Category — Korea

“Weigookin” – Foreigner

Sometimes living in Korea as a foreigner and English teacher is a bit like being a celebrity.  Not so much that everyone wants your autograph or there are paparazzi everywhere, although those have both happened, more or less, but more that everyone who sees you is either overly eager to say hello or they’re terrified.  It’s never-ending.  Walking down the street a gaggle of middle school girls will pause when they see you, murmur to themselves, then all say in unison, “Hello!!”.  This is ALWAYS followed by uproarious laughter – never fails.  Occasionally we get some more advanced students who will throw questions at you like you’re a rag doll with a pull string.  “Where are you from?  Where are you going?  What’s your name?  How are you? etc…”

The other end of the spectrum comes when dealing with older people.  Anyone above the age of 55 is usually pretty confused when we walk into their place of business or walk by them on the street.  You’d think this was an over generalization but it’s mostly true.  Old men, “Ajishees”, typically just give you the long stare or, if they’ve been drinking, might try to spurt some incoherent Korean at you.  The old women, “Ajumas”, typically have the same stare but sometimes give you a smile of confusion or a look of death… either/or 

In the beginning this was all very interesting for us.  We didn’t mind being noticed everywhere we went and we just got used to it.  Now after almost 11 months of living here, I have to say it’s pretty annoying.  The anonymity of living in a culture like America sounds awfully appealing.  It’s been an interesting phenomenon to experience and one that neither of us will forget.    There aren’t too many other places on the planet where this kind of experience is possible.  Korea is one of the most homogeneous nations in the world.  They have been known for centuries as “The Hermit Kingdom”, and for good reason.  Even after years of foreign influence and cultural exchange comfort levels of average Koreans with foreigners are still very low.  We are, for many people we meet, the first foreigners they’ve ever known.

So with that, we look forward to 12 days from now when we board the plane back to our home country and the comfort of being one of many.  A much needed break.   Then we’ll come back here with our tanks refilled and do it again for 6 months.  Our trip home will probably bring a whole new set of interesting experiences.  The sudden shift from easily tuning out the Korean ramble on the bus or in restaurants to understand everyone around us perfectly will no doubt be very jarring.  If we act very distracted in public places this is probably why.  I’m not sure how pronounced that feeling will be but anytime we hear someone speaking in English around us here it immediately draws our attention.   I can’t imagine when it’s everywhere.

We’re excited to see the changes in America, good and bad, and then to return to Korea and see it with a fresh eye.  I hope the trip brings to light new appreciation for both cultures and countries.  We’ll see…

That’s my rant for the day…  We’ll be home soon!  We are soo excited.

-Chad

ALSO:  Please check out the new design on my personal website!  www.chadjewsbury.com

Back in the fall, a few months after we arrived in Korea, our friend Mark told us a horror story about Korean Food. Mainly this was advice on what to avoid, as he had lived here for a year before.. but it was entertaining and slightly scary to say the least. The food he told us about was Chua Tang (only link I could find).  Here’s how he described it… more or less. (not quoting but what I remember.. with some embellishments for excitement probably

–My school took me out to a restaurant near the ocean after work one day for a ‘true korean delicacy.’ I’d been out with them a lot before and we usually had some reallly good food. I learned to love korean food with these people. I’d eaten some strange things but nothing compared to that night. We went to a restaurant that was right on the water and the teachers ordered the food. They just told me fish soup – I thought alright.. can’t be too scary – at least it’s cooked, right? That’s more than usual around here. So they bring out this contraption that at first I wasn’t sure what it was.. but now it haunts me. They grabbed a fish – (still alive) – and dropped in the top. After turning the lever on the side for a bit – a fine purée of sorts started to fall out the bottom into the bowl below.  They repeated this for all the bowls and handed them out along with the usual side dishes.  I was very confused and really scared, but I tried it anyways.  One bite was all I could take.  After gagging and realizing what I was eating it was just too much to continue.  The luke warm ground fish soup was not for me…  So – if your school every says let’s go get Chua Tang  - SAY NO! –

A few months later, after our winter vacation we came back and the teachers all went out to lunch before the semester started again.  They took us to a small restaurant about 15 minutes from our school and told us we were eating fish soup, chua tang.  Regrettably, Kate and I both had forgotten the name of the soup that Mark had told us about and went along for ride.  This soup was different though.  It was a mix of Duang Jang Jiggae and Chua tang – or at least it had the Duang Jang spice in it, and it was hot!  Not so ‘fresh’ as Mark described.  So we ate it and picked the little bones out of our teeth and didn’t think too much of it until later that day when we saw Mark and told him we had this strange soup at school that day.  He reminded us of his story and we immediately both had upset stomaches.  The strangest thing about it was we had eaten it and, at least to the extent of continuing to eat it, liked it.  

I only bring this up now because Kate and I have had Chua Tang at 2 of our last 4 meals.  Yesterday our school went on a ‘picnic’ and went fishing in a stream in the mountains near one of our branch schools.  Some of those fish ended up in the soup.  Today we had it again for school lunch!  I hope this is a fluke and it’s not suddenly Chua Tang Season – I can only stomach so much of it.  And thinking about too much makes me sick.   

Sometimes it’s hard to get used to things over here.   I think we’ve done a good job with a lot of it,  but when it comes to things like Chua Tang… I guess I’ll  just never understand.  

[Sorry to anyone who received any random emails from spicyfishy the other day.  Was a test gone wrong Please forgive me.. ]

Two weekends ago Kate and I went to Seoul for a Gustav Klimt Exhibit.  We left Friday night after school and headed off to the big city for 2 nights.  We packed a lot into our time and here are a few pictures from our adventures.  

We met up with some friends in Itaewon for a farewell dinner as they headed off for new adventures the next day.   Got there a lot later than we wanted to due to a longer than usual bus ride and some misread subway signs, but we made it nonetheless.  Luckily we had no plans for Saturday so we got to sleep in and recover from the long week at school and travels.   

We had a few goals for the weekend – Go to the Klimt exhibit, look at prices on DSLR cameras, Shop for some new clothes, and maybe go to see a show or ballet.  We accomplished all this and more!

Saturday was spent shopping like crazy in Myeong-dong and Namdaemoon.  We had never been to this area but really loved it!  Lots of great stores and interesting clothes as well as some standards like the Gap, Forever 21 (for Kate), Nike, Addidas, and an unexpected American Apparel.  Aside from American Apparel we ended up getting most of our new swag at korean stores, but it was fun to go to familiar stores.  From there we headed over to Namdaemoon for some Camera Shopping.  Enter the pictures…. – right after I bought my Canon Kiss F (Japanese model of the Rebel Xti/400D)!!!  I got a great deal on a used model – got him to throw in a stabilized lens, a case, screen/lens protectors, extra battery and a 4gb memory card!  I’m really happy with it.  Here is what it can do … and be sure to checkout all the pictures from the trip here.

This is the shop where I bought my camera.  It’s part of this mega camera mall with lots of small shops.  Fun to browse – a pain to actually buy though, as everyone is trying to get your business and trying to undersell each other. [Read more →]