Thursday, April 30, 2009
Anthony in Korea, Day 9, Thursday, April 30, 2009-Photos
I cannot believe where I am right now. Late this afternoon I decided to go on the Insangdon Shamanist Hillside Walk. This is area is a village if Buddhist and Shamanist temples up in a mountain, high above the city of
I am surprised and sad that nobody in
The Shamanists and Buddhist seem so happy here. They have very little of the modern world to speak of—just nature and prayer and ritual and simple clothing and, presumably, simple food (although there is a 7-11 type convenience store at the bottom of the hill so they could get a hot dog or some toilet paper if they really wanted to!). These people are at one with nature and self, and honestly, I am tempted to ask if I can join them, just run away from the modern world and live up here in the hilltops above
I’d better head back down the hill—it’s getting dark.
Insangdon is an unforgettable place, so much so that I am going to have a separate post on this blog to showcase two short videos that I took. In the first, you will see a woman chanting and bowing, performing a shamanist ritual in the mountains. The Shamanists (and the Buddhists, I think, as well) kneel and “pray” to the rocks and to nature, and even leave food a drink for deceased loved ones. I should not have been recording any of it (my guidebook warns not to), but I did so anyway. I hope the video is clear. The second recording is shorter, a simple panoramic view of
After descending the mountain, I went to Myeongdong, a place Olivia brought me on one of my first nights in
The bibimbap was superb. It’s a simple dish, really—a sizzling bowl of rice, veggies, and mean (in my case, tofu), topped off with a raw egg. What you do is mix it all together the moment it is served—the bowl is so hot that the egg gets cooked so you wind up with a delicious mélange that tastes even better than it sounds.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Anthony in Korea, Day 8, Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Today I tutored Olivia at Starbucks for about two hours. As usual, she soaked up the information I offered like sponge. On the walk back to her apartment, I was hungry so I asked her what I should eat. She recommended “toast.” In Korea, “toast” means a sandwich with two pieces of white bread browned on a griddle. In between is a scrambled egg and vegetable patty (fried simultaneously with the bread) smothered with ketchup and mayonnaise and a sprinkle of parmesan cheese. It may sound gross but it’s actually quite delicious. It’s served folded in half in a cup, with a free drink [see photo].
After that I went to meet a former student from INTERLINK named Wany (Eunwon Seo). In North Carolina I wasn’t particularly close to Wany, but I always thought he was a nice guy. When I contacted him and asked him to meet for some drinks he was very happy. He greeted me at the Hongik University subway station with a big smile. The Hongik area is much like the Daehangno area I visited last night…loaded with college students, bars, restaurants, etc. It seems that every young Korean goes out every night and they are all having a blast.
Wany and I had a few beers at a bar, and then headed to another bar/restaurant where we had a few more beers and soju. We also ate some potato buchimgae. It looks like a pizza but tastes entirely different. Any “buchimgae” is basically a bunch of rice flour mixed with vegetables, formed into a large pizza-shape, and fried on a griddle. We just happened to have the potato kind, but as mentioned above there’s also a kimchi version, and many other kinds. You eat it with chopsticks in between glasses of soju and beer and it’s all quite delicious. I may have mentioned this before, but Koreans generally don’t drink and not eat. They consider it unhealthy and strange to drink like a fish like a typical American does at a bar, and then eat food afterwards. For Koreans, food and drink (lots of both) always go together, and it’s not uncommon to see a group of Koreans sitting at a bar drinking and eating, drinking and eating for hours. Not a bad tradition if you ask me.
My conversation with Wany turned out to be very interesting and fruitful. We talked first about the Korean cosmetic surgery issue—neither Wany nor I understand why Korean women want make their eyes and breasts bigger. We both agreed that Korean women should look like Korean women, plain and simple, and that’s what made them special, and each ethnicity’s unique physical characteristics should not be changed. But, Wany said, the pressure to look more beautiful was so great that it was difficult for people to change the culture; rather, they follow the trends of their society like lemmings.
We also spoke about English, and I was especially interested in hearing about why Wany went to America to study English. He explained that he wanted to get a better job in Korea, plain and simple. He’s about to start a new job at a recycling plant (he’s an environmental engineer) this summer, and although the job requires no English at all, he explained that the company was impressed that he could speak English and he feels that that is one of the reasons he got the job. Like Wany, many Koreans and people from all over the world travel to America (and other English-speaking countries) to learn English. (Indeed, on the subway ride to see Wany I met a nice young woman who was reading an article in Newsweek, and she said she improved English in Australia). All Koreans learn English in school but most do not master it until they study in the USA, and only the rich an lucky few get to live abroad. Wany confessed that he initially came to America for selfish reasons. However, he said that once he got to Greensboro he got excited about learning the culture and realized there was more to life than learning a language just to earn a few extra bucks.
This conversation led into a more profound one that I will only touch on here…Wany mentioned that he was reluctant to meet me at first because he was embarrassed about his English. He said some other Koreans from Greensboro felt the same way. But I explained to him that English was just a language. In other words, we didn’t need English to communicate at all, or, if anything, it was just a helpful factor but not the most crucial. Wany said, “you mean you feel me?” I said, “yes, yes, I feel you, you feel me. Language not important because we feel…language is just language but feel is human.” “So all human can feel,” he said, “because we are all same.” Much more was said but again it’s hard to express on a blog. What was nice is that Wany and I exchanged a human moment of truth…it wasn’t about anything other than two people agreeing about some basic truths regarding language and communication. We had just as great a conversation as we would have had Wany’s English been only half as good (and it is pretty good). I think if everyone just learned to “feel” everyone else then the world would be a much better place. But instead many people focus on minor differences and use those as reasons for hatred, violence, and prejudice, and even environmental neglect.
Yes, Wany, we should all just “feel” each other.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Anthony in Korea, Day 7, Tuesday, April 28, 2009
My day started out with a workout downstairs. I brought Jonga, Olivia’s dog, with me for the second straight day. She is such a loyal and loving dog that even thought I’m not her owner she listens to me and follows all my directions (in Korean, of course). Then I was about to eat breakfast (corn flakes) around noon when Olivia’s mom started whipping up a virtual buffet of food—teriyaki chicken wings, cabbage kimchi, radish kimchi, vegetable tempura, cucumber salad, and so many other things. The cabbage kimchi, Olivia’s mom warned me, is “very sour.” In case you don’t know, kimchi is any vegetable (usually cabbage, but not always) that has been fermented. The longer it ferments, the more sour it is. Most Koreans have a special refrigerator (referred to above as a ‘kimchi machine’) to keep it at the right temperature year-round. Of course, I love sour food. Olivia’s mom’s kimchi was as sour as sauerkraut, only it has many more spices and a reddish color. So delicious! The radish kimchi was equally sour and equally delicious. I wish I had taken a picture, all of the food was so beautiful just to look at. This woman, Olivia’s mom, is amazing. She prepared about 10 dishes in less than an hour—watching her cook was like watching the Iron Chef. And yes, as always, the food was amazingly delicious!
After that I tutored Olivia for about two hours. Prior to today, I had asked her (and my other Korean tutees) to read and summarize some articles. One of the articles was about Koreans’ obsession with cosmetic surgery. You may not know this, but roughly 50% of Korean women get some sort of plastic surgery in their lifetime. The most popular is the surgery that makes Korean eyes look more like Western eyes. Apparently, Korean women are more likely get a job if they look more beautiful, so they do everything possible to look as pretty as they can. Getting “Western eyes” is the quickest and easiest way to look beautiful in this way. In fact, Olivia had this surgery. She paid $500 per eye (usually it is double that amount) and now her eyes are as big as an American’s. It’s unfortunate, I think, because Korean (and Asian women in general) look so nice with their natural eyes. But Olivia, like so many other young Korean women, has been seduced by the idea that big eyes=pretty, so she got the surgery. It’s sad, but what can you do? It is such a shame that this traditional culture is being tarnished by Western ideas. As I tell my Korean students at INTERLINK, rather than submitting to the pressures of their society and getting unnecessary cosmetic surgery, they should change society by avoiding it altogether. But it’s hard for them to avoid the pressures of Western society, America in particular. Last night I passed by a jewelry shop called “Bling Bling”! (and if you don’t know what that means, then good! But perhaps you should google the phrase just to find out). Anyway, I’m going to head out soon and grab some dinner…
I am sitting in a bar in Daehangno as I type this. The name of the bar is “California.” I wandered around this area looking for a place called “Beer Oak,” which my guide book says has cheap beer. I found the place, sat down, and ordered a beer. The waiter told me they had run out of beer! Or maybe I just made a mistake when ordering. Either way, no beer=Anthony leaving. So I wandered around this amazing area for another 20 minutes or so until I found this place (which, by the way, has decidedly expensive beer—their prices match those in the real California). As you might expect, California is an American-themes bar (as I type this, Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s get it on” is playing). Only American music has been played so far, and there are pictures of American celebs and copies of American newspaper ads and articles all over the walls. It’s decent place, actually. But apparently it is not too popular tonight, as I am the only one in here!
Daehangno is near a university and, like every other neighborhood I’ve visited in Seoul, it is jam-packed with people, bars, restaurants, and all sorts of other places. It is quite far from the Sango subway station where I am staying, but that that’s okay. That’s the great thing about being on sabbatical—I have no schedule, so I don’t care about time. In fact, were it not for this very laptop I would have no idea what time it was each day, as I didn’t even bring my watch. Daehangno is a great area, and one could easily spend a whole day walking up and down its neon-lit streets, eating and drinking at dozens and dozens of restaurants.
Prior to Daehangno, I went to a neighborhood off the beaten path, for tourists, at least. It’s called Cheongnyangi and it’s a few subway stops from here. Cheongnyangi is bustling with people. I didn’t know much about it until I arrived. As it turns out, this area is more like what I imagined all of Seoul to be back when I was in the States envisioning the city. Cheongnyangi is a lot like Chinatown in lower Manhattan. There are dozens if not hundreds of outside vendors all over the place, some in stores, but most actually sitting on the street, selling everything from octopus to radishes to fish. All over the place there are these little old ladies and men, each selling a particular genre of food—seafood, produce, etc. It’s not a wholesale market, or at least I don’t think it is. Regular people were buying stuff everywhere. But there were also tons and tons of carts and boxes of all the foods being sold, often just stacked up in mountains right there on the street. Forklifts and small trucks whizzed to and fro, delivering and picking up these boxes. Many of the vendors were actual stores, but they were not regular American-sized stores; they were just big enough for the vendor, his/her wares, and maybe a customer or two. And again, nothing was on display on shelves. All the stuff was just sitting there, waiting to be sold. The most interesting part of Chongnyangi was one are that was inside…it was not so much a building as it was a long block enclosed by a tent of some sort. Beneath the enclosure, dozens of vendors sat behind huge displays of every meat imaginable. Most of what I saw was pig-related—I saw many pig heads for sale and well as live squid and so many cuts of beef [see photos]. All this stuff was just sitting there out in the open; I didn’t see any refrigerators or even ice, and I have no clue how it all stayed fresh or where it went in the evening when these places closed. At many of these stalls, there were small “restaurants” attached, again, also enclosed in tents, where Korean men and women were drinking beer and playing cards and eating the very food that was being sold. I think the people selling the food often chopped it all up to order, and then either cooked it themselves or gave it to the cooks beneath the nearby tents, where patrons consumed meat as fresh as can be. It was all quite interesting to say the least. But boy do I feel bad for all those pigs and fish!
Monday, April 27, 2009
Anthony in Korea, Day 6, Monday, April 27, 2009
Today was great…I tutored Sunae and Dahee, two students referred to me by a Korean friend in the States. We met at the Bangbae subway station and went to Dahee’s apartment. I’m fortunate enough to have the opportunity to experience the “real”
Anyway, after an hour of tutoring Dahee insisted we take a break. Her friend Sunae peeled some fruit, apples and Korean melon, while Dahee prepared some Korean coffee (which, despite being “instant,” was the best coffee I’ve ever tasted!). I got to experience more of the “real
I was about to go to Starbucks to take advantage of the free internet service when Dahee and Sunae invited me to a real Korean bar—a jumac. This was unlike any bar in the States, and the differences were intriguing and humbling. First of all, like every other eatery or bar in
What struck me most while eating with Sunae and Dahee were three things: First, Koreans, unlike Americans, rarely drink without eating. In other words, you’d be hard-pressed to find a Korean in a bar just sipping a cocktail or beer. Alcohol is but one part of the overall meal, and it is consumed along with many side dishes of delicious food all over this country on a nightly basis. Second, once again I was amazed at the convivial nature of my dinner with my students; Koreans simply love to get together with frinds, new and old, and drink and eat and talk. It’s sort of their national pastime, and it puts the American tradition of “getting drunk” to shame. Finally, and this is most important…In
I returned back to Sangdo station and sat in a bar writing in my novel and this blog, and watching parts of the Yankees game (they lost) because the bar, like most places in
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Anthony in Korea, Day 5, Sunday, April 26, 2009
Another interesting day in
I woke up late today, and as I was having breakfast, my “Korean mother” made me some dumplings for brunch…and, they were amazingly delicious!
I had planned to visit Geyongbokgung alone, but Olivia and her mom were nice enough to drive me there and accompany me on the English tour.
Geyongbokgung is the palace where the Korean ‘king’ lived with his wife and concubines for many centuries prior to the Japanese occupation before and during World War II. It has been built and rebuilt over the centuries, and the current palace dates back to about 1865. The architecture is the most ‘oriental’ of anything I’ve seen so far in
After that Olivia and her mom and I went to a traditional Korean restaurant where, as usual, more than a dozen of small dishes are shared on a large pabsang (a table on the floor). The food was very good, and it reminded me of how bad the typical American diet is. While bread and meat are staples of the American diet, Koreans actually do not eat much bread, and they only eat meat as a small part of everything else. Their starch is rice, and rice, for those of you who don’t know, is a pure, complex, healthy starch, unlike almost any kind of bread in the
Olivia and her mom went home and I stayed in the area of the restaurant, which is so far my favorite part of
I was on my way back the subway when I finally decided to but some ‘duk.’ Duk is one of the more popular street foods here in
I was about to get on the subway when two Korean guys approached me and said, “We are college students taking an English conversation class. We have to interview an English speaker for our midterm assignment. Can we buy you some coffee and interview you?” I said “no—not coffee, but let’s have some beer instead.” They happily agreed, and we went to a bar in Insadong and enjoyed a few pints of Hite lager. They were so gracious and nice; they asked me simple questions like ‘what is your job?’ and ‘what is your favorite TV show?’ They were intrigued, as I was, by the irony that they were assigned to interview an English speaker by their teacher, and here I was, an English teacher in
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Anthony in Korea, Day 4, Saturday, April 25, 2009
Tonight I went to Dongdaemun to buy a blazer. Why, you may ask, would a man who hates shopping go shopping? Well, the fact is that Koreans are obsessed with fashion and style. It is true. They judge people largely on the way they dress. For the past few days I’ve noticed that once in a while people would stare at me. Again, I am used to this in the States, but in the States people who stare at me know me and have a reason to do so. Here in
Anyway, my day began with a 30 minute trip to a non-descript neighborhood of
65,000 won later I was back at Olivia’s tutoring her boyfriend. There’s not much to say, if only because he didn’t have much to say. His vocabulary consists of about 30 English words, and that’s it. So I tried my best to teach him what I could; I’m not sure how successful I was, but he was very gracious and I enjoyed tutoring him.
After that, as mentioned, I went shopping at Dongdaemun. For those of you who don’t know, Dongdaemun is one of several HUGE Korean “markets” here in
After that I ventured to the
I stopped at a place called “Chicken and Beer” for dinner. I stopped there because, after looking at Korean menu after Korean menu, puzzled about what I should order, I finally saw a picture of food under the “Chicken and Beer” sign, so I figured at the very least I can point to the photo and ask for it. So that is exactly what I did. Only when I pointed at the picture and said ‘many vegetables’ in Korean, the waiter didn’t seem to get it. Luckily, he did bring me exactly what was in the photo…and there were many vegetables and noodles, thank goodness (I didn’t eat the little pieces of chicken). As the photo above shows, the food I ate was somewhat red-colored. This is quite common in Korean cuisine—it is the color of red chili pepper (or paste). Red chili is ubiquitous in Korean food…it is in EVERYTHING. When there is a little, it makes for a spicy and delicious dish that goes well with cold beer. But where there is a lot—and there usually is—it makes for something just barely edible! Actually, it was quite good, but again, thank goodness for that cold beer. For those of you who want to experiment with Korean cooking, here is a basic recipe for Korean food that I learned only after doing exhaustive research:
Step 1: Put food on plate.
Step 2: Add chili pepper or paste.
Step 3: Serve.
:)
Friday, April 24, 2009
Anthony in Korea, Day 3, Friday, April 24, 2009
This morning I awoke at about 5am to the sounds and smells of someone cooking in the kitchen. You know what I mean—the cracking of eggs, the sizzling of the pan, etc. I was wondering why Olivia’s mom was cooking so early in the morning. But then I just rolled over and went back to sleep.
For the past two days, I admit, I have felt like Jerry Seinfeld in that episode where he is dating a masseuse who refuses to give him a massage. After all, I’m living in the home of a famous Korean chef—she has her own TV show, radio show, and she’s published many cookbooks. Of course, I certainly don’t deserve for her to cook for me. But I must admit that I’ve been craving some of whatever she whips up.
When I finally woke up around 10am, Olivia’s mom was gone, but Olivia was still home and she told me that her mom had gone to do her weekly radio program. Apparently, she wakes up early every Friday, cooks a big meal, and brings it with her to the studio for her guest to try on the air. Just when I was about to ask Olivia what her mom made, she told me, “oh, mom left you some food.” And there it was, a baked egg quiche-like casserole with sausage, broccoli, and cheese. Of course, I haven’t eaten sausage in four years. But I certainly didn’t want to insult Olivia’s mother so I suffered through it. And, uh, well, it was super-delicious (although I feel sorry for the pigs!).
After breakfast I did my first tutoring session with Olivia. For those of you who don’t know, the opportunity to tutor Olivia was one of the main attractions of this trip. She’s a gifted young woman who speaks English, Korean, and Japanese; who can hear a song and play it on the piano within minutes; who plans to first get her MA in molecular biology and then go to medical school, both in the
Olivia’s mom came home smiling because she had just been in talks with a university to do some cooking classes or something. Anyway, when someone in
After that I ventured into the city to meet my other students, Dahee and Sunae. These two, referred to me by a Korean friend in
To cap off the day, I met Olivia and her boyfriend in Itaewon. Itaewon is perhaps the most popular neighborhood in
On the way home we stopped at the Korean version of WalMart, Lotte Mart, and I bought some sneakers, because all this walking has taken a toll on my feet and I needed something comfortable. By the way, in a prior post I referred to “Emart” as the Korean WalMart, but Emart is really more like Target and Lotte Mart is much, much, much bigger. The place was PACKED with Koreans buying all sorts of stuff—everything from dumplings to TV sets to bunny rabbits (real ones; Lotte Mart has a pet section, too).
Anyway, I feel particularly tired tonight, so I think I will retire. Tomorrow I have to wake up early to tutor a Korean couple that answered an ad on the internet, and then it’s off to tutor Olivia’s boyfriend who, I discovered tonight, hardly knows any English. Should be fun!