Home on the Range
So, my 3 months on the other side of the world are over and I'm back in Canada. I've left behind alot of great things in Korea, including my copy of the movie Twister (damnit!), but I've found new meaning to the phrase "there's no place like home."
The journey was interesting. I flew from Seoul to Denver on the same style of plane I went over on, which meant I could watch movies on the little screen attached to the seat in front of me. I didn't sleep the entire 11 hour flight, and wound up watching "21," "10,000 BC," "Spiderwick Chronicles," and "Horton Hears a Who." I also watched the episode of "Just for Laughs Gags," and the episodes of "Funny Home Videos" that were available.
By the time we got off the plane at L.A. it was noon local time, but 3am Seoul time. I hardly knew who I was anymore and I had to get my luggage through US customs. It actually wasn't that bad though. The hardest part was dragging my carry-on over a 10 minute obstacle course of people who like to stand in places that prevent you from getting through. A lot of the airport was under construction and the domestic flights area had a Wolfgang Puck pizzeria. Finally, I found out when I got home that I missed an earthquake that hit LA about 20 minutes before my plane landed and that I never new a thing about while I was there.
The Denver airport was nice and easy. I got out one gate and ran to the gate to Toronto that was only 5 minutes away. With departure delays, I should have only had a 10 minute leeway to change planes, but as it turned out the plane was 20 minutes late and then the pilots were another 20 after that. With the flight check we were about an hour and a half late, and with the delay in baggage at the Toronto airport, I walked out of the last doors at about 2am, over 2 hours later than I was supposed to...
Bless my parents for being there and in good spirits when I finally came out of "the Twilight Zone" as my mother calls it.
Anyways now that I'm back there are a few big differences between here and there that I never really thought of until now. The biggest thing is the lack of mirrors. People in Korea tend to really care about their appearance, so there seem to be mirrors everywhere in public places, and there's usually at least one person (man or woman, the guys are as bad as the ladys) looking at themselves.
The next thing is that, in order to save energy and water (and I'm sure to prevent pluggage), Korean woman don't flush their toilet paper when they pee. Instead they throw it in a garbage can located in the stall. On top of that, to prevent people from using too much toilet paper, it's not in the stall but beside the sinks instead. The only paper you can use is what you take in with you. I know it's conservation and all, and it is a good idea, but it sure was nice to go to the washroom in Wal-mart and not only have paper in the stall, but no garbage can full of used toilet paper to boot.
The third thing I'm going to talk about, and just briefly here, is the food. No I'm not going to go off on how much better our food is. Though it is familiar, and therefore comforting to me, I never realized just how heavy it all is. There's no dinky little cans of pop, or small portion meals. Everything is big and it all fills you up so fast.
That's all I have time for right now, but there's many things I haven't talked about yet, so stay tuned. I might be back, my this blog's not done yet!
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Monday, July 28, 2008
One Last Morning
One Last Morning
It's morning now, my last one in the Land of the Morning calm. It's just after 7 am and I wanted to sleep in, but this land is living up to its name too well. It was too quiet to try and keep sleeping. Honestly, over the last three months I've adapted the ability to sleep through the loud reveling of people leaving the restaurant that's right below my window.
There's a little more noise now, like the sound of a very quiet dump truck (I know, I was surprised too), and the grumble of some early cars, but when I first opened my eyes, all I could hear was the chirping of a few birds come down from the mountain I can see from my window.
Yesterday I had no work and no commitments, so I had a sort of personal day with Korea. It was special, I think. The weather was sunny and hot, the most beautiful it's been in weeks.
In the morning I packed and I'm very proud of the fact I managed to get everything in my suitcases. At noon I had done as much as I could so I went out to my favorite area of the city, Insadong (for those who don't remember, it's the Traditional Street).
Insadong was in top form. It always has the natural shade of it's many trees, so it wasn't too hot. It was also a Monday afternoon, so it was relatively quiet and uncrowded. I walked up and down more than once, browsing the antiques in particular. Some of the things I saw included Korean style, pug nose faced horse bells, multilayerd hand carved jade balls, old coins and bills, statues, pagodas, wooden carvings, and old household items.
These days it's the beginning of the rainy season, and there's rain almost every day, so the sun was a welcome change and all of the thousands of umbrella stands stood empty. Yet the umbrellas were out full force, this time providing protection from the sun.
When I was done shopping, I wandered towards the nearby Tapgol, or Pagoda park, which I found out from reading the signs was the site of the first reading of the Korean Declaration of Independence. It was a beautiful park and everywhere I turned there were cultural relics.
The trees were a little distracting though. They were full of the humming of a thousand Cicada bug mating calls.
After I was done there I headed to Korea House, the Traditional Village, bought some fish feed, and fed the koi in the pond. I also wandered around to see the houses and gardens, and an exhibition showing old folk paintings. I was even witness to the photo shoot of a little two year old girl wearing a red polka dot dress, pineapple squeaky shoes, and bunny knee guards.
Later on I hooked up with K and one of our Korean friends and we went for supper. We had a dumpling stew that came uncooked and was set on a gas element set into our table. On top of the Mandu dumplings, this thing had mushrooms and vegetables, beef and Duk (Korean soft rice cake).
Then I came home, finished packing, threw out all the garbage and uneaten food in the apartment, and called it a night.
As I lay in bed at 1 in the morning last night, I realized that at that time tonight, I will be halfway around the world in a hotel room in Toronto. I didn't know whether to be happy or sad about that, and I suppose the feelings will work themselves better when I get there.
Today I am flying from Seoul at 4:30 pm and I'm arriving in L.A. at noon the same day. That's right, I'm 4 and a half hours back in time.
Now I have to clean the apartment and I'm ready to go catch the airport shuttle that comes to my local subway station every half hour.
Korean Fun Fact: Don't Trust the Labels
When living in a country with a very different culture than your own, you can expect that many of the food and drink is will also be beyond what you're used to. A quick look at some of the products for sale can tell you that.
In any store you can buy what looks like milk and wind up with peanut juice or soy milk. If you buy what might be a pepperette or cheese stick, you end up with a potent tasting rubbery sausage. The bag with the shrimp on the front is full of crisps I can't decide are rice or potato.
Sometimes you just have to throw caution to the winds and try things despite the packaging.
Here's one of the first cases a had where that didn't work out so well. I had seen this can in many vending machines but I couldn't read the symbols at this early point, so one day curiosity got the better of me and I dropped some money in:
Now you can't see the color well here, but the can is light pink with dark pink letters. It looks pretty harmless, like maybe strawberry milk (which you can get in a can here), or some exotic fruit. Then I found the English on the back...
It's morning now, my last one in the Land of the Morning calm. It's just after 7 am and I wanted to sleep in, but this land is living up to its name too well. It was too quiet to try and keep sleeping. Honestly, over the last three months I've adapted the ability to sleep through the loud reveling of people leaving the restaurant that's right below my window.
There's a little more noise now, like the sound of a very quiet dump truck (I know, I was surprised too), and the grumble of some early cars, but when I first opened my eyes, all I could hear was the chirping of a few birds come down from the mountain I can see from my window.
Yesterday I had no work and no commitments, so I had a sort of personal day with Korea. It was special, I think. The weather was sunny and hot, the most beautiful it's been in weeks.
In the morning I packed and I'm very proud of the fact I managed to get everything in my suitcases. At noon I had done as much as I could so I went out to my favorite area of the city, Insadong (for those who don't remember, it's the Traditional Street).
Insadong was in top form. It always has the natural shade of it's many trees, so it wasn't too hot. It was also a Monday afternoon, so it was relatively quiet and uncrowded. I walked up and down more than once, browsing the antiques in particular. Some of the things I saw included Korean style, pug nose faced horse bells, multilayerd hand carved jade balls, old coins and bills, statues, pagodas, wooden carvings, and old household items.
These days it's the beginning of the rainy season, and there's rain almost every day, so the sun was a welcome change and all of the thousands of umbrella stands stood empty. Yet the umbrellas were out full force, this time providing protection from the sun.
When I was done shopping, I wandered towards the nearby Tapgol, or Pagoda park, which I found out from reading the signs was the site of the first reading of the Korean Declaration of Independence. It was a beautiful park and everywhere I turned there were cultural relics.
The trees were a little distracting though. They were full of the humming of a thousand Cicada bug mating calls.
After I was done there I headed to Korea House, the Traditional Village, bought some fish feed, and fed the koi in the pond. I also wandered around to see the houses and gardens, and an exhibition showing old folk paintings. I was even witness to the photo shoot of a little two year old girl wearing a red polka dot dress, pineapple squeaky shoes, and bunny knee guards.
Later on I hooked up with K and one of our Korean friends and we went for supper. We had a dumpling stew that came uncooked and was set on a gas element set into our table. On top of the Mandu dumplings, this thing had mushrooms and vegetables, beef and Duk (Korean soft rice cake).
Then I came home, finished packing, threw out all the garbage and uneaten food in the apartment, and called it a night.
As I lay in bed at 1 in the morning last night, I realized that at that time tonight, I will be halfway around the world in a hotel room in Toronto. I didn't know whether to be happy or sad about that, and I suppose the feelings will work themselves better when I get there.
Today I am flying from Seoul at 4:30 pm and I'm arriving in L.A. at noon the same day. That's right, I'm 4 and a half hours back in time.
Now I have to clean the apartment and I'm ready to go catch the airport shuttle that comes to my local subway station every half hour.
Korean Fun Fact: Don't Trust the Labels
When living in a country with a very different culture than your own, you can expect that many of the food and drink is will also be beyond what you're used to. A quick look at some of the products for sale can tell you that.
In any store you can buy what looks like milk and wind up with peanut juice or soy milk. If you buy what might be a pepperette or cheese stick, you end up with a potent tasting rubbery sausage. The bag with the shrimp on the front is full of crisps I can't decide are rice or potato.
Sometimes you just have to throw caution to the winds and try things despite the packaging.
Here's one of the first cases a had where that didn't work out so well. I had seen this can in many vending machines but I couldn't read the symbols at this early point, so one day curiosity got the better of me and I dropped some money in:
Now you can't see the color well here, but the can is light pink with dark pink letters. It looks pretty harmless, like maybe strawberry milk (which you can get in a can here), or some exotic fruit. Then I found the English on the back...
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Cultural Trip Part sam (Three) + Some Other Stuff
Wow, it has been too long and I'm very sorry. I'm getting close to the end of my stay and things are getting... well soggy. It's not monsoon season yet, but the heat coupled with the incredible humidity makes for an environment where you just don't want to do anything. It makes sense then that I was busier the last 2 weeks with exhibition stuff than I've been yet. Plus there's no air conditioning in my apartment and my computer produces alot of heat.
Enough of excuses though, you all want to know what a Noraebang (pronounced Nor-eye-bong) is. So here it is
Cultural Trip Part Sam: Noraebang Night
So, right... Noraebang. We all know what karaoke is. Now imagine a karaoke where you go alone or with some friends, and rent your own private room with a karaoke machine (called a Music Bank) where you're free to butcher as many songs as you can in two hours without a bunch of strangers to witness your incredible lack of musical talent.
If the thought of strangers appeals to you, there's always groups of young Koreans looking to hook up with random new friends and have a good time (I know this from the stories of other interns).
After supper, to Noraebang we went , and we rocked it out for our whole two hours.
(ugh, for some reason I can't upload pictures)
Once we were done there, we headed down to the beach where people were setting of fireworks and just generally hanging out. I had a corn dog (a Pogo for all those brand oriented people) that was embedded with cubed potatoes.
Our group camped on the sand, and one of our number, a musician, started playing his guitar. It was a sign that we've been working with small children for too long that this heavy metal rocker was on a beach in the middle of the night playing a modified ABCs for all of us to sing along.
Also K gained himself a story he'll be able to tell for years to come. At about one in the morning he, an Australian intern, the curator of our exhibition, and one of the two senior interns all decided to strip to their underwear and go swimming in the Yellow Sea. Me? I was the one on the beach yelling at them to come back when they started trying to swim to a far away island.
When he got back back to shore, K found his clothes were missing, so some Koreans that ran a food stall not far away from us gave him a free pair of boxers that he still has.
The next day we hung around on the beach a bit more until we visited an old Buddhist Temple and went home.
Some Other Stuff: Namdaemun (Nom-day-moon)
I just wanted to do a quick blurb on one of the large and very famous markets. It's called Namdaemun, and it pretty much epitomizes what I thought South Korea would be like based on pictures I've seen.
There are alot of people here, but everything is so well organized that huge crowds you can barely move in are rare. Not here.
Namdaemun is advertised as a place where anyone can find anything, and having gone there I believe it. It's not just a market, It's an entire town larger than Larder Lake, where I grew up.
Picture this: There are countless street stalls selling everything from clothes and accessories, to Chinese remedies, to American imported food. On top of that every building around which these stalls are clustered has a department store inside, and all these stores go up several stories and are linked to all the other buildings by a spider's web of walkways. You could literally shop the entire market without every touching the ground. On top of that there's an underground shopping center that spreads beneath a large portion of the market proper.
Many of the streets are themed, and one of the first I went down I think should be called Old Lady Street. It was lined with clothes only old ladies would wear, and was swimming with old ladies all trying to buy as much of the clothes as fast as they could.
There was a fish street, a vegetable street, a leather street, a cheap restaurant street, a young people's street, and many many more.
And finally it seemed like half the population of Seoul was packed inside, all looking for something.
Food of the Day: Sam Gae Tang
Sam Gae Tang is Korean traditional chicken soup, and with this soup you see the whole chicken sitting in the middle of the milky broth. The chicken is stuffed full of ginseng (or insam) and rice. In the broth is dried plums, cooked chestnuts, and various herbs and spices. You want to be careful about which of these you put in your mouth, as some Korean spices come in the form of tree bark and taste rather nasty on their own.
The whole thing is cooked so perfectly that you can eat it with chopsticks and the juicy meat just melts off the bone. It might sound a little gross to some people, but I assure you it's delicious.
The meal costs only 10 000 won, or $10 and comes with a pitcher of ginseng wine and a cup of traditional royal tea.
Enough of excuses though, you all want to know what a Noraebang (pronounced Nor-eye-bong) is. So here it is
Cultural Trip Part Sam: Noraebang Night
So, right... Noraebang. We all know what karaoke is. Now imagine a karaoke where you go alone or with some friends, and rent your own private room with a karaoke machine (called a Music Bank) where you're free to butcher as many songs as you can in two hours without a bunch of strangers to witness your incredible lack of musical talent.
If the thought of strangers appeals to you, there's always groups of young Koreans looking to hook up with random new friends and have a good time (I know this from the stories of other interns).
After supper, to Noraebang we went , and we rocked it out for our whole two hours.
(ugh, for some reason I can't upload pictures)
Once we were done there, we headed down to the beach where people were setting of fireworks and just generally hanging out. I had a corn dog (a Pogo for all those brand oriented people) that was embedded with cubed potatoes.
Our group camped on the sand, and one of our number, a musician, started playing his guitar. It was a sign that we've been working with small children for too long that this heavy metal rocker was on a beach in the middle of the night playing a modified ABCs for all of us to sing along.
Also K gained himself a story he'll be able to tell for years to come. At about one in the morning he, an Australian intern, the curator of our exhibition, and one of the two senior interns all decided to strip to their underwear and go swimming in the Yellow Sea. Me? I was the one on the beach yelling at them to come back when they started trying to swim to a far away island.
When he got back back to shore, K found his clothes were missing, so some Koreans that ran a food stall not far away from us gave him a free pair of boxers that he still has.
The next day we hung around on the beach a bit more until we visited an old Buddhist Temple and went home.
Some Other Stuff: Namdaemun (Nom-day-moon)
I just wanted to do a quick blurb on one of the large and very famous markets. It's called Namdaemun, and it pretty much epitomizes what I thought South Korea would be like based on pictures I've seen.
There are alot of people here, but everything is so well organized that huge crowds you can barely move in are rare. Not here.
Namdaemun is advertised as a place where anyone can find anything, and having gone there I believe it. It's not just a market, It's an entire town larger than Larder Lake, where I grew up.
Picture this: There are countless street stalls selling everything from clothes and accessories, to Chinese remedies, to American imported food. On top of that every building around which these stalls are clustered has a department store inside, and all these stores go up several stories and are linked to all the other buildings by a spider's web of walkways. You could literally shop the entire market without every touching the ground. On top of that there's an underground shopping center that spreads beneath a large portion of the market proper.
Many of the streets are themed, and one of the first I went down I think should be called Old Lady Street. It was lined with clothes only old ladies would wear, and was swimming with old ladies all trying to buy as much of the clothes as fast as they could.
There was a fish street, a vegetable street, a leather street, a cheap restaurant street, a young people's street, and many many more.
And finally it seemed like half the population of Seoul was packed inside, all looking for something.
Food of the Day: Sam Gae Tang
Sam Gae Tang is Korean traditional chicken soup, and with this soup you see the whole chicken sitting in the middle of the milky broth. The chicken is stuffed full of ginseng (or insam) and rice. In the broth is dried plums, cooked chestnuts, and various herbs and spices. You want to be careful about which of these you put in your mouth, as some Korean spices come in the form of tree bark and taste rather nasty on their own.
The whole thing is cooked so perfectly that you can eat it with chopsticks and the juicy meat just melts off the bone. It might sound a little gross to some people, but I assure you it's delicious.
The meal costs only 10 000 won, or $10 and comes with a pitcher of ginseng wine and a cup of traditional royal tea.
Friday, June 20, 2008
Cultural Trip Part ee (Two)
Sorry about the suspense folks. I'm sure you're all dying to know that the exploding clam thing is all about so I'll quite stalling and get right to it.
Cultural Trip Part Ee: Dinner aka. Attack of the Exploding Clams
After wandering around for an hour we all met back at the hotel (which is actually a resort) and headed out for supper er... dinner (if you say supper even the English speaking Koreans won't know what you're talking about). Did we go to a restaurant you ask? No. We went to some place that was basically some fishtanks and a dozen heavy wooden tables under one of those giant party tents you use at outdoor weddings. Each of the tables had an iron pot set into it with a grate on top that turned it into a Korean style barbecue.
You could find a whole variety of seafood in those tanks, but the menu for us that evening was - you guessed it - clams.
The first order of business after we sat down was lighting the barbecue. There was a pyro guy out on the side street whose only job it seems was to turn these big solid cylinders of charcoal into flaming balls of heat. Then he would load them into a heat proof mortar, bring them to your table, and drop them in the pot. These things were so big that you only needed one per table.
Then the clams would arrive. There was one huge one full of some sort of pepper sauce and cabbage, one medium sized one per person that was prepared the same way, and then a huge basket of unopened fresh ones per table.
(Yummy)
(would you eat that?)
Now when I say fresh I mean it like this. We had three, very horrified vegetarians with us who were having a meat free Korean pancake, but when our food arrived one of the morsels we were about to mow down on promptly squirted at them. That marked the official start of dinner.
Now in Canada I've had steamed and boiled clams and mussels before, and in those cases they were probably cooked alive as well, so I didn't feel that bad about it.
Anyways, the clams didn't stand a chance against us hungry interns, but that doesn't mean they didn't put up a fight...
I think the science behind it goes something like this: sometimes clam shells are not perfectly formed. Sometimes they have tiny pockets of water within their layers and when something, say a dozen hungry humans, starts heating them up the water turns into steam and expands at a rapid rate.
What this translates into is that the shells of the clams would randomly explode. Combined with the startled screams of slightly drunk young women (and one not so young Korean man) the effect was downright exciting. To my credit I did have some explode on me and I didn't scream. Of course I also didn't have as much to drink.
To handle the clams everyone got a white glove to wear on their left hand and a pair of tongs. When the clams were cooked they would open almost all the way and you just have to remove the top shell. Then you grab the meat with the tongs and cut it up with a pair of scissors provided until it is in chopstick friendly bits.
I have to admit it was one of the more fun meals I've had in my lifetime, and I'm a sucker for fresh seafood.
After that I went to a corner store and bought a watermelon pop for desert.
Don't go thinking that's the end of my night though. There's more...
Next Time: Noraebang NOREEBONG!!!
Cultural Trip Part Ee: Dinner aka. Attack of the Exploding Clams
After wandering around for an hour we all met back at the hotel (which is actually a resort) and headed out for supper er... dinner (if you say supper even the English speaking Koreans won't know what you're talking about). Did we go to a restaurant you ask? No. We went to some place that was basically some fishtanks and a dozen heavy wooden tables under one of those giant party tents you use at outdoor weddings. Each of the tables had an iron pot set into it with a grate on top that turned it into a Korean style barbecue.
You could find a whole variety of seafood in those tanks, but the menu for us that evening was - you guessed it - clams.
The first order of business after we sat down was lighting the barbecue. There was a pyro guy out on the side street whose only job it seems was to turn these big solid cylinders of charcoal into flaming balls of heat. Then he would load them into a heat proof mortar, bring them to your table, and drop them in the pot. These things were so big that you only needed one per table.
Then the clams would arrive. There was one huge one full of some sort of pepper sauce and cabbage, one medium sized one per person that was prepared the same way, and then a huge basket of unopened fresh ones per table.
(Yummy)
(would you eat that?)
Now when I say fresh I mean it like this. We had three, very horrified vegetarians with us who were having a meat free Korean pancake, but when our food arrived one of the morsels we were about to mow down on promptly squirted at them. That marked the official start of dinner.
Now in Canada I've had steamed and boiled clams and mussels before, and in those cases they were probably cooked alive as well, so I didn't feel that bad about it.
Anyways, the clams didn't stand a chance against us hungry interns, but that doesn't mean they didn't put up a fight...
I think the science behind it goes something like this: sometimes clam shells are not perfectly formed. Sometimes they have tiny pockets of water within their layers and when something, say a dozen hungry humans, starts heating them up the water turns into steam and expands at a rapid rate.
What this translates into is that the shells of the clams would randomly explode. Combined with the startled screams of slightly drunk young women (and one not so young Korean man) the effect was downright exciting. To my credit I did have some explode on me and I didn't scream. Of course I also didn't have as much to drink.
To handle the clams everyone got a white glove to wear on their left hand and a pair of tongs. When the clams were cooked they would open almost all the way and you just have to remove the top shell. Then you grab the meat with the tongs and cut it up with a pair of scissors provided until it is in chopstick friendly bits.
I have to admit it was one of the more fun meals I've had in my lifetime, and I'm a sucker for fresh seafood.
After that I went to a corner store and bought a watermelon pop for desert.
Don't go thinking that's the end of my night though. There's more...Next Time: Noraebang NOREEBONG!!!
Monday, June 16, 2008
Cultural Trip Part il (one)
Ok, so we just went on our first cultural trip this weekend and it was everything I was expecting of a trip for experiencing culture. It went over the whole weekend though, and I don't have love for the computer enough to sit down and relay everything in one long post sans when I first got here, so this will appear in installments.
Cultural Trip Part il: A False Start
On Friday I got an email from the senior intern telling me to meet the group at 1 o'clock sharp at the Sinchon station on line 1, so I immediately pull out my huge subway map and trace line one to find this station. Finally I locate Sincheon station, only one stop from Jamsil where I got off to go to Lotte World, and the next day, at 11:30am, K and I head out, confident in our ability to arrive early.
When we get there, we're told to head out a certain exit and find a Hyundai Department Store, only when we exit all we can see is a Lotte Department Store... whatever, we head for it. Only the others can't find us, and we can't find them. It's only when I tell them I'm close to the theme park that they realize I'm at the wrong end of the city.
That's right, on line 2 there is a Sinchon station and a Sincheon station and K and I went to the wrong one.
It was ok though. The gang wasn't mad at us and we only lost an hour. So we packed a white 14 seater van with all our interns, our boss, our boss' 14 year old daughter, the curator for our exhibition (yes, we're having an art exhibition. More on that later), the head of the Nipissing International department, my soon to be Printmaking Professor, and our driver... a Korean man everyone calls Beer. Then we gunned it for the west coast.
4 hours and a few batting cages later (the highway stops here usually have them), we arrived at the Yellow Sea. More specifically we arrived at a small city no one told me the name of that kinda felt like a old midway.
Maybe it was all the old midway rides:
When we got there the first thing that really stood out was the hotel room. There were 2 rooms, one for the girls and one for the guys, and there were 7 girls and 5 guys between them. The thing that really stuck out was that fitting this many people into single hotel rooms is actually fairly normal. You see, each room had a bathroom, a common room, and 2 bedrooms, and there were no beds. Instead we had mats, and we would sleep on the heated floors.
Then we got to explore what was essentially a combination of Cony Island and an Asian Jamaica.
We only got an hour, so I really didn't see much. There were tents on the beach selling live seafood (including the freshest raw octopus you can imagine), but we were going to go for supper soon so I didn't try anything. Also I can officially say I put my feet in the Yellow Sea. It was cold and that was as far as I'm taking it... I'm not a water person.
After that, we met for supper.
Sorry, it's late and K's overnight guest wants to know where the corner store is, so that's all for now.
Next Time: Attack of the Exploding Clams
Cultural Trip Part il: A False Start
On Friday I got an email from the senior intern telling me to meet the group at 1 o'clock sharp at the Sinchon station on line 1, so I immediately pull out my huge subway map and trace line one to find this station. Finally I locate Sincheon station, only one stop from Jamsil where I got off to go to Lotte World, and the next day, at 11:30am, K and I head out, confident in our ability to arrive early.
When we get there, we're told to head out a certain exit and find a Hyundai Department Store, only when we exit all we can see is a Lotte Department Store... whatever, we head for it. Only the others can't find us, and we can't find them. It's only when I tell them I'm close to the theme park that they realize I'm at the wrong end of the city.
That's right, on line 2 there is a Sinchon station and a Sincheon station and K and I went to the wrong one.
It was ok though. The gang wasn't mad at us and we only lost an hour. So we packed a white 14 seater van with all our interns, our boss, our boss' 14 year old daughter, the curator for our exhibition (yes, we're having an art exhibition. More on that later), the head of the Nipissing International department, my soon to be Printmaking Professor, and our driver... a Korean man everyone calls Beer. Then we gunned it for the west coast.
4 hours and a few batting cages later (the highway stops here usually have them), we arrived at the Yellow Sea. More specifically we arrived at a small city no one told me the name of that kinda felt like a old midway.
Maybe it was all the old midway rides:
When we got there the first thing that really stood out was the hotel room. There were 2 rooms, one for the girls and one for the guys, and there were 7 girls and 5 guys between them. The thing that really stuck out was that fitting this many people into single hotel rooms is actually fairly normal. You see, each room had a bathroom, a common room, and 2 bedrooms, and there were no beds. Instead we had mats, and we would sleep on the heated floors.
Then we got to explore what was essentially a combination of Cony Island and an Asian Jamaica.
We only got an hour, so I really didn't see much. There were tents on the beach selling live seafood (including the freshest raw octopus you can imagine), but we were going to go for supper soon so I didn't try anything. Also I can officially say I put my feet in the Yellow Sea. It was cold and that was as far as I'm taking it... I'm not a water person.
After that, we met for supper.
Sorry, it's late and K's overnight guest wants to know where the corner store is, so that's all for now.
Next Time: Attack of the Exploding Clams
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Brand Power
What is Lotte World?
Well, to answer that, first I have to define what is Lotte. The simplest answer is that it's a company. It makes stuff, and it sells stuff.
Back home that's all a company does, that's all it has to do. Here, Lotte takes it so much further. It makes drinks and food (including snackfoods and candies), has its own Department Store of which there are 13 in the Seoul Metropolitan area alone, has countless smaller Lotte Marts, has its own type of cash card (I don't mean like a President's Choice Master Card, I mean like if President's choice started its own credit card company). Lotte is involved in everything from tourism, to construction, to welfare.
Apparently there are bigger, more important companies in South Korea, but you don't actually see any as much as you do Lotte.
Now knowing this, it wont come as much of a surprise to know that Lotte has its own theme park, Lotte World. It has an outdoor section called Magic Island, and an indoor section that happens to be the largest indoor amusement park in the world (debatable as the West Edmonton Mall also lays claim to that title), and yes, I went there.
It was kind of like what Disney World if it ever got hit with a shrinking ray. Remember, there's not alot of room in South Korea, and this place is in the middle of Seoul so they had to make it as compact as possible. It was kind of sad though, I think it really wanted to be Disney World, I mean just look at that castle, and the mascots are Lotte and Lorre, little raccoon versions of Mickey and Minny.
It was a fun day. I went with K (no surprise there) which sucked a little as he was too tall to go on a bunch of rides, but we did a Drop Zone type thing that provided an amazing view of the city, and there was a roller coaster inside he could ride. There were also a bunch of theme rides that put the cheese factor through the roof (think a Sindbad version of the old Pirates of the Caribbean ride). All in all the rides were very tame. You didn't even get wet on the flume rides. Oh and by the way, if you ever wonder what happened to the actor Christopher Lloyd, he's over here doing Korean language kids movies for the 4D theater. He was definitely dubbed, but his lips matched the words. I guess he did the video in Korean, but butchered the language so badly they had to get a Korean voice actor to fix it. It was funny though, and we got spit on alot (for those of you who don't know what a 4D theater is, it's like a 3D theatre, but if the characters spit on you, you get wet).
It was a fun day, it wasn't crowded so we never waited more than 20 minutes for a ride, and we got to see what a Korean Theme park is like.
My only complaint is that it was a beautiful, sunny, burn your butt day outside, but the light just didn't seem able to penetrate the thick glass roof. Between that and the massive dull blue walls, the whole place had this eerie, sombre atmosphere. At the same time, there were constant shows going on and this hyper-a-go-go energy was everywhere. It was surreal really, you didn't know if you should feel depressed or giddy, or both.
Food of The Day: The Gross Stuff
First off, bean sprouts don't taste the same here as they do back home, they have this sort of strong, musky flavor that I don't really like that much.
I eat lunch at my schools, and so I get to try alot of normal, home cooked Korean food. This is great except that every now and then I get served quail's eggs (which taste like chicken's eggs only ten times more repugnant), or tiny dried anchovies in sesame seeds. The little fish aren't that bad, but they're salty, they're crunchy but not quite, and they stare at you...
I regularly eat roasted butter squid, which you can find everywhere. I know some people would be disgusted by it, but I really like it. It's like fishy tasting beef jerky.
I had a soup at a place that serves lamb the other night, and I thought that the chunks of meat in the picture would be lamb meat. That's a reasonable assumption, right? Instead, it was big chunks of jellied lamb. That's right, they somehow got lamb into jelly form and threw it in a spicy Korean style soup. I've read of Jellied lamb before (I think it's Turkish), but until I came face to face with it , it just never quite registered as possible. It wasn't that bad though. It tasted like meat, but had the texture of tofu. Once you get past that, it's fine really.
Finally, here's the mother load. The most infamous of the gross Korean Dishes...
What is it you ask? Why it's silk worm larvae, stewed in their own juices for your enjoyment.
These little guys on sale everywhere. Outside palaces, in marketplaces, even at the entrances to theme parks. If you don't see them, you smell them. It's a difficult scent to describe. It's rich, salty, savory, and very very bug-like. I don't find it that bad, but some people I know near throw up every time they catch a whiff.
If you're adventurous, you can pick up a cup full for a mere 1000 won. I went for it, and I only managed to eat 3 of them. That's right, even I was grossed out. It wasn't really the taste that did it. It was the fact that they pop in your mouth with juicy gushyness, and then you're left chewing the meaty insides.
Sorry, I don't mean to turn any stomachs. I'm just trying to share the experience. It wasn't bad, it was neat and different, and - for the equivalent of about $1 Canadian - totally worth it. This country is full of amazing things to eat, so there is bound to be a dud or two, right?
Korean Fun Fact: Leading the Blind
I'm apologizing right now because I don't have a picture to back this one up, but this entire City is webbed by paths created by bright orange or yellow floor tiles that have 4 raised bumps each. The go 2 by 2, and are most common in the subway, but you can see them out on the streets and generally anywhere people tend to go.
They might not sound that interesting, but their purpose blows my mind. I always thought of Canada as being very handicapped friendly, but I've never seen anywhere go so far as creating what are essentially braille pathways for the blind!
Well, to answer that, first I have to define what is Lotte. The simplest answer is that it's a company. It makes stuff, and it sells stuff.
Back home that's all a company does, that's all it has to do. Here, Lotte takes it so much further. It makes drinks and food (including snackfoods and candies), has its own Department Store of which there are 13 in the Seoul Metropolitan area alone, has countless smaller Lotte Marts, has its own type of cash card (I don't mean like a President's Choice Master Card, I mean like if President's choice started its own credit card company). Lotte is involved in everything from tourism, to construction, to welfare.
Apparently there are bigger, more important companies in South Korea, but you don't actually see any as much as you do Lotte.
Now knowing this, it wont come as much of a surprise to know that Lotte has its own theme park, Lotte World. It has an outdoor section called Magic Island, and an indoor section that happens to be the largest indoor amusement park in the world (debatable as the West Edmonton Mall also lays claim to that title), and yes, I went there.
It was kind of like what Disney World if it ever got hit with a shrinking ray. Remember, there's not alot of room in South Korea, and this place is in the middle of Seoul so they had to make it as compact as possible. It was kind of sad though, I think it really wanted to be Disney World, I mean just look at that castle, and the mascots are Lotte and Lorre, little raccoon versions of Mickey and Minny.
It was a fun day. I went with K (no surprise there) which sucked a little as he was too tall to go on a bunch of rides, but we did a Drop Zone type thing that provided an amazing view of the city, and there was a roller coaster inside he could ride. There were also a bunch of theme rides that put the cheese factor through the roof (think a Sindbad version of the old Pirates of the Caribbean ride). All in all the rides were very tame. You didn't even get wet on the flume rides. Oh and by the way, if you ever wonder what happened to the actor Christopher Lloyd, he's over here doing Korean language kids movies for the 4D theater. He was definitely dubbed, but his lips matched the words. I guess he did the video in Korean, but butchered the language so badly they had to get a Korean voice actor to fix it. It was funny though, and we got spit on alot (for those of you who don't know what a 4D theater is, it's like a 3D theatre, but if the characters spit on you, you get wet).
It was a fun day, it wasn't crowded so we never waited more than 20 minutes for a ride, and we got to see what a Korean Theme park is like.
My only complaint is that it was a beautiful, sunny, burn your butt day outside, but the light just didn't seem able to penetrate the thick glass roof. Between that and the massive dull blue walls, the whole place had this eerie, sombre atmosphere. At the same time, there were constant shows going on and this hyper-a-go-go energy was everywhere. It was surreal really, you didn't know if you should feel depressed or giddy, or both.
Food of The Day: The Gross Stuff
First off, bean sprouts don't taste the same here as they do back home, they have this sort of strong, musky flavor that I don't really like that much.
I eat lunch at my schools, and so I get to try alot of normal, home cooked Korean food. This is great except that every now and then I get served quail's eggs (which taste like chicken's eggs only ten times more repugnant), or tiny dried anchovies in sesame seeds. The little fish aren't that bad, but they're salty, they're crunchy but not quite, and they stare at you...
I regularly eat roasted butter squid, which you can find everywhere. I know some people would be disgusted by it, but I really like it. It's like fishy tasting beef jerky.
I had a soup at a place that serves lamb the other night, and I thought that the chunks of meat in the picture would be lamb meat. That's a reasonable assumption, right? Instead, it was big chunks of jellied lamb. That's right, they somehow got lamb into jelly form and threw it in a spicy Korean style soup. I've read of Jellied lamb before (I think it's Turkish), but until I came face to face with it , it just never quite registered as possible. It wasn't that bad though. It tasted like meat, but had the texture of tofu. Once you get past that, it's fine really.
Finally, here's the mother load. The most infamous of the gross Korean Dishes...
What is it you ask? Why it's silk worm larvae, stewed in their own juices for your enjoyment.
These little guys on sale everywhere. Outside palaces, in marketplaces, even at the entrances to theme parks. If you don't see them, you smell them. It's a difficult scent to describe. It's rich, salty, savory, and very very bug-like. I don't find it that bad, but some people I know near throw up every time they catch a whiff.
If you're adventurous, you can pick up a cup full for a mere 1000 won. I went for it, and I only managed to eat 3 of them. That's right, even I was grossed out. It wasn't really the taste that did it. It was the fact that they pop in your mouth with juicy gushyness, and then you're left chewing the meaty insides.
Sorry, I don't mean to turn any stomachs. I'm just trying to share the experience. It wasn't bad, it was neat and different, and - for the equivalent of about $1 Canadian - totally worth it. This country is full of amazing things to eat, so there is bound to be a dud or two, right?
Korean Fun Fact: Leading the Blind
I'm apologizing right now because I don't have a picture to back this one up, but this entire City is webbed by paths created by bright orange or yellow floor tiles that have 4 raised bumps each. The go 2 by 2, and are most common in the subway, but you can see them out on the streets and generally anywhere people tend to go.
They might not sound that interesting, but their purpose blows my mind. I always thought of Canada as being very handicapped friendly, but I've never seen anywhere go so far as creating what are essentially braille pathways for the blind!
Friday, May 30, 2008
Scaling Mountains
Sorry about the long delay, that might happen from time to time. Remember I'm not here on vacation, and sometimes my work schedule gets a little crazy.
Scaling Mountains
Since my last update I have been to see an amazing classical string quartet at the Korean Parliament. We got the tickets for free from the lead violinist, whom we befriended on the flight over here. We also got to talk to a world famous celloist from Poland who was in the concert. I can tell you that was one amazing experience.
I also went to Yongsan, which happens to have a massive electronics market (think 5 Wal-Mart sized floors of nothing but computers, and video games). It made me think of some of my friends back home. I had just walked into their wet dreams, or nightmares if you consider everything was in Korean so even if they bought video games, they wouldn't b able to understand them.
What I wanted to talk about, though, is the day K and I, and a Korean friend of ours climbed the mountain I posted a picture of my first day here. You know... the one I can see out my window and is only 1 station away.
I can say right now, that hiking in South Korea (or at least in Seoul) is alot different than hiking in Canada. First of all there's just getting to the mountain. You have to walk through what I like to call Camp Town. It's this entire mini city of tents and stalls that sell everything from food and hiking gear, to bootleg DVDs. You spend a good half an hour trekking through this vast labyrinthine marketplace, following the crowds and just hoping they're all actually going to the mountain.
Finally you reach the mountain, called Dobongsan, itself and you notice that there are still people selling things along the main trails. There's buskers, Buddhist temples, icecream stalls, guys with megaphones, etc... plus there's an endless influx and outflux of people, proving just how popular hiking is to Koreans.
Our merry little group decided that instead of just following the main, paved path, we'd veer off on the first side trail we came to. This was a benefit and a curse as, on one hand the trail was gorgeous, uncrowded, and challenging, and on the other hand it was one of the most difficult trails on the whole mountain and we weren't wearing the right shoes for such rugged terrain. Despite that, we made it almost to the top before finally having to turn around.
The sad thing was that we kept getting passed by, and told by elderly people that it was too dangerous and we should turn back. I swear, the seniors in this country are invincible. Just picture 60 year old grandmas powering their way up a mountain like there's no tomorrow! It was either that, or guys in formal dress shirts and pants. Every time I saw one of these guys go by I kept thinking that maybe there's an office building on the peak.
Here's some pictures I took of the amazing view near the top.
Going back down we walked along a dried river bed that had cut a valley into the rock. We drank fresh spring water, and got yelled at by a monk who didn't want us near her temple. I say everything is an amazing experience, and I don't want to sound redundant, but this was an amazing experience.
Food of the Day: Funny Mushroom Cookies
(sorry for the fuzzy picture)
I don't know what the actual name for these is. I think it's like 'Waokoaongi' but my Hangul reading skills aren't up to par so don't quote me on it.
Just as the box promises, it's filled with little mushrooms.
Don't worry though, they're not real mushrooms. The stems are cookie, and the heads are chocolate. Mmmmm chocolate...
Korean Fun Fact: The Time Warp
Check this out, the Koreans figure age differently than Canadians do. I don't know exactly how it works, but it seems that whatever your age is, in Korea you're 2 years older. I just turned 21, but over here I'm actually 23. That means by these reckonings, I was legal to gamble in the US 2 years ago!!!
This also means that most of the 5 year olds I'm teaching are actually 3. That's right, three years old and already learning a second language.
Note: Someone asked how much a 2 000 000 won sweater would be in Canadian $s. Well the exchange rate changes every day, but usually I just go by the standard 1000 won to $1. That means the sweater cost around $2000 Canadian... or WAY TOO MUCH!!!
Scaling Mountains
Since my last update I have been to see an amazing classical string quartet at the Korean Parliament. We got the tickets for free from the lead violinist, whom we befriended on the flight over here. We also got to talk to a world famous celloist from Poland who was in the concert. I can tell you that was one amazing experience.
I also went to Yongsan, which happens to have a massive electronics market (think 5 Wal-Mart sized floors of nothing but computers, and video games). It made me think of some of my friends back home. I had just walked into their wet dreams, or nightmares if you consider everything was in Korean so even if they bought video games, they wouldn't b able to understand them.
What I wanted to talk about, though, is the day K and I, and a Korean friend of ours climbed the mountain I posted a picture of my first day here. You know... the one I can see out my window and is only 1 station away.
I can say right now, that hiking in South Korea (or at least in Seoul) is alot different than hiking in Canada. First of all there's just getting to the mountain. You have to walk through what I like to call Camp Town. It's this entire mini city of tents and stalls that sell everything from food and hiking gear, to bootleg DVDs. You spend a good half an hour trekking through this vast labyrinthine marketplace, following the crowds and just hoping they're all actually going to the mountain.
Finally you reach the mountain, called Dobongsan, itself and you notice that there are still people selling things along the main trails. There's buskers, Buddhist temples, icecream stalls, guys with megaphones, etc... plus there's an endless influx and outflux of people, proving just how popular hiking is to Koreans.
Our merry little group decided that instead of just following the main, paved path, we'd veer off on the first side trail we came to. This was a benefit and a curse as, on one hand the trail was gorgeous, uncrowded, and challenging, and on the other hand it was one of the most difficult trails on the whole mountain and we weren't wearing the right shoes for such rugged terrain. Despite that, we made it almost to the top before finally having to turn around.
The sad thing was that we kept getting passed by, and told by elderly people that it was too dangerous and we should turn back. I swear, the seniors in this country are invincible. Just picture 60 year old grandmas powering their way up a mountain like there's no tomorrow! It was either that, or guys in formal dress shirts and pants. Every time I saw one of these guys go by I kept thinking that maybe there's an office building on the peak.
Here's some pictures I took of the amazing view near the top.
Going back down we walked along a dried river bed that had cut a valley into the rock. We drank fresh spring water, and got yelled at by a monk who didn't want us near her temple. I say everything is an amazing experience, and I don't want to sound redundant, but this was an amazing experience.
Food of the Day: Funny Mushroom Cookies
(sorry for the fuzzy picture)I don't know what the actual name for these is. I think it's like 'Waokoaongi' but my Hangul reading skills aren't up to par so don't quote me on it.
Just as the box promises, it's filled with little mushrooms.
Don't worry though, they're not real mushrooms. The stems are cookie, and the heads are chocolate. Mmmmm chocolate...Korean Fun Fact: The Time Warp
Check this out, the Koreans figure age differently than Canadians do. I don't know exactly how it works, but it seems that whatever your age is, in Korea you're 2 years older. I just turned 21, but over here I'm actually 23. That means by these reckonings, I was legal to gamble in the US 2 years ago!!!
This also means that most of the 5 year olds I'm teaching are actually 3. That's right, three years old and already learning a second language.
Note: Someone asked how much a 2 000 000 won sweater would be in Canadian $s. Well the exchange rate changes every day, but usually I just go by the standard 1000 won to $1. That means the sweater cost around $2000 Canadian... or WAY TOO MUCH!!!
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