Mushroom Bulgogi

Brian and I met our two Korean friends at Hanam University last Sunday for our weekly grub and language exchange. Though it had actually been about three weeks since we had seen them last, so I feel like a liar saying they're weekly; anyways. As always, the company was fantastic and the food nearly rival.

I had eaten bulgogi before, but never mushroom bulgogi. Mushrooms are perhaps one of my favorite foods and there's not much to say about beef other than, mashifrickensoyo. Combine the two and you get a delectable amalgam of culinaryness. They brought out a giant tray of beef and mushrooms which we immediately started cooking in the center of the table- we emptied this pan three times and refilled it with roughly the same amount of food every time. Koreans know how to eat.

After the bulgogi we walked to a little cafe with a swell interior and indulged in some most excellent brews, tea and coffee. I would type to you some of the Korean I learned, but I don't have a hangeul enabled keyboard- I'm thinking I'll purchase a wireless one soon so I can be lazy and type from my bed. Well it was a great meet, I saw them again on Friday of last week, sans Brian as he was not feeling well. I tried to teach them some tongue twisters-- more on that later.

Avez-vous une cigarette?

I imagine that there are many South Koreans who have or will have lung cancer.

One of the teacher's rooms in my main school is the official smoking room and also the male teacher's lounge. Being a non-smoker and a male I was slightly worried that I'd be forced to asphyxiate if I wanted to socialize in a teacher's lounge. Luckily I was invited to the 요자 lounge- women's lounge. Yeah, the kids giggle everytime they see me walk in there and one 5th grade boy even tried to grab my arm and pull me out whilst yelling "Yohja Aniyo YOHJA ANIYO," terrified that I might get cooties, no doubt. But it's not a big deal and other male teacher's will venture there on occasion as well. Anyways, this is supposed to be more of a ponderage about the smoking habits of South Koreans than a conflict of gender disaggregation.

Recently, maybe in the pat 20-25 years, smoking has really become 'uncool' in the US. Laws have been passed prohibiting smoking in restaurants, bars, pubs, bowling alleys, and pretty much anywhere that your smoking may offend someone. And current Hollywood has done a pretty decent job in not propegating smoking as a cool thing to do- unlike the Hollywood of past eras. Also, cigarettes are taxed heavily in the US, costing almost $8.00 a pack which is obviously a heavy deterrent. Perhaps these are some reasons as to why I notice the smoking in Korea so much- I had pretty much been removed from it in the US and now, I see people smoking everywhere- even inside! Guffaw!

Some questions:

How much does it cost here?

It isn't nearly as expensive as it is in the US- maybe $2-$3 a pack.

It seems to be mainly a male thing- why?

Does the media have anything to do with it?

Can they smoke anywhere?

Unless otherwise stated, and even then you'll smell it on the walls.

How many South Koreans die of lung cancer a year?

Etc... etc...

An article from 2007- http://www.asiaone.com/Health/News/Story/A1Story20071203-39348.html

To answer some questions.

Smoking- not for me, you can do what you want to your body... but I will like you less for it.

Yeouida Park, German Sheperds, and Explosions

I visited Seoul again last weekend with the intention of meeting a friend. Things don't always go according to plan though, or maybe the fact that I don't really make plans can oft cause things to not go according to them- which isn't always detrimental. I won't delve into the cacophonous mishaps too greatly, simply put- I arrived in Seoul at 3:15 PM and I didn't end up meeting my friend until Midnight in Bucheon. The main reason for the delayed has much to do with my cell phone malfunctions- I couldn't recieve or make calls and many of my texts weren't 'uploading'. And when I did get texts they would arrive late, about an hour.

Destination Yeouido Park (여의도 공원)

Not entirely sure where the park was, and unable to find it on my subway map because I was looking for "Yoido" (요이도) which doesn't exist on the map- smallest miscommunications can make a huge difference- I asked a taxi driver outside of Seoul Station. The first one had no idea what I was talking about and the second did his best, which was pretty good. Yeouido is a district in Seoul and a pretty neat one at that. It's a rather large island on the Han River with some wonderful recreational areas and other Seoulesque attractions. As we were driving across the bridge to Yeouido we passed one of the river parks which was where I'm pretty sure I wanted to go, but the traffic was so bad that my driver opted to take me another route. He drove into the city more and eventually dropped me off at a part of the park, about a mile away from the river. I paid my 8000 won bill and began exploring. I made a new friend almost immediately:

His name is King Sejong and he was kind enough to let me take a picture of him.

He doesn't really have the greatest view in the park though.

I wandered around the park for a while, because it was beautiful, until I got a text letting me know that my friend had arrived down at the river portion of the park.

Destination Han River Park

This is the part where I never ended up meeting my friend due to technomishaps and a coin flip. The park was astir with thousands of people- playing in fountains, biking, blading, chilling in tents, or just meandering- much like I was. My attention was officially caught when I heard snare drums in a drumline style. I followed the sound until I saw what might be one of the coolest things ever... flying drummers.

I watched these guys for a while until I received a text from my friend informing me that she was somewhere close to a green bridge and a boat that had a KFC and other delcious things on board. I walked to land's edge and looked east and saw no green bridge or KFC boat, looking west I saw a bridge that was pretty far away and what looked like a white boat on the water with white buildings on the land. The flip of a coin decided that I would go west towards the green bridge.

Destination Green Bridge & KFC

After about five minutes of walking I looked at my phone, there was an error message on my screen. It informed me that I should call the service center; I had five bars but I couldn't use my phone for communication purposes, oh well. I decided to keep walking towards the bridge and hope that it was the right choice. I was walking on a dirt path along the shore, which turned out to be a mistake, because Yeouido- being an island- has a definite end to it. I walked by a lot of old korean men with their fishing rods secured to the ground and lures bobbing in the river 50 feet away. Each man; with Soju, Cass, and cigarettes to keep them company, had at least four rods set up just waiting for the first sign of a fish to catch on it. I ended up walking to the end of the island on the west side, the green bridge was still about half a mile away and there was no way across the river in site, so continued walking around the island now on the South Side heading East.

There were some signs written in Korean in a red font, as I read them I imagined what they could say- my best guess was "No trespassing." I walked up a small slope and I looked down into a construction site and boat dock and also, a way off the island and to the green bridge. I was seperated from route by about 200 yards of concrete, a small bridge, and a fence. I was about to make the walk when I noticed the guards, and the dogs. There were only a couple of them, but they were some of the biggest German Shepherds I had ever seen. Luckily they hadn't seen or smelled me, so I jumped down an embankment and enjoyed the gap-toothed stares of startled fishermen.

I walked parallel the construction site until I found a safer way around the fence. Eventually I got within sight of the green bridge and I came upon the white KFC looking boat; as I got closer I noticed more and more people- maybe I was headed in the right direction! As I got closer it became more apparent that the white boat was in fact not KFC, and the white tents on land were little shelters with tables under them for the customers of the Seven Eleven... and that this was not in fact where my friend was, at all.

Destination Back to Han River Park

When I finally got back to the park I was walking towards the bathroom when I hard snare drums start up. By this time it was dark and I couldn't see where the sound was coming from when suddenly around a corner comes a row of drummers dressed in colonial era european soldier's uniforms, with faces painted white like french clowns, or maybe ghosts? By the time I got my phone out to take a picture, which was still not functioning like a real phone, a spotlight had turned on to illuminate our snareful conspirators.

I apologize for the bad photos... my next big purchase is going to be a decent digital SLR camera. For now all I have is my cellphone.

Anyways, these guys were drumming and walking through the crowds of people. Occassionally they would stop walking, drum for a minute, and then charge forward forcing everyone in front of them back- it. was. awesome. While they were drumming there were also about five groups of traditional korean drummers walking around. Six sets of percussion in total all marching more or less to the same beat. Eventually the snares dissapeared and then out of nowhere...

They flew in on their harnesses and drummed over our heads, circling the audience, making faces at us and one of them even threw her clothes down as she started doing air ballet in a circus style swing. After about ten minutes of pure enjoyment there was a brilliant light followed by a loud bang. Everyone in the crowd turned around to enjoy the start of the longest fireworks display I have ever seen.

Red Riding Hood

I've been in South Korea for over a month now and there are some things that I'm getting accustomed to and certain things that are taking a bit more time. Lately I've felt like a more attractive version of The Big Bad Wolf dressed as Grandmother, except instead of Little Red remarking on my large eyes, nose, eyebrows, beard, face (yeah I heard that one too), or other appendages (keep it PG, I'm not that promiscuous)- it's every Korean that you talk to or meet for the first time.
I'm not complaining, don't get me wrong... in fact I'm very flattered by what they all have to say as I've always thought of myself as an interesting looking average joe sort of guy. But in the story The Wolf tries to kill and eat Little Red; maybe if Koreans were a more meaty people I might have similar thoughts, instead I always feel like I should compliment them back. Maybe it's just me, but I get a little uncomfortable and dare I say sheepish when complimented. A huge part of me feels like if I return the compliment then they'll think I'm hitting on them so I try to compliment something that I think of as neutral territory:

"Your earrings are really nice."

"Where I come from, small noses are pleasant."

"I like the embroidery around your jacket."

"You have really nice pants."

Although, the best solution I've found is to simply smile and say thanks- and change the subject.

The flip-side of being told you're handsome all the time is that when you get close to certain Koreans then they will let you know when you're not looking so great. However, I don't suggest replying to a criticism with a criticism, that is probably a faux pas here. Of course most Koreans will withhold their criticisms of foreigners- at least to their faces. Your principal might let your coteacher know that he thinks you're smelly and then leave it up to the coteacher to inform you that you should bathe more frequently. Appearance means a lot here, the cover is important even if you don't think it is, just be aware.
That being said, I haven't changed who I am or the way I dress, or even the fact that I sometimes wear the same undershirt two days in a row... shhhhhh. But I have found myself trimming my beard more often, and actually looking in the mirror before I leave for work- which rarely happened in the States. I think it's been occurring on a mostly subconscious level and has only now come to light.

Leaf Pie

I just ate a "Premium Pastry Pie" called a Leaf Pie. It was more like pie crust molded into the shape of a leaf with some glazed crust, which I will say was apple flavored. I'm yet to determine whether or not it was delicious.

I'm at school right now, it's T-u-e-s-d-a-y, S-e-p-t-e-m-b-e-r the TWENTY-EIGHTH of what year? Two thousand and ten, 2010 (insert smiley into the last zero). I taught 3rd grade today, which I totally love. However, I planned for the wrong lesson today... whoopsies. I brought in material for lesson 11- It's Cold- which I unpacked from my bag and set-up in the classroom. My coteacher walked in and I was very quick to tell her how extra prepared I was by bringing in my winter clothes! To which she responded, "Why?".

Anyways, we quickly threw together the first part of Lesson 10- I Can Swim- which had absolutely nothing to do with 'It's Cold', though I still wore my winter hat through part of first period... And again thanks to my quick thinking coteacher we had some decent games to play with them, so it wasn't a total bust. Actually I thought the games were all fantastic, though slightly hectic because the 3rd graders were all so excited to play, rambunctious is a good word.

The Leaf Pie was pretty good, I've decided.

I've also decided that I am not a fan of idle time. I came upon this discovery last week during the holiday when I failed to use my days off to my advantage and sat idle through most of the days doing nothing. That being said I finished Season 1 of Breaking Bad, Season 2 of Fringe, a movie or two and I acquiesced Season 1 of True Blood. I had to look up how to spell rambunctious but I didn't have to look up acquiesced... there's something uncategorizable happening to the English portion of my brain. By the end of the week I was feeling slightly mired, as a result of my miring I've decided to be less moored during future idle plights. So I hope I can adhere to that and use mire time moore wisely in the future.

Being back at work is great though, I love what I'm doing which is a fantastic sign for the future; being that I plan on teaching for a great while- whether in South Korea or somewhere else, who knows.

Getting attacked by kids. More later.

The-more-later part:

I got my first paycheck last Friday! And they all rejoiced-- Yancy. Ha ha, I had typed "yayyy" there but Google Chrome suggested I check my spelling, I like their suggestion more. It turns out that I get an extra 100,000 Won for teaching at multiple schools which was a fantastic surprise! Of course the fact that they had to take out 500,000 as a safety deposit was less fantastic, though not a surprise.

Things I'd like to spend my money on:

1. Instrument- Banjo would be preferred but finding one may be challenging... perhaps a quest is in order.

2. Camera- A reasonably priced moderately decent digital SLR... a Rebel or Nikon D-series, maybe even a Sony?

3. Food- I gotsta eat.

4. Alcohol- Liquor... Korean beer reminds me of freshman year of college and good beer is quite expensive.

5. Not student loans- If I didn't have to, I wouldn't...

I'm certain there's more but I just got home and plan on vegging out for a minute or two. I've got an idea- let's end my posts with quotes that may or may not be relevant from now on.

"The power of accurate observation is often called cynicism by those who don't have it."
- George Bernard Shaw

Travels

I've been in Korea for just about two weeks now- and yes, I do love it. Thanks for asking.
I had never really flown prior to coming here, just one-way to Chicago from Manchester, I'm not counting that. So my first time flying was a one-way trip to Incheon National Airport in Incheon, South Korea. It couldn't have been a better decision; although sitting down for close to 20 hours straight wasn't really ideal... it had to be done. Fortunately for me my flight included an in air friend, Mr. Brian Fairbanks, who after a whirlwind tour to Australia was a veteran traveler. His presence certainly eased whatever anxiety I had been feeling about flying. That being said, I still managed to not sleep at all during the entire trip so it took me just about a week to fully recover from jet lag. Every time I managed to doze off it just happened to be right when the attendants were passing out food, of course the smell of airline bibimbap and "steak" roused me from my somnolent state. We landed in South Korea; with full bellies, at approximately 5:30pm on Wednesday, having left from Boston at 6:20am on Tuesday. There was a 13 hour time difference in there to account for the lost time. My first time on another continent- check.

ICN was a fantastic airport, by the time we got through immigration our luggage had just started coming onto the conveyor- perfect timing. Having gathered our belongings we began the search for the EPIK (English Program in Korea) stall and bus stop. We trekked to the far end of the terminal and found a congested group of foreigners with a wealth of smiling Koreans wearing EPIK shirts herding them out the door to a bus that had just arrived. We checked in at the station, they gave us numbers and we were asked to wait until our number was called- at which point we should bring our passports up, show them our visas and wait for the next bus to arrive. Whilst waiting we were interviewed and photographed- is it obvious that I hadn't slept in about 40 hours?

The bus arrived and about 20-30 of us were escorted to it, our luggage filling the bays and invading the seats. We were the 12th bus of the day- our gracious hosts almost looked more tired than I did. So ensued three more hours of traveling, although this time there were no clouds to obscure the scenery. The signs were in several languages, Korean, English, and the occasional Chinese; and the speed and distances were all metric- fascinating!

We made new friends on the bus ride to Jeonju; rather, we submitted a friend application to a wonderful couple- they responded several days later with a unanimous 'yes' for me, Brian is still trying to earn the title of friend. He might achieve this on Wednesday over some tea and bruised peaches. Finally at about 9:37pm we arrived to the front door of Jeonju University's dorm, or Star Tower- after checking in we got lost getting to our room (went into the wrong tower), managed to find our way back to the correct elevator and settled down into our spacious dormitory double. Getting into bed and lying down was the first time I had stopped moving in about 48 hours- though I hadn't the faintest idea what awaited me in the next week of training, I had no trouble getting to sleep.

(August 17-18)

*1000 Won and a sticker to the first person that can tell me the campy slogan of Jeonju University- yes, it is in English.