Itaewon Global Fair

I saw the signs for a "global fair" that was happening in Itaewon over the weekend, but I wasn't too terribly interested in it. These kinds of things tend to be a little bit one-dimensional here. But, on Sunday some of my friends wanted to walk over to Itaewon to get lunch, so we inadvertently walked through the middle of the global fair. As expected, most of it was about Korean food and culture, but there were a few cool highlights.

Namsan is starting to look really beautiful. I especially loved the line of yellow trees at the baseline of the mountain.

There was a place that sold food from a Middle Eastern country that escapes me right now, but they were cooking a massive pillar of chicken breast that would later be sliced off the rotating spit and made into kebabs. 

There was a place where kids could experience playing traditional Korean drums. It was kinda funny. Most of the kids were Korean, but there was this one little girl who was a foreigner. There were all sorts of people crowding around and taking a picture of the foreign child doing something that is traditional Korean... 

There were a surprising number of people there for the global fair. I was surprised that there weren't very many foreigners in the crowd. My friend and I kinda stuck out more than we usually do in Itaewon. 

This is another traditional Korean activity. You basically toss the arrows and try to get them to stay in the container. This is much harder than it sounds, I assure you. 

Becky is trying her best to get an arrow into the bin! It actually went straight in, but then it bounced out again. Sad day. 

There was another traditional Korean cultural experience awaiting us. They let you choose from a list of traditional proverbs, and they would write it in Korean calligraphy for you to take home. This is the beginning of my calligraphy experience. 

This is the middle of the calligraphy experience. Unfortunately, I didn't actually get to see the end of the calligraphy experience. A man with a TV camera came up to me and started trying to talk with me. We did a little interview that was partially in Korean and partially in English. Neither of us spoke much of the other's language. After a bit of confusion about what he wanted, and some hemming and hawing while I thought, I was able to do a brief introduction of myself in Korean, and say the Korean version of the proverb I'd chosen, then I translated the proverb into English. I don't really know how much of it he filmed, or what he was filming for. But there we have it. I've officially done my first bi-lingual interview. 

Things I've Seen and Done

This last week has been quite busy. Midterms are approaching at school, and the number of student visits and faculty meetings increase proportionally to the number of days left until the exam. The international Korean TESOL conference was this weekend, and it was two full days of sessions, lectures and workshops. Some of it was really good, some of it was really bad. And of course, because I'm me, there has been lots of cooking, entertaining, and even a bit of crafting in the interim.

I've been thinking that I really should do more to show some of the random stuff that I see all the time around Seoul. I've decided to try a weekly feature called "Things I've Seen and Done". I'll take pictures of various things throughout the week to try to capture a bit more of the daily flavor of life in Korea and I'll do my best to post each Sunday night, Korean time. so without further ado, here are a few representative pictures from my week. 

These trucks that sell roasted chickens are quite common. I've never actually bought a chicken from one of them, but they're usually pretty cheap. I think this particular truck was two chickens for $10. There seems to be one for every neighborhood.

However, I was surprised to walk down the street a few nights ago and see this truck. I've never seen a truck selling anything other than chicken or produce. 

A close up for all of you seafood fans out there. The design was quite good. There were jets of hot steam blowing up from those metal shelves. I don't know if they were cooking, or just warming the crabs. But there we have it. It just goes to prove you never know what you'll find in the back of a truck around here. 

On the way to the conference, we found a really amazing hole in the wall Mexican restaurant that actually had decent prices! I was so excited that I forgot to take a picture. However, this soup place was just a few buildings down. If you can't read the caption, it says "Only the pure in heart can make a good soup". There are cute-ish English sentences that go with just about every restaurant here. This is one of the better examples, because it is actually grammatically correct!

I finally found the toothpaste I've been looking for all my life. If you notice on the left side of the box, this toothpaste is proudly Anti-Calculus! 

We had a lesson on writing process paragraphs in one of my writing classes. I showed them some clips from the movie, "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days" and then we made our own list of things to do to lose a guy. 

This is an essay from one of my students. They were supposed to do some freewriting. Two of my students who sit next to each other decided to write about New York City. This student writes:

The New York City is dream for many people all over the world. 

There are many things. But among those things, most impressive aspect is people.

They are called New Yorker. And they walk New York streets, eat hot dog, take a taxi,

run to their office. That is real, not a movie. 

Her friend had a much longer paragraph, but my favorite section of it was:

New York is symbol of fashion, freedom and young, I think. So New York city is charming city. Maybe if I'm in New York, I wear trench coat, high hills (I think she means heels), and left hand bring newspapers or right hand hold Starbucks coffee. It's all woman's romance. Oh! and I will eat brunch in cafe - like sex and the city. 

Later on, I put them in groups or work on brainstorming topics and outlines for their homework assignment. One group of students decided to write about "How To Survive As A Foreigner In Korea". I asked them if they wanted any help, because I was a foreigner, but they said they had it covered. When I looked at their outline, I discovered that there were three simple steps to surviving as a foreigner here. 

1. Respect my elders.

2. Learn Korean drinking culture.

3. Make some friends in Itaewon.

As a side note, Itaewon is the foreigners district. Apparently the only part of Korean culture we are supposed to engage is drinking culture, but we should do it with other foreigners. ::sigh:: If only I would have know this a year ago :p

Finally, on a more domestic front, some girls came over and we made some cinnamon rolls. They turned out quite nicely!

And as a result of my trip to the Craft Market, I've taken up crocheting again. Yes, it's a little bit early, but it takes time to make snowflakes for Christmas. At least I don't (usually) listen to Christmas music while I make them!

How do you say "Quesadilla" in Italian?

I had one of those "only in Korea" moments tonight.... I went out with a friend to celebrate her birthday. We went to one of my favorite restaurants in Seoul. Everything I've ever had there has been delicious. Given this track record, I decided to try the quesadilla .

You have to understand -- Mexican food is nearly impossible to come by in Korea, and the recently opened Taco Bell is considered to be among the best available... I had low expectations going into this meal, but I had faith in this particular restaurant. Besides, I figured the worst case scenario, I'd get a flour tortilla shell with some chicken and cheddar cheese melted together. Oh how wrong I was....

It looked really promising at first! The tortilla shell was a lovely golden brown. It smelled pretty good, and I could see some green peppers peeking out. Given past experiences with Mexican food in Korea, I knew that it would be a fatal mistake to take a bite without opening the tortilla to look inside. I almost couldn't believe it when I first looked.

There was chicken that had been marinaded in something to make it quite dark. The first bite confirmed that it was in fact a balsamic vinegar marinade. There were vast quantities of red onions and green peppers, which I was ok with. But there were also vast quantities of garlic cloves and shredded cabbage, which is not something I typically associate with Mexican cuisine. But the kicker to this balsamic-garlic-cabbage quesadilla was the cheese. In my worst case scenario, I'd envisioned cheap cheddar cheese. What I was faced with was both terrifying and puzzling. There was ricotta cheese in my quesadilla. Ricotta cheese doesn't really melt well, it certainly isn't Mexican, and it is ridiculously expensive in Korea. I have no clue what it was doing in my dinner that was masquerading as a quesadilla, but there it was.

It wasn't bad, per se.... But it definitely wasn't terribly delicious. The mix of flavors and textures was just off... I will say it is definitely the most creative take on Mexican I've ever seen, and perhaps also the most Italian... At one point, it occurred to me that this was probably the kind of dish you'd watch someone make on the Food Network, think sounded interesting, but never actually want to make at home.

At least now I know for sure -- if I want Mexican food in Seoul, I'm going to have to try to make it myself.

Walking Home

I was on the bus, on my way home from work tonight, and I was chatting with my friend Martha. Martha is one of my "back home" friends, and her days are starting just as mine are ending. So it works rather conveniently, and we chat just about every work day. I tried a new way to come home tonight, and at one point, I realized I was on a bus and I had absolutely no clue where I was... Finally, I recognized one of the announcements about a stop, and was able to make it back with no problems.

Martha was right there with me during this whole process, and got a bit of a play by play as I got lost and found again. So when I finally exited the bus, she inquired how far I had to walk to get home. I thought that I'd snap a few pictures of my walk from this particular bus stop back to my apartment. I apologize for the really terrible picture quality. I had books and bread in my hands, and it was dark out.

This is where the bus drops me off. Well, it actually drops me off on the other side of the street, but you get the general idea ;) 

Next, I take a right at the fruit stand. Yes, that is actually fruit and produce, even though you really can't see it. These produce stands are EVERYWHERE in Seoul. The prices are usually quite good, and the produce is quite fresh. 

Looming ahead is the "tunnel of doom". When I went to look at the apartment, the previous tenant went to great lengths to assure me that it wasn't too creepy/scary, and I shouldn't take this apartment off of my list just because of the tunnel. I actually kinda like it. It's nice and echo-y and mysterious!

After the tunnel come the never-ending-stairs. Ok. They really aren't that bad, especially not compared to some of the subway stairs, or all of the stairs I climb at work. But sometimes it feels like there are a lot of them ;)

Past the tunnel is this intersection. My neighborhood is quite quiet, but there are two major tunnels that run under the mountain that merge onto a highway here. Traffic can get a bit heavy sometimes. 

This is the road that I turn onto to get to my apartment. We're almost there! Just one more turn and one more hill. 

This is the final turn/hill combo to get to my place. When I first moved here, I hated this hill... But after walking up and down it multiple times a day, and comparing it with the mountain I climb at work, we are becoming old friends and it isn't such a big deal anymore ;) I do really appreciate how much green there is around my building. The ajumma all have their little vegetable gardens and pots. 

This is my actual building, shot at a funny angle so you couldn't read the address plate on it ;)

Just inside the door, you see all of these stairs. My landlord lives in the basement apartment, and I live on the "2nd" floor. Really, it's just up that tiny flight of stairs to the first landing. 

Finally, we reach my front door. For some reason, it is very hobbit-esque to me. Maybe it's the green and gold. Who knows. But I'm usually quite happy to make it back here!

All said and done, from the bus stop to my apartment door, it is about a 5 minute walk. There's another bus stop that is about a minute away from my apartment (down by the exercise park) that I use when I go to work. When I come back, that bus isn't as convenient, so I've been exploring a number of options to get home again. 

Life Is Just A Cup Of Cake

My friends Becky and Stacy came out to itaewon for lunch and conversation today. After we ate, we walked around and I showed them some of the international markets I shop at, and then we decided to go get some cupcakes. Aside from being incredibly delicious, they were darn cute!!

This is a carrot cupcake with a black tea latte.

Welcome to my humble abode!

As of this afternoon, I will have been back in Korea for one week. It has been a crazy week, full of unpacking, job orientation, trying to learn new bus routes, and adjusting to a new time zone. Thankfully, the jet lag has been really really easy to handle this time around. I suppose it's making up for how terrible it was in the States.

Things are going well with the new job so far. I'm trying to finish learning the online system, in all of its multi-faceted glory, and writing a syllabus for a storytelling class I'm teaching, but other than that, I'm ready for classes to start on Friday.

I don't know that I'd say I'm settled in to my new apartment yet, because things are still really new, and I'm still trying to figure out which light switch does what, and which way to turn the faucets to change the water temperature, and all of that stuff... But I'm at least unpacked, which is a glorious thing! So, without further ado, here is a video tour of my new apartment! Sorry it's a little twist during the first part. I am filming on my iPhone, and I can't ever tell what direction things are going to go once they're done!

I can go up to the rooftop as well. My landlord uses it for storage, so it is rather crowded, but there are a few places to sit. The view is lovely from up there. 

All in all, I think I'm going to quite enjoy living here!