Living In Korea

Korean Adventure (September 20, 2002 Chautauqua)

I'm going to try and reflect some facets of my life here, in the hopes that they may complete a picture, and show what I am experiencing.
I live in a one-room flat, in a three-story building. The other foreign teacher at my school has her apartment next door. Most schools provide the apartment rent-free, and all the teacher has to pay for is the utilities and the TV. As you walk in the door, there is a small area to leave your shoes. It is impolite to walk into a Korean house with your shoes on. I like to walk around in my slippers at home and at work. It is very comfortable.
I have a fridge, which is fairly large compared to other fridges I have known. Opposite is the sink/stove/cupboard area. It's all one unit, and that's my kitchen. I've gotten fairly good at preparing delicious meals on a two-burner gas range. It's pretty standard for most Korean households. Ovens are a rarity. Most Korean dishes are prepared without one.

One of the roads up to my con-apt, which was a block to the right. I did get a lot of what Flint calls 'Christers' visiting my con-apt. I was never as... curt as Flint was, but I did learn to shut the door on them after a while.

I have a TV/VCR unit, and I am limited to watching movies or whatever programs are part of the American Army's channel. They get most of the shows that are part of the lineup I was used to, but they can be some months behind. They have no paid advertising, but a lot of service announcements that let the soldiers know what's going on in their area. There are a lot of reminders about what it means to be a soldier. These are produced by the soldiers themselves, and some of them can be a little amateurish. I get a lot of laughs in this way.
The bathroom is a tiled room, with a toilet, a tap with showerhead attachment, and that's it. There's a drain in the middle of the floor, and that's where all the water drains. I've gotten used to washing my hands while standing back from the tap. It will be strange to return home and get used to water that drains "normally."

The street leading up to my building, which was on the right, the last building but one.

There are taps in my bathroom that would usually hook up to a washing machine. The other teacher has to deal with this, but my washer has been installed in the "back room," which is like a storage area. I have no dryer, and I take care of that job by hanging my clothes on a rack, which is standard issue for most teachers' apartments. Some buildings have a tap out front, and I have seen some Koreans using this to wash their dishes and their clothes.
I was really lucky to have a double bed in my place. Most flats have single beds (my first one did). Koreans, of course, sleep on the floor, and one of my friends (tired of the cramped and lumpy single) has switched to this with satisfactory results. I also scored a microwave, which comes in handy when I want to cook up some popcorn. That is one of the snacks that I really missed when I came here.

There were two busy streets that I had to cross on the way to work. North of this one was the neighbourhood where my con-apt was situated, which was mainly three-story one- and two-room buildings. South was full of those huge blocks that marched off into the distance.

Koreans don't usually eat popcorn. They have some... different...flavours for their chips, too. Some of them are really spicy, and can cause your tongue to dial the fire department if you're not careful. Some of their chips are sweet-tasting, as well. I remember a comedy sketch from a while back about a man who gave a snack bar attendant fits by asking for "Raspberry Ripple" flavored chips, and so on. He would have got on well here.
I live approximately fifteen minutes away from the school (by foot). There is a big hill behind the building, where I like to go hiking on the weekends. The trails are well maintained and travelled. Hiking is a favorite activity for many people, and there are camping areas that feature equipment for the serious hiker. You can do chin-ups, sit-ups, play badminton; there's even a set of barbells to do some press-ups.

This is the second busy road I had to cross. Right on the corner, almost at my feet as I took this picture, there was always a pile of tofu for sale. It sat on the corner every day, absorbing the exhaust fumes, burps and farts, narrowly missing being spat on by some mook. I... never really liked tofu after that.

The area I live in is predominantly three- and four-story apartment buildings. There are a couple of private dwellings, but these are scarcer than hen's teeth in a space-premium country like South Korea. I imagine you have to be wealthier than Croesus to afford a private dwelling. Surrounding the neighbourhood where I dwell, is the main living space for Koreans, the high rise, which go on for miles. I tried to get a picture that would show these buildings stretching to the horizon.
I pass through these on my way to work, and they are like little villages. The buildings are about 15-20 stories high, and about 10-15 apartments wide. They each have their own little strip malls, and "police" forces to keep an eye on traffic. There is a lot of foot traffic going through, mostly mothers with their kids in hand. Foreigners have a lot of eyes on them.

The building where my hagwon lurked. The PC room I used was across the street. The hagwon's name was New York, and the lobby featured a mural of the city skyline featuring the twin towers of the World Trade Centre front and centre. I worked here the year after 9/11, and it was always a little jarring to see that photo every day.

I've heard that this type of dwelling is more expensive than the one I live in. They don't seem much different inside, and I'm not sure I would want to live in an area so crowded, with people on either side, and on top as well as below you. You have to deal with a substantial loss of "personal space" when you come to Korea. There is no such thing as waiting patiently in line for anything. It's every man for himself, and don't be afraid to use those elbows.
Still, there are perks. I use a computer at a "PC Room," and the owners have gotten very good at arranging for a monitor away from the smokers. I get a nice comfy chair, and an iced tea. Being served in a restaurant is a pleasant experience, and you get a lot of "service" (free stuff!) if you become a regular.
And the beer! Ah, the beer. Their draft comes in inexpensive pitchers that always taste like another one. A night out with a group of teachers looking for a way to unwind can go on for a long time, with no appreciable dent made in your wallet. Most bars like to try and sell you a side dish to go along with your beer, and it's not unusual to see a table of Koreans enjoying a nice array of ... fruit?... to go with their beer. Or if that's not to your taste, you can always try the seaweed. Dip it into a little soy sauce. Mmmmm.
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I've had a couple of hagwons try to get away with just supplying me a beer fridge. They look at me strangely when I tell them I need a regular sized fridge. When you consider they have fridges just for kimchi, I don't think it too much to ask.
I remember in my first year, my roommate's girlfriend kept kimchi in the fridge, and whenever you opened the door, the smell would hit you like a punch in the face.
I was always impressed with the relentless way Koreans exercised. I was never able to get motivated enough to follow their example. I'm flabby and out of shape, and I would be of no use in a crisis. I thought, 'Either get in shape or hope there is never a crisis.' I always hoped there was never a crisis.
I remember going to one teacher's wedding. He invited me up to their con-apt. They were just moving in. The place was chock-a-block with all the newest appliances and electronics still in their boxes. It was too bad when she gave him the boot the day after the wedding, but he deserved it. He romanced a foreign teacher and then dumped her on the advice of a fortune teller.
What a douchebag.
I almost lived in one of those highrises during my third year, but was lucky enough to get a solo con-apt. For me, it's the only way to go.
I still didn't have a 'puter, and I didn't get one until my third year. The PC room I used in my second year was a pretty good one, and the owners were very nice to me. But having your own 'puter is the bomb. I was really happy when I got my first laptop.
This neighbourhood was in West Daegu, and the local bar we went to was called Elvis. More often than not, the waitress would insist we order a side with our pitcher. I got to like the dried squid with peanuts. You could dip the pieces of squid in mayonnaise, or hot sauce, or both. Mmmmmmmmmm.
But getting used to the side dishes that most Koreans took for granted was difficult for me. I missed the usual salty snacks that we get back here in The World. There were a few places that served popcorn, like the Hollywood Bar in Cheongju, but then you'd go to a place like The Berkeley in Daegu, which served squid-flavoured crisps.
Eurgh.

I Hate Rectangles

Styles come and go. In the Eighties, glasses used to be huge. There was enough extra lens for at least another pair. And then, in the nineties, glasses got smaller. They became these little rectangles that reminded me of the pair that Roger McGuinn of The Byrds used to wear.

I bought that style, and wore it for about 10 - 15 years.
When I became a public school teacher in Daegu, the teacher at the school closest to mine had pretty much the same pair. We also shared the same goatee, but there was not too much else that we shared. He was taller, thinner, and had more hair.
Let's call him Ass, because let's face it, he was one.
Halfway through the school year, the department in charge of the foreign teachers in Daegu, the DEIEIO, took us all to Angang for the day. Ass didn't make the trip. Somebody had to sit it out, and he drew the short straw. It was a great trip and we all had a terrific time.
BUT...
When I was getting off the bus at the end of the day, the (Korean) head of the DEIEIO said to me, "Goodbye, Ass!"
At first, I thought, "Do we really all look alike to you?"
He was properly apologetic when I gently pointed out that he had mistaken me for another babo waygookin, and we all went back to working harmoniously together until they fired me for trying to kill a Korean English teacher.
Before my year there was over, I decided to change my looks. Not because I would have to go on the run, but I had been brooding after that Angang trip, and I decided I didn't want to look like an ass.
So I shaved off my goatee and went glasses shopping. There is an underground mall in downtown Daegu where there is a huge section chock-a-block with Ankyong (glasses) Marts.

I decided to go for some circles, not because I was a fan of Harry Potter, but because I was a fan of John Lennon. I even brought along a picture of him wearing his iconic "granny" glasses, just in case the clerk didn;t understand my lousy Korean.

I showed him my prescription, requested my style, and it seemed like no time before I was walking out with my new specs. They cost me, frames and all, only 50,000 won.
Affordable eyewear is one of the things I loved about Korea.
I continue to wear my circles, but I notice that I haven't started a trend. Everybody else is still wearing those fucking rectangles, and I'm really starting to get irritated. Did you ever look at somebody wearing them and want to rip them off and stomp them into the mud? Tune into Global Calgary's evening news program and take a look at the male anchor, Gord Gillies. A more squint-eyed ferret-faced little git does not exist. And those fucking rectangles! Does he really think he looks good?

I snort in disgust and roll my eyes.
Well, until the rest of the world catches up to me, I guess I will have to go my solitary way. So far ahead of my time, I'm starting to catch up with it again.

Shave and a haircut .... not here.

I miss getting my hair cut in Korea. It is possible to get a straight razor shave with your cut at most barber shops. (You haven't been able to get a shave at a barber shop in Canada in well over a decade. Maybe over 2 decades.) The Barber barber shop not the massage parlour and sex barber shop. ;)

I found Blue Club (for Men) when I lived in Yongam-dong. Always went there after that. When I moved to GaGyeong-Dong there was a Blue Club by my school. They know how to treat a customer.

Blue Club breaks things down so even the most clueless newbie to Korea can get a haircut. They have pictures showing the 6, or is it 8, main cuts they do. A basic cut costs about $5. For $7-8 you can get a head massage shampoo. They also dye hair.

Today I went to the hair shop I have always gone to at home. I haven't been there in 2 years. It has changed a lot. The staff is still great. Very friendly and efficient. But it cost $22 for a cut and shampoo! A men's die would have cost another $20 if I wanted one. At Blue club a mens cut, dye, and shampoo is $20. Plus in korea there is NO tipping.

In Korea they treat you like a VIP when you are getting a haircut. They MADE good drip coffee for customers. Usually threw in a bit of a head massage even if you weren't getting one. As I have said many times Korean's are usually good at customer service.

While service was good today by Canadian standards it would have been considered poor service in Korea. Had to drown my sorrows in a cup of Tim Horton's coffee.

What the... Rabbit Ears?!

I just wrote about having my car inspected last Thursday, but one detail I forgot to mention was about the television in the office at the inspection station.
While waiting for the inspection to conclude, I idly watched the usual gang of giggling idiots on some Korean game show go through the usual antics.
They'd dress up in weird costumes like men in skirts (nothing gay there), hanbok, etc.
Each humourous occurence would be run and rerun a half-dozen times, sometimes in slow motion, with accompanying sound effects, canned laughter, and subtitles, just so everybody watching understood that something funny had just happened.
The door to the office was swinging open, and every time it would close, the TV picture would go all fuzzy and the sound would turn to static.
What the kimchi?
I noticed the TV had... rabbit ears.
If you don't know what rabbit ears are, you're too young to be up this late. Go to bed!
Rabbit ears are aerials that you can adjust in order to pick up a signal that any station is broadcasting. I remember many times trying to make the picture clearer by waving them back and forth, shifting the TV around, and so on.
Nowadays, TVs usually have cables attached, and I had thought rabbit ears had gone the way of the dinosaurs. I had no idea that a person could still pick up TV signals the old way.
A lot of the TVs I've had in Korea have been pretty old fossilized pieces of shit, but none of them had rabbit ears.
I remember one con-apt I had there was no VCR. I was going to ask for one, and a friend suggested I get with the times and ask for a DVD player. I could rent Korean movies and watch them with English subtitles.
Well, I got the player, enraging the teacher who'd been there for months with a broken VCR that the wanjungnim kept forgetting to replace.
After a couple of years, I left that school and ended up in The Junkpile, with one of those fossilized pieces of shit I was talking about. It had no connections for the DVD player!
Checking on the Internet, I learned about a device called an RF modulator, which allows for a DVD player to be hooked up to one of those old style TVs.
I picked it up in a shop in Daegu with very little explanation to the guy needed. I just sort of pointed and grunted and showed him a diagram of what I wanted. He made a phone call and a deliveryman dropped it off 20 minutes later.
Nowadays I have a computer with which I download and watch all the TV a man could want or need. The screen on the 'puter is as big as most of the screens on the TVs I've had, so I'm not missing anything other than Korean Komedy Klassics with canned laughter, sound effects, subtitles, and jokes run and rerun a half dozen times just so everybody who's watching knows something funny has occured.

Mmmmmmmmmmmm Ribs

Flint and I have been talking about posting some food reviews. Mostly it's Flint urging me to get off my lazy ass and contribute more to this blog.

But we have had some pretty good food here in Korea, and we'd like to share our culinary experiences with the rest of you, just in case you need a particular type, and are wondering where to go.

Flint and I both love ribs, and have a couple of excellent places to go for delicious savoury pork ribs. You can go to a western style restaurant like Outback or VIPS, and be perfectly satisfied, but the Korean offerings are just as good, if not better.

The first alternative, for take-out ribs, is the rib truck. This is a Bongo-type vehicle fitted out with a wood-fueled rotisserie where the owners cook up ribs and sam gyup sal. Just thinking about it makes my mouth water.

I don't know what kind of wood they use (Flint?), but it gives the meat a particular flavour that keeps us coming back for more. I remember having to wait for some ribs to finish cooking once, and the owners invited me to sit in the back of the truck next to the fire. My coat still has that smell...

For 10,000won you get a generous rack of ribs, some pickled onions, hot peppers, and a savoury sauce that compliments the ribs to perfection. The owner usually throws in a few slices of sam gyup sal as "service," but I usually pick up an order of that with the ribs (10,000won) anyway.

The rib truck we go to sets up next to the OK Mart in Gagyoung-dong in Cheongju every Tuesday.

There're also trucks that sell BBQ chicken, but the main focus of this article is ribs, so we'll go on to the second of our suppliers.



This is a restaurant called "Cho Shim," which is located in Habukdae just down the street from my con-apt. It's on the ground floor of a ship-shaped building known as "Casa Bianca." It's the landmark I always give to cab drivers when I'm wending my way home from a night on the town. Most of them know it.

The restaurant has an equal number of tables with chairs and floor seats. Flint and I don't do floor seating, so we usually get a table next to the grill where they pre-cook the ribs.

My mouth is watering again.


Each table has a grill in the middle, so the patrons get to finish cooking the ribs for themselves. The ribs come with the usual multitude of side dishes, and especially a bowl of sweet sauce for dipping the ribs. You prepare the sauce by adding sliced onions and (in my case) grilled garlic slices.

I also like to grill the kimchi and the few slices of pa-jon that come with the side dishes. I also get to eat the "salad" (coleslaw) as Flint is not particularly enamored.

Flint commandeers the tongs, and makes sure the ribs are cooked to a turn. Each patron is given a cotton glove to wear on one hand, which helps protect against burns from the fresh, hot-off-the-grill ribs.

The set-up is fairly simple, like most Korean restaurants. You go in, order what you want, and are cooking it at your table within five minutes. There's not much else to it, besides the enjoyment of a very good meal.






The staff at this restaurant has come to know us, and the boss man even speaks good English. We sometimes see each other when he comes out for a smoke, and we are sitting on the benches, enjoying a good cigar and shamelessly ogling all the Korean hotties out on the street.

After a good long feed of ribs, there's nothing like a good cigar along with some scotch or rummmmmmmmm.

Year 1 - Customer Service

Hi

Koreans take customer service very seriously. Whether it is a bank, a convenience store, a gas station, or a stall at the traditional market. They don't open self service gas stations here because no one wants to use them. For a negligible savings in the price of gas you do it yourself. ON the way to Korean Immigration we stopped for gas. TWO people service you. one to pump your gas, the other to pump your ... hand. (You thought I was gonna say something dirty didn't ya? That is the COffee Girls job not Gas Attendants.) While the gas is being pumped the other person gives you a newspaper, and coupon book. Sees if you would like a complimentary coffee. PLUS he cleans your windows and offers to check your oil. Now that is frickin service! All of this with a smile, and a thank you. And they seem sincere. They take a lot more pride in their work than any gas station attendant I have ever seen.

I have previously mentioned the people who run the convenience store in my apartment building. They go out of their way to help customers, even ones who don't speak the language. When I moved into the apartment from my temp one they loaned me a dolly. When they see you on the street they always say hello. They take their customer service seriously. They take pride in their work.

After opening my bank account I went for a walk around with another teacher. On our way to the traditional market I saw a street vendor selling something. I couldn't read what it was but the smell captivated both of us. She was selling these strange looking cakes. A friend of mine, Gail, who had lived in Korea told me to look for walnut cakes. I found them! Thy take some cake batter and partially cook it in a mould. Then they add some walnut and more batter. They cook them on the spot until they are a nice golden brown. The cakes actually look like walnuts. They also have peanut cakes. They are fantastic. A very nice snack.

We looked around the market for a while. I bought a huge pillow that goes the width of my bed and is like having 2 pillows side by side, stacked 2 high. A small mat for in front of my door. Plus some mushrooms, we do a brunch every weekend, or try to. This weekend I am making omletes.

Last night i found out I had the wrong name for the dumplings I ate yesterday. They are called Mando (Sounds like Mountain Do). While waiting for ours to cook, the owner gave us some Kimchi Mando to try. The flavour explodes in your mouth. If you like spicy, you will love kimchi mando. I know I do.

After that we sort of wandered back to our apartments. I am getting my internet srvice finalized this afternoon, preparing for my evening classes, and writing this.

So far, that was my day. Another good one.

Take care

Flint

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I do like the customer service here. Most places go all out. And no one expects, or demands, a tip.

Year One - Getting Wired

Hi guys

Life is So different than back home. Not just because I am in another country but because the population of the city is so much larger.

The city really doesn't start coming alive until the afternoon. Most businesses seem to open around 1-2 PM. The bars don't close until the last customer leaves. Whether that is at midnight or 4am, or 7am. :)

Food and drink is VERY inexpensive. Especially if you eat local.

Except for the main streets which are 4 lane or more, most streets would be considered 1 way in Canada and the US because of how people park.The only problem is that people still use them BOTH ways. It can lead to some nasty honking matches. ;) People tend to park wherever they can as well. Which can lead to some interesting parking patterns.

I will try and write something more up when I have the time

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The way this letter was sent is more interesting than the letter itself to me. I sent it from my own ISP in Korea. When I finally moved into my long term apartment I got it installed. They were called the day before I moved in and the guy was there to install it at noon the next day.

Back home this process would have taken at LEAST a week. Or longer. Or wouldn't happen.

When I made the switch to a cable modem, or thought I was, it was SO frustrating. First I had to call MT&T and when you finally get a real person to talk to ask IF my area had high speed internet yet. The woman said yes. Sweet, I had expected no. So I made an appointment for someone to come by and hook me up. It would be THREE WEEKS before they could come. The

wait would be worth it I thought.

Two weeks goes by painfully slow on a 2500 BAUD dial up modem. Yes I said two weeks not

three. In the morning a week before my appointment date the phone rang. It was mT&T calling

to tell me that I was NOT in their area for high speed internet yet. It took them 2 bloody weeks to figure that out. What a bunch of morons. I vented, but not too explosively. I didn't know if it was the same person who told me I was in theh area.

A week goes by. An MT&T truck pulls into our yard. The guy says he is here to hook up the cable modem. What the fuck? I told him about my phone call the week before. He didn't know anything about it and had a work report saying to come and install it.

Great! I can get it. The person who called me screwed up. He gets everything hooked up but the modem won't work. He calls the office to find out that ... HIGH SPEED INTERNET IS NOT AVAILABLE IN MY AREA! What a bunch of fucking morons.

After telling them off I decided I would not get it through them when it was available.

Unfortunately I had to swallow my pride when it was made available in my area 3 months later. There was no other provider available. I had to start the whole process over again. It still took three weeks.

It was SO much easier getting internet hooked up in Korea in 2001 than in Canada. It seems to be even easier now. I will miss that when I go back to Canada.