| Thursday, August 24, 2006 |
| Leaving Tomorrow.. T.T |
Getting up earlier than I have this entire summer -- 4:30 AM!! -- in order to take the airport shuttle from Seoul to Inchon, and then fly to Japan -- transfer --- and Chicago --- transfer -- and FINALLY NEW JERSEY!
Leaving Korea =(
it was definitely the most memorable trip of my life, but at the same time I'm looking forward to going back~
Things I'll Miss from Seoul
- being with halmunee, aunts, cousins, uncles who are all so completely comfortable with each other and spend long periods of time sitting on a hardwood floor joking and eating fruit
- chunsa classroom at Sogang; hearing Japanese-accented Korean, discussing things like "explaining directions" and "eating boshintang" for hours
- eating ddukbokki/ramen/kimbahp/chigae for like $3 at 4 AM
- crass Korean jokes that are nonetheless hilarious
- sparkling clean floors
- Korean barbecue + soju, a perfect combination
- NOREHBANG!
- having everything be little and cute, from stationary to kitchen appliances
- going to a restaurant and finishing everything in my plate without feeling pregnant
- hongdae club night
- working up a sweat in jjeemjeelbang, Korean sauna
Things I Miss in America
- understanding everything that is said around me (at least if it's in English)
- actually seeing people who do NOT have pale skin, dark hair, and Asian features
- hearing ebonics
- home family =)
- friends =]
- clothes in non-pastel or fluorescent colors that don't fall apart after 1 washing
- DRYING MACHINES
- pancakes. fatty breakfast foods like bacon and eggs, especially from Cracker Barrel
- driving
- shopping without having the salespeople tail me.. actually, American shopping malls
- COMFORTABLE SHOES
- fake Chinese food- eg, lo mein, general tso's chicken
- inches, yards, pounds, miles.. not having to convert units in my head
Labels: Culture |
posted by Jane @ 9:23 AM   |
|
|
|
| Wednesday, August 16, 2006 |
| Boshintang: Dog Meat Stew |
So I've managed to be in Seoul for two months without seeing, trying, or catching the faintest whiff of the meat that Korea is notorious for.... DOG.
At the urging of Foster, who was eager to try it, we finally went to a boshintang restaurant today for dinner.
Discreetly nestled between a Japanese restaurant and a small cafe, the "보신탕" sign was easy to find, but also easy for queasy-stomached foreigners to avoid.
And a mere two minute walk from our goshitel in Sinchon!
We got to the restaurant, which specialized in boshintang and other summer dishes. I ordered samgyetang, a boiled chicken soup in which the chicken is stuffed with sweet rice, dates, and ginseng.
Foster stuck with the boshintang, along with an entire table of Korean men who ordered the same.
Boshintang is especially popular with Korean men in the summer because it is supposed to increase virility (South Korean men world's busiest lovers).
The boshintang smelled strongly of pepper and sesame leaf (ket-neep).
The actual meat resembled beef, except that it had pieces of skin still attached to it. And the stew came with a dipping paste for the meat.
According to Foster, the meat tastes like roast beef, but more tender and stringy.
I think he liked it.
Because he ate it all.
$9 a bowl.. try it if you're brave enough.Labels: Food |
| posted by Jane @ 8:22 AM |
|
|
|
| Tuesday, August 15, 2006 |
| last week in korea =,( |
I can't believe I only have 9 days left here...
unbelievably sad, but at the same time excited for AMERICA~~ American speech, clothes, people.
Anyway, haven't updated for a while--parents and sister came to visit for a week!! Nonstop eating, traveling, meeting up with parents' old friends, and family.
Especially family.
For my entire life, I'd never spoken to or seen anyone related to my mom.... All of her family lived in Seoul and spoke only Korean. We finally got to meet, over a 6-hour dinner at my grandmother's house near Seoul National University.
It was the first time in our lives for my sister and I, and the first time in almost 30 years for my mother.
Meeting my (adorable) grandmother, aunts, uncles, and cousins for the first time was an experience I'll never forget. I'm so thankful that I could come to Korea this year, and discover family that I never knew I had. |
| posted by Jane @ 8:24 AM |
|
|
|
| Thursday, August 10, 2006 |
| "Subway Line 1", a critique of Korean society |
Watched the Korean music 지하철1호선, or Subway Line 1, at the Hakchon Green Theater in Daehangro, Seoul last night. Daehangro is the theatre district of Seoul (and if you're interested, has a huge Filipino market every Sunday afternoon).
"Subway Line 1" follows the quest of a Chinese gyopo called Angel, a Korean girl who has been raised in China.
She comes to Seoul for the first time in order to search for a man who came to China and got her pregnant. (The play makes frequent allusions to the Korean folk tale of the woodcutter and the angel.)
Angel sees everything in Seoul with the eyes of an outsider, and as you can tell from the title, the play focuses on the hub of Seoul culture, the SUBWAY.
Because road traffic in Seoul is so bad, everyone in Seoul has to take the subway system at one point or another, whether they like it or not. The play satirizes a wide variety of characters, teenaged schoolchildren, alcoholics, the homeless, army guys, harried mothers, uncontrolled children, desperate housewives..
My particular favorites were the ancient grandmother who launched a 15 minute exposition on healthy poop (this aspect of Korean culture is so true!!), and the group of old, rich widowed ajummahs who were forced to take the subway instead of their usual taxi to catch the latest big department store sale:
(^^ these are all men dressed up as women, by the way)
The ubiquitous pojangmatchas, street carts which sell foods like ddukbokki and soondae.
Act one is hilarious, and act two ends on a tragic but thought-provoking note.
Won't say who dies.. go see for yourself!
By the way, if you're American, you'll find the American parody of the news program in Act 2 pretty interesting ;)Labels: Events and Performances |
| posted by Jane @ 2:56 AM |
|
|
|
| Friday, August 04, 2006 |
| Korean "Summer Dress Code" |
Now that the swelteringly hot weather of Korean August has arrived, the newspapers have been putting out articles about dressing for the heat.
Let me rephrase "dressing for the heat". Dressing to avoid offending people, despite the heat.
From the Korea Times, "Dress Properly, or Don’t Complain of Stares".
By Korean college student Park Yu-rie.
She complains that every day, " A naked leg is plastered on my leg. Another naked arm is stuck on my arm."
Naked leg. E.g. leg in shorts or skirt. Obscene, the nakedness of a female leg.
Not to speak of the fantasies that men have of naked arms.
She continues, "And once again, I close my eyes as to avert my vision from staring at the nakedness. "
Every time I see someone's arm exposed in a t-shirt or tank top, it makes me feel faint as well. Right. This girl had better not go to a mokyoktang (Korean public bath), she'd be scarred for life.
A slightly more useful article, from the Chosunilbo: Summer Fashion No-No's and How to Avoid Them. I completely agree with the "No"'s, particularly:
- "panties visible over a pair of low-rise pants -- plus, for good measure, some excessive flab around the tummy. "
...popularly called muffin tops in America, as shown below
- "wearing shirts so tight they show the shape of your nipples; wearing just a vest without anything inside it."
Men, this is just gross.
- "staggering around in 10 cm wedge heels when you can’t cross the street in time"
Though I have to admit that Korean women are pretty good at running in high heels.
The article also says that, "for men, wearing T-shirts with armpits soaked or discolored with perspiration" is a No, and informs us that "there are sweat-absorbing pads to be attached around armpits available on the market." Wow, having pads strapped to your armpits seems uncomfortable... ever heard of a thing called deodorant?
Labels: Culture |
| posted by Jane @ 9:49 PM |
|
|
|
| Wednesday, August 02, 2006 |
| "Gwoemul", or "The Host" |
I'm generally not a fan of "Godzilla" monster type movies.
But with all the hype about the Korean-made movie "Gwaemul", its breaking of Korean box office records, and its international popularity at the Cannes Film Festival in France (it was called "the hottest title at this year's Cannes Film Festival"), I decided to give it a try.
It was my first time in a Korean movie theater watching a Korean movie.. no subtitles!
On the poster, the girl's screaming "Dad, save me!", as she's being taken away by the monster.
The movie starts out with a scene that made me afraid for Mark, the only Caucasian-looking guy visible in the theater. Haha. A white scientist rather bitchily orders his Korean subordinate to dump hundreds of bottles of formaldehyde into the Han River, despite environmental laws and the chemical's toxicity. As the Korean is protesting that the chemicals have health hazards, the white guy replies, "The Han River is a broad river. Let's try to have a broad mind."
In fact, the movie's attitude towards America and white English speakers in general was a bit confusing. A crazy looking white doctor later reveals to a cooperative gyopo that he is part of a plot to fool the nation of Korea.
However, besides the evil scientist and doctor, the movie also shows a heroic white man who goes against the fleeing Korean crowd and tries to fight off the gwaemul (he is later eaten). I think there is some deep political metaphor here that I am missing.
Anyway, the discarded chemicals and formaldehyde leads to the birth of a huge monster, "gwaemul". The actual gwaemul resembled a large computerized fish, and was a bit unrealistic-looking at first glance. But as the movie goes on, you begin to develop a deep dislike/fear of the monster, mostly because of the skillful animation, sound effects, and compelling plot. You'll be quite satisfied when it's finally killed.
As you can probably tell from the poster, "Gwaemul" emphasizes family, which is a a central concept in Korean culture. The movie focuses on a young schoolgirl and her father, who owns a modest snack stand. The father is rather incompetent and comical at the start of the movie, and his daughter is ashamed of him. But when the girl is snatched away by the monster, her father, grandfather, and siblings unite to look for her in the sewers of the Han River.
"Gwoemul"'s combination of moments of extreme horror or sadness with silly comic scenes is typically Korean. This is something which I found strange at first, being used to American horror flicks which are Serious Serious Serious all the way through. But the juxtaposition adds another dimension to the movie. You get a chance to catch your breath after an exciting scene. And in the end, I guess it makes the movie even scarier because you aren't expecting the horrific moments when they do finally come.
The movie doesn't fall into the pitfall of many Korean movies, that being overly maudlin and dramatic; but still definitely touches you emotionally.
The plot has plenty of twists and turns to keep you interested, and the acting somehow manages to combine humor, tragedy, and horror into one compelling production.
If you're in Korea, GO SEE GWEOMUL. And if you're not, it should be out in America around October ;)Labels: Events and Performances |
| posted by Jane @ 7:02 AM |
|
|
|
| Saturday, July 29, 2006 |
| Busan, Korea's Hot Vacation Spot |
Just spent a glorious three days in sunny Busan.
Hot sun, cool ocean, gritty sand, salty air,
the highlight of the trip was the day we spent at the most popular beach in Korea, Haeundae Beach.
Contrary to our expectations, the water was clear, shallow, and seemed clean enough. There were tons of kids and teens in the ocean hanging on to inner tubes riding the waves.
To get to Busan, which is on the southernmost tip of South Korea, we took the train from Seoul Station. The mugunghwa class train takes 5 hours from Seoul to Busan and costs $25.
We managed to escape the rain clouds which poured down on Seoul during the three days that we were gone.
All we had to deal with was lots and lots of hot sun =)
At Haeundae Beach, no one brings their own sun umbrella to the beach. They're all rented for 5,000 won, resulting in the sand being covered with identical red and white umbrellas advertising McDonalds and Lotteria.
We had to find someone with non-sandy hands to take a photo of us. When the picture was finally taken, we found out that you could barely see our faces because of the shadow.
I adjusted the shadows and highlightings to fix the picture, and now we have some kind of weird halo around our figures, like we're angels O:-]
Around Haeundae Beach are lots of small restaurants and vendors. The stores have a somewhat limited selection of beach supplies though. Mark found himself buying a Disney Princesses towel =p
We met up with some native Busan-ers (?) for dinner. They took us to a place that serves a chicken dish which is a Busan specialty.
It was basically pieces of chicken and rice cake in a spicy sauce. The sauce was definitely the best part, I'd never tasted it before; a flavorful fusion that tasted like barbecue sauce and spicy Korean gochujang (red pepper paste). I'm not sure why there are corn kernels and pickles in it though.
After we ate, I had to visit the 붕어빵 (bungabbang~ bunga is the word for goldfish, bbang means bread) vendor down the street.
hese little pastries are delicious!! Batter is poured into a fish shaped mold and baked with red bean in the middle.
To clear up any misunderstanding, there are no fish products whatsover inside.
In the States, there is also an ice cream version of this made by Binggrae.
Oh and I can't forget the sesame ice cream.
AMAZING. Sold by Natuur as a "well-being" ice cream. It's my new favorite flavor.
Gorgeous sunset view.
The not so gorgeous yeogwan (cheap motel) that I stayed at. But for $20 a night and your own bathroom, it's a good deal. Still, I was afraid that something would crawl out of a crack in the wall and bite me while I was asleep.
We also went to Gwangalli Beach, famous for its nighttime view of the Gwangan bridge, the longest bridge in Korea.
Korean palm trees
Near the university district in Busan, we found "Foxy", which boasted both a bar and a dance *cave*.
At Foxy I witnessed multiple male couples grinding enthusiastically on each other. These guys were straight (many Koreans are still deeply suspicious of homosexuals).
And there were no guys and girls dancing together ^^;;
Kaila and I went to the biggest bath house in Asia.... HUR SHIM CHANG MOGYOKTANG! (허심창)
With multiple floors, it is spa heaven. The first floor has a fountain, a beauty salon, small shops, and a yummy bakery =)
Here's a directory.
Sorry, no photos from inside the mogyoktang, I think I would have been kicked out if someone had seen me taking pictures of naked people =p
Basically, one floor has jjeemjjeelbangs, which are different saunas. They're big igloo shaped structures which you walk into and relax in--one is hot and made out of clay, another one is of intermediate temperature (it's called jewelry room and has pretty mosaics on the wall), and the last one is cold with snow and fake ice crystals lining the walls.
This floor also has a lounge area where families sit together, relax, and talk; an ice cream and snack shop; a restaurant serving traditional Korean food; foot baths; an Oxygen room (which is supposed to stimulate growth hormones?); an aromatherapy room; and a DVD room.
The jjeemjjelbang floor is coed--men and women are given gowns to wear while relaxing, sweating, and chilling.
On the other floor, however, you are completely and utterly NAKED. This floor has the "Grand Hot Springs", a huge atrium with different pools and waterfalls. Temperatures range from steaming hot to warm, cool, and ice cold.
There are also "caverns" which run through rocky walls, streams of water coming from the ceilings to simulate waterfalls, and pools with colored water scented with strange herbs that are supposed to have health benefits.
Here are pictures from the Hur-Shim-Chang website:
 
Not to sound like a nudist advocate or anything, but being naked with 500 other Korean women is less awkward than I thought it would be. First of all, once you see hundreds of naked women, everyone starts to look similar.
And secondly, the people at the hot springs range from infant age to old grandmothers. It was obvious that everyone had been coming to public baths for their whole lives and felt completely comfortable.
Once I came out of the sweating room, chilling room, hot baths, and cold baths (and enjoyed a bowl of Korean miyukguk, or seaweed soup along the way), I felt completely refreshed.
Hur-Shim-Chang was gorgeous and huge and you're free to stay as long as you want. If you tried to go to a similar spa in America, it would probably cost you around $100. Guess how much the bill came to here?
.
.
.
.
.
7,500 won. That's $7.50 in the US.
Ahh, I'm so sad I don't live in Busan =(
More scenic views of Busan taken on the train ride back..
And random photos of the party that my Sogang teacher had at her house for our class a week ago:
It's Daun's birthday and she's making a wish...
I'm going for the cake. By the way, cakes in Korean bakeries are works of art! Not to mention that they taste heavenly.
Our teacher had samgaetang at her house for her, the traditional chicken soup dish which you're supposed to eat in the summer. It's hot, but somehow refreshing. A small chicken is stuffed with sweet rice, ginseng, dates, and chestnuts and then boiled until tender and juicy.
It was a feast:
Sunsengneem's kid is adorable =)
Last week we also met up with Professor Hwang, a professor at Yale/Yonsei for dinner..
and then went to Milky Road.
Milky Road deserves its own blog entry one day. But as you can see, all of our patbingsoo bowls are scraped clean. =P
Labels: Places of Interest |
| posted by Jane @ 10:40 AM |
|
|
|
| Sunday, July 23, 2006 |
| Sexy, Eggy Americans |
It's funny how people rely on stereotypes in tough situations. In Psych we learned that stereotypes are actually a survival mechanism.. in the majority of situations, our stereotypes are true, and so having them helps us act quickly when we need to.
Well, Koreans have some strange stereotypes of Americans! For example, a Korean friend told me that most people from a certain nation have a defining scent. Apparently the Japanese have a briny, oceany smell; Indians have a pungent, spicy smell; and Koreans have a alcohol-y, garlic-y smell (Okay, she didn't actually say alcohol-y smell, but it's true!).
"What about Americans? Do we have a particular smell?" I asked, curious.
She replied (in Korean, of course), "Ahh, yes! It's hard to describe, but they have this vague odor sometimes...smells just like eggs!"
EGGS?
I was expecting maybe grease, sugar, sweat? But...eggs.. I guess it could be worse.
The other thing I keep hearing is that Americans are very "opposite of conservative". Yeah... this was clarified when I bought a Korean magazine one day. It had a special called "Vacance Sex Report".
It was one of those spreads where they do a whole bunch of polls about what percentage of people wait to have sex before marriage, the preferred location of most couples to have sex, what they like to do afterwards, all that TMI stuff.
Well, this magazine is obviously a Korean magazine and 95% of the models in it are, understandably, Korean.
But when you get to the sex section, everyone suddenly switches to white. Not a single Korean or Asian-looking model in the entire spread. Just a wholleee bunch of white couples kissing, making out, and seducing each other.
C'mon.. are Americans just that sexy? I mean, eggs are hardly considered an aphrodisiac. (Not to mention the fact that white does not equal American.. I mean, what happened to all the blacks, Hispanics, Asians, etc. I guess they don't have sex either)
Despite America's reputation for romance, I have NEVER seen as many couples walking around on the streets as I have in Seoul. If you're walking on the street in Sinchon, I guarantee that you will be behind a giggling, hand-holding couple who will stop at EVERY stall to look at items and unapologetically take up the entire sidewalk.
Seoul is the city for lovers. Forget Paris or Milan. Here there are multitudes of activities for you and your significant other to bond over. For example, if you want to go to a cafe-- why not go to the popular "Twosome Place"? Or a cozy wine and cake cafe. Even if you want ice cream or patbingsoo, everything comes in "Couple" sizes on the menus.
"Couple" is pretty much a theme here, and one of the English words that every Korean you speak to will know. (Some of the other ones are "complex" as in psychological complex, "multiplayer", "fighting", and "oh my god!").
You can buy "Couple" cell phone charms and from every other street vendor.
"Couple" outfits are coming into fashion too-- basically you wear the same design of clothing as your boyfriend/girlfriend, usually of a bright, fluorescent color with some distinctive image on the front.
Girls are pretty much set here too. Koreans consider it rude to pay Dutch, even when out with friends or relatives. So basically the guy always pays for meals, transportation, etc.
Also, Seoul is literally the only place where I regularly see guys ENTHUSIASTICALLY helping their girlfriends pick out makeup! You will see almost as many guys as girls if you go inside a beauty store. ^_^;; Sometimes the guys even try some of the makeup for themselves..
Guys holding their girlfriends' purses is taken for granted as well. And everywhere you will see couples taking photos of themselves in cute poses together on their cell phones. Haha, these later become cell phone backgrounds.
I think it's cute. 나도 남자 친구를 생기면 서울에 데려가 야될거야! ;)Labels: Culture |
| posted by Jane @ 5:01 AM |
|
|
|
|
|
