"Make Me Smile"

Phrase of the day: [I don't speak (much) Korean] "cho-nun han-googo (chal) mawt-ham-needa"

I figured I might as well use this, since people try talking to me and I look like a moron trying to explain I can't understand them. It's a good thing I trained for Korea by playing charade-style games with my family and friends back home, and a little bit of sign language from my cousin David helps too.

In other news, I am supposedly going to meet my other co-teacher (English name Sarah) on Wednesday. She's going to bring me to the hospital for a physical (aka check the dirty American for H1N1), and then I can go to the bank and open an account and buy a cell phone (but who will call me?). If all is done by the end of the day, Sarah says I could possibly go to the school and meet the principal - that is if the H1N1 lab tests come back negative.

I ventured out on my own again this afternoon, thinking I could probably open my own bank account. According to Jordan, I should be able to. He recommended Woori Bank which he said was near my building. I couldn't find it, but I found one near Outback (near E-Mart). I don't think it was a bank however - more of a commodities and trading company. I looked completely confused, and just left.

By the way this is Woori Bank's logo:

look at all familiar??

I then stopped by the E-Mart. We have a bittersweet relationship. It has what I need, but I don't care for large monopolizing companies - especially ones that have floor plans that confuse the hell outta me.

I picked up some actual food this time. Spaghetti, pasta sauce, some pork to fry up, more oranges, yogurt, canola oil, honey mustard, and some amazing dumplings filled with pork, rice, scallions and onions. I actually had my first real homemade meal that wasn't toast, grilled cheese, or ramen. I had to take a picture it was soooo good it made me smile!



I also felt I needed to point out an interesting aspect of Korean grocery stores that we don't get to experience. Korean's don't really believe in having things "on sale". Well, they do -- but instead of lowering the price of something (in this case my strawberry yogurt) they instead give you more food for the same price as it usually is. How do they do this? Well, they just tape or staple an extra couple pieces of the product to the original (see below). It's an interesting marketing idea, - albeit, time consuming to open the products and tape them to other ones instead of printing out a different sign with a lower price and entering it into a computer. (insert another "such a deal!" for Dad here.)

I went out to dinner with Brittany tonight, we got Bibimbap, a rice dish that is served in a hot iron pot topped with vegetables (in my case also kimchi pork), and you add chili pepper paste to it. (I added too much and my mouth was on fire for a little while).

After dinner, Brittany showed me some local places where I can buy fruit cheaper and stuff for the apartment at a discounted rate (take that E-Mart!).

Before heading home, I walked around and took some pictures of the city at night, and some views from the balcony on my floor (not in my apartment).

Anyonghaseyo!

P.S. - a big THANK YOU to Uncle Gerard for hooking me up with access to his SlingBox. Now I can watch live American TV. (primetime in the mornings before work and mid-morning shows before bed -- but it's all good because NESN replays the Red Sox games at weird hours).

"The Best Deceptions"

The word of the day is [Sorry!] "meean-hamneeda! (meeen-ham-need-ah)

It's been a fairly boring weekend. I suppose that is to be expected when you don't really know anyone yet. It's kind of depressing, but I think that will change once I get to know more people and such.

On a higher note (if you want to call it that), I made a couple more trips to E-Mart. One about an hour ago, and a second one about a sentence ago when I realized I was going to tell you that I bought a rack for hanging my clothes then though "wait, did I just forget to bring that back with me?" I put it down when I opened my backpack to stuff it full of E-Mart goodies (hand towel, sponge, laundry detergent, a single dish (I'm lame) a cooking pot and some more food). I ran back to E-Mart and lo-and-behold, it was still there! If this were Wal-Mart and I left something I purchased outside of the checkout - someone would have either taken it home with them, or an employee would eventually put it back. The score is now E-Mart - 5, Nick - 1. (unless you count how many times I've gotten lost in that place in which I wish there were a mercy rule in this sport of shopping.

I also thought I would get more stares being a big white dude, but I don't feel like I'm being stared at. I think Koreans are just more polite about it, but I have felt them looking after I walk by, and noticed a few glances.

I figure now is a good time to maybe write about some things I might take for granted that I already know about this new culture and you may not:

1. Koreans are not the stereotypical small people we think of. I think that they are definitely slimmer than us Americans (especially compared to me) but they are not exactly small in a 'short' way. Many men are just as tall or taller than I - and some women are actually average by US standards. This might be due to the influx of Western foods and growth hormones that are fed to our animals. (and probably theirs as well).

2. They bow a lot. When entering any store, and greeted by a fairly loud 'Annaseyoooo!', they will usually bow, usually if you about the same age or older than them (they guess). For the older population (who are short, compared to the teenagers) they get a bigger bow. It makes me feel kind of special in a non-deserving way.

3. The elevators are fast. Maybe it's because they have perfected these machines since they are found everywhere because all the stores are built in 10 story buildings. But I love them. My apartment is 17 floors and 5 basements (parking garages) and it flies through the building like a superhero (and you don't even notice it). Plus they have TV's in them throwing ads at you.

4. Koreans strive for perfection. This is a culture that could someday take over the world. The need to be perfect can be found everywhere. The students are told by their parents that they need to be a doctor, lawyer, engineer - and they basically have no choice. They study for hours, and go to school for hours more. Across my street is a hagwon (private language institue). Upon trying to get over my jet-lag I was looking out the window at about 1:30am and saw that there were kids (about 4th-5th grade) finishing up a class. (Seriously, that's crazy). The strive for perfection can also be found in the push to be beautiful looking as well. There are beauty botiques on every corner for make-up, hair, etc. And as I'm told, Koreans are huge into plastic surgery (mainly for eye-lids), but so I'm told, just about every Korean actor/actress has had plastic surgery. Either way, my point is that these people work hard, but also can be seen having fun on the streets and hanging out with friends constantly. Something we don't see as much back home since we're so separated from each other.

5. They shop -- alot. I think this is due to the fact that since everything is on a smaller scale, and less people really need or have cars, that they don't need the space to carry boxes full of wholesale store items, and they can shop more often for smaller things that they carry home. You don't really see cases of soda, large sets of cookware, or people buying anything in bulk. There is just no room for it. They consume what they need when they need it (eating out is common, as it is just as cheap - if not cheaper - than going to the grocery store). It's actually kind of nice because it forces me to get out of the apartment. Although, in my case I need to constantly shop because I have NOTHING, and if I want a drink of water I have to buy a liter of it versus turning on the tap.

I also started trying to watch some Korean TV, and have a few channels I seem to be drawn to. I think mainly because I can follow along a little. They have a show called StarKing which is basically Star Search and is hosted by a very animated host. Here's a clip:



Ok, that's enough for today.

Oh, and if anyone knows a good way to listen/watch the Red Sox games let me know. MLB has a monopoly over everything and I can't find a radio station or live video anywhere. I'm probably not going to luck out on that without purchasing a subscription to mlb.tv, but I'll usually sleeping or starting the work day when they are on anyways. Just to see a game, even if it's not live, would be nice. (Big Pappi hit another HR today -- about time!) I'm going to try and see a Doosan Bears game which is about 45 min and 1 transfer away. The tickets are about $7 for really good seats. (I think I'll splurge)

"Welcome to the World"

An-yeong-haseyo (Good Morning) for Gunpo!

Well, it's been an exhausting trip, but I'm finally here! The flight was uneventful (and very filling, as the gorgeous flight attendants were shoving food at me every hour).

Korean Air does a wonderful job of keeping you comfortable, there were plenty of amenities - hot towel, handi-wipes, snacks, and my favorite -- in flight movies! I watched such movies as Marley & Me, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (which I fell asleep during), Valkyrie (which I turned off because I couldn't hear Tom Cruise speaking over the engine), Paul Blart - Mall Cop (stupidly funny), and some others that I can't really remember as the trip seems all one big blur at the moment.

The flight traveled non-stop over Montreal, and close to the magnetic North Pole (I waved to the endangered polar bears). We made our approach in from Siberia, and China, and avoided North Korean airspace (which makes the trip a little longer), and approached from the west into Inchon Airport. Here's a map:


View Korean Air Flight in a larger map

I also took some photos of the flight which can be found here

When I arrived, I met with a taxi driver who was brining me to the school. He got a little lost and didn't speak ANY English, but we managed to find it! I met with a couple of co-teachers (Miss Kimberly, and another teacher who I think told me her name was Consul (not sure about that though). They took me to the apartment which is sweet

After dropping my things off, they wanted to treat me to dinner (I wasn't very hungry, but didn't want to offend them). We found a nice local Korean BBQ place where you sit on the floor (my legs were hurting from sitting the entire 15 hour flight. (the people I needed to climb over were always sleeping!). The food was good though, the beef was amazingly delicious, and the sides were very nice as well. I even tried jelly fish! (I was told this is the jelly fish that you eat - not the other kind --- because I totally chomp into jelly fish when I find them on the beach.) Either way, I think I got back at them for all those years of stinging people beachside. (Take that!)

I got back to the apartment and called some family and friends via Skype. Thank you to my neighbors with unsecured wireless routers. Just call me the "Bandwidth Bandit".

Even though I'd been up for almost 30 hours straight with a 30 min nap on the plane, I tried to watch some Korean TV - that was boring as it was all news, so I tried getting onto Hulu.com and other sites that stream tv, but apparently it doesn't work when in a different country due to copyright laws and such based on your IP address. I'm trying to find a way to bypass it, but am not having much luck with sites such as HotShield.

Ok, well I haven't had any breakfast yet, and really need to buy some supplies (the apartment has nothing in it - not even toilet paper, trashbins, hangers, or cleaning supplies). I'm going to make a trip to the local Dunkin Donuts (don't laugh) and stop by E-Mart. I'll try and take some photos of downtown on the way!

*****12:30pm*****

I'm back from a little trip downtown (sorry, I didn't take any photos, but there is plenty of time for that). I had breakfast a DD's as I said I would. It took some time and effort, but I got my point across. The DD's girl was sweet and was trying hard to understand me. Here's some vocab for you all. Coffee (Kop-ee), Ice (orum), Sugar (soltang) Vanilla (yeah, she didn't understand that, but when I looked at the Hangul writing and asked her to read it she said (Pah-nil-ah) which to me sounds the same...I don't get her confusion. Maybe it's because the word means something entirely different when it's spelled out to echo the English version? Either way, the coffee wasn't as good as home, but I think that's due to Korea's water and the cream she used.

I then took a little jaunt across the street to E-Mart (that was interesting). It was very crowded, but the downstairs grocery was set up similar to Whole Foods or Stop & Shop. There was a large section for produce, meat and seafood just like home - but the boxed/canned stuff was actually a lot harder to find than at home. There were only a few aisles. It could be upstairs or something, I didn't check it out. I stuck with buying the basics. Bananas, oranges, pineapple juice, peanut butter, bread, and toilet paper. Prices were about the same as home. The TP was probably the most expensive at 8,000W ($6) but I got a 24 pack. then I spent about $10 for all the rest. I figure I can at least save money on breakfast now that I can make toast with peanut butter and bananas for the next week. Too bad I didn't buy utensils - God made our fingers an excellent tool!

When in line to pay for my goods, an older Korean woman pointed to my peanut butter and began talking away. I gave her the "Lady, I have no idea what you're saying" look, and the gentleman next to me talked to her. (I think she wanted to know where I found it.)

By the way - I love paying about 60 cents for about a liter of pineapple juice. Such a deal! [insert rolling my eyes at my dad here].