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.

:)