Trust in the People

Hillu,

A few years ago when I was travelling in Italy, I spent a few hours in Milan. While waiting for a friend, I sat down in front of the main station and put my plastic bag with two oranges, an Italy guidebook and the boarding passes for my upcoming flight, on the ground next to me. I, being me, left that bag on the steps when my friend arrived. After a one minute drive around the station, I realised I'd left the bag and we drove back around to the other side of the station to collect it. In the two minutes that I'd been absent somebody had taken my plastic bag full of just STUFF.

If I'd done that here in Korea, I think that bag would still have been waiting for me on the steps chirping a welcome back song to me, even if I'd stopped and had a meal before heading back to the steps.

I and many other expats living in Korea are often surprised completely baffled at this, as in our own countries, that bag would not only be gone but your orange peels too.

Take a look at the picture below, what do you see? Okay a till, a little note, one of those infuriating self checkout machines, an ice cream freezer (because duh) and some other things. Now, what can you not see? STAFF! This shop is so lazy that  trusts it's customers so much that it doesn't seem concerned about people helping themselves!

I felt like I was paying for food from my own fridge.

I once went to a store here with my sister, where she bought some souvenirs for people back at home. I, being in charge of holding bag of said souvenirs (what was she thinking!?), of course left them on top of the lockers where we had (intentionally) left our bags. Fast forward more than two hours after wandering the streets, finding a spa, taking a bath and chatting in the communal area, my stomach drops as I realised I had left multiple pairs of socks and some notebooks on a locker in the middle of the city. After taking a taxi and running like a mad man, there was our bag of treats, still on top of the locker. Not even the cleaner who was in that very area had tidied them away.

My final story is from when I left my wallet on a bus that was set to do a journey through all the rickety roundabout roads (probably mainly highways but that doesn't sound as good) of  the southern provinces of Korea, the day before my vacation. I realised FOUR HOURS after getting off the bus, at which point I do believe my stomach dropped so far that it left my body. It turns out somebody had found it, given it to the bus driver, who had driven it round with him all day before dropping it back at my local station for me (for a fee of 3000won/2 quid?!).

Basically, you can leave your crap anywhere and it will be alright (usually)



Gamsahapnida for reading,

Person questioning how he actually has managed to keep any of his belongings.



P.S. K-pop by Lee Hyori with 'Miss Korea'

Let's Eat!

Hello fellow residents of Earth,

I have recently come across something new, unusual and increasingly popular - a drama with minimal story and an emphasis on watching people eat.

A love triangle.

Watching people eat is just a part of it, and listening to people eat is the other part. The sounds of the eating is amplified (sometimes to an off putting level) to show how tasty the food is, and the 'actors' don't hold back in their chowing down.

Pleasure or pain?

Maybe you are thinking 'WHY!?' and so I asked a Korean friend the very reason for the existence of this show. He said it is so that you can enjoy the food without actually eating it. A co-worker told me that nowadays Korean people can be very stressed, so watch it just to enjoy it and relax.

Whatever floats your boat.

Didn't anybody ever tell you not to eat ribs in public!?

I do have some concerns thoughts about this show:

1. What happens if the director doesn't like your performance? Are you expected to vomit and try again?
2. How do people become actors for this? Do casting agents sit around in restaurants to see who is a good eater? Usually that is not acceptable.
3. Is this supposed to make me feel more hungry or less hungry?
4. Is this comparable to cooking shows? Part of me thinks yes. Another part of me says 'not quite' as I'm not sure if I'm being sold something or whether I am indeed just watching someone eat.

Thoughts?

Gamsahapnida for reading,

Up-and-coming foodstar.

P.S. Kinda K-pop by Dami Im with 'Super Love'. I say kinda k-pop because she is the Korean winner of the Australian X Factor, so the song wasn't made in Korea.

P.P.S. 'Why the hell not' music by No Doubt with 'A Little Something Refreshing'

On the farm

Hello...

*General screams*

I visited my co-teacher's parents' farm one weekend in June, to help with the picking of blueberries.

After taking a train for a couple of hours, we were greeted by fresh countryside air and made our way to the family home, where we drank blueberry and tomato smoothies, which is an unfamiliar mix but tastes great! After that, it was time for bed.

The next day began at six in the morning (not a time I am familiar with) and consisted of cutting and arranging fabric under the bushes to protect the blueberries from dirt, removing weeds, picking blueberries, (while chomping on a few too) and making boxes for the blueberries.

Don't mind me, just creepin'.

An interesting little berry. Looks like a strawberry but it is quite tangy and soft with a big (inedible) seed in the middle. I had a fair few of these, too. By the way, I neither took this photo with my mouth nor do I have a third arm. The second hand belongs to my co-teacher.

'It's Socks'... no it's not.

First person weeding game. 

Weeding.

This is some 졸 grass that was picked. I had to select the edible fresh blades, which were then cooked into a pancake to be served with soy sauce.

La pancake. Delishy.

The day finished with putting the blueberries into the boxes ready to be delivered. I was given a box also, which I gobbled up with ice cream, yogurt and bananas (not all in the same day).  After a long day, we had another bluemato smoothie and next I was in bed and asleep before you can say bluebe-

Overall, it was a great experience! (If  you want blueberries and live in Korea, let me know... I have contacts now).

Goodbye!

Gamsahapnida for reading,

Her

P.S. K-music by Lee Sora 이소라 with 'Un Deut' 운 듯

P.P.S K-music by Lee Sora 이소라 with 'The Wind Is Blowing' 바람이 분다

P.P.P.S Why-the-hell-not-music by Dolly Parton with 'Home'

A week of Korean school lunches

I like my school for a lot of reasons. One of them is the great school lunches that I get to eat. Come with me on a week's tour of lunch!

This is where I get my lunch from.

And this is where the kids get their lunch.

Self-service woohoo! (dangerous)

Monday

Top left: 시금치 Boiled spinach with salt and sesame oil 

Top middle: 깍두기 Radish kimchi, quite sour and crunchy!

Top left: 닭갈비 Marinated chicken with vegetables and chewy rice cakes

Bottom left: 보리밥 Barley rice

Bottom right: 부대찌개 Budae jjigae or army soup. People aren't 100% certain how it came about, but the prevailing idea is that American soldiers gave SPAM, hot dogs and macaroni to Korean civilians during the Korean war, who then mixed it with Kimchi, beansprouts  and spices to make a soup. This is a school version, however and isn't spicy.

Tuesday

Top left: 열무된장무침 Soybean paste marinated radish leaves

Top middle: 포기김치 Cabbage Kimchi (fermented cabbage)

Top right: 잡채 Glass noodles with vegetables and oil.

Bottom left: 율무밥 Plain white rice

Bottom right: 쇠고기낙지전골 Beef and squid soup (I didn't put any squid in mine, however) 

Wednesday

Top left: 오이지무침 Pickled cucumber. It was a little bit sweet.

Top middle: 파인애플 Pineapple

 Top right: 깍두기 Radish kimchi

Bottom left: 치킨텐더/머스터드소스 Chicken tender with honey mustard sauce. Quite a treat because at first I thought it might have been battered octopus. The batter had these crispy little things on the outside too. Delish!

Bottom right: White rice with beef and vegetable curry!

Thursday

Top left: 깍두기 That radish kimchi from Monday and Wednesday.

Top middle: 게살크림납작파스타 Brocolli and unidentified pink thing (google says crab) cream pasta.

 Top right: 도라지오이생채 Cucumber and bellflower root (Literally just found this out!)

Bottom left: 찰흑미밥 Erm.... purple rice.

Bottom right: 돈육김치찌개 Tofu, kimchi and pork casserole.

Friday

Top left: 도토리목무침 Acorn jelly with lettuce, carrot and red chilli pepper. Yum!

Top middle: 포기김치

 Top right: 등심탕수육 Sweet and sour pork

Bottom left: 서리태밥 Rice with beans

Bottom right: 콩가루배추국 Cabbage and beansprout soup

On the side: 뿌요파티 Apple, white grape, pumpkin, lettuce, orange, celery, brocolli and spinach juice. Surprisingly tasty!

...and for afters

a little treat from one of my co-workers.

Gamsahapnida for reading,

Full up!

P.S. Not techically K-music as she is Korean American, but I like it. TOKiMONSTA: Go With It (Feat. MNDR)

Sokcho

Sokcho is a seaside town in the most rural of Korea’s provinces. Fifteen friends and I visited for the long weekend made up of Saturday, Sunday, Children’s Day Monday and Buddha’s Birthday Tuesday. The eight hour bus journey (usually three and a quarter hours) was made worse by Wine Friday but made better by a little friend I made on the bus.

Jaemo was a little toddler chappy who showed me his transformer-esque sports car, gave me an egg (while spitting some of his own on my leg during a particularly exciting counting game), and wouldn’t let me sleep.

This was after an attempted nap, which he woke me up from by poking me in the arm.

Our hostel was three rooms behind a café, with a cute little dog to play with. The café owners run the hostel so it was a nice atmosphere there. After checking out our rooms we headed to the seafront, where we had dinner and set off fireworks. After this we headed out to karaoke for a spot of singing and then back to the hostel to bed.

Day two started wonderfully, with some frankly magical sandwiches prepared by a lovely lady who didn’t even work in the café (she was visiting the owners, while doubling as foreign liaison for the duration of her stay as well as drinking lots of wine, at her own confession). These sandwiches were a major talking point of the holiday and Katy even suggested it was the best sandwich she has eaten in Korea. This reminds me of when I went through a ham sandwich phase last year, except it turned out it wasn’t pre-cooked ham and it was in fact raw bacon that I had been eating for days.

After breakfast we tried to find our way to a nearby lake to rent bikes. The bike rental seemingly didn’t exist so we went to the beach instead. After a dip in the cold sea, I made a beautiful sand face, ate a chip-covered bread-covered hot dog (covered in sauce) and went for a stroll along the beach, followed by some hula and hanging antics. Pictures below.

'Kimchi!'

Devoured. 

They bruise, they bruise. Oh, baby. when you spin, you spin.

Bats unmasked.

In the evening, we wandered around before finding a restaurant that had to call for family backup staff when they saw how many of us there were, and that is how we ruined Saturday night for two women whose parents own a restaurant. 

After dinner, we went back to our hostel where we played articulate. To be specific, it was British English articulate, so there were a lot of confused people.

Day three started with another fantastic sandwich, and another one in my bag for the hike ahead. We climbed to the Ulsan Bawi peak and on the way back down stopped for some celebratory soju and SANDWICHES (they were good, unsurprisingly). I also managed to have a little look around with the binoculars and at the same time earn myself a curious reputation.

Arriving back at the hostel, we were told by the owners that we could buy meat and cook it in the back room of the café, which we did and took it in turns playing chef. After this we played some games that not everyone understood (it wasn’t even a British version) and turned in to bed late.

Our final day started with a tea ceremony by the hostel/café owner followed by only a slightly delayed bus journey home.

Overall - a bloomin' good weekend!

Gamsahapnida for reading,

Bino Barlow.

P.S. K-Music by Lee Sora 이소라 with 나focus