Last night (Saturday) was an interesting night. I was invited by one of my students to go out with him and some friends for ‘dinner’.
This apparently was not a common occurrence and so I was a bit keen to go, and apprehensive at what the night would be like. I was told that we would go by taxi, and was a little surprised that we went straight into the middle of town.
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| The foyer and hostesses at KTV |
After some confusion about the location of the venue (it was new, and no-one had been there before) we made our way up to the 4th floor, into a foyer lined with white marble, blue lighting and hostesses.
After a short time spent waiting for some others to arrive, we were ushered into a small room with a u-shaped lounge, a LCD screen and a control panel. It was KTV! (Karaoke TV).
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The group with my 3 friends at left:
Gong Ling Xue, Ada and Xu Liang |
Shortly afterwards a hostess arrived with about 2 dozen stubbies of beer, some crisps and a couple of small plates of snacks, which she placed in a low table and then left. No dinner, we were going to sing! This not being exactly what I expected, and being quite hungry, I had my fair share (or a little more) of the snacks.
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| Selecting music at the control panel |
I was a little relieved when the singing started and I realised that a quality voice was not a requirement – although some could sing, at least in the early stages. Around this time I sent a voice message to Frances about what was happening who replied “Don’t embarrass yourself!” As if!
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| Singing along |
Anyway, I was pressed into singing a couple of the few English songs that were in the machine, and I must admit I also did some body movements and arm actions, but all very tastefully. The evening wore on, with people coming and going, beers quickly warming up to room temperature, and lots of general good humour.
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Our taxi group. I'm the one on the left with
Xu Liang, Ada and Gong Ling Xue |
I actually spent a lot of time trying to talk to various people in the group who wanted to know about me and Australia – particularly why the heck I was there!
However the music was very loud which made it quite difficult. After about 2 and a half hours, with the volume of music and singing now up to the max, I decided it was time to go. The three students who accompanied me in also decided to leave, and so we all headed back to college together.
It was actually a great night and I was very grateful to them for being treated to a night out in this way.
