For this week's second blog, I thought I'd tell you a little about something that is everywhere in Korea. Even a small town like Sinchang where our university is located, we have at least 4 of them. The place I speak of is no less than what we know in Korean as norebang - karaoke rooms, for the unitiated. It's a very popular passtime for groups of friends or classmates, I've heard, and not too expensive when the cost is split between a group (about 15,000 won total cost, maybe 3,000 per person or less).

What you'll end up with in your room at a norebang is a pretty standard setup: two long sofas on either side with a smaller in the back connecting the two, a long table in the middle, and the TV screen near the door. On the table is where you'll find probably two books listing all the songs you have to choose from - Korean songs in the front half or so, English in the middle (listed in English, don't worry) and Japanese towards the back. Other languages can be available, including Spanish, Chinese and Tagalog. If, like me, you're looking for a Japanese song but can't read kanji never fear: all the kanji has hangul underneath it telling you how to pronounce said kanji (the Japanese words in Korean characters!). After having failed to find one particular song the last two visits to a norebang, I felt very silly for having missed this handy tool.

To some westerners, going to a private room with a bunch of people to sing karaoke with muzak like instrumentals may not sound so entertaining. Trust me, there's a reason that Koreans enjoy going to these places and hence why there's so many norebangs. It actually can get pretty entertaining, especially if there are Koreans in your group. Sometimes groups go drinking before heading to a norebang, but this isn't necessary. Likewise, larger groups can be a lot of fun, especially when everybody joins in with a song and you can hardly hear your own voice. At the same time it can be very crowded with a larger group, so a smaller group can be preferable.

My best advice is to just drop your inhibitions and go. Even if you're not a good singer, it doesn't matter. No one's going to be judgemental, they'll be happy that you came and made the effort to sing with everyone else. It's all part of the fun to belt out a song no matter your skill at performing. I even have tried to sing in Korean, English and Japanese at each of my last two visits to a norebang. Safe to say that I need more practice on the Korean; the Japanese song I knew by heart (mostly), and the kanji in the lyrics had hangul underneath! For these reasons, and for the surprisingly entertaining atmosphere, I highly reccomend going to a norebang in Korea.

Norebang: You know you want to.