Gross stuff

Food in  Korea is interesting.  Just like American food, some is awesome and some is disgusting.  I'll start with the gross stuff first.  Next week, we will have the delicious foods.

Our parents brought us up right.  Eat all the food on your plate--no questions asked.  Also, when someone gives us food, we feel obligated to eat all of it.  If it's gross, may be we'll come to like it in the end.  Other times, we wonder if we have some sort of psycological problem becasues we find our selves eating stuff that is totally gross--that we knew was gross to start with--and will continue to be gross after we are finished.  After all, insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly expecting a different result eventually.  Here are some gross foods we've encountered, and the sometimes awkward social situations that always accompany gross food.

Fermented crab

 Our landlady is a wonderful person.  She is always very kind and gracious, and she always has extra food to get rid of.  We have gotten many yummy things from her when we pay rent.  Once she even fed us dinner! But normally it is just some yummy fruit such as persimmons, apples or jujubes (yes they are a type of fruit, they taste kind of like tiny apples).

But one day we got some fermented crab (A Korean delicacy).  They said to eat it with rice, so we did, but it had a strong smell of ammonia and it was hard to eat and hard to breathe because of the smell.  It was squishy, and hard to crack open.   When we got done, we smelled like ammonia for the next several hours.  Incidentally, when we asked our Korean friends about this food, they said that they loved it.  Some times I really wonder about this country.

DARE Just say no.  Even though it is on a fancy plate and all the Koreans are eating it, stay away!

Raw sea squirt

Once we went out to eat with our lab group for a bonding experience.  We had lots of fun, and played kick volleyball (it's hard but its popular here.)  You lower the net so that the ball can actually make it over.  Anyway, since we were at the beach, we had to eat seafood.  So far, our seafood experiences hadn't been very positive, but this time we had roasted shellfish which wasn't that bad.  Of course, it being a special trip, we also had to have delicacies.  This means raw seafood.  We had raw fish and raw shrimp, but the weirdest one was the raw sea squirt.  It tasted like snot.

Squishy persimmon (감)

 Persimmons here are much bigger than in the US.  They taste like an pear, but with the texture and structure of a tomato.  They are very yummy.  One month our landlord gave us some to take with us, and we were happy.

The next month after paying rent, we got some older looking, squishy persimons.  Not wanting to be rude, we took them and thanked our kind landlord who is always good to us.  We wondered if we should eat them, and we decided we should because our ancestors didn't have refrigerators, and this is how they ate, and they probably survived on squishy fruit.  After all, jelly and jam are really just squishy fruit.  So we ate the squishy fruit, and despite being grossed out, it was good and sweet, and it was good to spread on toast--like jam.

But the next month after we paid rent, we got even older looking persimmons.  This time, they were even more shriveled, and they had white stuff on them!  Now we were thinking of how our ancestors had short lives--probably due to all that squishy fruit.  We decided that it was probably unhealthy to eat, and regretfully threw the squish fruit in the compost can.  Incidentally, a few months later, we saw some shriveled up fruit with white stuff on it in high-end packaging at the Seoul Train Station. 

Top: The yummy fresh persimmon
Bottom: The scary dried persimmon.  It may be
good for all we know, but we are too afraid to try

Boiled Seafood

On a trip with our chruch, we went to this island (SapShiDo), and while we were there, all of the a-joo-ma-s (Korean word for aunt) cooked us yummy food, and gave us the best stuff becasue we were foreigners who had never eaten it before.  It was all delicious, and we definately gained some weight.  But, on the way back everyone went to a seafood restaurant.  We did not know what we were getting, and we trusted that the food would be equally as delicious as what the a-joo-ma-s had cooked for us.  But...  we got boiled seafood.  It consists of all the yummy sea creatures that we normally eat along with some squid etc.  But what anyone who cooks seafood should know is that you should NEVER NEVER NEVER boil entire sea creatures.  The problem with boiled seafood is that all the gross stuff that is included in a sea creature gets dissolved and goes everywhere, and your tongue know this, and it is not pleasant to eat at all.  I (Riley) normally get a little sea sick on buses, and on the bus back, I was sea sick--but luckily nothing bad happened.

A Korean's Pictures of Yummy--Not boiled--Seafood

번데기 (bohn-dae-gee)

 One day we went to a spring festival to hang out with our friends and eat the street vendor food--which was delicious.  But we saw something that looked out of place--insects, so I got half a cup of them to try.  The first few tasted alright, but after about five of them Margaret decided to stop helping me eat them, and after about 10 of them, I started getting a stomach ache.  I finished the cup, and decided never to eat this type of insect again.

 Stay tuned!  

       Next week, we will tell you about our favorite foods!

"Gangnam Style" Explained

Since I have had this song stuck in my head most of today, I thought it would be a good time to finally explain what this South Korean piece of pop culture that made it across the world is all about.

If you do not already know, "Gangnam Style" is a song by Psy that is extremely catchy and comes with a new dance move where you pretend to be a cowboy.  However popular it became in the US, it is much more popular here.  You hear it in stores and on tv all the time, and every single child knows how to do the dance.

First of all, its pronounced "gahng-nahm" with the "a" from "father."  It has nothing whatsoever to do with gangs.  "Gangnam" or "Kangnam" is a neighborhood in Seoul where rich people live and work.  Its known for having lots of high-end expensive stores.  The name actually literally means "river south" or "south of the river" since it is located south of the Han River.  I have a Korean friend who told me that you know when you are in Gangnam because all the women look the same.  Apparently when you are rich you always get "the one most beautiful" kind of plastic surgery. 

 The actual content of the song is pretty basic.  Its a guy singing about what kind of girl (yo-jah) he likes and what kind of guy (nam-jah) he is.  There isn't anything bad or profane in it, and the chorus "oppan Gangnam style" just refers to himself (oppa = literally older brother, but usually its what girls call any guy older than her) acting like a person who lives in Gangnam (i.e. professional during the day and partying at night)

Maybe I should also explain "style."  This is a konglish (Korean + English) word that Koreans use to describe more than just a person's clothes.  It can also be a person's attitude or personality.  For example, if you met someone you would like to date instead of "they're my type" you would say "they're my style."

Gangnam Style is one of the better k-pop (Korean pop) songs that exists.  Riley and I aren't a big fan of most k-pop because to us it all sounds the same.  Its usually a group of girls or guys in weird outfits singing and dancing to a song about a girl or guy with random English phrases thrown in, like "shiny boy" or "I'm yours nobody." 

We do like Gangnam Style, though, and even though the craze is mostly over, I hope you now understand what its all about.

Oh yeah, I'm in a foreign country

Riley and I have been over here in South Korea for about about a year and a half.  We are used to the food, the tiny apartment (that feels big now), and can understand Korean enough to get around.  We have lots of friends from all over the world, and if English is their native language, we feel that we are almost from the same culture. 
This week I had an experience that made me realize how much I still don't know about the world.  I was discussing cooking breakfast for supper with a fiend of ours from Ghana (West Africa).  English is his native language and we watch the same television shows, so we assumed we were talking about the same food.  I asked him what he would cook for breakfast and he said it was probably the same as what I cook, eggs, toast, tuna fish salad...
It was then I realized we were not quite on the same page.  It turns out Ghanian breakfast is very different from American.  Yes, we both can eat pancakes and eggs, but they also eat sweet fried dough, yam and cassava dishes, and spicy porridge (with the occasional tuna salad sandwich).  The porridge part was interesting to me, since I picture porridge as oatmeal, but the pictures of their porridge was very different.  I found a way to make it using flour and had my friend taste it.  It was close enough to give me the idea of what porridge is to a Ghanian, its like pudding more than oatmeal.  Its very very smooth and not very thick.
Another interesting part was that Ghana has spring rolls, and my friend didn't know that China has them too.  We always assumed they were a Chinese food (we don't have them in Korea), but now we aren't so sure.  We are not really sure how they got to Ghana in the first place either.  We made some anyway, and they turned out delicious, wherever they are from.

Tea

Last weekend we had the opportunity to visit a tea house and have tea in the traditional style.  It was even more surprising when you hear we were in a modern apartment in a giant apartment building.  We had been invited to have dinner with a family from church, and after dinner he took us to a room in the house (between the kitchen and the library), where you go in and are immediately transported to a rural traditional tea house.  It was wood-paneled (even the ceiling) with the traditional doors and decorated with various tea cups, pots, and tea-related objects.  We sat on the floor and had the traditional 5 cups of green tea.  The tea was put in warmed cups and made new each cup (though the water was from an electric hot water heater).  The room was also decorated with traditional paintings by the wife's mother, and by sayings in Hanja (Korean written in Chinese).  We ate traditional Korean food you eat while drinking tea, sugary cheese doodles without the cheese and sweet potato bites covered in sugar.  It was nice and relaxing.
Leaving the room back to the hallway was like stepping forward in time to modern Korea.

We finally went to Jeju-do!

The week after New Year's our boss told us to take a much needed vacation.  So, where do you go in winter on a short schedule? Jeju Island!  This little island is south of Korea.  They like to call it the Hawaii of Korea, but its more like the Florida and South Georgia of Korea.  It does have lots of volcanic rocks, but its not quite tropical.  We decided to take the ferry there to add more to our trip.  Riley had never been on a boat that long.  It was called the Pink Dolphin.  It was a small ferry with only passengers, so it went really fast.  This was nice to get there, but we both got a little seasick on the way.

This is supposed to be a dragon that was turned to stone for stealing something from the mountain god

Jeju has palmettos and volcanic rock everywhere.  Also, there is fish everywhere.  In front of every seafood restaurant there are usually fish or octopus, but in Jeju they were much bigger than I was used to.  The first evening we wandered down the waterfront past the restaurants and Ramada Inn Casino to see a lava rock in the ocean that is supposed to look like a dragon.

Lava Tube!

We traveled on the bus the next day to explore lava tubes.  The bus let us off about a mile from the lava tubes and we got to walk though a rural country side with woods and birds.  It was really nice.  The tubes were neat, and we ran into the one touristy place we went, a giant maze of hedges.  We even got lost!  I kept expecting to run into a spinx.

Riley lost in the maze

Then we headed off to one of the most photographed places on the island.  Its a volcanic crater off the coast.  Its almost an island,but its eroded its way back to the mainland.  You can climb up the side and watch the sunrise on the stands on the edge (its called Sunrise Peak).  It was really beautiful, but it seems smaller the closer you get to it.

Sunrise Mountain.  Believe it or not, the trail to the top is only 1km.

 The next day we headed off across the island past the Teddy Bear Museum, the Citrus Museum, the Glass Castle, horseback riding, Riply's Believe it or Not, and various other tourist traps.  This is one of the most popular vacation places for Koreans, so there are many places that cost lots of money.  We decided to go to our own tourist spot, McDonald's breakfast!  It was right next to our hotel, and real sausage was amazing!

Look!  Hashbrowns!  Real creamer!

The south side of the island was really nice.  It had a lazy feel to it with little islands of the coast and nice cliffs with a few waterfalls into the ocean.  We traveled to some cliffs that looked like french fries.  Somehow, cooling lava forms the shapes as it cools.

French fry cliffs

The next day we climbed the highest mountain in Korea, the dormant volcano that created Jeju Island in the first place.  Luckily, the bus drops you off halfway up.  We got up early and started as the sun came up.  It was covered in snow.  A beautiful 9.6 km trek through the woods.  There were lots of people with us, but the only animals I could see were these large crows that would sit in trees near the trails and stare at you, waiting to see if you would make it.  You had to make it mostly up the mountain by 12pm or they wouldn't let you up that last 2 km to the rim of the crater.  We did make it, and we ate lunch at the top.  You could see the edge of the whole island from the top.  The crater was huge and had a frozen lake in the middle.  Then we hiked the 9.6 km back.  There was a little mountain with a crater on the way down.  It had the best view of what we had just climbed.

Flat woods!  Don't be fooled, there were a lot of people on this trail.

Riley above the tree line

We made it to the crater!  I'm glad its dormant, its huge!

Where we just climbed.  Going down was a lot faster than going up.

Our last day we had a little more time.  So, we decided to go to a 800 year old forest to pass the time.  This is the only forest of its kind in the world.  The tree is called nutmeg, but its related to the yews.  The forest was really old and peaceful.  The trees were used for oil from their nuts, and the wood is very beautiful.  The wood was used to make a board for a game as a present for the king.  The king liked this wood so much, he declared this forest to be preserved.  Thus, the very old forest.

Old trees!

Then we hopped on the ferry and headed back.  We knew the ferry would be bigger because it held cars, but we didn't expect the seven eleven, cafeteria, bakery, coffee shop, concert, and arcade.  It was like being on a cruise.  We couldn't hardly feel the waves.  The dining room even had chandeliers on the ceiling.  We didn't get seat, but were assigned to a small room with about 10 other people to sit on the floor (or sleep as several of our fellow passengers did).  It was a very nice way to finish off our trip to Jeju!

The dining room on the ferry boat.

 Our trip to Jeju was a nice refresher to many of the things we miss here in Korea: flat woods, old woods, and sausage for breakfast!

Merry Christmas!

From our tiny tree to yours, Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  Our Christmas was so much better than last year (its not hard to beat a stomach flu Christmas) and thank you for remembering us!

We had a white Christmas this year!

Christmas in Korea is very different, unless you go to a church it is just a time where couples give each other gifts.  There are even events where singles can gather to try to find other single people.  Our Christmas was more normal.  We opened presents, baked cookies, and watched Christmas specials. 

This is a Christmas cake.  I think they got this tradition from Britain.

So, Riley and I are doing well.  We like our tiny apartment and can cook almost anything we miss from America in our tiny oven.  Riley is started to get his experiment up and running (he likes to make things glow in the furnace), and my projects are going well if a bit slow.  This next year will be busy for us.  Riley should graduate and we will be moving back to the US sometime in the fall.  Then we will have to get real jobs.  We are visiting in April for my sister's wedding, so we hope to see you people in the US then!

Different Perspectives

One of the best things about being in a different country is to meet people with different perspectives.  For instance, today I brought some homemade pumpkin pie to work and found out that my labmate from Malaysia had never tasted pie before.  Pie was something he had only seen on tv.
We also spent a while trying to explain what we do for Christmas to our friend from China.  It made me realize that most of the world doesn't know anything about Santa Claus or Christmas Trees, or even the nativity, except what they learn from movies.
Another interesting matter of perspective and communication came from talking to a Korean friend about how my mom had sent me a Pumpkin Spice cookie mix.  She did not know what pumpkin spice was, so I started explaining that it involves the spices that we put into pumpkin pie.  Apparently, in English classes here they only teach the word "spicy" and not "spices."  When she heard "pumpkin spice" she pictured a spicy-flavored pumpkin.  So, I explained what spices were, and which ones we put in pumpkin pie.  Then I brought up the cookies again and explained that these were the spices that were in the cookies.  She understood, but after more discussion I had to explain that there was not actually any pumpkin in the cookies, it was just the spices that we associate with pumpkin desserts.  Here, pumpkins are used in lots of dishes, especially soup, and are never combined with cinnamon and nutmeg.  I'm just glad I started explaining with pumpkin spice cookies and not pumpkin spice cappuccinos.