Live from Seoul it's Saturday Night!

So this post is a little late, but should prove to be a pretty interesting one, if I do say so myself. Last weekend, my adventures in Seoul took me to the ultra-modern Blue Square Theatre to see Mama Mia! for the first time. As a theatre nerd, I am ashamed to say that I've never seen the show before; however, that didn't keep me from jamming along to all the ABBA songs and dancing with the gal-pals during the curtain call.

It was a fantastic show (in English with Korean subtitles) with everything that I've come to expect from living in Seoul. There were bright lights, loud music, flashy costumes, and of course a completely foreign cast (and by foreign I mean British -- I told you this place was totally international), which never seems to matter much here as long as the subtitle screens are working properly. The predominantly Korean audience packed the intimate theatre interior dressed to the 9's in their evening wear and my two companions and I fit right in...you know, except for being American and all.

We laughed, we sang, and after the show we went out into the crisp night air in search of a late dinner. No problem, we thought, in a city that seems to be quite lively after dark. To our dismay, many restaurants close their kitchens around 9:30 pm and only the bars are open after that. I'll begin by saying that explains a lot considering how many extremely drunk people I've seen wandering, staggering, falling, and puking about the streets, and finish by saying THAT'S INSANE!!! While I'm sure that clearing the tables of everything but glasses drives liquor and beer sales, clearly these people need food to soak up the alcohol.

As my tummy grumbled and curfew for the mommies with me grew close, we finally found a cute Spanish tapas restaurant that was still serving food and sat down in a cozy corner of the restaurant. We raved about the show, started to make plans to see another, laughed and talked about life, thoroughly enjoyed our food, then departed.

We had a wonderful Saturday night in Seoul. Maybe next time we'll even bring the hubbies along...maybe.