Lunar New Year Gifts

Lunar New Year is rapidly approaching. It is often called Chinese New Year in America, although it isn't called that here. For obvious reasons. This year is a big celebration, because 2012 is the year of the dragon. I will be celebrating Lunar New Year by flying to America, but most people celebrate by giving gifts, bowing to ancestors and eating a special soup that makes you a year older. 

The whole getting a year older thing still kinda throws me off sometimes. In less than a week, I'll be turning 27. My actual biological age is 25, but culturally speaking, I add two years. Everyone has their actual birthday celebration, then everyone adds a year on Lunar New Year, whenever it may fall. I've heard this is especially shocking for expats who are nearing the 30 mark. 

Gift giving is also really important. Many parents give money to their children, and my students all tell me this is the best part of the holiday. However, if you want to give a gift to someone who isn't a child, or to a co-worker, there are different options for that. Giving box sets seems to be a big thing here. It doesn't matter what the holiday is, there are always piles and piles of box sets that go on sale in anticipation of the gift giving season. The first time I saw these gift boxes up close, I was surprised. You see, gift boxes are different here. In America, maybe your box would be some nice lotion and soap, or cheese and sausage. Here are some examples of gift boxes that are quite common in Korea. For price conversion purposes, just assume that 1,000 Korean won is the same as 1 US dollar. It isn't exact, but it gives you a ballpark. 

This is the display rack outside of a grocery store in a busy neighborhood in Seoul. 

Shampoo, body wash, soap and toothpaste. 

Two bottles of canola oil and one bottle of grapeseed oil. I actually almost bought one of these, because that's a rather good price for oil here. 

The combo pack. Oil, tuna and generic SPAM. 

This seems to be quite popular, especially around lunar new year. It's a gift box of SPAM. For $50. 

Chatting with Carl

I received a phone call tonight that I want to share with you. But before I can share about the phone call, I have to give you a little bit of background information. 

Credit cards seem to work slightly differently here. First of all, they're rather hard to get if you're a foreigner. Which is actually probably true in just about every country. But credit cards in Korea come with all sorts of benefits. You can get discounts and points and rewards and gift cards and who knows what else... It is also significantly easier to shop online, which I've been doing more and more of lately. Basically, milk, bread, eggs and some meats and produce is about all I buy at the store anymore. I get the rest of it online. It's a major pain and a multi-day process to get money transferred into the correct accounts to shop online without a credit card. Debit cards generally don't work. 

About six weeks ago, a middle aged Korean man walked into my office. He worked for Citi Bank Korea, and he wanted to offer a credit card to the foreign professors. I was a little suspicious at first, but my office mates all knew him, so I went ahead and signed up. He was quite persistent. He had three credit cards he was offering, and he wanted me to sign up for all three of them. I was quite sure that I didn't want three credit cards. So then he suggested that I sign up for the highest level super platinum airline benefits card. I definitely didn't want that. There was a card that let you get discounts at the grocery store I shop at, and several restaurants and coffee shops. I was interested in that one. After a good 20 minutes of back and forth (and me getting very frustrated that the man wouldn't listen to me) we finally got everything taken care of. My card came in the mail, and it has made my life easier in all of the anticipated ways. I thought I had heard the last of Carl and his aggressive sales tactics. Then my phone rang. 

I normally don't answer my phone if I don't recognize the number, just because wrong numbers and telemarketers and such are SO stressful to try to deal with in Korean. But since it was 8:00 pm on Sunday night, I figured there was no possible way it could be someone who didn't personally know me. I was partially right. The conversation went something like this:

Sarah: Hello?

Carl: silence

S: Hello?

C: Hello. How are you Sarah? (said a Korean man's voice).

S: (A little freaked out because I don't recognize the voice, but it obviously knows me) I'm fine. 

C: This is Carl. 

S: (drawing a blank)...

C:Credit card.

S: (drawing a blank)...

C: From Citi.

S: (realization dawns, and with it a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach) Oh, hello.

C: I'm with Lotte* now. I can give you a Lotte card. 

Carl then proceeded to explain to me all of the benefits that came with a Lotte card and how they were so much better than a Citi credit card. I kept trying to explain to Carl that I was just fine with the Citi cards that I had, and I really didn't want another one. I really didn't want another three. I really didn't want any more credit cards at all, in Korea or America, actually. I finally managed to convince Carl that I wasn't going to bite, and we awkwardly said goodbye. The goodbyes were going quite well, until Carl said "Ok, I'll see you in your office" just before he hung up. Hopefully he'll come when I'm in class, or on a day I'm not there!

*For my readers not in Korea, Lotte (low-tay) is a rather large corporation here that does pretty much everything. Like Wal*Mart or Tesco times about 10. Apparently in addition to grocery stores, department stores, food manufacturing, fast food chains, and imports/exports, they offer credit cards. 

Grocery Shopping

I went to the grocery store tonight, and I thought while I was there, I would take some pictures of things that are really typical in grocery stores here. Grocery stores are much smaller here. Imagine your local Payless/Kroger/Big Box Store food section and take about 25% of that. That's the size of the whole store. This means that the selection is much more limited as far as brand selection, but there are also just lots of things that aren't in the grocery stores. 

There are some products and brands that are quite familiar. Koreans seem to love instant coffee. They are all over the place. 

Then there are some things that you probably wouldn't find in your local grocery store. Exhibit A: Canned roasted silkworm larvae. There are actually street vendors that roast giant vats of this on the street. They don't smell very good. 

Broccoli is quite normal in America, but in Korea it is a specialty item. This means it is quite expensive. Each one of these packages has one tiny head of broccoli, and it costs about $2. 

Peppers are also readily available, but quite expensive. Three tiny bell peppers (think half the size of American bell peppers) are about $4.

Green onions, celery, something I don't recognize, and leeks. 

There is a lot of selection with the dried fish, but I've never purchased any of them. 

You can buy normal eggs, or you can buy quail eggs.

There is an entire aisle dedicated to various types, shapes and sizes of seaweed. 

This is about as close as it gets to a lunchmeat section. There are some things that are kinda like hot dogs, and a lot of meat that is the same as spam. 

The green things are pumpkins, but I think they are a little closer to an acorn squash. You can buy bundles of dried garlic too. 

This is a very popular Korean side dish. It is pickled yellow radish, and it's definitely not my favorite thing to eat. 

I was surprised, because a lot of liquid laundry detergent and fabric softener comes in bags instead of bottles.

I saw this bag that sells "Viscos Bath Towel". I'm not really sure what it is, but there we have it. 

This aisle is dedicated to ramen. If you go to a big box store in Korea, there are usually two aisles of ramen. Koreans definitely love their ramen!

There are even more familiar things! The Korean writing in blue is a phonetic transcription of Nesquik. 

One of the differences about shopping is that stores charge you for grocery bags. They are much more substantial than normal plastic bags, so you can re-use them. Because of this, people tend to cram a LOT of stuff into a single bag. This was my entire shopping trip tonight. I weighed the bag when I got home, and it was 22 pounds. 

All spread out, here's what it looks like. Bread, dried mangos, udon noodles, dark chocolate ice cream bars, 4 cans of kidney beans, 1 jar of strawberry jam, 2 cans of tomato paste, 1 package of napkins, 1 toilet cleaning brush, 1 bottle of orange fanta, 1 bottle of apple juice, 1 box of milk and 1 bottle of kitchen cleaner. It's all terribly exciting, isn't it?

Meat tends to be ridiculous expensive here. I sometimes get cans of tuna, which run about $2 each. Ground beef is about $5 a pound. I order chicken breast online, and it is about $4.50 a pound. Sometimes I get ground pork for $3 a pound. I've never tried to buy a steak in Korea, but I've gotten pork tenderloin once or twice, and it is also quite expensive. For meat, I tend to shop at Costco once every couple of months and stock up. Most of my produce I buy from street stands. And that's grocery shopping in Korea!

Dongdaemun Craft Market

I had plans to hang out with some of my girl friends today. We decided that lunch, a visit to the Dongdamun Craft Market, and then a coffee shop crochet lesson were the perfect plans for an autumn afternoon. I'd heard about this market, and I was excited to go. I have missed doing crafty things over the past year... Despite what I'd heard, I wasn't entirely prepared for the spectacle of the market.

For lunch, we went to a Korean Porridge restaurant. I've been to this chain before, and it's always quite enjoyable. Today, I had sweet corn chowder with red beans in a bread bowl. The red beans were a bit odd in the corn chowder, but overall, it was quite enjoyable! This is Stacy and I. Two other ladies, Karen and Becky, were on the other side of the table, actually taking the picture. 

Next stop: Dongdaemun Craft Market. 

On the street leading up to the market (which is in a 6 story building), there were small shops that were overflowing with feathers, trims, furs.... Anything you could think of.

First off, we went to the basement to try and find some yarn and crochet hooks, which was the initial purpose of our expedition. However, I was so busy looking at various yarns, trying to find crochet hooks, discussion patterns with my friends, and trying to barter and negotiation in Korean, that I neglected to take any pictures. However, Becky took one picture of Karen, Stacy and I examining a knit pattern. 

It was rather amazing to see so many yarns and samples, in every color and texture imaginable, all together. 

After we successfully found all of the yarns and hooks we needed,  we decided to explore the rest of the market to see what it was all about. There were rows and rows of pearls, in every size, shape and color. 

You could buy necklaces that were already put together. 

Or if you were feeling adventurous, there were lots of beads to make your own necklace. 

They had abalone and mother of peal in every design imaginable (and some that I'm quite sure I've never imagined). 

There were tables full of loose faux gemstones. 

Piles and piles of roses and other flowery things just waiting to be glued or sewed onto a project. 

Tiny charms, pendants, and assembly pieces for making all different types of jewelry. 

Yards and yards of ribbon in every color, design and texture.  

There were very colorful buttons

And very delicious buttons

Buttons made from semi-precious stones

And some buttons that were just ordinary. 

There were two and a half floors dedicated to nothing but fabric. 

Some of the fabric was very, very fuzzy. There was an entire wall (think the entire length of your local big box store) dedicated to furry fabric. 

Several stores did their best to show that plaid can be fashionable, although the jury is still out on if they succeeded. 

Some of the fabric was cut into fat quarters for quilting. 

Some of it was just folded and stacked on tables. 

There were piles of rolls laying on the floor.  

Samples hung on the wall. I've never seen so much fabric in one place in my entire life! It's probably a good thing I don't have a sewing machine here....

We spent a good two and a half hours in this market, and we just barely did anything more than give a quick overview of things. We didn't even make it to the top floor. We were just too tired and overwhelmed. We certainly didn't stop to look at things closely. It was basically the most amazing store I've been to in Seoul. I'm definitely going to have to go back sometime, when I have a little bit clearer of an idea about various projects I want to make. I don't think the Dongdaemun Craft Market is someplace you go wander around and wait for inspiration to strike. There's just too much there...

After we finished our shopping, we went to a nearby coffee shop for our crochet lesson. Stacy and I knew how to crochet, but Becky and Karen didn't know. So far, everything is going well! We are hoping to have part two of the crochet lesson soon!

After the crochet lesson, Stacy decided to go to the clothing market to look for some clothes. I didn't have anything else to do today, so I went along with her. In the clothing section, we saw this luggage, which I thought was just the most amazing thing ever! It's really too bad luggage is so ridiculously expensive in Seoul. Wouldn't it be amazing to have?

A day in the life (almost)

Sometimes, I try to think how to describe what life is like here, but I don't know how to try and convey all of the details that make Korea so different from America, and give it its own charm and culture. I was flipping through the pictures on my phone, and I realized that I have quite a lot of random shots of things that embody Korea, in various ways, but they've never fit into anything else that I've written about... So, without further ado, here are random pictures from the past year that make Korea, well, Korea!

This is in my old neighborhood... Isn't every neighborhood supposed to have a bar called "Cheers"? That's what 80's and early 90's TV told me!

Also in my old neighborhood... Obviously putting the "I" in "IGA". There was an IGA in the tiny little town where I grew up as well....

This is inside a Korean hotel room. Koreans love wallpaper. It's even on the ceiling in my apartment. 

I got so excited one day to see a box of graham crackers on the shelf! This box is *only* about $8. Thankfully, there are perfectly good Korean crackers that work as a substitute at about a quarter of the price!

Whenever a new store opens, the owner's friends send these massive flower stand things with encouraging messages to display in front of the store. 

This is on a university campus in Southeastern Seoul. I've never taught at this school or anything, but they have a nice campus. The graffiti seems to change pretty often. 

This shirt is only $10! I have a good friend whose last name is Foster. If he had a girlfriend, I totally would have purchased this shirt for her! If you can't read it, it says "Foster affection and feel a pleasure". 

I was in a taxi once, and they had TV that you could watch while you were riding. 

Seen outside of a restaurant near where I live now. 

This is a typical Korean cake. They are absolutely beautiful to look at, but they are all beauty and no substance. The frosting is all airy, the cake isn't very sturdy either, and there are often unusual fillings in there. I will say, living here has made me appreciate American cake. 

One of my former students and her work of art at the end of semester party. 

The aforementioned Mr. Foster bottling brew that he and some other friends brewed. I don't actually like beer, but the time to bottle came when everyone else involved in the process was out of town, so I went over to help. 

A random picture on the side of a subway car that didn't make any sense to me. She has paint brushes in her hair. Nobody is ever allowed to make fun of me for my hair sticks again!

This is Namsan Tower, and it's beautiful on clear nights. I live really, really close to it now!

You can get ice cream cake at Baskin Robbins that is pretty good... It isn't as good as Dairy Queen, but beggars can't be choosers.... When you buy ice cream cake, it comes in this massive cooler thing. If you are going to be going far, then they put packets of dry ice in the cooler to keep your cake from melting. 

This is a raspberry, cream cheese, and yogurt ice cream cake. Except for the dark things, which are chocolate, and the three berries, everything there is ice cream. 

I found a pretty awesome grape popsicle last night. It is from a chain called Paris Baguette. The writing says "Grape. Mon amie, mon amour, mon Paris Baguette", which is French for "My friend, my love, my Paris Baguette". I don't understand it. But the popsicle was delicious!

Yesterday, I had to go to Gwanghwamun to go to a bookstore. I thought that this shot represented a part of Seoul rather well. A giant memorial statue, lots of people walking, an ancient palace, mountains in the background, and a long line of cars off to the left. 

Finally, Foster and Thomas came over last night for a cooking lesson. We made curry pan fried salmon, crushed red pepper and parmesan asparagus, and greek roasted sweet potatoes. It was a rather nice meal!

I tried a new route home from work tonight, and I walked past this salon. I know it's hard to read the sign, but it is called "scissor stalker". It sounds like a scary place to get a hair cut. 

I wonder if Einstein Baby milk makes your baby smarter, just like the Baby Einstein movies??

A snack food I've never managed to try. Banana Corn!

This was painted on the side of a wall near where I live. I affectionately call it the sad whale mural. This just brings up oh so many questions about the artist....

Somehow, it was a little odd to see traditional pilgrim characters done in Anime right next to halloween Anime and traditional Korean Anime, all done in cross stitch....

A statue of a random person sitting on top of a club/bar entrance. Maybe they're trying to save money on the bouncer?

I was walking through one of the shopping districts that is popular with Japanese tourists a few weeks ago, and I saw these random street performers. I think they were advertising something. Such performances aren't very common here, but it was highly interesting nonetheless! 

This map is in my office directly above my desk. It is always a little odd, because the continents have swapped sides from what I'm used to. 

You can buy great, cheap jewelry in the subway stations and on street corners. I picked up this necklace for about $3. She's like a little marionette doll. Her joints all move! It makes me really happy!