Guy Fawkes Night

I was invited to a barbecue last night to celebrate Guy Fawkes Night at the apartment roof of one of the other Western teachers in town, who just happens to live in the building next to me. Apparently Guy Fawkes Night is a very big and important holiday for Kiwis, English, South Africans and Aussies, pretty much anyone who is a part of the Commonwealth. I'd never heard of Guy Fawkes before, so naturally I googled him... I was also told by Patrick, a Kiwi and the host of the party, that Guy Fawkes was a big rebel who tried to blow up Parliament and ordered a giant load of gunpowder to do the damage, but somehow lines were crossed and he got fireworks instead. So instead of blowing up Parliament, he gave them a great fireworks show.
I got to meet a bunch of Kiwis, one Aussie, a few South Africans, one Brit, one Irishman and a couple other Americans last night. And I got to barbecue!!!! It was awesome!!! The food was amazing, the beer was plentiful and there were even fireworks! It was also really great to meet some more English-speaking people and discuss life in Korea as an ESL teacher. I met some really amazing, welcoming and fantastic people. The longer I'm here, the more I realize the Western group really takes care of each other. They are more than willing to open their home, give you full access to anything of theirs and basically just take care of you in any way they can.
After I stuffed my face with a ridiculous amount of barbecued lambchops, chicken and sausages, as well as potato salads and a bunch of other food and beer, we headed to a noorybong (spelling??), which is VERY popular in Korea. It's basically a little room you can rent with your friends and do karaoke. You pay for the room in 30-minute to 60-minute increments and you can pay to have alcohol delivered to the room as well. It was absolutely hilarious! I adamently refused to sing, but the more soju I drank the more I was willing to sing a little ditty, or at least sing backup. Thank god it's just in a small room with friends. By the way, soju is awful! It's made of rice obviously and tastes like ass, but we mixed it with orange juice and sprite and it wasn't so bad.
They finally kicked us out of the noorybong at 5 a.m. No bueno.
I've decided to celebrate Guy Fawkes Night every year, even though it has nothing to do with my country. Who doesn't need a reason to have another 4th of July in November????