Fortunately, our boss and her boyfriend have been kind enough to take us under their wings and show us more of Seoul. They have shown us some of their favorite restaurants, bars, and outdoor activities. Since they will be leaving Seoul in February, they are trying to get all of their favorite outdoor activities done soon. So, the four of us ended up biking along the Han river.
The walking/biking route along the Han attracts thousands of Koreans each Summer weekend. There are even bike rental shops along the river, so we were able to rent bikes for 3,ooo Won each. Even though they were crappy bikes (my seat wouldn't raise and Ian's gears wouldn't move), they were cheap! We ended up biking about 14 miles and enjoyed every second of it. It was one of the first moments that we didn't feel completely surrounded by a gigantic city. However, the best part was that the Korean families didn't bring a typical blanket to sit on while enjoying the sun. Rather, they brought camping tents! They put in the effort to set up an entire tent just to get absolutely NO sun rays. Apparently, getting a sun tan is not as popular as it is in the states.
This past week, a couple who works at CDI took their vacation to get married in Hawaii. Since they didn't have a bachelorette/bachelor party, our co-workers decided to throw them one. Ian and the boys first went to a casino. Suprisingly, it is illegal for Koreans to gamble, so it was built just for the foreigners. Ian enjoyed it thoroughly, especially since you get free food and drinks while you're there! After loosing some money, they decided to experience a Korean arcade. Just imagine lots of bright lights, sounds, and some really weird video games, like firefighting and river-rafting games. After the arcade, they went to a couple of bars and ate some street food.
The ladies (myself and six other women) went to dinner to at a Thai restaurant. It was delicious and suprisingly not too expensive. We then made our way to a couple of bars. I think the bride had fun, which was the most important part.
The following day we went to the play RENT. It was the actual broadway cast, which was exciting. Ian and I really enjoyed just sitting and listening to people talk/sing English for an entire two and half hours. We felt right at home! The only aspect that brought us immediately back to reality was that Koreans get REALLY into broadway musicals. They basically act like they are at a concert. The audience clapped during most of the songs, screamed like little girls when the band started to play, and the front row even had RENT posters. It was definately something we were not expecting. But as we have now learned, you should never have set expectations in Korea because they will most likely always be different or the opposite from what actually happens! Korea has definately suprised us at times, from tents in a park to hooting and hollaring during a broadway show.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Thursday, September 10, 2009
B-Ball Korea Style
Luckily for Leslie and I, we live within a five minute walk of Yonsei University, "The First and the Best" university in Korea, as the banners all over campus not so subtly point out. Especially lucky for me, this old and prestigious university has a set of outdoor basketball courts that pass no judgement on who pays tuition and who gets to play upon them.
So as you can probably imagine I've ventured over there quite often with some of my friends from work to shoot around and take on a few Koreans on their home turf. Now, you may think that basketball is basketball, regardless of your global location. You just bounce the orange ball and put in through hoop right? Well, not really. In many ways, Korean basketball can be a game unto itself.
As we've said before, Westerners are a rarity in Korea, so we sometimes get stared and pointed as we go down the street. This trend continues on the basketball court, where sometimes a small crowd of kids will gather to watch us play, cheering when we make a shot, booing when we miss, and yelling the usually few English words they know in know particular order.
Playing in Korea helps you practice your shots under pressure, as you feel like you need to give these kids their moneys worth.
My friends and I have scrimmaged with Koreans on multiple occasions and so far I've learned a few things about Korean pick-up basketball. First, I think Koreans divide basketball into two parts: "offense," and "the time when you're not playing offense." Us westerners call this time "defense" but Koreans seem to have no such notion. Okay, maybe its not quite that dramatic, but still a lot of Koreans won't start guarding you until you cross the free-throw line, and even then will not touch you in even the most delicate way, unless by accident. I do think though that this lack of physical contact might have more to do with the fact that Korean summers are hot and humid, and we westerners look more like displaced ocean mammals than basketball players. I mean, I wouldn't want a guard a panting, sticky, smelly, sweaty mess of a man either!
Finally, Korean ballers are extremely polite on the court. If I miss a shot, which happens most of the time, they often apologize and say it was their fault that I missed, not my poor skills. I had one incident that probably sums up best the Korean basketball mentality and the problems of a language barrier:
I was playing two on two with three Korean guys one afternoon. A man on the opposing team drove to the basket and I fouled him. Not much of a foul really, but I decided to give it to him anyway. He thanked me and then on the next play proceeded to drain a three pointer. Jokingly I told him: "Hey, I gave you the foul call, but you weren't supposed to do that." Then a worried look came over his face, and on the next play he instantly jacked up a wild three pointer that smacked hopelessly off the backboard. I tried to explain that he didn't need to do that, and that I wasn't serious, but it was no use. Koreans are just too nice when they play ball.
So as you can probably imagine I've ventured over there quite often with some of my friends from work to shoot around and take on a few Koreans on their home turf. Now, you may think that basketball is basketball, regardless of your global location. You just bounce the orange ball and put in through hoop right? Well, not really. In many ways, Korean basketball can be a game unto itself.
As we've said before, Westerners are a rarity in Korea, so we sometimes get stared and pointed as we go down the street. This trend continues on the basketball court, where sometimes a small crowd of kids will gather to watch us play, cheering when we make a shot, booing when we miss, and yelling the usually few English words they know in know particular order.
Playing in Korea helps you practice your shots under pressure, as you feel like you need to give these kids their moneys worth.
My friends and I have scrimmaged with Koreans on multiple occasions and so far I've learned a few things about Korean pick-up basketball. First, I think Koreans divide basketball into two parts: "offense," and "the time when you're not playing offense." Us westerners call this time "defense" but Koreans seem to have no such notion. Okay, maybe its not quite that dramatic, but still a lot of Koreans won't start guarding you until you cross the free-throw line, and even then will not touch you in even the most delicate way, unless by accident. I do think though that this lack of physical contact might have more to do with the fact that Korean summers are hot and humid, and we westerners look more like displaced ocean mammals than basketball players. I mean, I wouldn't want a guard a panting, sticky, smelly, sweaty mess of a man either!
Finally, Korean ballers are extremely polite on the court. If I miss a shot, which happens most of the time, they often apologize and say it was their fault that I missed, not my poor skills. I had one incident that probably sums up best the Korean basketball mentality and the problems of a language barrier:
I was playing two on two with three Korean guys one afternoon. A man on the opposing team drove to the basket and I fouled him. Not much of a foul really, but I decided to give it to him anyway. He thanked me and then on the next play proceeded to drain a three pointer. Jokingly I told him: "Hey, I gave you the foul call, but you weren't supposed to do that." Then a worried look came over his face, and on the next play he instantly jacked up a wild three pointer that smacked hopelessly off the backboard. I tried to explain that he didn't need to do that, and that I wasn't serious, but it was no use. Koreans are just too nice when they play ball.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Chungdahm Institute
We have officially started the new term. This means that we get new students, new material, and that we finally get to be on the same schedule! Ian and I were hoping to get the weekends off, but it turned out that our branch is at capacity, so we were given more hours than expected. That was both good and bad news. It just means that we will have to explore the rest of Korea later in the year. With this post we mainly want to explain our jobs and to let everyone know exactly what we will be doing here for the next year!
Our employer is called Chungdahm Institute (usually shortened to CDI). CDI is a private english institute and has branches throughout Korea. In fact it is the most popular English institute in Korea. Fortunately, Ian and I work at a franchise. This means that our boss bought a branch of CDI, making it so we teach CDI material and have CDI regulations, but she owns and runs the company herself. We have been told that franchises are the best situation because instructors don't have to deal with the nuances of headquarters.
There are several class levels that CDI offers. They include:
EC2, EC3, EC4, MM, MG, MT, Bridge, Par, Birdie, Eagle, Albetrose, Masters
As you can probably guess EC2 is the lowest level and Masters is the highest. Fortunately, Ian and I were given pretty good classes this term. For being newbies we were very suprised! We are teaching:
Ian - EC3, EC4, Par (Reading & Listening)
Me - EC2, EC4, Par (Reading & Listening)
We each teach a total of 7 classes, so that about 80 students to remember!
Our schedules basically consist of half younger students (11 years old and younger) and half older students (12 and older). The material in EC consists of reading a few pages of a storybook, answers reading comprehension questions, playing some games, and completing a project or two. Par, on the other hand, is extremely fast paced. The students either have to listen to several story passages and complete questions, or have to read passages and complete the questions. Teaching par expects us to teach how to analyze a passage, find the topic, main idea, and details. We then discuss the topic and outline the ideas on the board. This week we read about stem cell research and the history of media. Even though it's a lot of work for the students, they keep up!
While our classes have been great so far, we are extremely busy! We are working 6 days a week, so we will be working over 40 hours a week. This week we had so many new classes to prep and seminars to attend that we arrived to work around 1:30 and left about 10:15 every day. We are absolutely exhausted, but it's definately worth it!
Even though we are busy, we can't even compare to our students. The younger students go to regular school all day and then attend CDI from 4pm-7pm (two days a week). The students usually attend other institutes, including history, math, chinese, or music. The older students attend school all day and then attend CDI from 7pm-10pm. They are lucky if they get home by 10:30pm. Korean students are constantly either attending school or a private institute, studying, or practicing an instrument! They have very little down time. Despite being ridiculously busy, most students are willing and even excited to be at CDI.
This doesn't explain everything about our jobs but it should give a little insight into our lives here in Korea. Pictures to come on Sunday!
Our employer is called Chungdahm Institute (usually shortened to CDI). CDI is a private english institute and has branches throughout Korea. In fact it is the most popular English institute in Korea. Fortunately, Ian and I work at a franchise. This means that our boss bought a branch of CDI, making it so we teach CDI material and have CDI regulations, but she owns and runs the company herself. We have been told that franchises are the best situation because instructors don't have to deal with the nuances of headquarters.
There are several class levels that CDI offers. They include:
EC2, EC3, EC4, MM, MG, MT, Bridge, Par, Birdie, Eagle, Albetrose, Masters
As you can probably guess EC2 is the lowest level and Masters is the highest. Fortunately, Ian and I were given pretty good classes this term. For being newbies we were very suprised! We are teaching:
Ian - EC3, EC4, Par (Reading & Listening)
Me - EC2, EC4, Par (Reading & Listening)
We each teach a total of 7 classes, so that about 80 students to remember!
Our schedules basically consist of half younger students (11 years old and younger) and half older students (12 and older). The material in EC consists of reading a few pages of a storybook, answers reading comprehension questions, playing some games, and completing a project or two. Par, on the other hand, is extremely fast paced. The students either have to listen to several story passages and complete questions, or have to read passages and complete the questions. Teaching par expects us to teach how to analyze a passage, find the topic, main idea, and details. We then discuss the topic and outline the ideas on the board. This week we read about stem cell research and the history of media. Even though it's a lot of work for the students, they keep up!
While our classes have been great so far, we are extremely busy! We are working 6 days a week, so we will be working over 40 hours a week. This week we had so many new classes to prep and seminars to attend that we arrived to work around 1:30 and left about 10:15 every day. We are absolutely exhausted, but it's definately worth it!
Even though we are busy, we can't even compare to our students. The younger students go to regular school all day and then attend CDI from 4pm-7pm (two days a week). The students usually attend other institutes, including history, math, chinese, or music. The older students attend school all day and then attend CDI from 7pm-10pm. They are lucky if they get home by 10:30pm. Korean students are constantly either attending school or a private institute, studying, or practicing an instrument! They have very little down time. Despite being ridiculously busy, most students are willing and even excited to be at CDI.
This doesn't explain everything about our jobs but it should give a little insight into our lives here in Korea. Pictures to come on Sunday!
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Korea: Love, Hate, and Everything in Between
Korea is an interesting place. Interesting is perhaps the best word to describe this country and its people. There are some things we love here, others that we hate, and still other things that evoke a balanced mixture of both. Both Leslie and I agree that we've never been to a place that so often provokes the thoughts: "Wow, I never thought about doing something like that!" or "Hmm, why do they do things this way?" or "What the hell are these people thinking!?"
From this constant curiosity of Korean ways, we have begun a quite unprofessional and at times we're sure ignorant analysis of Korean culture, and come up with some things that we truly cherish about Korea, others that we can't stand, and more that fall all places in between adoration and loathing. Here are some of those things...
What we Love
1. Safety: Minus Papa Kim's 1.2 million man army less than 40 miles to the north, Korea is a remarkably safe country. There is virtually no petty crime or violent crime. We have never felt uncomfortable while in Seoul, even late at night by ourselves.
2. Transportation: Mass transit in Seoul is awesome! Buses go everywhere and arrive every 5 minutes. Most inner city buses cost only 50 cents. The subway is great too. The systems has lines running everywhere, has everything in English, and costs 80 cents for a one way trip. Its also the fastest way to cross the city. Taxis are fantastic as well, and yes you guessed it, cheap. A ten minute taxi ride will only set you back about 6 dollars! But if you go with a group you can split the price and make it even cheaper.
3. Convenience Stores: Korean convenience stores are far superior to their western counterparts for one glorious reason: Many stores have patios with tables and umbrellas out front where you can eat and drink. The best thing to do is buy cheap beer and snacks from the store, sit out on the deck, and people watch. Genius!
4. Eating out: When it comes to restaurant management, we really need to take a page from the Koreans. Firstly, you call your server over when you want, they never come to you. (They are always very attentive so its quite convenient, and you never get interrupted during a meal.) Second, you pay your bill up front, so you can leave whenever you want, and there is never any pressure to make you leave once your meal is done. Third, the best part, for diners at least, and probably the worst for the wait staff, are the table buttons. At many restaurant you have a button at your table that you press when you want the server to come over. Finally, many restaurants give you free food if you order a certain amount, or if you are a regular customer. We're not talkin' mixed nuts or stale bread, I mean the good stuff. The other night a bunch of us were given two huge bowls of mussels and unlimited delicious sweet pancakes!
5. Our Job: So far at least, Leslie and I really enjoy our job. We work with good people and the students (most of them at least) are wonderful. They are very eager to learn, respectful, and fun to be around. An upcoming blog post will tell you more about our teaching experiences.
6. Respect: The vast majority of Korean people are extremely polite and respectful, which makes the cultural transition much easier.
7. Electronics: Electronics hear are cheap and plentiful. For example, today Leslie and I went to Yongsan Electronics Market (Seoul's largest) and bought the first seasons of The Sopranos, True Blood, and a season of Entourage, plus eight movies, for a little over 30 dollars. Good stuff!
What we Hate
1. Asian Big City: This generic, ambiguous term just means that we dislike the crowdedness and general filth of Seoul. The city is polluted, (nothing like China, but still bad, around LA standards.) Also, with the right wind pattern, certain areas can have a truly nauseating stench, that only a city of 20 million people cooking Korean food can have.
2. Spitting: Korean men like to spit, A LOT! Why? We have no idea, but spitting is as common as kimchi around these parts.
3. Motorcycles: Motorbike delivery guys are everywhere and ride their bikes on any navigable surface. They also refuse to obey even the most basic traffic laws (like stopping at red lights.)
4. Neighborhood Fruit Man: By our apartment, a flatbed truck comes down the road religiously at 10:00 every morning selling fruit. Seems harmless right? Well, actually no. The truck is equipped with a huge sound system blasting out Orwellian sounding messages, not about big brother, but about watermelons. Needless to say very annoying.
5. Oppositeness and Illogicalness: Koreans do so many things in an illogical fashion that we are astounded every day that their country is prospering so much. There are too many to get into at the moment, but hopefully we can talk about them in detail later.
Also, so many small things here are opposite from their western counterparts. For example, doors must be pushed to open and pulled to exit. You walk up the left side of the stairs not the right. To lock a door you twist to the left, away from the bolt hole, not towards it.
6. Shower: As you've probably seen in pictures, our shower is not separated from the rest of our bathroom by anything. As a result, whenever we take a shower our entire bathroom get covered in water and things begin to rust or dissolve, (like the molding around the toilet that connects it to the floor. God knows what will happen when it finally gives way!)
7. Shopping: If you decide to go shopping at any relatively upscale store, the store staff will stand right next to you the entire time you shop.
8. Soju: Soju is Korea's alcohol of choice, and Koreans drink it by the boat load. It is retched. It's like vodka, except it tastes just as bad and gets you drunk half as fast.
What Falls in the Middle
1. Korean old ladies (Ajimas): Ajimas are a thing unto themselves. These old Korean women, with their huge visors and curly short hair, are some of the feistiest and funniest people I've ever met. Don't mess with them. They will shove you out of the way to get off the bus first, or elbow you in the kidneys to eat that last free sample at Costco. They take crap from no one, and do what they want, always!
2. Food: As one of our previous blog posts stated, we have a love/hate relationship with Korean food. Some is delicious, while some is horrible. But we are starting to find better and better food with the help of our seasoned coworkers.
3. Hiking: Hiking in Korea is quite an experience. Between dodging ajimas barreling down the trail and taking in Korea's scenic mountain beauty, it is quite an affair. The best part about hiking in Korea though are the Korean hikers themselves. Why?, because they love hiking gear more than hiking itself.
Leslie and I and a couple friends recently did a little 2 mile hike up to a large hill in inner city Seoul and saw numerous Koreans in full hiking attire: poles, boots, carribeaners, rope, camping cups, stereo backpacks, gloves, wool socks, etc... All just for a simple 2 mile stroll. Ridiculous!
Well, that's the news from Seoul. Hope everyone is enjoying the last little bits of summer.
From this constant curiosity of Korean ways, we have begun a quite unprofessional and at times we're sure ignorant analysis of Korean culture, and come up with some things that we truly cherish about Korea, others that we can't stand, and more that fall all places in between adoration and loathing. Here are some of those things...
What we Love
1. Safety: Minus Papa Kim's 1.2 million man army less than 40 miles to the north, Korea is a remarkably safe country. There is virtually no petty crime or violent crime. We have never felt uncomfortable while in Seoul, even late at night by ourselves.
2. Transportation: Mass transit in Seoul is awesome! Buses go everywhere and arrive every 5 minutes. Most inner city buses cost only 50 cents. The subway is great too. The systems has lines running everywhere, has everything in English, and costs 80 cents for a one way trip. Its also the fastest way to cross the city. Taxis are fantastic as well, and yes you guessed it, cheap. A ten minute taxi ride will only set you back about 6 dollars! But if you go with a group you can split the price and make it even cheaper.
3. Convenience Stores: Korean convenience stores are far superior to their western counterparts for one glorious reason: Many stores have patios with tables and umbrellas out front where you can eat and drink. The best thing to do is buy cheap beer and snacks from the store, sit out on the deck, and people watch. Genius!
4. Eating out: When it comes to restaurant management, we really need to take a page from the Koreans. Firstly, you call your server over when you want, they never come to you. (They are always very attentive so its quite convenient, and you never get interrupted during a meal.) Second, you pay your bill up front, so you can leave whenever you want, and there is never any pressure to make you leave once your meal is done. Third, the best part, for diners at least, and probably the worst for the wait staff, are the table buttons. At many restaurant you have a button at your table that you press when you want the server to come over. Finally, many restaurants give you free food if you order a certain amount, or if you are a regular customer. We're not talkin' mixed nuts or stale bread, I mean the good stuff. The other night a bunch of us were given two huge bowls of mussels and unlimited delicious sweet pancakes!
5. Our Job: So far at least, Leslie and I really enjoy our job. We work with good people and the students (most of them at least) are wonderful. They are very eager to learn, respectful, and fun to be around. An upcoming blog post will tell you more about our teaching experiences.
6. Respect: The vast majority of Korean people are extremely polite and respectful, which makes the cultural transition much easier.
7. Electronics: Electronics hear are cheap and plentiful. For example, today Leslie and I went to Yongsan Electronics Market (Seoul's largest) and bought the first seasons of The Sopranos, True Blood, and a season of Entourage, plus eight movies, for a little over 30 dollars. Good stuff!
What we Hate
1. Asian Big City: This generic, ambiguous term just means that we dislike the crowdedness and general filth of Seoul. The city is polluted, (nothing like China, but still bad, around LA standards.) Also, with the right wind pattern, certain areas can have a truly nauseating stench, that only a city of 20 million people cooking Korean food can have.
2. Spitting: Korean men like to spit, A LOT! Why? We have no idea, but spitting is as common as kimchi around these parts.
3. Motorcycles: Motorbike delivery guys are everywhere and ride their bikes on any navigable surface. They also refuse to obey even the most basic traffic laws (like stopping at red lights.)
4. Neighborhood Fruit Man: By our apartment, a flatbed truck comes down the road religiously at 10:00 every morning selling fruit. Seems harmless right? Well, actually no. The truck is equipped with a huge sound system blasting out Orwellian sounding messages, not about big brother, but about watermelons. Needless to say very annoying.
5. Oppositeness and Illogicalness: Koreans do so many things in an illogical fashion that we are astounded every day that their country is prospering so much. There are too many to get into at the moment, but hopefully we can talk about them in detail later.
Also, so many small things here are opposite from their western counterparts. For example, doors must be pushed to open and pulled to exit. You walk up the left side of the stairs not the right. To lock a door you twist to the left, away from the bolt hole, not towards it.
6. Shower: As you've probably seen in pictures, our shower is not separated from the rest of our bathroom by anything. As a result, whenever we take a shower our entire bathroom get covered in water and things begin to rust or dissolve, (like the molding around the toilet that connects it to the floor. God knows what will happen when it finally gives way!)
7. Shopping: If you decide to go shopping at any relatively upscale store, the store staff will stand right next to you the entire time you shop.
8. Soju: Soju is Korea's alcohol of choice, and Koreans drink it by the boat load. It is retched. It's like vodka, except it tastes just as bad and gets you drunk half as fast.
What Falls in the Middle
1. Korean old ladies (Ajimas): Ajimas are a thing unto themselves. These old Korean women, with their huge visors and curly short hair, are some of the feistiest and funniest people I've ever met. Don't mess with them. They will shove you out of the way to get off the bus first, or elbow you in the kidneys to eat that last free sample at Costco. They take crap from no one, and do what they want, always!
2. Food: As one of our previous blog posts stated, we have a love/hate relationship with Korean food. Some is delicious, while some is horrible. But we are starting to find better and better food with the help of our seasoned coworkers.
3. Hiking: Hiking in Korea is quite an experience. Between dodging ajimas barreling down the trail and taking in Korea's scenic mountain beauty, it is quite an affair. The best part about hiking in Korea though are the Korean hikers themselves. Why?, because they love hiking gear more than hiking itself.
Leslie and I and a couple friends recently did a little 2 mile hike up to a large hill in inner city Seoul and saw numerous Koreans in full hiking attire: poles, boots, carribeaners, rope, camping cups, stereo backpacks, gloves, wool socks, etc... All just for a simple 2 mile stroll. Ridiculous!
Well, that's the news from Seoul. Hope everyone is enjoying the last little bits of summer.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
43 Days
Well we have officially been in Korea for 43 days now! We are starting to feel more comfortable with our surroundings and the apartment is begining to feel a little like home. Even though I don't think we will ever get used to the tiny kitchen or the shower with no curtain, it certainly feels good to come back to after a long, sweaty day of walking around Seoul. Some exciting news, at least for us, is that we finally bought a kitchen table and chairs. While this may seem rather boring to most of you, we suggest eating on the ground for over a month! It definately gets a little tiresome after a while. However, making sure that we were getting the table we paid for and that it would be delivered to the correct apartment was quite the experience. Buying items that need to be delievered from someone who knows basically no English is very difficult. But after several hand gestures and head nods, our table and chairs were successfully delivered and definately worth the hassel!
Some more exciting news is that we bought a gym membership. A few other instructors, who also belong to the gym, suggested it. Fortunately, it is literally a 2 minute walk from the apartment. While it's not the best gym in the world, it gets the job done. For those of you familiar with UP's gym it's kind of on par with that. Unfortunately, the incline button for the treadmills don't work. But one thing we have learned while living in Korea is that you shouldn't sweat over the small things (like the incline option not working on the treadmill). Or else you would go crazy!
This past weekend Ian and I spent some time getting to know the other staff members. Ian and few guys decided to try out a virtual golf game. You basically pay for the number of holes you complete and can bring in as much beer and food that you want. While they had a good time, it took them three hours to complete just nine holes! That same night I went out with another Instructor whose name is Laura. We had dinner and drinks in an area called Hungdai, which appears to be where the majority of young Koreans go for a night out on the town. It is ridiculously busy and gives you the realization of how many people live in Seoul . During our night out we decided to try out an "ice bar." This is literally a room or a bar that is completely made of ice. Before going into the bar, they give you a jacket, booties, and gloves. It was kind of weird but definately worth the experience!
Tonight we have a staff dinner. The boss is paying for everyone to have dinner at a local Korean BBQ restaurant. Ian and I have been told that while these staff dinners are usually enjoyable, the newbies ( us and a few others ) have to give a speech as to what we are enjoying about Korea and CDI. So that will certainly be interesting!
We put up a few more pictures on the blog, but will put more up soon. Hope all is well with everyone and thanks for reading and supporting the blog. We love writing about our experiences in Korea and we hope everyone enjoys reading about them too!
Some more exciting news is that we bought a gym membership. A few other instructors, who also belong to the gym, suggested it. Fortunately, it is literally a 2 minute walk from the apartment. While it's not the best gym in the world, it gets the job done. For those of you familiar with UP's gym it's kind of on par with that. Unfortunately, the incline button for the treadmills don't work. But one thing we have learned while living in Korea is that you shouldn't sweat over the small things (like the incline option not working on the treadmill). Or else you would go crazy!
This past weekend Ian and I spent some time getting to know the other staff members. Ian and few guys decided to try out a virtual golf game. You basically pay for the number of holes you complete and can bring in as much beer and food that you want. While they had a good time, it took them three hours to complete just nine holes! That same night I went out with another Instructor whose name is Laura. We had dinner and drinks in an area called Hungdai, which appears to be where the majority of young Koreans go for a night out on the town. It is ridiculously busy and gives you the realization of how many people live in Seoul . During our night out we decided to try out an "ice bar." This is literally a room or a bar that is completely made of ice. Before going into the bar, they give you a jacket, booties, and gloves. It was kind of weird but definately worth the experience!
Tonight we have a staff dinner. The boss is paying for everyone to have dinner at a local Korean BBQ restaurant. Ian and I have been told that while these staff dinners are usually enjoyable, the newbies ( us and a few others ) have to give a speech as to what we are enjoying about Korea and CDI. So that will certainly be interesting!
We put up a few more pictures on the blog, but will put more up soon. Hope all is well with everyone and thanks for reading and supporting the blog. We love writing about our experiences in Korea and we hope everyone enjoys reading about them too!
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Excursions
Within the past week Ian and I have been able to see a few very different and interesting parts of Seoul. Some places we loved and others not so much. We visited two markets, the Namdaemun market and the Noryangjin Fish market, a beautiful man made lake, and an area that Ian and I call "America Town!"
Ian and I were really excited to visit our first Korean market, called Namdaemun market. Expecting the vendors to sell every possible good, our hopes were let's say very high. Unfortunately, after walking around for about 15 minutes we soon realized the only goods available were cheep/ugly clothes, kitchen supplies, bedding supplies, backpacks, sunglasses and purses. Plus the market had an extremely horrible smell, making the experience even less enjoyable. While we are glad to say that we have been to a Korean market, we do not plan on going back any time soon!
Fortunately, after our disappointing afternoon we decided to make our way to another area of Seoul called Itaewon. Since this is where the U.S. military base is located a lot of food vendors have set up foreign food options. Thank god! We were able to find an abundant amount of Italian, Thai, middle eastern, and Chinese restaurants. Having been away from Portland for over three months, we had been craving one of Portlander's favorite cuisine: Thai! So the decision as to where we would eat was easily made! It was surprisingly pretty good. We ordered sweet and sour chicken and phat thai (yes, here it's phat not pad). The phat thai was different from the U.S., but it certainly did the job! Ian and I already suspect we will be back to Itaewon very soon.
The following day Ian and I needed to get out of the city. Being surrounded by cars and people non-stop started to wear on us, so we took a public bus about 20 minutes outside of the city to an area called Ilsan. While Ilsan isn't completely out of the city, it does have a smaller town feel. The best part about Ilsan is that it has the largest man made lake in Korea! We walked partially around it looking at the flowers and the families having picnics. It was one of the most relaxing days we have had in Korea, and because of this I know we will be back very soon. It will also be even better when we aren't dripping wet from the humidity. It definitely got a little too hot, but was still enjoyable!
Last night Ian's friend Dan decided to take us to Korea's famous fish market called Noryangjin. All we can say is it was quite the experience! Imagine a HUGE building containing hundreds of vendors selling everything from crab, octopus, lobster, clams, flat fish, and even baby shark. Basically how the market works is you buy the seafood and then go the market restaurant and they cook it for you. So we found a vendor we wanted to buy the seafood from. There were four of us so we bought 1 crab, 1 flat fish, we believe to be flounder, and 2 octopus. The vendor's wife then fileted our fish, while the vendor put the crab and octopus in a bag for us to take to the restaurant upstairs. So imagine us walking through the market with a live octopus and crab in plastic bag! Once we got to the market's restaurant we handed them the bag and they cooked the crab and cut up the octopus.
The first thing we ate was the live, yes live, octopus! It was even still moving on the plate. Ian had been wanting to try this ever since we watched Anthony Bourdain eat it, so here was his chance! I thought it was absolutely repulsive. The tentacles suck to your tongue or your cheek as you attempt to force it down your throat. Plus to make it just that much tastier it is extremely chewy, almost like eating sticky rubber. Ian even ate part of the head ( including the eyeball) which he said was pretty disgusting. Fortunately, the crab came next, which was scrumptious! The fish was next, which was not cooked. It was sushimi, which Ian thought was very tasty. I, on the other hand, was not as big of a fan. The texture just didn't do it for me. With the last remnants of the flat fish and crab, the chef cooked up a spicy fish stew with tofu and fried rice with small pieces of crab. These were both very good.
Surprisingly we felt fine after eating all of that and did not have to break out the pepto bismol! Even though I won't be eating live octopus and sushimi anytime soon, it was an amazing experience and one that we will never forget.
That is all from Seodaemun! Hope all is well and a few pictures of the markets and lake will be posted soon.
Ian and I were really excited to visit our first Korean market, called Namdaemun market. Expecting the vendors to sell every possible good, our hopes were let's say very high. Unfortunately, after walking around for about 15 minutes we soon realized the only goods available were cheep/ugly clothes, kitchen supplies, bedding supplies, backpacks, sunglasses and purses. Plus the market had an extremely horrible smell, making the experience even less enjoyable. While we are glad to say that we have been to a Korean market, we do not plan on going back any time soon!
Fortunately, after our disappointing afternoon we decided to make our way to another area of Seoul called Itaewon. Since this is where the U.S. military base is located a lot of food vendors have set up foreign food options. Thank god! We were able to find an abundant amount of Italian, Thai, middle eastern, and Chinese restaurants. Having been away from Portland for over three months, we had been craving one of Portlander's favorite cuisine: Thai! So the decision as to where we would eat was easily made! It was surprisingly pretty good. We ordered sweet and sour chicken and phat thai (yes, here it's phat not pad). The phat thai was different from the U.S., but it certainly did the job! Ian and I already suspect we will be back to Itaewon very soon.
The following day Ian and I needed to get out of the city. Being surrounded by cars and people non-stop started to wear on us, so we took a public bus about 20 minutes outside of the city to an area called Ilsan. While Ilsan isn't completely out of the city, it does have a smaller town feel. The best part about Ilsan is that it has the largest man made lake in Korea! We walked partially around it looking at the flowers and the families having picnics. It was one of the most relaxing days we have had in Korea, and because of this I know we will be back very soon. It will also be even better when we aren't dripping wet from the humidity. It definitely got a little too hot, but was still enjoyable!
Last night Ian's friend Dan decided to take us to Korea's famous fish market called Noryangjin. All we can say is it was quite the experience! Imagine a HUGE building containing hundreds of vendors selling everything from crab, octopus, lobster, clams, flat fish, and even baby shark. Basically how the market works is you buy the seafood and then go the market restaurant and they cook it for you. So we found a vendor we wanted to buy the seafood from. There were four of us so we bought 1 crab, 1 flat fish, we believe to be flounder, and 2 octopus. The vendor's wife then fileted our fish, while the vendor put the crab and octopus in a bag for us to take to the restaurant upstairs. So imagine us walking through the market with a live octopus and crab in plastic bag! Once we got to the market's restaurant we handed them the bag and they cooked the crab and cut up the octopus.
The first thing we ate was the live, yes live, octopus! It was even still moving on the plate. Ian had been wanting to try this ever since we watched Anthony Bourdain eat it, so here was his chance! I thought it was absolutely repulsive. The tentacles suck to your tongue or your cheek as you attempt to force it down your throat. Plus to make it just that much tastier it is extremely chewy, almost like eating sticky rubber. Ian even ate part of the head ( including the eyeball) which he said was pretty disgusting. Fortunately, the crab came next, which was scrumptious! The fish was next, which was not cooked. It was sushimi, which Ian thought was very tasty. I, on the other hand, was not as big of a fan. The texture just didn't do it for me. With the last remnants of the flat fish and crab, the chef cooked up a spicy fish stew with tofu and fried rice with small pieces of crab. These were both very good.
Surprisingly we felt fine after eating all of that and did not have to break out the pepto bismol! Even though I won't be eating live octopus and sushimi anytime soon, it was an amazing experience and one that we will never forget.
That is all from Seodaemun! Hope all is well and a few pictures of the markets and lake will be posted soon.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
A Taste of Seoul
We promised a post about the food over here in Korea, so without any further ado, here it is...
First and foremost, Leslie and I have a love-hate relationship with Korean food. Korean gastronomy has numerous tasty dishes, however we've found it difficult to eat Korean food repetitively due to its strong and unique flavors. Maybe you would all understand our ordeal better through the following example: Say that you head out to your favorite Chinese restaurant and order a wonderful meal. You return home with your belly full and satisfied, the taste of fortune cookies still lingering on your palate. Maybe you have a few leftovers that you save for lunch the next day. But when dinner rolls around the following night do you ever say to yourself, "Man, I think I'll go have Chinese food again tonight." Hell no!, of course you don't, because the flavors are so strong and unique that they satisfy your Asian urge for a least a few days.
So, just substitute the word "Korean" for the word "Chinese" in the above story and you can see our problem. We like Korean food, but eating it everyday is taking some getting used to. It has very strong flavors that often do not vary that much from dish to dish, which is making the adjustment a bit more challenging. Although one thing that was an easy adjustment is the price. Korean food is cheap, I mean dirt cheap. If Leslie and I spend more than $10 total a meal of ethnic Korean food, we are really livin it up.
However, on the flip side, foreign food is expensive. You can find good Italian, Mexican, American, and Indian food in Seoul, but it'll cost ya! A large peperoni pizza from Pizza Hut costs around $20, and we had a sit down Mexican meal last week for a wallet vaporizing $46! But we have been making things like pasta and sandwiches at home which are definitely more affordable.
Now, on we go to a look at some of our favorite, and not so favorite, Korean dishes:
DISHES TO LOVE:
1. Mandu: Mandu is the Korean word for dumplings, and they are absolutely delicious. They are usually filled with a mixture of pork and green onions and then steamed. However, they also have Kimchi flavored dumplings (of course!), and those we haven't liked so much. But overall mandu are just great, the only side effect are the burps. Mandu burps are the absolute worst, like some small burrowing mammal crawled into your stomach and died. But if you can survive these burps of death they are definitely worth it!
2. Ramen: Ramen comes in all shapes, sizes, and colors in Korea, and usually is quite tasty. You order it in restaurants with all sorts of toppings, or you can buy it almost anywhere for about 50-70 cents and just add hot water for a quick snack of salty-spicy goodness.
3. Gimbap: This is the Korean take on a sushi roll. The standard gimbap roll is filled with rice, egg, crab, picked radish, ham, cucumber, and one indistinguishable brown element that we have decided not to ask questions about. Gimbap comes in all different varieties and usually cost between $1 and $3 for a whole roll.
4. Bibimbap: This dish is awesome, I mean you can't deny that the name itself "bibimbap" is by far one of the coolest words in existence. Bibimbap is basically rice topped with fresh vegetables, seaweed, meat, chili sauce, and a fried egg, all served in a hot stone pot. You just mix it all together and enjoy for only about $4.
5. Bulgogi/Kalbi: Oh yes, we haven't forgotten the famous Korean barbecue. Beef, lamb, or pork marinated and then grill at your table over hot coals, rapped in a lettuce leaf with bean paste and other condiments, and then gobbled down like a lettuce wrap. Fantastic!
6. Green Tea Shakes: Ice cream + ice + green tea, what's not to love!
DISHES NOT TO LOVE:
1. Kimchi: This fermented chili infused cabbage condiment is as common on restaurant tables as napkins or salt shakers, and has quite a unique taste. While have had some kimchi that we like, it often has a fishy taste that the fermentation only seems to exaggerate.
2. Pickeled Radish: Kimchi's partner in crime is the just as popular pickled yellow radish, which has a bitter vinegary taste that always catches you off-guard, as the flavor contrast sharply with its innocent vegetable appearance.
3. Traditional Korean Flavoured Tea: Recently, Leslie and I went to a traditional Korean tea house in hopes of enjoying the old-timey Korean version of the beverage we love so well. However, upon first taste our excitement immediately vanished into mixture of fear, panic, and ultimately dispair. This drink my friends, was the by far the worst beverage, outside of cold medicine, that we have ever had. I mean, a luke-warm "gin and diet coke" made by a drunken frat guy would have tasted better. The tea was a syrupy, earthy, at times slightly crunchy hell-water, made of who knows what. Probably, some weird roots and rotting leaves or something. Oh and did I mention that it cost $5 a cup! Very disappointing to say the least. Oh well, can't win them all I guess.
We are going to post a picture slide show soon of some of the food we have eaten. We don't have pictures of all the dishes we talked about, and we also have pictures of many dishes we didn't talk about, but hopefully they should be interesting to look at. Take care everyone, keep an eye out for the slide show.
First and foremost, Leslie and I have a love-hate relationship with Korean food. Korean gastronomy has numerous tasty dishes, however we've found it difficult to eat Korean food repetitively due to its strong and unique flavors. Maybe you would all understand our ordeal better through the following example: Say that you head out to your favorite Chinese restaurant and order a wonderful meal. You return home with your belly full and satisfied, the taste of fortune cookies still lingering on your palate. Maybe you have a few leftovers that you save for lunch the next day. But when dinner rolls around the following night do you ever say to yourself, "Man, I think I'll go have Chinese food again tonight." Hell no!, of course you don't, because the flavors are so strong and unique that they satisfy your Asian urge for a least a few days.
So, just substitute the word "Korean" for the word "Chinese" in the above story and you can see our problem. We like Korean food, but eating it everyday is taking some getting used to. It has very strong flavors that often do not vary that much from dish to dish, which is making the adjustment a bit more challenging. Although one thing that was an easy adjustment is the price. Korean food is cheap, I mean dirt cheap. If Leslie and I spend more than $10 total a meal of ethnic Korean food, we are really livin it up.
However, on the flip side, foreign food is expensive. You can find good Italian, Mexican, American, and Indian food in Seoul, but it'll cost ya! A large peperoni pizza from Pizza Hut costs around $20, and we had a sit down Mexican meal last week for a wallet vaporizing $46! But we have been making things like pasta and sandwiches at home which are definitely more affordable.
Now, on we go to a look at some of our favorite, and not so favorite, Korean dishes:
DISHES TO LOVE:
1. Mandu: Mandu is the Korean word for dumplings, and they are absolutely delicious. They are usually filled with a mixture of pork and green onions and then steamed. However, they also have Kimchi flavored dumplings (of course!), and those we haven't liked so much. But overall mandu are just great, the only side effect are the burps. Mandu burps are the absolute worst, like some small burrowing mammal crawled into your stomach and died. But if you can survive these burps of death they are definitely worth it!
2. Ramen: Ramen comes in all shapes, sizes, and colors in Korea, and usually is quite tasty. You order it in restaurants with all sorts of toppings, or you can buy it almost anywhere for about 50-70 cents and just add hot water for a quick snack of salty-spicy goodness.
3. Gimbap: This is the Korean take on a sushi roll. The standard gimbap roll is filled with rice, egg, crab, picked radish, ham, cucumber, and one indistinguishable brown element that we have decided not to ask questions about. Gimbap comes in all different varieties and usually cost between $1 and $3 for a whole roll.
4. Bibimbap: This dish is awesome, I mean you can't deny that the name itself "bibimbap" is by far one of the coolest words in existence. Bibimbap is basically rice topped with fresh vegetables, seaweed, meat, chili sauce, and a fried egg, all served in a hot stone pot. You just mix it all together and enjoy for only about $4.
5. Bulgogi/Kalbi: Oh yes, we haven't forgotten the famous Korean barbecue. Beef, lamb, or pork marinated and then grill at your table over hot coals, rapped in a lettuce leaf with bean paste and other condiments, and then gobbled down like a lettuce wrap. Fantastic!
6. Green Tea Shakes: Ice cream + ice + green tea, what's not to love!
DISHES NOT TO LOVE:
1. Kimchi: This fermented chili infused cabbage condiment is as common on restaurant tables as napkins or salt shakers, and has quite a unique taste. While have had some kimchi that we like, it often has a fishy taste that the fermentation only seems to exaggerate.
2. Pickeled Radish: Kimchi's partner in crime is the just as popular pickled yellow radish, which has a bitter vinegary taste that always catches you off-guard, as the flavor contrast sharply with its innocent vegetable appearance.
3. Traditional Korean Flavoured Tea: Recently, Leslie and I went to a traditional Korean tea house in hopes of enjoying the old-timey Korean version of the beverage we love so well. However, upon first taste our excitement immediately vanished into mixture of fear, panic, and ultimately dispair. This drink my friends, was the by far the worst beverage, outside of cold medicine, that we have ever had. I mean, a luke-warm "gin and diet coke" made by a drunken frat guy would have tasted better. The tea was a syrupy, earthy, at times slightly crunchy hell-water, made of who knows what. Probably, some weird roots and rotting leaves or something. Oh and did I mention that it cost $5 a cup! Very disappointing to say the least. Oh well, can't win them all I guess.
We are going to post a picture slide show soon of some of the food we have eaten. We don't have pictures of all the dishes we talked about, and we also have pictures of many dishes we didn't talk about, but hopefully they should be interesting to look at. Take care everyone, keep an eye out for the slide show.
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Gyeongbokgung Palace
Seoul's biggest palace and its historic seat of government.
Gangchon
Korean Corn Dog
Notice how much batter there is around the hot dog
Tom's Tacos
Minus sour cream we can get everything to make tacos!
The Completed Apartment
