Oppa Mozart Style

This past Saturday, Tom, Lisa and I decided to get a little culture at the Daegu Opera House. They were performing Don Giovanni for a mere $18, so it was too good to pass up. Of course, we got all spiffed up, as one does at the opera. When we arrived, though, we saw one or two other suits. Everyone else was in sweatshirts and sweatpants, so we stuck out even more than usual. It was okay though, because we looked damn good.

Koreans love few things more than taking pictures of themselves absolutely everywhere, so anywhere of consequence will have sickeningly tacky manufactured "photo zones." Even when we went to Gayasan National Park, there was signage specifically directing people to take pictures on this bridge or on that outcrop. God forbid you take any in another spot! This throne, though, was definitely the tackiest photo zone I've seen so far, so of course we had to utilize it.

The opera itself was a wonderful time. Our balcony seats didn't exactly offer the best viewpoint, but the price was right, and the show was grand. Don Giovanni is lighthearted and funny, and has some great music. It was very bizarre to see dozens of Koreans dancing around in Italian Renaissance costumes, especially since even Italian period dress is considered too revealing by Korea's current standards of modesty. Their Italian was top notch, though, and the dancing was especially funny. For the uninitiated (and if so, you must be living under a rock), Gangnam Style is a Korean Pop song that went viral worldwide a few months ago, and it is all the rage and a source of national pride here in the Hermit Kingdom. There is a scene in the opera where Giovanni and his servant Leporello are getting drunk, dancing, and singing about women. Leporello was cavorting around, waving his wine bottle, doing appropriately accurate dance moves, when he snuck in the Gangnam Style dance for nothing more than a second. He was very subtle about it, but the crowd went wild. It was a good moment.

I was also worried that the show wouldn't provide English subtitles, and that we would be hopelessly lost, but all my worry was for naught. Even better than English subtitles, we were provided with Korean subtitles and their Engrish equivalent. Tom posited that the young boy playing Young Don Giovanni was tasked with translating the play for his English Academy homework. In one particularly touching moment, when Donna Anna is bemoaning the death of her father and the pieces of her broken heart, her lover Don Ottavio gallantly informs her that "If you sad, my heart also is grieved centipede."

And what fancy dress up night would be complete without a trip to the casino? There are some perks to going to the casino in the States, but here they are much better. It is ostensibly illegal for Koreans to gamble, so the casino makes the bulk of their money from foreigners, meaning they are desperate for crowds. Our transport to the casino was paid for, and there were free drinks, fruit, and sandwiches for as long as you played table games and even well beyond. The place was kind of sad though, compared to other casinos I've seen. Being mostly foreigners, it looked so lonely and empty. I lost playing blackjack, but I came out ahead if all the free stuff was included.

A fancy night at the opera and the casino for only $55? Definitely a perk of living here.