Anthony in Korea, Day 9, Thursday, April 30, 2009-Videos

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 Seoul [see the amazing pics above]. It is a 20 minute, very steep uphill walk from a subway station, and although I almost dropped dead from exhaustion, it was more than worth the effort.

I am surprised and sad that nobody in Seoul recommended that I come here. A place more different than Seoul city there could not be. As I type a Shamanist ritual is taking place…a woman is beating a drum and chanting/singing in Korean. The Shamanists and Buddhists used to be the majority of Seoul and Korea. This area in the hillside dates back hundreds of years, well before Christianity and industry began to envelope the city and country. It is truly amazing; here I am, sitting on a rock on a hillside, listening to nothing but nature (and chanting). Before me I see trees and flowers and birds. To my right and left there and small Buddhist temples nestled in the rocky slops. And directly behind me...? Well, directly behind me (uh-oh, here comes a Buddhist Monk! What should I say? … OK, I said hello in Korean and he smiled…good! He is walking with a wooden stick along the rocks and he seems happy and peaceful) … anyway, directly behind me is the huge Seoul cityscape. Wow, this is a huge city. It’s actually one of the largest in the world (11 million people), so it’s even bigger than New York. The contrast between the place that I am at right now and the skyline behind me is like black and white. It is here at Insangdon that I have realized I really do not like Seoul per se—I like what Seould used to be, or, rather, what it is drifting away from. It used to be a family-centered, Buddhist/Confucianist/Shamanist society, with little interest in modern skyscrapers and cash capital. But with the onset of Capitalism and Christianity the soul of Seoul is now different than before. Indeed, these rocks upon which I sit have been here for thousands of years, if not millions, and the Shamans have been worshiping on them for hundreds. But the skyscrapers you see in the photos—they are not real…they were built in a desperate race to ‘modernize’ in the last 20 years, with credit and capital that really doesn’t exist, borrowed from banks and corporations, and they are partly the reason the place I am sitting now is so unknown to and unvisited by the average Seoulite. It is truly a shame.

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 Seoul for the rest of my life…

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 Seoul city, from the mountains, from the exact same spot where I saw the woman chanting, only the opposite direction. I am not sure if I really captured the essence of the contrast that I witnessed, but I hope you enjoy it.

After descending the mountain, I went to Myeongdong, a place Olivia brought me on one of my first nights in Seoul. It’s an entertainment district loaded with bars and restaurants and, of course, people. First I went to a piano bar and wrote some emails and added to my novel. The waitress/piano player was so nice; she played Billy Joel songs and smiled a lot and tried her best to speak English and ask me about my life in America. After, I went to a Korean restaurant where, finally, I had authentic Korean bibimbap. For those of you who don’t know, bibimbap is to Korea what spaghetti and meatballs is to Italy. It’s one of the national dishes, and of course it was served along side several banchan, or side dishes, including (of course) kimchi, as well as some sweet beans and a vegetable that was quite delicious. I love how the Koreans serve side dishes along with the main meal by default. You don’t have to pay for them—they are technically free. Just order a main dish and here comes the side dishes. Not a bad way to eat!

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.

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.

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!

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” Seoul, meaning that I have gotten to spend a lot of time in actual apartments here in Seoul. Naturally, the students I am tutoring have enough money to pay for a private tutor, so their apartments are very nice. Dahee’s apartment is much like Olivia’s, only smaller. I’m still amazed that of the Korean apartments I’ve seen, all have an “electronic toilet,” complete with a warmed seat and a bunch of buttons attached to the seat that do god knows what (and what could they possibly do? How complicated is it to, well, you know?). All of them also have what I like to call a Kimchi Machine, which isn’t a machine at all, but a refrigerator independent from the main one where kimchi and other fermented vegetables are kept cool throughout the year. These refrigerators are actually almost as big as main refrigerators, and they need to be as Koreans eat kimchi every day, all year long, and it needs to be maintained at a certain temperature in order to stay fresh and still be able to ferment.

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 Korea” when Dahee’s father came home after a long day at work. “Pang a wuh yo, (nice to meet you),” I said to him. He mumbled something in Korean and did not seem too happy to see me. Then, after he retired to his bedroom, Dahee explained that he was a little drunk. Her mom remained quiet. Ah, yes, once again, the “real Korea”: two young intelligent girls being tutored and a rich drunk Korean father returning home from work. I have a feeling this scene is being repeated all over Seoul tonight.

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 Seoul, as soon as you sit down the waiter places a variety of banchan (side dishes) on the table. In New York city the side dishes alone would be $15.00, but here in Seoul they are expected the moment you sit down and they are free. One of the side dishes were hard-boiled quail eggs….yes, you read that right—they were quail eggs! [Please see the photos of the quail eggs and the jumac, as well as Dahee and Sunae, and me outside the jumac]. I suddenly felt like Anthony Bourdain in the TV show No Reservations…there I was holding an small egg, trying my best to peel it (I couldn’t do it; Dahee had to help). And you know what? Quail eggs taste just like chicken eggs…the exact same. Apparently, all bird eggs taste pretty much the same! For dinner Dahee ordered kimchibuchimgae, otherwise known as Korean Pizza. This delicious red-colored pancake, a combination of rice flower and chopped kimchi fried in oil, is so delicious. One of my favorite former students, Minyoung, had made it for me in America back in March, and I loved it then and I still love it. The best part of the meal was the rice wine, known as doodooju. It is served in a wooden bowl and a wooden ladle is used to pour it into small bowls, and then you drink from the bowls. You may think that rice wine sounds strange. But this is what I love about traveling to another country and experiencing the food…Rice wine is just rice fermented in water, and it tastes delicious—sweet, starchy, and alcoholic. It may sound strange but of course who am I to say that fermenting rise is a bad thing—Italians ferment grapes, and that isn’t any more or less strange than rice wine. Koreans, like Italians (and Americans, and Spaniards, etc.) are simply taking a local staple and making alcohol with it. Western wine is relatively uncommon here in Korea, but who needs it? Doodooju is just as good and trust me, the alcoholic content does the trick.

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 Korea the drinking age is 20. But there is not an underage drinking problem here at all. That’s because, much like in Europe, alcohol is not treated as a taboo, unavailable to minors and then binged on by those above 21. Actually, it is considered part of the overall food and drink culture, and people below 20 just eat and when they get to 20 they start to include alcohol…it’s that simple. It goes to show you that allowing ‘young people’ wide access to alcohol is not the problem; the problem, actually, is the American culture, which sends a message to people that alcohol under 21 is evil but alcohol over 21 is perfectly acceptable. This sort of perverse message is what leads to a nation of alcoholics and underage drinkers. It has less to d with law than it does with American society’s sick zealous faith in law. I remember going into a bar on Tate Street in Greensboro, and ordering a beer. The bartender demanded that I show her my ID. I protested; “why are you being so strict?” I asked. “You should be thankful that I am trying to obey the law,” she replied. Uh, no lady…it is people like you, enforcing strict and ridiculous laws that are the problem….the problem is in the way one handles and treats alcohol, not in the precise age one consumes it. A 19 year old casually drinking a beer with friends is of less danger to society than a 40 year old getting wasted alone. So the law doesn’t make responsible drinkers…it’s the way the society treats the alcohol that makes the difference.

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 Seoul, has free internet access. I ordered a pitcher of beer for about $10 but could hardly finish a third of it. Rather than let it go to waste, I gave it to some Korean patrons at the table next to me. When I said “ma she lay,” they looked confused. Only now do I realize why they looked confused…I told them “have some food,” when I should have said “have some drink” (mo goo lay). Oh well, I hope they enjoyed the beer just the same.

Anthony in Korea, Day 5, Sunday, April 26, 2009

Another interesting day in Seoul…

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 Seoul. It’s probably the #1 historical tourist attraction in Seoul, sort of equivalent to visiting Independence Hall in Philadelphia in the States. It was very interesting and pretty [please see the photos above].

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 US. Accompanying the rice, as mentioned were over a dozen different small dishes, everything from kimchi to tofu soup to fish. Korean cuisine is quite balanced. In America it is not uncommon for a person to have several slices of pizza as a meal; or a typical meat and potatoes dinner. Koreans, on the other hand, believe strongly in having a well-balanced meal, and most traditional meals contain a large variety of vegetables, kimchi, fish, and other things. Considering the huge amount of spry elderly Koreans walking around this city, and the relatively low rates of cancer and diabetes in the country, I think it is safe to say that Westerners have a lot to learn from this diet.

Olivia and her mom went home and I stayed in the area of the restaurant, which is so far my favorite part of Seoul. It’s a neighborhood called Insadong and it is filled with shops and restaurants, and antique stores and so many other places, most of which are located on small, winding streets off the main drag. I bought a few souvenirs and headed toward a large boulevard where tons of people were gathering on each side, as if preparing to watch a parade. As it turned out, they were there to watch a parade, the lantern festival, which is part of the celebration of Buddha’s birthday which occurs in early May. So there I was, standing amidst thousand so people, watching this amazing and beautiful parade. I recorded some of it on video, and I encourage you to watch. At the parade I met a few American English teachers living in Seoul. They told me how great life was there, and made me think about my own future as an English teacher…

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 Seoul. Unlike crappy hot dogs in NY, duk is actually a real food, and people line up to get this stuff. Street vendors all over Seoul have these rice cakes constantly boiling in a spicy sauce…[please see the photos]. The duk was served to me in a glass bowl lined with saran wrap (so the bowl could be reused), and accompanying it was a cup of fish broth (yum!). The duk was actually pretty damn good, and I can see why people like it so much. It is 1000x healthier than a hot dog and, again, it reminds me how bad the Western diet is as opposed to the Korean diet…even Korean street food is reltively healthy.

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 Seoul, and they just happened to stumble across me. We hung out for over an hour and enjoyed conversing about politics, the economy, and, more importantly, life. We parted ways at the subway station, and they asked if I can show them around the USA or NYC if they ever visited. We exchanged email addresses, of course, and I am confident that I will see them again someday.

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 Korea, other than my being an American, why would people occasionally stare at me—or worse, completely ignore me? The answer, as Olivia said, is that I am not dressed well enough. I am “too casual,” she said. Here is Korea almost every man wears a blazer of some kind when he is out, or some other sort of stylish jacket. Women are even worse. So many women wear major league baseball caps of teams I am sure they don’t even root for, simple because they like the designs on the caps and think they are stylish. So, yes, I caved in and bought a black blazer which I hope will make me fit in just a little more (I am embarrassed that I went shopping for such a vain reason!).

Anyway, my day began with a 30 minute trip to a non-descript neighborhood of Seoul meet a man who answered an ad for tutoring that Olivia put on a Korean web site. [See pic above of me on bus]. As it turns out, he is a nice guy, around my age, married, and has a lovely little baby. He’s a lawyer in Seoul, which is quite impressive because, as he explained to me, the Korean government only allows 1,000 new lawyers into the system per year. This is an extremely small amount and makes lawyers more in demand (and more expensive) than perhaps anywhere in the world. This man—his English name was Ryan—was a really nice, intelligent guy. Why would a corporate lawyer in Seoul want to improve his English? Well, he is planning to move to New York in 2-3 years to take the bar exam and practice law in Manhattan. I am already looking forward to showing him around the city when he comes there to live.

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 Seoul. I put “market” in quotes for a reason…I had expected Dongdaemun to be just that, a market, with vendors and stalls, sort of like a flea market. Well, sure, there were vendors and stalls—HUNDREDS OF THEM…hundreds and hundreds covering millions of square feet of floor space in four10-12 story buildings [see pic of just one of four buildings]. No, I am not kidding…it is really that big! It was not a market in any sense of the word. While all the retailers were independent, the four buildings as a whole were four times larger than Macy’s in Herald Square. You really have no idea how big this place was!

After that I ventured to the Soongsil University area, just a subway stop away from where I am staying. There I found windy, hilly streets filled with restaurants and bars, much like Itaewon last night. Only the Soongsil area is not trendy and touristy, and indeed, I don’t think Seoulites who live outside this area go out of their way to travel here as they to Myeongdong or Itaewon. Because it was so ‘regular’ I actually really loved it. Again, it reminded me a lot of Queens, NY, in that there were lots of people and restaurants and bars, and it was a really cool place because it was so decidedly not cool. It’s just a regular neighborhood and it was refreshing to hang out there. Indeed, the Sangdo station and Soongsil station areas are my favorite places in Seoul so far for the exact same reasons—both are local hangouts rather than city-wide attractions. Both lie south of the Han river—Seoul is bisected by the Han—and all the other places I’ve visited are north of the river. Indeed, the tour book I am using specifically says there is not much to see south of the Han…so I think that’s what attracts me to this area so much. There’s nothing to see and yet everything one needs is here.

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.

:)

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 USA. So for a mediocre teacher like me, it is wonderful to tutor a student like Olivia—she soaks up everything I say like a sponge, regardless of how good or bad my actual teaching is. Not bad!

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 Korea is offered a new job, the first thing they do is take their friends out for lunch or dinner. So we all went to a traditional Korean restaurant and had a variety of dishes [please see the photos above]. ALL of the food was very spicy. Ordinarily, I dislike spicy food. But honestly, it is starting to grow on me. In fact, I have reached the point where I really like it—provided I can wash it down with a cold beer!

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 Greensboro, were extremely bright and sociable and they didn’t seem upset at all that I got lost on the way there and was late.

To cap off the day, I met Olivia and her boyfriend in Itaewon. Itaewon is perhaps the most popular neighborhood in Seoul. It’s right near where the old US army base used to be so there are dozens of shops with English signs, catering to expatriates living in Seoul. It’s a pricy area; nonetheless, to thank Olivia for all of her graciousness so far, I took her and her boyfriend out to eat. The restaurant area of Itaewon is located in a series of narrow, windy, hilly streets, and it’s easy to get lost amidst the dozens of ethnic restaurants. You can find every kind of cuisine there; we ate at a Chinese-Thai place and the food was out of this world.

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!