The Twelve Days of Christmas (Korean style)

Hello folks! I will be blogging again soon about the things that we have been up to over the past couple of weeks, but I thought that I would post this quickly in the meantime. We went to an open mic night at a Canadian bar here in Seoul called the Rocky Mountain Tavern and the MC handed out the Twelve days of Christmas Korean style lyrics and we all sang together. Here's how it goes:

The Twelve Days of Korean Christmas

On the first day of Christmas
Korea gave to me
Galbi and kimchi

On the second day of Christmas
Korea gave to me
Too much rice
And some galbi and kimchi

On the third day of Christmas
Korea gave to me
Three broken cell phones
Too much rice
And some galbi and kimchi

On the fourth day of Christmas
Korea gave to me
Four English channels
Three broken cell phones
Too much rice
And some galbi and kimchi

On the fifth day of Christmas
Korea gave to me
Five or-an-gees
Four English channels
Three broken cell phones
Too much rice
And some galbi and kimchi

On the sixth day of Christmas
Korea gave to me
Six cans of Cass
Five or-an-gees
Four English channels
Three broken cell phones
Too much rice
And some galbi and kimchi

On the seventh day of Christmas
Korea gave to me
Seven shots of soju
Six cans of Cass
Five or-an-gees
Four English channels
Three broken cell phones
Too much rice
And some galbi and kimchi

On the eight day of Christmas
Korea gave to me
Eight angry mothers
Seven shots of soju
Six cans of Cass
Five or-an-gees
Four English channels
Three broken cell phones
Too much rice
And some galbi and kimchi


On the ninth day of Christmas
Korea gave to me
Nine million people pushing
Eight angry mothers
Seven shots of soju
Six cans of Cass
Five or-an-gees
Four English channels
Three broken cell phones
Too much rice
And some galbi and kimchi

On the tenth day of Christmas
Korea gave to me
Ten vacation days
Nine million people pushing
Eight angry mothers
Seven shots of soju
Six cans of Cass
Five or-an-gees
Four English channels
Three broken cell phones
Too much rice
And some galbi and kimchi

On the eleventh day of Christmas
Korea gave to me
Eleven pyeong apartments
Ten vacation days
Nine million people pushing
Eight angry mothers
Seven shots of soju
Six cans of Cass
Five or-an-gees
Four English channels
Three broken cell phones
Too much rice
And some galbi and kimchi

On the twelfth day of Christmas
Korea gave to me
My twelfth monthly paycheck
Eleven pyeong apartments
Ten vacation days
Nine million people pushing
Eight angry mothers
Seven shots of soju
Six cans of Cass
Five or-an-gees
Four English channels
Three broken cell phones
Too much rice
And some galbi and kimchi

Soooo I realize that either have to have been to Korea or currently be in Korea to get some of these jokes so for those of you who were thinking that this was not funny at all I will try to explain. Galbi is like a do it yourself bbq, very yummy and usually cheap and kimchi is served with EVERY meal (even with your steak at the Outback) and it is usually pickled cabbage with red pepper paste. People tend to go through cell phones here like crazy, probably because they are cheap. There are only four English stations on cable. Orangees, refers to the fact that Korean people almost always say orange with a long e at the end, and when it comes to our students it is impossible to correct. A lesson about fruit usually goes like this: Teacher:"What is it?" Student:"It is a orangee." Teacher:"No, it is an orange." Student: "It is an orangee." Teacher:"No, it is an O-RAN-GE." Student: "It is an orangee." Teacher: "ugh, alright, next one..."

Cass is a cheap Korean beer. Soju is a liquor made from sweet potatos, like the Korean version of saki, but better. Eight angry mothers is pretty self explanitory; the mothers are usually the only ones that we see in the school, almost never the father. The mothers are also either angry at the kid or ot the teacher.

It kinda feels like there are nine million people (the population of seoul) pushing when you go some places. People don't say excuse me or sorry they just plow through. It took a while to learn that you can't be polite if you want to get some places, you just have to go for it and use elbows and shoulders when necessary.

Most English teachers here get ten vacation days in their contracts. Our box style apartments, called wither a studio or bachelor at home is called a pyeong apartment here. And finally the reference to my twelfth months pay check may be interpreted differently depending on the teacher, but it could be that some people don't always get that last pay check, or that those who finally have it in their hands are happier for it...not sure. Our hagwon actually pays out an extra months pay at the end as a bonus which will be nice!

Well hope you enjoyed and maybe even learned something new!