of a tongue twister, so that's bound to pass the time swiftly. Bonus points if you can sing and do the dance moves at the same time.

And a one, and a two, and a one, two, three...

(Eoddeokhajyo)  Eoddeokhajyo
(Ddeollineun naneun)  Ddeollineun naneunyo
(Doogeun x 4) Doogeun Doogeun georyeo bameh jamdo mot eerujyo
Na neun na neun babon gabwayo geu dae bakkeh moreuneun babo geuraeyo geu dae boneun nal

[All]
Neomu banjjak banjjak noonee booshyeo no no no no
Neomu Kkamjjak Kkamjjak nolla naneun oh oh oh oh oh
Neomu jaritjarit momee Ddeollyeo Gee gee gee gee gee
Jeojeun noonbit (Oh yeah) Joeun hyanggi (Oh yeah yeah yeah)   

("Gee" by Girls Generation)

7. Learn the National Korean Stretching Routine

So far this list has been restricted to things you can do while sitting on your lazy bum, with your face in the internet. Get up. Start moving. Learn this by heart. Here is a video. Good luck.

8. Read up on Korea
Get your hands on any writing remotely to do with Korea; blogs, magazine articles, travel brochures. But most time-consuming of all (and this is our aim, remember), read some actual books.

Recommended:
Nothing to Envy, by Barbara Demmick This book made me cry. It has also made me determined to find some sort of volunteer work in Korea through which I can help refugees/defectors.

9. Meditate
Korea is a buddhist nation, and meditation is a great way to calm yourself, clear your head, and take stock of exactly what's happening right. This. Instant. Read up on buddhist methods and give it a try. What have you got to lose? The worst that can happen is that you'll doze off.

This is as good a place to start as any.

10. Create a photographic tour of your home town to show kids (and mine for vocabulary) when you get to Korea.
Another one to get you moving, and also to get you out of the house. Grab a camera and walk or drive around your town, taking photos of all the things that make it quintessentially HOME-ish to you.

An example from Grahamstown:

Rush hour.

If you're feeling creative and have more time to kill than you thought you would, turn it into a film, with an awesome soundtrack. I bet the kids will love it. And it's a nice way to say goodbye.

(I suppose an eleventh item could be 'Write a blog post listing 10 ways to waste/pass the time'). Writing this post has taken me 3 hours... and now it's 3am. Sheesh. 

South Korea Bucket List

Well, with my documents heading to my recruiter at this very moment, and my feet itching to leave, I think it's time I started a South Korea bucket list. Here we go!

This list is adapted from the list made by Chris Backe of "Chris in South Korea" (whose personal blog has since disappeared - if you know of a new link to it, please let me know). 83-85 were suggested by Alannah Boland. 88 suggested by Silvy Alvarez-Martinez.

1. Spend the night in a jimjilbang (day spa / sauna). Bonus points for spending the night in the jjimjilbang at Incheon Airport.
2. Stay out in Hongdae or Itaewon all night and catch the ‘subway of shame’ home the next morning. 
3. Bargain for clothes at Seomun Market. 
4. Go to Lotte World on a rainy / snowy day. 
5. Take in a drag show on Homo Hill, and smile at the ladies of Hooker Hill.
6. Visit the Loveland sex museum on Jeju island. 
7. Try the collagen face masks from Face Shop.
8. Watch the largest waterfall bridge performance at Banpo Han River Park.
9. Get off at a random subway stop and explore the local area.
10. Find a small town and enjoy being the only foreigner around. 
11. Drink Korean beer in a convenience store cafe
12. Raise funds and/or volunteer for a Korean charity 
13. Dress up as something crazy for Halloween in Hongdae.
14. Eat dried squid, fried chicken and drink soju at a baseball game. Bonus points for figuring out how to cheer along.
15. Go skiing at one of the dozen ski resorts around the country.
16. Get muddy at the Boryeong Mud Festival! 
17. DVD bang. Private movie screening. Like a drive-in theater without the car. ‘Nuff said. 
18. Play with the fancy technology around Yongsan Electronics Market or one of the Techno Marts.
19. Mix yogurt and soju. See what happens.
20. Eat some beondegi (silkworm pupae)!
21. Meander around the phallic statues in Penis Park (warning: NSFW) (Gangwon-do)
22. Watch the mayor of Daegu ring the big bell on New Year’s Day.
23. Drink makgeolli (rice wine) and eat pajeon (green onion pancake) on a rainy day. 
24. Push yourself across the ice on a sseolmae (wooden sled).
25. Take a bike ride along the Han river. 
26. Use your connections to get on one of the American military bases. 
27. Enjoy a Westernized Korean wedding. 
28. Say saranghae (I love you) to a special someone, whether they’re Korean or not.
29. Appreciate the air-conditioning on the subway in the middle of July. 
30. See NANTA or another non-verbal, high-energy performance. 
31. People-watch at Garosu-gil over a cup of coffee. Alas, they've broken it all down and turned it into cosmetics mecca. Bleh.
32. Get up to a moktok (a wooden instrument used in Buddhist temples) at 3:30am for a Korean Buddhist templestay.
33. Have a cocktail in a bag
34. Munch on some some live octopus, Oldboy-style.
35. Appreciate the spiciness of a good kimchi jjigae.
36. Try your best to converse with a Korean taxi driver.
37. Get the evil eye from an ajumma
38. Try the Korean version of ‘forest therapy’ in either Damyang or Anmyeon-do.
39. Swim in the East Sea and the West Sea.
40. Go puddle-jumping in a monsoon
41. Eat cold noodles with watermelon
42. Survive 'fan death' in summer
43. Spend a platonic night with a friend at a 'Love Motel'
44. Greet a car greeter
45. Spot a fake town in North Korea
46. Shape a hard boiled egg into something too cute to eat
47. Brush your teeth at work
48. Learn a KPOP dance
49. Cook a South African meal for some Koreans
50. Watch a Korean movie at a cinema
51. Go geo-caching in Daegu
52. Work out on public exercise equipment in the park
53. Go to the Daegu body-painting festival
54. Hug a giant teddy bear
55. Take ridiculous photos and have them turned into more ridiculous stickers
56. Stuff your face with meat at a Korean barbecue
57. Watch competitive Star Craft
58. Learn to play Star Craft/League of Legends/Sudden Attack
59. Play Korean Dance Dance Revolution at an arcade
60. Eat sweet potato bread
61. Learn the Korean synchronised stretching regime
62. Go to Everland
63. Wear BB cream and be flawless (maybe she's born with it? Maybe it's BB cream)
64. Get a haircut in a Korean salon
65. Try Korean oriental medicine
66. Visit a Korean fortune teller
67. Check out Daegu's pink light district
68. Bump around to trance music at G2
69. Check out the LGBT scene in Daegu's gay district
70. Bang all night (PC Bang, Noraebang, DVD Bang, Wii Bang, Jjimjilbang...)
71. Ride some rollercoasters in Daegu
72. Go swing-dancing
73. Ride a disco pang-pang
74. Check out some cherry blossoms
75. Take part in a traditional tea ceremony
76. Visit the Toilet Exhibition Hall
77. Cringe at the Plastic Surgery Museum
78. Teleport to a German village
79. Go on a tour of the DMZ
80. Play baduk 
81. See a K-Pop concert
82. Catch the Busan film festival
83. See what the fuss is all about at Jeju island
84. Get lost in a garden maze
85. Drink coffee from a can
86. Enjoy coffee and cuddles at a Pet Cafe 
87. Have a conversation completely in Korean
88. Hike Seoraksan mountains in autumn
89. Climb the highest mountain in Korea
90. Order a mystery meal to be delivered to my apartment
91. Soak in a natural hot spring
92. Be cute at the Hello Kitty cafe
93. Go to Korean classes and learn the lingo
94. Do the Itaewon Freedom dance in front of Namsan Tower
95. Work out in the park
96. Learn to cook a Korean meal
97. Take a traditional pottery class
98. Win a game at a boardgame coffee shop
99. Oppa Gangnam Style in Gangnam
100. English Teachers' choreographed dance in a dance club.  (The night we did the macarena, gangnam style and YMCA covers that, I think).
101. Drink in public, in inappropriate places.
102. Have your feet nibbled by fish at Dr Fish.
103. Be gatvol (spot someone wearing a gat). 
104. Sleep on a yo.
105. Sign up for a class at a Hagwon, in Korean.  Yoga completely in Korean totally counts.
106. Sit a TOPIK exam.
107. Have a normal dinner in a Korean's home
108. Time-travel to the past
109. Climb inside a painting. 
110. Learn to salsa/swing dance
111. Go to the Rape Festival
112. Get armloads of freebies from cosmetics shops just for going inside
113. Do Noraebang on a long bus ride to pass the time
114. Hike the entire East Coast
115. Ulleongdo scavenger hunt: find the absence of 3 things (thieves, snakes and pollution) and the presence of 5 things (many aromatic trees, wind, beautiful women, water and rocks)
116. Catch waves in a waterpark.
117. Hug trees at the Daegu arboretum.
118. Drink persimmon wine underground.
119. Birdwatch in Eulsukdo
120. Go whale-watching or ocean-staring
121. Find Nemo at the aquarium
122. Eat barbecue that's cooked with a blow torch
123. Have chicken or duck cooked in pumpkin
124. Go to the Bus Bar and/or the airplane cafe.
125. Eat cheesy jjimdalk