Anthony in Korea, Day 24, Friday, May 15, 2009

Today, after eating some tuna fish sandwiches that Olivia’s mother made (leftovers left for us from the ones she prepared for her morning radio show, so I had to eat them), I tutored Olivia, and then headed to Bangbae to tutor Sunae.

Sunae impressed me by writing a second essay that I did not assign. Indeed, she was thinking about the effects of societal pressure on people in Korea, and she took it upon herself to write an essay about how the media makes people feel like “outsiders,” and even contributes to the increased suicide rate in Korea. [Please see a photo of the essay she wrote; again, remember that you can click the photo to make it larger and legible]. Sunae mentioned to me that she has been rethinking cosmetic surgery. She’s been saving money for it, but now she says she’s started to enjoy expressing herself in English, and she may want to travel to America to improve her writing and speaking. I was so happy to hear that. Whatever she does, it’s the right decision, as long as it’s her decision.

After the tutoring session, we found ourselves with some extra time so we decided to have some ttoekbokki at a street vendor nearby. If you are getting sick and tired of me mentioning ttoekbokki, well, too bad, because I am really starting to like this stuff. Today I got to see the chef (and her elderly mother, who works with her) prepare it from the beginning. I didn’t realize how many ingredients go into the bright red, sweet-spicy sauce that bathes the ttoekbokki. I also didn’t realize that, just like any other culinary pleasure, different chefs prepare it in different ways, so some vendors are known for cooking better ttoekbokki. I was very lucky today. When I tried it today it was not quite as good as the one I had in the vegetarian restaurant last night, but still much better than the street ttoekbokki I had at a vendor a few weeks ago. Actually, it was delicious, even though, yes, as it boils constantly all day, the cook adds ladles of fish water to it to keep it all from drying out. Alongside the ttoekbokki was a big pile of pig intestines stuffed with yapchae noodles. The chef literally takes a length of the intestine, cuts it with scissors, and serves it on a platter. Apparently, it’s supposed to be delicious. And why wouldn’t it be? I mean, I used to love hot dogs and god knows what’s in those things. [Please see the special photo section, a separate post, that features the ttoekbokki, the pig intestines, and some other fried foods at the vendor’s stall].

So I stood there in the rain, beneath the short canopy of the vendor’s stall, eating ttoekbokki, a classic Korea street food. I was speaking English to my Korean student about her plans to travel to America. Behind us was a French bakery and across the street was a Burger King. My friend and I were both sipping Italian cappuccino that we had just bought at Starbucks. Is this scene globalization at its best or worst? Hm. I’ll leave that for you to decide.

Afterwards I headed to Sinchon, an area teeming with young people, bars, and restaurants. For whatever reason, Sinchon specializes in restaurants where each table, many of which are outside, has a little hibachi-like grill, where foods is cooked and kept warm before the patrons’ eyes. The ordinarily polluted air of Seoul was replaced with the scent of delicious meats and vegetables being grilled all over the place. Honestly, I’ve never been more tempted to eat meat than I was tonight, it smelled that good. I’m not talking about 1 or 2 of these places…literally, there were 3 or 4 on every block, and like I mentioned, most of them had outdoor seating. So the smell (and sizzle) was alluring. But rather than eat meat I found a quaint jazz bar and had some beers while listening to jazz and looking at all of the memorabilia, much of it jazz- and wine-related, on the walls. Sinchon was a really great place but unfortunately I won’t have time to go back there [see photo of me standing in Sinchon under my umbrella].

After that I went to Hongdae, a student area near Hongik University that I had visited twice before. Like Itaewon a few nights ago, there were many things I discovered and started to love about this neighborhood that I hadn’t noticed the first time. Since Hongik University is an arts university, this neighborhood has a Greenwich Village/Woodstock like feel to it. There were lots of students, of course, but there were also lots of people selling arts and crafts and jewelry and food all over the streets. I managed to find Agio, an Italian restaurant that specializes in wood-fired oven pizza. I was delighted to see that all of the pizza and pasta served there was organic. The pizza was very close to the kind that I had in Italy many years ago, it was that good—very thin crust, fresh mozzarella…oh so good. And I cannot believe that I did this, but since a bottle Tabasco sauce is served along with the pizza, I decided to try it on a slice. You know, I always considered Tabasco sauce too spicy for me. But man, that stuff is so good, and it tastes great on pizza. I kid you not—you should try it.

On the way back to the subway I heard “Hey Jude” being played by an excellent street band at the top of a flight of stairs, in a tree-lined park. These bohemian performers, all of whom had cigarettes dangling from their mouths while beating drums, singing, and playing bass, were so good. It was nice to hear such great music after such a great day.