Showing posts with label korean culture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label korean culture. Show all posts
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-------------
So it's been a pretty exciting week here in Seoul, with the olympic spirit in full swing, Koreans are practically glued to their television sets. At the top of the list might be Korean swimmer Tae-Hwan Park who nabbed Korea's first ever Olympic gold in swimming.
Next you've got the crazy soccer games (two of which I've caught). It seems like every discussion I've had with my debate students ends up a conversation about the olympics.
For those of you who can't keep your faces glued to the tube, here are a couple of medal count links you might find helpful:
This first one is courtesy of the infamous Yahoo, whose board of directors is still in tact btw. It ranks based on total number of medals.
This one is the official count by the Beijing Olympic Website and ranks based on number of gold medals.
Finally, I just wanted to throw down an excerpt of a pretty interesting article I read on ESPN.com
It's a great piece to give you a jolt of patriotism... ESPN ARTICLE
And last but not least... I'm going to be kick'n it with Scholar Jon and Big EZ this weekend. Should make for a good time.. I'll also get the new camera I ordered.. so hopefully I'll have some very amateur pictures to throw up on my newly created flickr account... See you soon!
So it's been a pretty exciting week here in Seoul, with the olympic spirit in full swing, Koreans are practically glued to their television sets. At the top of the list might be Korean swimmer Tae-Hwan Park who nabbed Korea's first ever Olympic gold in swimming.
Next you've got the crazy soccer games (two of which I've caught). It seems like every discussion I've had with my debate students ends up a conversation about the olympics.
For those of you who can't keep your faces glued to the tube, here are a couple of medal count links you might find helpful:
This first one is courtesy of the infamous Yahoo, whose board of directors is still in tact btw. It ranks based on total number of medals.
This one is the official count by the Beijing Olympic Website and ranks based on number of gold medals.
Finally, I just wanted to throw down an excerpt of a pretty interesting article I read on ESPN.com
No way met no quit.
"I changed," he said. "I thought, 'That's ridiculous. I'm at the Olympic Games, I'm here for the United States of America. I don't care how bad it hurts, I'm going after it.'
"I just got a super charge."
What transpired during the final 50 meters was the stuff of Disney movies. It was the kind of thing that should land Lezak a co-starring role with Phelps on cereal boxes and network morning shows. And if Phelps does complete the great eight and pocket a $1 million Speedo bonus, he should cut a check for one-eighth of that total to the guy who kept the quest alive: Jason Lezak.
It's a great piece to give you a jolt of patriotism... ESPN ARTICLE
And last but not least... I'm going to be kick'n it with Scholar Jon and Big EZ this weekend. Should make for a good time.. I'll also get the new camera I ordered.. so hopefully I'll have some very amateur pictures to throw up on my newly created flickr account... See you soon!
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A friend of mine, who's a teacher showed me this... The writing assignment was to write about your perfect day:
*of note: The girls doesn't appear... or call.. she just shoots him a text message --> very Korean ^~
A perfect day is a day when everything goes as I want. I want When I want money, money should will appear on the road, when I want girl, the girl send send me a text message, when I want to donot stdy studying, my pen and pencil will go away disappear from the world.
*of note: The girls doesn't appear... or call.. she just shoots him a text message --> very Korean ^~
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So I was studying the logic of sampling today and I ran across an intersting bit of information that made me think back to a converastion rockstar and I had about the infinitude of God. Regarding sampling, statisticians assume that the population being sampled is inifinitly large and therefore "every sample is 0% of the of the whole. This might be a stretch and It could just simply mean I need to take a break from listiening to this lecture, but I wonder if it has any implications for our conception of God? Consider that God by definition must be an infinite. While J.P. Moreland goes into great lengths to discuss the concept of an actual infinite which I will not go into (primarily because rockstar and I already discussed it until our heads hurt).
If God is an infinite being then all that we can ever know about Him is equal to 0% of Him.
If God is love, than all that we can ever know about Love is equal to 0%.
If God is mercy and grace, compassion, humility, faithfulness, we can only ever know... 0%.
I forget where I read/heard this, (maybe driscoll?) but I remember someone saying that the gap between God and man is infinitely great. And so whether you're Billy Graham or the serial murderer who repented moments before execution, we might as well be in the same place. My original thought on the aforementioned comparison was to use Billy Graham and Satan or Ted Bundy, except, according to much of theology, salvation through acceptance of Christ allows us to bridge that infinite gap between us and God. Upon writing that, my first thought is: "If the gap is infinite, how is it bridged?" Perhaps because Christ, being God is also infinite? Maybe this post is just an excuse for me to take a break... and proof that my mind is melting... or maybe I just needed to write it down so I could come back to it later?
btw: My good friend scholar jon arrived in Korea a couple of weeks ago... He's been throwing up some pretty interesting posts. I encourage you to drop him a visit and check out the mind of someone experiencing Korea and all it has to offer for the very first time! Jon's Emmaus Road Blog
If God is an infinite being then all that we can ever know about Him is equal to 0% of Him.
If God is love, than all that we can ever know about Love is equal to 0%.
If God is mercy and grace, compassion, humility, faithfulness, we can only ever know... 0%.
I forget where I read/heard this, (maybe driscoll?) but I remember someone saying that the gap between God and man is infinitely great. And so whether you're Billy Graham or the serial murderer who repented moments before execution, we might as well be in the same place. My original thought on the aforementioned comparison was to use Billy Graham and Satan or Ted Bundy, except, according to much of theology, salvation through acceptance of Christ allows us to bridge that infinite gap between us and God. Upon writing that, my first thought is: "If the gap is infinite, how is it bridged?" Perhaps because Christ, being God is also infinite? Maybe this post is just an excuse for me to take a break... and proof that my mind is melting... or maybe I just needed to write it down so I could come back to it later?
btw: My good friend scholar jon arrived in Korea a couple of weeks ago... He's been throwing up some pretty interesting posts. I encourage you to drop him a visit and check out the mind of someone experiencing Korea and all it has to offer for the very first time! Jon's Emmaus Road Blog
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So I was hanging out with Jane and Christine last night, it was good to see them and have some dinner. Nothing like a little naengmyeon and galbi to help catch up... Anyways, afterwards we went to this cool little place to have a drink and met up with some of their friends. As we're sitting around the table talking one of the girls next to me looks over and tells everyone (in Korean) that I look like this really famous actor from American movies. Visions of Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Jet Li start running through my head. 
For a moment I even had flashbacks to elementary school when kids would ask me to show them karate because I was asian, and obviously if we had smaller eyes, we should have learned karate from an old drunk war vet while growing up...anyways... Then she named the actor: I clench my teeth as I hear the name Tom Hanks. What? are you serious? Then it started to make sense... She was native Korean, so I suppose if i look a little bit like "whitey" (as my other friend describes it) then sure.. okay Tom Hanks.. "But which Tom Hanks?" I asked. To which Christine responded, "the younger one." Hmm.. Tom Hanks from Big? 
After a few mineutes of trying to imagine the implications of being told I look like the "Big" Tom Hanks, I felt I could accept it as a compliment. Nope, too late. The actor had changed, and a couple of the girls were describing another movie... really great acting, really handsome star... yup that who I look like.. that guy.. but what was the movie? Wait for it... The Shawshank Redemption. Yup, I've just been told I look like Morgan Freeman from Shawshank :\ (maybe Elliott and I are closer than I thought?) 
Now I can't help but laugh... Okay.. I look over that this girl and try to squeeze out a.. "thank you?" to which she replies that it's "the other guy." Tim Robbins? My response, "thank you?" and we should call her a cab, because she needs her sleep.
I'm thankful for ridiculous comparisons from both sides of the ocean regarding we "exotic blends" ;) including the awkward situations they bring and the laughs that follow.
For a moment I even had flashbacks to elementary school when kids would ask me to show them karate because I was asian, and obviously if we had smaller eyes, we should have learned karate from an old drunk war vet while growing up...anyways... Then she named the actor: I clench my teeth as I hear the name Tom Hanks. What? are you serious? Then it started to make sense... She was native Korean, so I suppose if i look a little bit like "whitey" (as my other friend describes it) then sure.. okay Tom Hanks.. "But which Tom Hanks?" I asked. To which Christine responded, "the younger one." Hmm.. Tom Hanks from Big? 
After a few mineutes of trying to imagine the implications of being told I look like the "Big" Tom Hanks, I felt I could accept it as a compliment. Nope, too late. The actor had changed, and a couple of the girls were describing another movie... really great acting, really handsome star... yup that who I look like.. that guy.. but what was the movie? Wait for it... The Shawshank Redemption. Yup, I've just been told I look like Morgan Freeman from Shawshank :\ (maybe Elliott and I are closer than I thought?) 
Now I can't help but laugh... Okay.. I look over that this girl and try to squeeze out a.. "thank you?" to which she replies that it's "the other guy." Tim Robbins? My response, "thank you?" and we should call her a cab, because she needs her sleep.
I'm thankful for ridiculous comparisons from both sides of the ocean regarding we "exotic blends" ;) including the awkward situations they bring and the laughs that follow.
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Well I was looking back through my blogs and I noticed that around midterms and finals there was a spike in my blogging.. Hmmm.. Why stop now right?
References:
I want to address a recent article in chosun.com, a korean newspaper discussing the recent difficulties that web giants such as Yahoo, Google and Myspace are having penetrating the Korean market. The article opens...
The article goes on to mention Korean web giants Naver.com (by far Korea's top search engine) and Cyworld (by far Korea's top social networking sight). I've tried to use cyworld in the past, as a matter of fact cyworld did a US launch and as far as I can tell aren't having the success they hoped for. For me cyworld was a little bit too involved. Let me explain: You have to build a character, decorate your room, hang posters, buy clothes, add a tv, update your furnature... All sorts of "nonsense" that mimic daily life. I don't know about you, but when I log onto facebook it's to get away from daily life. Next, I use google.com as my primary search engine. Why? Because it's no frills search. I love more the fact that the google search bar is built into my browser because then I don't have to look at anything. I can just type my search terms in the little box and BOOM there are my results. Today, for the first time, I decided to use Naver.com. And instantly, I can tell you why these web giants are struggling. The chosun.com article states that...Is South Korea a graveyard for overseas Internet companies? American Internet heavies such as Google, YouTube and MySpace, leaders of the so-called "web 2.0" frenzy, face heavy odds in South Korea. Why is it that these companies boast astronomical numbers of subscribers and users in many other markets around the world but find little luck here?
Experts say the foreign challengers have failed to understand the peculiarities of the South Korean market. Their quality suffers in comparison to local offerings in terms of Korean-language features, site design and sophistication of services, South Korean experts argue.After using Naver.com for just 2 search terms, I immediately began to wonder if anyone from Google ever did research on Korea before launching google.kr? Let me use a couple of photo examples.
I did a search on naver.com for a movie I was looking for. First challenge is I didn't know the movie title in Korean, I only knew the english version: Happiness. Second challenge is I had my default keyboard setting set to Korean.. so instead of Happiness, it comes out: ㅗ메ㅔㅑㅜㄷㄴㄴ. This is a common problem with people who have to type in two or more languages as many Korean people do. Below are screen shots from the three search results. You'll notice Google didn't give me the option to convert the korean into english and do the search based the mistyped version. To Google's credit they did list pictures and news on the site.. but not so helpful. Next Yahoo looks much closer to Naver (which might be why korean people are a bit more receptive to it?) Finally there's Naver, now you can't tell from these pictures, but Yahoo and Naver go on to list other categories in which the word happiness can be found. (ie, pictures, movies, music, posters, tv shows, websites, blogs.. all broken down by category. ). Korean people are an organic people, they love their dramas they buy the newest coolest thing, they flood cafe's to talk with friends until all hours of the night. Any foreign company that comes in is going to have to understand this and make everything organic.
On to myspace. While I would probably argue that the success of cyworld.com is as much due to the "harsh coaxing" of the parent company (SK Communications) for all of their employees to create and keep a personal cyworld page, it is also because Cyworld is reflection of daily life. This daily life is built within the construct of a communal society. This is unlike myspace which is a reflection of daily life built within the construct of an individualistic society...
Anyways, what do I know? I'm just a law student in korea, trying to learn the language, the culture, the legal education system. Good luck to the American companies.. I feel they're going to need it.
Google.kr
Yahoo.com
Naver.com
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Just thought I'd throw down a few words before my day gets started. First, I've met some new friends in the past couple of days, some really good people with a variety of backgrounds... I say that to say we were having a discussion yesterday over coffee... and I realized that I came to John's defense when the topic turned to his age of ~40. Hmmmm... I thought about it last night and I can honestly say that I don't believe 40 is old.. then again it's not to far from 30 right? :\
Next, I ran across an apartment building in an upscale part of Seoul... Made me think quite a bit.. I mean, in the US we're all about calling a spade a spade.. right? Well, except maybe when it comes to money. People buy hugely expensive cars and homes...yachts and watches... many so they can show off their financial status. Maybe we could learn a little some-fin, some-fin from Koreans.. I mean honestly.. if you've got it, might as well live in an apartment building that says it!
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Well, Yonsei's Intensive Korean Language level 2 is over, and it's on to level 3! Level 3 is different in several regards from the first two levels. First, in the first two levels, you switch instructors after midterms, in level 3 it's the same instructor all the way through. Next starting in level 3 you get to choose an elective. In level 3 there are four: reading, writing, speaking, listening. Beginning in level 4 you can choose to learn subjects like korean culture, food, and even hanja, Korea's ancient language and alphabet (this is the foundation of Chinese, Japanese and Korean).
Group photo at the peak of our hike!
The semester ended with a big bang. Actually it ended with hiking a hill behind Yonsei University.
You can tell the semester's over by all the smiles on people's faces.
The three men in the class... ;)
Teacher in the center, and yes, peace signs are still in...
Heading away from KLI and starting our hike...
Hiro got tired... Why's it always the big guy that has to do the grunt work?
I've got enough weight to carry!
Group photo at the peak of our hike!A shot of Namsan Tower, I'll be heading there in a few weeks, but here are some pictures of it from Building 63~
Found out there's a little gym at the top of the Yonsei Hill. Seems the older folk like to go up there and do their thing. I like the guy doing pushups in the back... Reminds me of Rockstar. and is that Teli in the orange?!
Next thing: I sent in a request to Duke Law for a one year deferment in order to take advantage of some really neat opportunities that have presented themselves here in Korea, including the ability to pursue the Korean language to a graduate proficiency level. I received word back a few days ago... YES! So it looks like I'll be here for about another year, studying the language, the culture, and Korea's new law school system! Exciting stuff... I'm really excited because Duke has an amazing International Comparative Law program as well as some emphasis on National Security, both of which bring me happy thoughts! I feel that this extra time in Korea will really help me broaden myself for both!! I'll keep you posted on that as time goes on. Who would have thought!?
Oh yea, almost forgot, been doing some reading lately and updated a blog to our dorky book club ;)
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So recently, I've been noticing that in poor lighting my vision has been a little goofy, and even when I read in "decent" lighting I find myself squinting or straining... The thought of having glasses is a bit weird, since my vision as always been pretty good. The Korean "eyeglass" system is super efficient, and by efficient I mean cheap. I recall about 4 years ago going to get a "check-up" at the local eye doctor and paying something like $70 out of pocket for the eye exam. In Korea, eye exams are free, zero, zilch. And you can find any number of places while walking around that will give you a free eye exam. Glasses, including lenses start around $25 and can obviously shoot up to several hundred if you're one "those" people who need your glasses to have someone else's name who've you never met on them. My friend Hiro just needed lenses so we walked into ALO, he got his eyes examined, 100%UV/Scratch resistant lenses made and paid for in about 25mins. Compare that to the usual week to 2 week wait in the U.S.
Well, I found out that what the eye doctor told me 4 years ago was a "healthy" stigmatism was actually creating some blurriness that I was noticing during lower lighting. My eyes came back at 1.5 (or 20/15 US) for my vision with a slight stigmatism...so I took the plunge and picked up a pair of glasses, which actually make a huge difference. Being the "chill" guy that I am.. Figured I'd pick up some plain jane glasses...
Well, I found out that what the eye doctor told me 4 years ago was a "healthy" stigmatism was actually creating some blurriness that I was noticing during lower lighting. My eyes came back at 1.5 (or 20/15 US) for my vision with a slight stigmatism...so I took the plunge and picked up a pair of glasses, which actually make a huge difference. Being the "chill" guy that I am.. Figured I'd pick up some plain jane glasses...
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
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