Sunday, May 10, 2009

Anthony in Korea, Day 19, Sunday, May 10, 2009








I had another nice day in Seoul, but this post will be short because I didn’t do any touring.

The Korean lawyer that I normally tutor on Saturday postponed until tonight at 5pm, which didn’t give me much time to do much outside during the day. So after doing my laundry, I watched the Yankee game (they lost), and then headed to the Korean couple’s house.

I tutored Ryan for 2.5 hours, a half hour more than he requested. I never request more money when I go over schedule. I think it’s my responsibility to finish the job, so to speak, so if it takes 2.5 or 3 hours, so be it. I really enjoy just sitting their with a person from another country, and talking…that’s it.

Ryan and his wife are such pleasant people. They have a one year old daughter; yesterday was her birthday, in fact, so I bought her a small doll at Namdaemun last night. Of course, in Korean tradition, she is 2 years old, not 1. Koreans count the 9 months a baby is in the womb as 1 full year. So every Korean has 2 ages—a Korean age and an international age.

After tutoring Ryan (that’s the lawyer’s “Western” name), he and his wife invited me out for Chinese food. I thought it would be difficult to explain to them that I was vegetarian, and that, despite consuming the Monte Cristo they made for me last week, I would prefer not to eat meat tonight. But, no problem, they said. As it turned out, they both are Buddhist and they used to be vegetarians (they eat meat now, but very little compared to most Koreans). In fact, although they eat meat, they plan to raise their little girl vegetarian. I was amazed that they understood my lifestyle because theirs was so similar. They ordered entrees that were primarily vegetarian. Outside, they had pointed out the Chinese chef standing at the window, flinging dough in the air, stretching it, etc. They told me he was making fresh noodles, which the restaurant is well-known for. And yes, I had the noodles, and they were delicious. In fact, I had them with a Chinese entrée that exists no where else in the world outside Korea; apparently, it was created by Chinese people in Korea especially for Koreans. It’s rather simple, but the taste is amazing. Basically, it’s fried rice, which a chopped scrambled egg on top, and on the side is a black bean/pork-flavored sauce. You mix it all together and it’s really good. I had that sauce with the fresh noodles and loved it. (So as you can see, even though I tried to eat vegetarian tonight, some of the entrees were still ‘flavored’ with meat, which is common in Korea).

Anyway, it was nice sitting their, just talking to Ryan and his wife, watching their baby giggle and thrown chopsticks on the floor. We had a real nice time. In fact, in addition to buying me dinner, they also gave me a gift: 2 bottles of persimmon wine. [I think I remember trying persimmon bread or cake at Dr. Parsons’ house; in fact, I believe persimmons are grown in NC, and in his backyard!]. Apparently, this kind of wine rather than grape wine is popular in Korea. I can’t wait to try it. [Please see photo of Ryan and his wife (she was shy and covered her face when I took out my camera) as well as their little girl].

I capped off my night with a visit to a traditional Korean porridge restaurant. Unfortunately, the restaurant was about to close, so I could not be seated. As a matter of fact, sitting next to me now are two types of porridge, which I got “to go”: broccoli porridge and tofu porridge. Rice porridge is a traditional Korean food. Basically, it’s like risotto soup, only there’s no cheese, and mixed in with the rice is any number of other things: chicken, pumpkin, tofu, shrimp, etc. [See photo of rice porridge above].

Before I got home, I stopped at an underground shopping center in the subway station. Boy, these shopping centers are huge. Beneath the Express Bus Terminal, where I catch the train, where were literally hundreds of little stores, most of them selling clothing and shoes, and since the competition is fierce the prices are low. [The photo above doesn’t even hint at the size of the maze of underground shopping malls at several Seoul subways stations—Koreans love to shop, plain and simple].

Korean rice porridge update: It’s called “juk” here in Korea, but I just read that it’s actually common throughout Asia and known by a variety of names. Anyway, I fear that you may read the word “porridge” and think some strange things about juk. But actually, it’s simple and plain (and yet delicious). I assume it’s one of the most basic Korean recipes out there, and it probably goes back hundreds of years to peasant farmers who couldn’t afford anything but rice. Have you ever added too much water to rice when you were cooking it? When you add too much water, you try too cook the rice down, but it never seems to reduce the liquid—it stays watery rice? Well, that’s rice porridge, only it’s done on purpose :) Koreans add a variety of ingredients to it and it’s so good. Because it’s mostly just rice, of course, it’s cheap, so two HUGE bowls of it (one of which I just consumed), plus side dishes, cost less than 10 bucks. Rice porridge—yum, yum, yum!

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