Gangnam Style

Now, rarely do you considered eating with the management team a work perk, but Saturday night was an exception.  We had reservations at one of the best sashimi places in Korea in the Gangnam district.  Our MD was friends with the head chef since grade school and he was bringing a 30 year old bottle of Scotch that we would be drinking over glaciers (illegally) imported from the South Pole.  Illegal being a term used loosely because they explain while it is illegal to actually “harvest” glacier you can bring back whatever you incidentally caught while fishing.  

The Scotch was amazing and the dinner was ridiculous.  All sorts of sashimi, including lobster that split in half that moved when you touched it because it was still alive that was decorated with gold flakes that were meant to be consumed with the lobster because the gold complemented the flavor.  Despite the overwhelming desire to eat gold, I decided it wasn’t worth a trip to the hospital and stuck with my glacier and scotch.  Then they brought out soju with a blowfish tail.  Blowfish has the potential to be poisonous so they burn the tail in the soju to remove the poison.  Then there was the mushroom tea, that they explained cost 1,000 dollars for one kilo.  It seemed out landish but MR pointed out the fact that other members of the local team were taking pictures, therefore, this had to be a big deal.

Seoul Sunset

two 30 year olds

Glacier

Glacier with Scotch

 

Tuna belly button

Sea Urchin

Lobster and gold flecks

Soju and Blowfish tail - look closely, it's on fire!

Plums - Amazing!

After about a 3 hour dinner that was simply awesome, it was decided that we needed to go sing karaoke.  Sadly, they didn’t have costumes like Tokyo but you still get your own room and a server.  To spice things up we decided to break into teams and bet against each other.  The karaoke machine would monitor your singing and provide you an accuracy score which is what we used to determine winners.  It was me, MR, and JK vs. PS, JW, and EL.  It was one of the funniest experiences ever.  Our Korean members killed it.  They knew how to pick the songs and nailed the delivery.  Poor JK was stuck with the two Americans who were glasses of 30 year old scotch deep.  

After a few warm ups, it was competition time.  Guests and ladies first, which meant me.  I opted for a song that I knew the best, Sisqo’s Thong Song.  Like true team mates MR and JK gathered around me with tambourines as I belted out “babe make you booty go da da da dat”.  My desire to dance while singing left me hyperventilating into the mic about half way through, thankfully, MR and JK stepped in to assist and I ended with a score of 97 (out of 100).  Next was JW, who nailed a Korean song with a 97 percent.  Next was MR who defaulted to JW’s suggestion of Abba, which was hysterical and I wish I had recorded it but my hands were busy with the tambourine.  MR scored us a 95 and PS went next scoring a 95.  So we were one up going into the final round with JS and EL duking it out.  JS killed it with a Korean song as MR and I played tambourines scoring us a 98 and EL went in with a Korean song and scored a 98 too.   Hahaha, go figure, the Americans took it but only because of JK’s execution.

We decided to play a second round and upped the auntie - doubling the amount we put in.  This time MR and I tried to take notes based off of the Korean’s performance, picking well known slower songs.  MR opted for Bruno Mars’ Grenade and I went for Cyndi Lauper’s Girl’s just want to have fun.  But then JW stepped up to the plate and straight killed it, 100!!  Ahhh what!  We still put in a good effort but the other team took the win in the second round.  

It was getting late and we were all tired.  It was then that they told MR and I about one of the best taxi businesses.  You call a company and they bring you a driver.  The driver drives you home in your car.  Then the driver calls his company and they pick him up from your house.  It’s straight genius because it doesn’t cost much more than a taxi.  It seems like a killer business plan until you start considering the safety of a complete stranger picking you up intoxicated and taking you to your home, sounds like a murder waiting to happen.  

We had to wait for the driver to arrive, so we killed time the best way possible.  Group cover of Gangnam Style.  JK sang while PS, EL, and JW covered back up.  I was the designated dancer and MR was the videographer.   Absolutely hysterical and definitely a good memory to add to the book.

After our gorgeous rendition of Gangnam Style, we piled into JW’s car and headed for all our drop offs with our purchased designated driver.  Straight genius.  Gratefully, we were back home by 1230 and to get some much needed sleep!