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Love and madness in Korea.

I love this country. I really do. It is absolutely crazy and bizarre and I can’t, for the life of me find any pattern of predictability with these people. On the surface they are very serious, conservative, and keep to themselves. Don’t bother to smile at a passer-by in the street if your intention is to receive one in return; their stony, lifeless expressions are unaffected by such a nonsensical gesture. Yet an “Anni-yang-ha-se-yo” coupled with a slight nod will get you one step closer to basic cordiality, and if you are comfortable enough taking it a few steps beyond that, you are very likely to find yourself in conversation so peculiar and hilarious you forget how you could ever feel lonely in a place like this.

I find it so adorable that for the first time since 2002, I am once again repeatedly asked “Brittany, as in Britney Spears?!”, as if it’s the first time anyone has ever made that connection. I love conversations with university students in the subway who turn out to be 15 year old girls (who knew?) and ask many questions about Eminem and Justin Timberlake. Better yet are the middle aged men seated next to us in the street food tent hand-feeding us soju, beef, and jalepenos from their table (we didn’t even have to use our own hands!). Nothing better than dinner accompanied by ever-popular Korean fart humor from a group of true professionals. Gom-be! After dinner and a show, what’s better for digestion than walking at a steady pace away from some (drunk?) high school girls and their riddles regarding something about being a nurse?, or purse? or kayak, maybe?.. in the middle of the night, while begging my 30 year old mi-gook friend for a kiss.

Rarely a dull moment.

He Said / She Said

This is my friend Rachel.

I haven't known her all that long ...

but you probably should be a little jealous of me for having a friend like her.

She is, and does, many wonderful things.

Giver her 5$.
Pretend you bought her 5 chocolate milks.
You can afford it.

You'll get beautiful things in return.

The Bulge in the Middle Kingdom (Video)

For years, I’ve listened to South Korean students, co-workers, and even my wife and family tell me how obese Americans are due to a rotten food culture, or even racial characteristics. I’ve listened patiently. I’ve not said a word about the diminutive grandmothers and grandfathers bent 90 degrees as if carrying phantom loads of cargo on their backs from the decades when the Korean diet lacked key nutrients. I also didn’t say a word about the street food, that, even if it were hallowed local favorites, still contained plenty of oil and salt for me to recognize it as fast food. And, of course, I said nothing of the plump kids with cellphones gorging themselves silly at the vendors’ carts between cram school sessions or devouring bags of chips and cookies in class. I didn’t warn them about the lure of modern society: cheap food that really is trash.

Now, the Chinese are taking the lead in global obesity rates, and the South Koreans are probably not that far behind. This is no longer a racial or national issue, but an economic matter. The hunger for cheap food complements the hunger for producing substandard fare that garners massive profit.

Filed under: Books, Business/Economy, East Asia, Globalization, Korea, PBS Tagged: china, diabetes type 2, food, obesity, prc

Review: O'ngo night dining tour

UPDATE: This Saturday night only (June 4th), check out the night dining tour for a discount if you're an expat teacher. Contact Daniel Gray at seouleats at gmail dot com or 010-6661-7769.

I recently had the chance to enjoy enough Korean food in one night to fill me up for a couple of days. The event, a nighttime dining tour, is a new service offered by Daniel Gray (the man behind Seoul Eats) and the O'ngo Communications Company. While not really interested in feeling like a tourist in Korea after all my travels, the combination of good food and a very knowledgeable English-speaking tour guide is hard to resist.

Just one of the interesting sights in the market.

The group met near Jongno-5-ga, not far from Gwangjang Market. Once the group was complete, Daniel started right up, explaining different foods while walking around the market and answering people's questions. The group, an eclectic mix of Asians, the Lady in Red, and myself, made their way through a significant portion of the market, eliciting stares as we went. Daniel has led this tour "ten times in the last month", and doesn't seem tired of the stares or the walking.

After walking down a raw food alley, we walked to the next leg of our tour, a 갈매기살 (galmaegisal) restaurant in Jongno-3-ga. Galmaegisal, as Daniel explained, is from the pig's diaphragm, and tastes more like beef. It's not nearly as fatty as pork belly, and is wrapped in lettuce with mushrooms, onions, or sauce. I don't claim to be a food connisseour, but there is a distinct difference in the texture - a nice change from more fatty meats. A final course of pig's skin seemed a bit exotic, but wasn't offensive; once cooked, it looked much as the meat did.

A nighttime tour of food in Korea wouldn't be complete without alcohol. When he wasn't turning meat on two tables or keeping up conversation, Daniel showed us a concoction involving beer, soju, and Coke - "drink it slowly!" Daniel explained. The drink, 호징가매 (ho-jing-ga-mae), translates to 'the sweet after the bitter' - but you'll have to watch him make it for the full show.

Our next stop, also within walking distance, was a makgeolli (rice wine) restaurant. While a few opted out of drinking after his earlier concoction. Daniel encouraged everyone to try it.

As expected, it paired nicely with the first course of kimchi and warm steamed tofu. The pajeon (Korean-style pancake; not pictured) that came later was a welcome addition; neither overpowering or understated.

The last stop was a tent restaurant, the sort that dot Korean sidewalks orange after-hours. The Lady in Red and I needed to catch the subway home, so we had to skip out before enjoying this last course.

My only critique of the evening was the quantity - there's far too much Korean food to experience in one evening and three restaurants. That almost everyone stuffed themselves on 갈매기살 left little room for the remaining courses. If you have limited time in the country, this tour will give you plenty, while whetting your appetite for more. Daniel is an excellent tour guide, though I couldn't help but feel somewhat rushed when going from one place to another. It also would have been rather awkward to stop and look at something interesting - and find the tour has left you behind.

Dan's knowledge of Korean food is second to none. When he wasn't explaining what a food was or offering a sauce recipe from memory, he was explaining some element of Korean culture or history to the group. While this tour has been designed for foreign visitors to Korea, expat teachers are more than welcome to join the group. If interested in daytime market tours or taking cooking classes, those are available as well. Go to ongofood.com to learn more about all the tours and classes available, or look at the calendar for what's coming up.

Disclosure: Chris in South Korea received a press pass for the dining tour, while the Lady in Red received a discount off of the usual fare.

This post was originally published on my blog, Chris in South Korea. If you are reading this on another website and there is no linkback or credit given, you are reading an UNAUTHORIZED FEED.

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Statistically Probable Thought #2

When referring to a situation in which the original cause out of two likely explanations is unknown, many people like to use the old chestnut:

"Which came first, the chicken or the egg?"

This is an example of metacircularity and is designed to be unanswerable. But the biological answer in terms of evolution is: the chicken.

The reason for this is because the egg is part of the chicken's reproductive strategy. If you traced the chicken's ancestors back in time throughout evolutionary history, you'd find that the eggs were more watery, from the amphibian lineage that we all share. If you went back further still, to simpler and primordial ancestors of the chicken, which were aquatic plankton, you'd find that eventually there was a point where sexual reproduction began. Before this time, the modus operandi of all reproductivity was binary fission ie. one cell dividing into two - in which case, there were no eggs to speak of. Eggs arose after the first organisms developed meiosis, the ability to divide chromosomes between gamete cells.

So the answer to this question is that the chicken came first, although the ancient 'chickens' we are referring to are quite different to the chickens of today.

Lee's Korea Blog: Helping you lose friends since 2006™

(...by equipping you with wildly inappropriate responses to well-meaning questions)

Subversive AND Skeptical in the South

Just when I get frustrated with the expat blogosphere – which seems utterly ridiculous with conservatives who trust implicitly that the voices in their head spewing out invective are more convincing than facts – students give me hope. I’m not working today, but the BBC picks up the load. Sungsoo Ji in Masan and I would probably agree.

I’ve done my national service and I’ve still got friends in the army. They’re saying that soldiers are getting more training and that things are getting serious.

Our president could be overreacting though – North Korea doesn’t want war.

To be honest, I’m not sure I trust the information given to us about the Cheonan sinking. It could be a trick because it’s election period at the moment, so it could be some kind of strategy.

If North Korea did sink the ship, it’s a really serious situation.

And then, there’s Hyobin, with some election day humor, for those who thought Grannies didn’t have any.

A couple of jokes are going around. One, some posts titled “click to see hot sexy North Korean girls”, which connect you to some pictures of hot white/latina pictures with “number 1″ in Korean on their skin just like the evidence torpedo clearly had it.

Another one is actually a talk that someone heard over at one of the voting sites in Korea today. One grandma goes “Just stamp at number one”. Then the second grandma goes, “No, my grand son told me I have to vote for number two if I do not want war.” Then the first grandma says, “number two is all red partisans (meaning North Korea or sometimes lefties, people just do not understand the difference).” Then this third grandma goes, “then let’s stamp at the second one because the red partisans that we elect will not fight their own kind (“red partisan” = North Korea according to her logic). So all three grandmas agree to vote for number two party, which is comparatively progressive than the number one, which have the current President. Well, grandmas, that works for me. =)

Read More

via "I wanna explore the world like her."

(This is my first use of WordPress’s new reblogging tool.)

So now, I have some hope, that President Lee Myung-bak will get a nasty little wake-up call in his election results tonight. But, damn, my wife just called to tell me she had voted – she’s a GNP supporter!

Filed under: Korea, Maritime, Military, Politics, WP Reblogs Tagged: cheonan, dprk, elections, gnp, lee myung bak, north korea, rok

Destination: Haebangchon Fest

Also called the HBC Fest, the Haebangchon Festival is a treat for eyes and ears, but mostly the ears. Featuring dozens of acts by foreigners living in Korea (and a few international acts), few events can bring so many foreigners together in one place - which might be a good thing for the sake of traffic. Blocking off traffic wasn't an option, as the road leading uphill goes to the Seoul Tower and plenty of homes.

The Sejong Boys, featured at the New Phillies (AKA Phillies Downstairs).

The Guitar Hero contest over at Orange Tree - started a bit late, but still an interesting watch.

After meandering up the hill for some Korean grub, we headed back down to Haebangchon for some more music:

The only act featuring a fiddle (that I saw) - Luke Michielsen, over at Jacoby's.

Haebangchon featured tight quarters all the way around - venues built for dozens tried to hold hundreds, while streets desperately needing sidewalks held plenty of foreigners while cars crept past an arm's length away. The main attraction almost seemed to be the crowd itself. Where neighborhoods like Itaewon are where the majority of foreigners party, Haebangchon is where quite a few of them live.

Speaking of Itaewon, the Lady in Red and I headed there to end our evening:

The last band on at Rocky Mountain Tavern, Mirrorhouse, offered up some original rock. The near-overwhelming crowd in Haebangchon, however, did not walk the kilometer or so to Itaewon - or had already had too much to drink...

The biggest problem was the crowd - numbering in the thousands, it's almost outgrown the space once dedicated to much smaller numbers. Next year's Haebangchon fest may need to be held elsewhere for the even-larger crowd expected - but it'll be a great party wherever it is. Another complaint was the almost complete lack of signage - if you're new to Korea or had no idea where Haebangchon is, you would have been lost. While the website was great at providing information, printed flyers containing the same information were much more difficult to find.

I'm happy to say I went to the event, and it's a great feeling to be surrounded by so many foreigners. I met up with quite a few people I hadn't seen in months, and otherwise socialized without fear of a language barrier. The few Koreans around seemed to be pretty sociable, and otherwise part of the expat community. How's that for an interesting reversal?

Ratings (out of 5 taeguks):

Ease to arrive:

Foreigner-friendly:

Convenience facilities:

Worth the visit:

This post was originally published on my blog, Chris in South Korea. If you are reading this on another website and there is no linkback or credit given, you are reading an UNAUTHORIZED FEED.

10 Magazine video contest - time to vote for your favorites

The 10 Magazine Video Contest has begun - some are quite professionally done, while others are... a little more amateurish. From silly and corny to quiet and beautiful, there's a wide range of ways to promote Korean tourism. Go here to vote for up to three of your favorites, and vote a second time for your favorite of the three on the page. Voting is open to anyone across the world with an internet connection, and it's the readers who decide the final 10.

Fellow blogger Brian Dye (from Kiss my Kimchi!) submitted an entry, while Charles and Liz from the Seoul Suburban blog also put together a cool entry, though I didn't see any other familiar bloggers. Bloggers are a busy bunch - getting married, running national organizations, finishing academic papers, and so on.

Anyway, you'll find my humble entry below (embedded via YouTube - if it doesn't work try this URL or this direct link):

Online voting will take place June 2nd – June 8th, and will choose the top 10. The judges will then rank the finalists in the top 10 and notify winners at an event on June 12th. Grand prize is a trip to Tokyo, Japan (yes, the irony has been mentioned), while other prizes includes stays and five-star hotels and tickets to shows.

That means, my dear readers, it's time to vote! Go here to vote for up to three of your favorites, and vote a second time for your favorite of the three on the page.

This post was originally published on my blog, Chris in South Korea. If you are reading this on another website and there is no linkback or credit given, you are reading an UNAUTHORIZED FEED.

Very Expensive Political Theater

#2 Trumps #3 Today is Election Day for everyone from mayors to school board members throughout South Korea. It’s a day off from work, but judging from the four pages of ballots the more than 38,861,000 eligible voters have to deal with, it might take all day.

Each voter will be required to fill in four different ballot sheets in each of the two rounds of voting to select representatives for local governments and councils.

After presenting a valid ID, voters will be given four sheets for the first round of voting in which they will pick an education superintendent, a member of the education board and two council members ― one representing the province or city, the other for a smaller constituency, such as a county.

After marking the four sheets, voters will be required to put them in the ballot box.

Then they will move on to the next round of voting, in which they will select four more local representatives, including a governor, mayor or smaller administrative district chief, as well as party preferences for two councilors under the proportional representation system.

Gord Sellar has also colorfully expressed his feelings about another aspect of this – by South Korean standards $690 million is expensive – election. From a campaign jingle based on “Frosty the Snowman” I heard last night to the cacophony of visual noise, sometimes heaped atop another candidates’, on banners, bus panels, vans, sashes, t-shirts, business cards, and hand bills, a casual observer might think these elections are a sign of a healthy political culture. But, the noise obscures a lack of intelligent discourse.

It’s baffling that anything that might “affect the outcome of the elections” is banned, and this must, surely, be a poor translation or wording. I saw the candidates for the position of Mayor of Seoul on TV only a few weeks ago; I’m pretty sure it’d be illegal for me to post here what I thought of them — which ones seemed like Stepford Politicians ™ and which ones seemed a little more passable — but it’s also irrelevant… current events like a sunken submarine seem to have pushed things in one direction, and we can all guess which direction that is.

…Meanwhile, the election law also seems hellbent on preventing people from getting any real sense of the candidates: using Twitter as part of a campaign prior to 180 days before the election is forbidden. It was, apparently, a restriction intended to prevent rich people from taking advantage of the long lead-in to distribute materials. In the age of Social Networking, distributing information is free. Time to join planet earth in the 21st century, guys.

That’s a whole lot of money to spend on what most people don’t know how to do and for people and posts most people don’t recognize.

Filed under: Korea, Politics Tagged: elections, rok, South Korea