Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
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So I'm back in Seoul after spending some much needed time away reflecting, contemplating, showing Louie the beauty of the 오토바이... and just taking some time to recover. As I got off the bus last night in Soul, I noticed a particular smell... not necessarily bad, but not exactly pleasant either. I was talking with my housemate this morning and told her about it, she commented, "Ahh the smell of metropolitan Korea." Hmmm.. Interesting. As I got back to my room and proceeded to take a shower the subtle scents took me back 11months ago to my first impression of the "mother land" as some refer to it... I remember the excitement, the anticipation, and then the shear exhaustion of my first transpacific flight in over 20 years. Anyways, it's amazing how the slightest scent or voice can take us back days, weeks, even years... translate us for a few breathes... I'm glad to be here another year. The opportunity to study, work, learn, teach, give, experience, I welcome them all.
Oh yea... I saw my other roommate just a few mins ago... His first words, "Nice to see you're back... you gained weight, ha ha ha" My response... yea 2lbs, thanks for noticing.. :P On vacation, all the comments were "wow, you're small" or "you look sick, you need to gain some weight" or "man, I don't even recognize you." Here, they're just the opposite, how a few miles can change people's perceptions so much... It's good to be back.
Oh yea... I saw my other roommate just a few mins ago... His first words, "Nice to see you're back... you gained weight, ha ha ha" My response... yea 2lbs, thanks for noticing.. :P On vacation, all the comments were "wow, you're small" or "you look sick, you need to gain some weight" or "man, I don't even recognize you." Here, they're just the opposite, how a few miles can change people's perceptions so much... It's good to be back.
So I spent some time a few weeks ago in the motherland. Well not my motherland (although the majority of my caucasian friends wouldn't know) but Chinese peoples' motherland. And better yet, in Beijing where it all happens. Or will happen.. this summer... for the 2008 olympics... so long as Tiebet doesn't interfere, or is it China that's interfering with Tiebet? I'll leave that to those who are more familiar with the matter :\ Before I get too far off topic... here are some pictures:
The Great Wall. Probably the biggest highlight for me, other than watching some crazy American girl eat a scorpion. It was absolutely mind blowing. I've heard all my life that it's the only man made object you can see from space... but you really have no idea the magnitude of this thing until you're there... simply breath taking...
This is the new terminal at Beijing Airport...
Unfortunately the airline I was flying on wasn't so cool and they parked us outside next to the service garage... (oh well... )
The famous Tiananmen Square
No, that's not a SARS mask.. That's actually my Beijing Duck Chef. He's slicing up a tasty duck into little bits which I would place in a chinese "tortilla" of sorts with some veggies and eat.
Westin Beijing Financial District... Not to shabby...
Wangfujing the local night market was pretty amazing. Not only did they have all the fried ice cream and caramelized fruit you could eat. But they also had a fair share of silk worms, scorpions and other delicacies. I'm told by my chinese friends that they don't really eat that stuff but the foreigners dig it. I should write for a moment on the shear dedication of the chinese workers. As I was standing next to one of my friends, I asked "do you want to try that?" The chinese worker immediately responded in english "sir, it's very tasty you should try." My friend responded in Korean "않이, 먹기실어" (No, I don't want any). The same chinese worker then responded in Korean saying "Ms. com'on it's really good you should try it." When the worker saw we weren't going to try some of his food, he turned to the hispanic couple next to us and immediately started speaking spanish... Now that's impressive!
The forbidden city... the week I spent in Beijing was absolutely gorgeous.. blue skies.. nothing like I was told it would be.. then again I'm also told the Chinese government recently planted hundreds of thousands of trees to prepare for the olympics...
The Great Wall. Probably the biggest highlight for me, other than watching some crazy American girl eat a scorpion. It was absolutely mind blowing. I've heard all my life that it's the only man made object you can see from space... but you really have no idea the magnitude of this thing until you're there... simply breath taking...
HuTongs or narrow streets. This little housing area is one of the oldest original housing areas in Beijing; it's located just next to the forbidden city.
Emperor's throne room in the forbidden city... (A little renovation before the herds come in for the olympics)
Old guy writing chinese on the sidewalk with water. Pretty impressive. (I'm told that it's a very famous ancient chinese poem)
Occasionally I hear people complaining that they're seated too close to the smoking section. How's this for too close? (It's one table, half of it smoking, the other half, non).
Peking University (Beijing) China's Harvard? or Yale? wait.. I've got it.. it's China's iconic symbol of education.. so more appropriately, it's China's equivalent of Duke University Law School :D
Entrance to the forbidden city.. at night
Hope you enjoyed.
My first Chinese New Year... with Chinese folks! Good times. Let me catch you up on some of the goings on in the past couple of days.
Spent on of my 5 days off at Building 63 with a really good friend. It's the tallest building in Seoul and yup, you guessed it: 63 stories high. It has an aquarium, shopping, dining, and a sky deck. And while earlier in the day I found a McDonalds that might look like it rivals Building 63, a quick look out of the window of the SkyDeck, shows you that you can't compare the two. The last picture of the skyline is high quality, incase you wanted to use it as a desktop image.
HIGH REZ Photo
On to new years. I spent the better half of the morning with my friend at Minto, it's a unique blend of coffee shop slash restaurant slash local hang out with free wifi. Originally it started as a small coffee shop in the late 70s early 80s that was opened by a local christian who wanted a local hangout for kids to be able to study and have bible studies. You pay per hour, or three hours to be exact. Basically you pay 5000won (about $5.50) for a three hour time slot. During the three hours you get unlimited refills on coffee, a variety of teas, you can get a cup-o-noodle, or bread. Once during the three hour period, you can get a latte, milk, ice cream and such. Pretty fascinating concept.
On to last night, the chinese housemates made dumplings and they let me help out. After eating a few pounds of dumplings and then a few pieces of cake which was part of my contribution, we decided to take a 15 minute hike in 12 degree weather to go light some roman candles. It was a good time for all.
Spent on of my 5 days off at Building 63 with a really good friend. It's the tallest building in Seoul and yup, you guessed it: 63 stories high. It has an aquarium, shopping, dining, and a sky deck. And while earlier in the day I found a McDonalds that might look like it rivals Building 63, a quick look out of the window of the SkyDeck, shows you that you can't compare the two. The last picture of the skyline is high quality, incase you wanted to use it as a desktop image.
HIGH REZ Photo
On to new years. I spent the better half of the morning with my friend at Minto, it's a unique blend of coffee shop slash restaurant slash local hang out with free wifi. Originally it started as a small coffee shop in the late 70s early 80s that was opened by a local christian who wanted a local hangout for kids to be able to study and have bible studies. You pay per hour, or three hours to be exact. Basically you pay 5000won (about $5.50) for a three hour time slot. During the three hours you get unlimited refills on coffee, a variety of teas, you can get a cup-o-noodle, or bread. Once during the three hour period, you can get a latte, milk, ice cream and such. Pretty fascinating concept.
On to last night, the chinese housemates made dumplings and they let me help out. After eating a few pounds of dumplings and then a few pieces of cake which was part of my contribution, we decided to take a 15 minute hike in 12 degree weather to go light some roman candles. It was a good time for all.
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(Updated 2/8/08)
Okay it’s next time ;) thought I’d through together a few things about my Intensive Korean class. So far the group is pretty interesting. First there’s teacher 2.0a; she’s what I could consider a “typical” korean girl. Cute, in a 14 year old cousin sort of way, easily embarrassed and not one to be very forceful. Then there’s teacher 2.0b who’s totally not your typical Korean. I’ve heard that she hold some level of seniority at the school, and boy does she walk around like it. The first day of class she came in wearing corduroy pants, Puma shoes, and a turtleneck. As rockstar would say, “she’s rock n’ roll.” Then there’s Hiro, one of five Japanese students in my class. He’s probably in his late forties, has two daughters? and is in Korea studying the language for his job. He works for a Japanese company whose clients are increasingly more and more Korean. There are two girls that I would say are fairly “typical,” there’s the “80’s guy” someone didn’t tell him that tight jeans and turtlenecks left 25 years ago, and then there’s the “stripper.” There’s one girl from Hong Kong, pretty straight forward. Three girls from China, one, Boo-kie looks like a little doll, to quote the Ravi, “her pudgy cheeks make her eyes look like an afterthought” but she’s sweet and of course the baby of the class. Then there’s the Chinese guy who looks mid thirties but is actually early twenties. Hmmm. Rounding out the group is the Brazilian Korean with a brazilian first and middle name and the last name Won. She looks a bit like a Brazilian Lucy Lu to me, except her parents are both Korean? Of course then there’s me, the gyopo (korean abroad) who brings American humor and entertainment to the group. :D I have to say that I’ve been blessed with another great group of friends. I still keep in touch with the last class. Mai, Liene, Zhui-Fong, Nanupa, Elle, and Teacher #1.5a.
(Teachers: So perhaps I should explain my coding for teachers. Each level is broken into two session and each half has two teachers, the main teacher and the reading teacher. So Teacher 1.0b is the level 1 first session reading teacher, while Teacher 1.5a is the level one, second session, main teacher. Make sense? oh well.)
The focus of level one is simply grammar and vocabulary, and a lot of it. Level two has two focuses, one per session. Session one is common language, (Korean is broken into two primary levels of language: common and honorary*****) Up until now we’ve only learned and spoken in the honorary form, now we learn the common form. The second session of level two, we focus on “indirect, direct communication.” This is pretty weird for westerners. Basically, it’s the art of communicating in as many words and as indirectly as possible but still getting your point across. Let me give you an example:A month or so ago, I was walking with a friend in the subway and she looked to me and asked, “What does a guy in the US do when he’s walking with a girl who’s carrying a heavy bag?” Hmmm, I thought for a second and replied, “Well, I suppose it depends on the context. I mean, how old is the girl? how well do they know each other? does he like her? Where are they going? etc...” She responded, “I mean, if two people are walking and one’s a guy and one’s a girl and the girl is carrying a heavy bag, what does the guy do?” Hmmm, I replied, “Again, I think here the context is important.” This same dialogue went back and forth for another min or two before I finally understood that she was trying to tell me that she had had a long day and would appreciate a guy helping her carry her book bag. I asked her why she didn’t just ask if I could carry something for her to help her out? (Who knows).
So that’s partially the art of asking without asking. I heard it’s really hard for westerners to master... :\ (Indirect communication is pretty Greek to me to begin with... so we’ll have to see how this goes!) Well I think I’ve about talked by fingers off about Korean class. Check out the pictures, we even did a bit of cooking too!
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Well the first half of my study in Korea is coming to an end. As a matter of fact in 12 days I'll be in Phoenix probably eating breakfast at Parsons' with good people. In an effort to go out with a bang, I decided to take my classmate up on his offer to introduce me to some "authentic" korean food. So last night my one classmate and I, (JweeBong, He's Chinese) decided to go to Oh-Jo-Doe's house (He's from Uzbekistan) and share in some good food and conversation.
Disclaimer: If you have a weak stomach, if you really love cute animals or really hate bugs, STOP. Do not read any further... (you've been warned).
Now, Both JweeBong and I knew what the main course was going to be: 보신탕. Literal translation: Protector Soup, or Guardian Soup. (dog soup). To my surprise it didn't come out as a soup, but came out as a BBQ dish with a side of soup. The meat was seasoned well, cooked along with veggies. The taste was quite interesting, not nearly as gamey as I would have expected, but definitely a very unique flavor. I must admit it might have been the most tender meat I've ever eaten.
After dinner, we decided to head over to a HOF (aka Beer House) to chat over a drink. It was a good time, I found out quite a bit about Ohjodoe's past, what brought him to Korea and his experience in the past five or so years since he's been here.
During the middle of the conversation he stops and and asks me if I'm okay eating something that doesn't look appealing but tastes good? Hmmm, NO. I'm not okay with that. So he says fine and orders something. A few mins later a dish comes out and it's some sort of chicken. Of course I let Jwee taste it first, and he shakes his head in approval. (Jwee doesn't talk much, probably because he knows about 12 english words and 30 or so Korean words. But we end up communicating with sign language, of sorts, and by drawing pictures or pointing at pictures on the wall). So I proceed to eat the chicken and it's pretty good. The texture is sort of like calamari and it's seasoned quite well. While I'm eating it, Ohjodoe mentions that some things, although they'd sound funny are really quite tasty. I stopped and paid closer attention to what he was calling this: 닭똥집. hmmm. Literal translation: Chicken ***** House. (aka, Chicken rectum)! Hmmm... I couldn't help but start laughing and as I looked over at Jwee who, still not knowing what it was, was going to town on the the Chicken.
During the middle of the conversation he stops and and asks me if I'm okay eating something that doesn't look appealing but tastes good? Hmmm, NO. I'm not okay with that. So he says fine and orders something. A few mins later a dish comes out and it's some sort of chicken. Of course I let Jwee taste it first, and he shakes his head in approval. (Jwee doesn't talk much, probably because he knows about 12 english words and 30 or so Korean words. But we end up communicating with sign language, of sorts, and by drawing pictures or pointing at pictures on the wall). So I proceed to eat the chicken and it's pretty good. The texture is sort of like calamari and it's seasoned quite well. While I'm eating it, Ohjodoe mentions that some things, although they'd sound funny are really quite tasty. I stopped and paid closer attention to what he was calling this: 닭똥집. hmmm. Literal translation: Chicken ***** House. (aka, Chicken rectum)! Hmmm... I couldn't help but start laughing and as I looked over at Jwee who, still not knowing what it was, was going to town on the the Chicken. Next Ohjodoe ordered 번대기찌개. Literal translation: Silk Worm Soup. Hmmm... I've seen cooked silk worms here before at the 17 and Under World Cup, and it didn't look very appealing then. Let me just say, it looked less appealing in a boiling soup! The boiling water made the silk worms look like they were moving... Definitely something out of fear factor. I looked up at Ohjodoe... who appropriately responded.. 로마 안에때 "When in Rome..." I clamped down and took a bite.... (Just for the record, I ate 2). While the soup was quite good, it was hard to get over the little worms in the soup. Even Jwee, who'd eatin ants, grasshoppers, and other crawly things couldn't get over it.. but we used peer pressure and he tried it.
All in all it was quite a night. Soon after, Ohjodoe's wife showed up (they own a chiropractic/massage clinic) and we chatted some more. She told us about Korea and eating interesting foods, we told her about school and America. One of her life dreams is to see the grand canyon! Jwee and I got back around 1Am... I was beat, but I can add a few more interesting tales to my collection.~tim
Now this is marketing!
Have you ever looked at a magazine ad or watched a commercial and thought, "man, now that's come clever marketing?" I know that in the US, we pride ourselves on our innovative marketing skills. Take Hersheys for example: Of course we're all familiar with the "Hershey's Kiss." How brilliant was that? Name a chocolate after something that boys and girls have pursued since the beginning of time and you've got a hit. But they didn't stop there! What goes better with kisses than hugs?! And while I thought that the height of candy marketing genius, last week I found out that US companies might learn a thing or two from Lotte (롯데). Lotte makes this cracker called Pepero (빼빼로). They're basically thin cookie sticks covered in chocolate. Well guess what November 11th is? National.. YES NATIONAL Pepero day. Why might you ask? Because November 11th is 11-11 and that looks like 4 Peperos! GENIUS! Can you imagine if there was a National Kiss Day? or National NutterButter day?! Where the entire point of the day is to buy people _____ (fill in the blank). 
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/07/health/07fat.html?_r=3&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1194438040-WQ8KzBIizxq%20luYBavokrw&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin
Have you ever looked at a magazine ad or watched a commercial and thought, "man, now that's come clever marketing?" I know that in the US, we pride ourselves on our innovative marketing skills. Take Hersheys for example: Of course we're all familiar with the "Hershey's Kiss." How brilliant was that? Name a chocolate after something that boys and girls have pursued since the beginning of time and you've got a hit. But they didn't stop there! What goes better with kisses than hugs?! And while I thought that the height of candy marketing genius, last week I found out that US companies might learn a thing or two from Lotte (롯데). Lotte makes this cracker called Pepero (빼빼로). They're basically thin cookie sticks covered in chocolate. Well guess what November 11th is? National.. YES NATIONAL Pepero day. Why might you ask? Because November 11th is 11-11 and that looks like 4 Peperos! GENIUS! Can you imagine if there was a National Kiss Day? or National NutterButter day?! Where the entire point of the day is to buy people _____ (fill in the blank).
The ball and chain... (Korean Culture)
So we learned in Korean class today that there are certain gifts that are generally reserved for girlfriends and spouses to give their man/men. Specifically, neck ties and belts. As the teacher was telling us this, my classmate Jason looks over at me as says, "that's as bad as getting socks for Christmas." I have to agree. But, it's actually much much worse. Of course everything has symbolism, so what do these gifts symbolize? OWNERSHIP! Yup, the ol girlfriend buys you a tie because it's something she can drag you around by, and she buys you a belt so that she can grab a hold of it incase you try to run off. Now while the "girls" will tell you it's actually more cute and affectionate than that, they're lying! Just let a different girl buy you a tie and see how your girlfriend reacts!
GETTING FAT?
On a side note, I ran across a pretty interesting article in the New York Times, the Headline: Causes of Death Linked to Weight.
Now while you might immediately think that the article is going to be about how overweight people die from all sorts of crazy diseases and should immediately drop 1,000 pounds, what a series of recent studies have shown is quite different.
It appears that "overweight" people (not to be confused with "obese" people, actually have a lower death rate than other weight classes. It seems that overweight people "are much less likely to die from a grab bag of diseases that includes Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, infections andlung disease."
"The new study began several years ago when the investigators used national data to look at death risks according to body weight. They concluded that, compared with people of normal weight, the overweight had a decreased death risk and the underweight and obese had increased risk."
Hmmm.. Maybe I should ease of my new super "one day maybe I can look like Joe" exercise plan?
On a side note, I ran across a pretty interesting article in the New York Times, the Headline: Causes of Death Linked to Weight.
Now while you might immediately think that the article is going to be about how overweight people die from all sorts of crazy diseases and should immediately drop 1,000 pounds, what a series of recent studies have shown is quite different.
It appears that "overweight" people (not to be confused with "obese" people, actually have a lower death rate than other weight classes. It seems that overweight people "are much less likely to die from a grab bag of diseases that includes Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, infections andlung disease."
"The new study began several years ago when the investigators used national data to look at death risks according to body weight. They concluded that, compared with people of normal weight, the overweight had a decreased death risk and the underweight and obese had increased risk."
Hmmm.. Maybe I should ease of my new super "one day maybe I can look like Joe" exercise plan?
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/07/health/07fat.html?_r=3&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1194438040-WQ8KzBIizxq%20luYBavokrw&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin
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cafeteria even a minute late it could mean a 20 min delay in getting
your food. Fortunatly I got here 5 mind early today so I'll be
finished before these poor kids even get a peek at their lunches...
So.. I should be studying for midterms, but instead I'm blogging. And of course it has nothing to do with not wanting to put my nose in the books.. but more because I care about everyone who's interested in "all things, me and korea." So here goes.
First, I had a chance to go to 용산 (Yong-san) a few weeks ago. It's a huge 8 story mall (of sorts) that specializes in everything electronic. I picked up an HP printer for $48 while my housemate - Hiro picked up a new cell phone. You'll also see that there was a car display in the court of the mall. YES that's a DAEWOO sign.. and YES, the red car is a DAEWOO... (hmmm, never seen that in the states)
Here are some pictures of my Korean Language Institute class... There are 14 of us, when everyone shows up... It's always a good time.
I mom and grandma are in town this week... so we visited a bunch of family in 강릉 (Gang-neung) which is my mom's hometown. My grandmother's oldest brother's widow was there (86) with her son (who's youngest son is getting married in two weeks), my grandmother's youngest brother (65ish?) and his wife, her youngest sister (74ish?) her next younger brother (78ish), his wife (68ish?) and then my grandmother (81) my mother and I were all there... We ate a lot, drank a lot, and I sat around clapping while all the older folk sang traditional songs from their childhood.. All in all it was a good time.
On a side note... my grandmother was pretty upset about my attempt to grow some facial hair.. and barely spoke to me on the 2 hour drive from Suwon to Gang-neung. (except to tell me I looked like a homeless old man). When we got to her younger brother's house (where we stayed) first thing she told her brother was to grab me a razor... So much for attempting facial hair for the next 3 weeks... Oh well... I'll just look like I'm 12...
Until next time...
First, I had a chance to go to 용산 (Yong-san) a few weeks ago. It's a huge 8 story mall (of sorts) that specializes in everything electronic. I picked up an HP printer for $48 while my housemate - Hiro picked up a new cell phone. You'll also see that there was a car display in the court of the mall. YES that's a DAEWOO sign.. and YES, the red car is a DAEWOO... (hmmm, never seen that in the states)
Here are some pictures of my Korean Language Institute class... There are 14 of us, when everyone shows up... It's always a good time.
I mom and grandma are in town this week... so we visited a bunch of family in 강릉 (Gang-neung) which is my mom's hometown. My grandmother's oldest brother's widow was there (86) with her son (who's youngest son is getting married in two weeks), my grandmother's youngest brother (65ish?) and his wife, her youngest sister (74ish?) her next younger brother (78ish), his wife (68ish?) and then my grandmother (81) my mother and I were all there... We ate a lot, drank a lot, and I sat around clapping while all the older folk sang traditional songs from their childhood.. All in all it was a good time.
On a side note... my grandmother was pretty upset about my attempt to grow some facial hair.. and barely spoke to me on the 2 hour drive from Suwon to Gang-neung. (except to tell me I looked like a homeless old man). When we got to her younger brother's house (where we stayed) first thing she told her brother was to grab me a razor... So much for attempting facial hair for the next 3 weeks... Oh well... I'll just look like I'm 12...
Until next time...
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