Like the Feather of a Wild Goose

We Did Some Other Stuff, Too

2007-04-23T04:36:00.000-07:00

It wasn't all about cute kids, though. We did other stuff. Among other things, we visited Insa dong, Seoul's upscale antique and art gallery district; went to church (really); and toured a small portion of Changdeokgung Palace. Here are some pictures, in reverse chronological order.

me, adopting my creepy, Terminator-style paparazzi persona:

Here's the dope throne-room:

and the best tour guide attire ever:

I got some free lovin':

and I watched this guy beat the shit out of some traditional Korean food:

It's called dduk, and it's... all right. It turns out looking like this:

Here they just roll it around in some rice flour, but it tastes better fried and dipped in sugar, or wrapped around a sweet bean paste center. Even so, it was a pleasure to watch the guy lay the smackdown on it with a big mallet.

Seoul: an embrace and a wallop with big wooden hammer. Can't wait to go back.

O.K. I get it. Kids are cute.

2007-04-16T08:03:00.000-07:00

All right, I'm falling behind on the postings. Sorry.

It's slightly amazing to me that I've done more noteworthy stuff at this point than I've had the time or capacity to write about. But I do have an excuse for this particular lapse: I've been in a super-saccharine, cute kid-induced coma for the past few weeks. It all started with these guys:

This is June, my Amazing Korean Friend, and her new husband. Unfortunately for us Jinju-ites that know her, she's moved to Seoul. But we can still visit, which is just what we did two weeks ago, although (thanks to and error on my part) on the wrong day. So Tracy and I ended up bombing her apartment on a random Saturday.

A Saturday, as it turned out, when these guys:

were visiting. That's Eujin and Chang Min (Julie and Annie, respective English names), June's nieces, enjoying some corn-cheese. Yes. I said corn-cheese. It's a curious delicacy that involves canned corn, tomato sauce, shredded cheese, and mayonnaise. And not only is it not disgusting, it's actually pretty good. Enhanced, of course, by the fact that I was sitting across from two supernaturally good-natured Korean kids.

Just to make it even more sickening, I bought us all some gum, and we blew some bubbles together:

Needless to say, these kids really cramped my misanthropic style. And there were even MORE cute relatives the next day! But I will refrain from posting those pictures here, and just say,

"O.K. Korea. I understand. Your kids are the Cuteness. Stop throwing adorable little tykes at me. I've got it, already! Damn!"

Sugar Donut - Loser

2007-04-02T05:26:00.001-07:00

They say these guys are the Korean Weezer. I don't know about that, but I what I DO know is that I was up at three o'clock in the morning rockin' the devil horns in my underwear listening to this song at maximum volume recently. I'm afraid the video's not much to get excited over, but the song is punk-pop at its finest, Korean or otherwise.

Dinner!

2007-04-02T04:35:00.000-07:00

A few of you have been asking me about the food here, and, in the spirit of directly answering your questions, I thought I'd post a sumptuous photo of some of the cuisine I've run into. Here goes:

A typical dinner at the office. Though I d0n't always look forward to a long night of teaching, I do always look forward to the food from the joint downstairs, and the many side dishes that overtake the table every day. And this is a pretty good spread here. There's a little variation on the main dishes, along with some characteristic side dishes. I'm about to eat a kind of tuna stew called chom chi chigae. Those are my coworker Eddie's beautiful hands opening up the prize. Chigae is definitely my favorite Korean dish. It's hot, spicy, and it varies just enough from place to place to keep things interesting. The kind we get from work is particularly good, so I was likely drooling a bit as I took this photo.

The other main dish there is called dduk guk, or rice cake soup. The rice cake in question is more like a large, flat, medallion-shaped rice noodle. A few handfuls of these are thrown into the guk(soup), which is based on a mild seafood broth. Throw in some seaweed, shellfish, and tofu (or dubu, in Korean) and you're all set. As for side dishes, we've got the world-famous gimchi (the red pickled cabbage in the small dish, center-right); gimchi jeon (the red pancake underneath); one fried fish (pretty good, despite the gross-out factor); a kind of pickled cucumber (basically another kind of gimchi, of which there are several); odang, or something very much like it (chopped and pressed fish - not bad, but, in my opinion, only when warm); and sweet beans (a particular favorite of my coworker Beth's). There's also some sugared seaweed back there (top left); and some spinach stems in sesame (I think they're spinach. Anyway, they're good).

All in all, a good haul, though this is by no means the most plentiful. Sometimes the food barely fits on the table.

Turtles-Cocktail Love

2007-03-19T03:29:00.001-07:00

This was one of the first songs I heard on Korean radio. The airwaves were dirty with it the first few weeks of September, and I still hear it a lot in restaurants and bars, though it's been replaced, to some extent, with a newer Turtles song. It's way up there in the feel-good stratosphere, where the children are always ready to gather 'round and sing your chorus, and the cocktails are always free.

Busan's Jagalchi Fish Market and the Triumph of Kodak

2007-03-12T05:04:00.002-07:00

Well, I got to Busan limping, lost and hungry. But after a brief walk through the Russian red light district (sorry, no pictures) and a quick meal, Tracy and I got right to it. And it was impressive.
There were dozens of brightly clad fishmongers; pig head salesmen(!); spice shops; whale meat restaurants (well, it sure looked like whale meat, anyway); knife vendors; writhing octopuses; unidentifiable Lovecraftian sealife; watch salesmen(???); and concession carts rolling by with boomboxes jamming.
This, I think, is a case in which I should thank the ability of the camera to frame and solidify the chaos of the moment. I've never been much for snapping shots, but the way these turned out kind of amazes me. Being there, yes, was surely impressive. But it was also quite overwhelming. I'm glad I have these artifacts to look back on. We could have just stuck our lenses in any direction down there and gotten a great shot. As it stands, we didn't do much more than that, and what we got was somethin' else:

fish:medicinal herbs:

old women playing with fire:gangly men and little ragamuffins:
and, of course, pig heads (which I ate a few weeks ago! More on that later):
Viva Jagalchi!

I Hope This Qualifies as Something Unusual (Elephant Trip #1)

2006-12-18T03:01:00.000-08:00

Carolina, Tracy, Ryan, and Jason.

Per longstanding request, here's Ryan standing in front of some markedly queer wallpaper. And though I've been bitching and moaning about Korea, kids, and stress recently, this trip to Jin-do, an island at the extreme southwest of Korea, was an unqualified success -- perhaps, indeed, because of some radiant property of the walls in our motel room.

As it turns out, there's not much else to do in Jin-do than stand in front of mind-expanding wallpaper. Not much, that is, but keep on the lookout for Jin-do's claim to fame: Korean Natural Asset #53, the Jin-do gae (dog). This dog, according to my guidebook, is believed by some to be "descended virtually unchanged from the Neolithic Age." They may or may not be descended from Mongolian battle dogs(!), and are said to possess many outstanding traits. They are beloved for the spectacular intelligence, uncanny "The Cat Came Back"- style homing abilities, unfailing loyalty, and tendency to potty train themselves. Unfortunately, being a Korean Natural Asset, the Korean government is pretty tightfisted with these guys, especially the purebreds. So don't expect me to come back with one. Here's a picture, anyway:

They're also astoundingly nonchalant, if this street dog is any indication. And yes, there were quite a few just hangin' on the streets. In that sense, Jin-do lived up to expectations (as the island where these crazy super-dogs are allowed to walk freely around town).

We also ate some good handmade mandu (Chinese dumplings), danced in the street to MC Mong's "Ice Cream", and saw this guy:

So, eight thumbs up on the quiet town of Jin-do, on the quiet island of Jin-do. Tracy was especially taken by the slow pace, small town vibe, and peace and quiet. She didn't really want to leave.

[This trip was elephant trip #1, in which a representative from our handpicked group of expats tosses a tiny plastic elephant at a map of Korea and we commit to travelling wherever it lands. Elephant trip #2 will take place late winter early spring 2007.]

MC Mong: Ice Cream

2006-11-16T17:09:00.000-08:00

Well, once again, it's the pop music that gets me. After sifting through several lists of horrible boy bands composed by excited 13 year old Korean kids, I took the plunge and bought a few records. One was by this guy, MC Mong. And now I finally have a Korean song stuck in my head.

The video is especially great. It's bookended by two distinctly Korean pastimes. The first is the PC Bang (PC room). These are just internet cafes, really, except the they're open 24 hours a day, and they're everywhere. There seems to be a culture of un- or under-employed younger males (much like the protagonist) that spend their nights in the PC Bang playing Starcraft, smoking, neglecting to feed themselves, and not getting home til dawn.

It closes with the heartbroken MC Mong drinking bottle after bottle of soju. This is Korea's indigenous hard liquor, made of rice and sweet potatoes. It's ubiquitious, dirt cheap and notorious for its brutal hangovers. There's a complex set of drinking rules that come into play when drinking in groups (scroll down to "Customs"). I've experienced this only once, really, when I went out with the boss and the other Korean teachers. All I can say is that the protocol seems pretty clear until you're knee-deep in drunken Korean elders.

Exercise Mountain

2006-10-23T07:50:00.000-07:00

Hope you like mountains. That's what I've taken the most pictures of, to be sure. Featured in this post is the mountain behind my house, Seokkap San; aka Tiny Mountain; aka Exercise Mountain.

It's an odd little thing. It doesn't take much time to walk up, and a good part of it is paved. On each side of the trail you'll find a small farm plots rubbing up against tombstones and burial mounds. The mounds, at least, are hundreds of years old. Here's a little explanation: and here's what you might stumble onto if wander off the path a few feet:
So. After fifteen or twenty minutes of dodging modest spring onion plots and ancient burial mounds, one is rewarded with...periwinkle exercise equipment! And it's usually pretty jammin' with well-appointed Koreans: kids, moms, and men of a certain age and station (early retirees?; men of leisure?). I took this picture on an off day, I guess. This kind of installation is pretty typical of the hills and mountains around here, I think -- even on the big ones. A few of the expats have lamented the fact that they can't seen to truly lose themselves in the mountains around here. There may be a vending machine around the next bend in the trail.

And if Seokkap San is any indication, their disappointment is justified. Just around the corner from the exercise bikes, up a small rise and too the left, there's a food cart not unlike what one might find on any street corner, selling vitamin drinks, soup, and pressed-fish-on-sticks for any Korean soccer mom that has worked up an appetite on the beautiful blue leg press machine.

Caesar's Palace

2006-10-15T08:13:00.000-07:00

I guess I'll just start with the view from my window. I live in West Jinju Si (city), in a building called Caesar's Palace. It's a nice, new building, and you're looking at the edge of the good part of town. Just out of town is the resevoir, Water Museum, modest zoo, and bungee jump. I haven't been to the mountains you see in the distance quite yet. But I've been to the one behind my building (next post; it's pretty great).

Jinju is a nice town. It's easy to get around in, and most of the people seem to've figured out how to work hard while taking it easy at the same time. In fact, the only people who seem to be truly stressed out are the Korean English teachers who, at my school, work from about 2 or 3 pm to 1 am six nights a week. [Don't worry Mom, that ain't my schedule.]

At times it seems as if the place is being invaded by English language academies (or hogwans). It sometimes seems, as well, as if there are more kids (shouting "Hi" or "how are you, I am fine") than adults. We foreign teachers are minor local celebrities, curiosities, pests and buffoons all rolled into one.

Nice to Meet You

2006-10-13T22:33:00.000-07:00

Hello. Nice to meet you. How are you? I am fine.