The frigid cold winter winds of Seoul are thankfully long gone and were replaced with warm sunrays and cool gentle breezes. Yes, the long awaited spring finally came. But now it’s over! Summer is here and it’s getting ready to hit us with another hot, humid set of months complete with monsoons and mosquitoes. So far there have already been a few humid days and there has been plenty of rain. My umbrella has seen its fair share of use and I have my bug spray ready! (Below: A picture of a sculpture in Gwanhwamun, two pictures of the Cheonggyecheon Stream, and a picture at a park.)
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Sooo… what’s new? Well, June 25th marked 10 months here in Korea. Originally, my plan was to work at the private school for one year and then do some traveling in Southeast Asia with the money I would have saved before coming back home. Buuut--- life doesn’t always go according to plan. Since I stopped working at the school, I’ve been taking Korean classes and I’ve been learning and improving a lot. From time to time, I have little conversations with street vendors and taxi drivers. ;-) Anyway, I’m planning on staying until March 2012 to continue learning Korean. By then I will have reached the Pre-Advanced level and then I’ll be able to continue my Korean studies independently. I know it really seems like a long time, but I’m positive that time will go by just as fast as it has up until now.
Since the last time I wrote, I’ve been on more trips and have continued to enjoy each day here. It’s been an amazing, eye-opening experience and I am so fortunate that I get to learn more about my Korean side. I feel like I’m reaching more of a balance as an individual. Growing up, I felt comfortable with my German side because I could speak the language and I had been to Germany several times. Now being here in Korea, I’m fulfilling the Korean side of me by learning the language and experiencing the culture. I feel more complete as me--- Steffi--- half sauerkraut, half kimchi. :-)
Signs of Spring in Seoul
Red, yellow, blue, and green colored umbrellas providing shade to ripe red tomatoes, bright yellow Korean melons, and plump green watermelons sitting snugly in overflowing truck beds or neatly displayed on tables can be spotted all around town. People are out enjoying the weather and their coffees or grilled Korean BBQ during the day and late into the night. Food is everywhere. People are everywhere. Those are all signs that it’s springtime (or summer!) in Seoul. Even convenient stores have plastic lawn chairs and tables with umbrellas out front for people who buy snacks to sit and relax.
In April, Seoul’s streets were peppered with pink cherry blossom trees. Before long, soft pink petals fluttered down like feathers to gently blanket the sidewalks and streets, walked on my the feet of 10 million busy people in Seoul. In addition to the countless vendors selling tasty treats, I saw flower stands selling pots of purple, bunches of blue, and countless other sweet smelling flowers. One day as I rode my bike through my neighborhood I even spotted a white-bearded man wearing a Panama-style hat pushing his cart of orchids and green-leaved plants down the street. In my head, I named him “Spring Santa” and smiled the rest of the way home.
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Strolling through Sinjeong
I live in Sinjeong (pronounced “Shin-jung"). It’s on the purple line (#5) and it’s between Kkachisan and Mokdong. It isn’t exactly the busiest part of Seoul, but it sure is a LOT busier than where I’m from in the US. Strolling through Sinjeong, there’s always something to see. People walking, people sitting; people buying, people selling.
The public transportation in Seoul is great and I love how here I’m not dependent on a car because it’s so cheap and easy to get to places. I also love how so many people ride their bikes here. It’s especially cute when I see babies or toddlers in the back seat of bikes, or when I see school-aged kids pushing down on their bike pedals with twice as much force while their friends (who are either standing or sitting on the back metal part of the bike) clutch tightly onto their shoulders. I still see those crazy people from time to time too--- the ones who ride their bikes while holding an umbrella, or like that one helmetless moped guy who I saw driving with one hand while the other hand held a plastic cup filled with blue Powerade.
One of my favorite snacks to get in Sinjeong is called gyehranbbang (egg bread). I always buy it from the same street vendor. His trademarks are his dark blue baseball cap, his tanned face with laugh lines, and his big smile that reveals one missing front tooth. He always gives me one of those friendly smiles when he hands me a freshly made, piping hot gyehranbbang placed into a little paper cup. All that for only 700 Won (about $0.70). Or, you can get 3 for 2,000 Won (about $2).
Among the whizzing mopeds and the speeding cars and buses in Sinjeong, there actually are people who aren’t rushing from place to place. There are “yogurt vendor ladies” who in their pale yellow uniforms and sunhats sell chilled yogurt and milk drinks from their cart coolers that they push around town. There also are red baseball cap, yellow mesh vest-wearing men seated in lawn chairs where the street meets the sidewalk. I wondered for a while what they did--- if they were just relaxing or if they were somehow working… my friend later told me they collect parking fees from people who park on the street. So they’re like human parking meters. ;-)
Other ordinary sights around Sinjeong include grandmas and grandpas sitting or crouching on the sidewalk while peeling green onions, or people sitting outside with their lunches. On a particularly nice day I saw older men sitting outside on the grass under a tree eating their lunches and drinking soju (Korean alcohol). Another sight I sometimes see when I walk home from the subway station at night is older men sitting in a circle inside the small wallpaper store, hunched over and completely absorbed in the Korean red card game (“Hwa-tu”) that they are playing. I like when I see someone lift up their arm with a red card clutched between their fingers only to slam it down seconds later on a matching card in the center. I like hearing the SLAP sound that the cards make when they leave the front door open.
Walking down the streets in my neighborhood, you’ll see lots of little grocery stores, even more convenient stores (at least one on every corner), cafes, and little boutiques. One small grocery store that I often go to (Jilloh Mart) sells a lot of things out front. For example: fruits, candy, rice cakes, banchan (Korean side dishes), fish, squid, and other mystery sea critters. A while ago I bought banchan from a stand set up outside of another local grocery store that’s really close to Sinjeong Station. The man who was selling the dozens of types of banchan let me try some things with a toothpick. After trying some samples, I decided on ggaennip (perilla: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perilla) for 3,000 Won. It’s a minty leaf seasoned with soy sauce, garlic, and red pepper and it tastes good when you wrap it over rice. I also got little black beans that are sweet and also seasoned in soy sauce for 2,000 Won. Each banchan was packed to go in a clear plastic bag with a knot tied at the top.
Free Gym Membership
I considered joining a gym a while back and then I realized that that really wasn’t necessary. Over a month ago Lillian (my friend and next-door neighbor) and I decided to go to the park behind our building to exercise and get in shape for the summer. We go every night when it’s nice and cool and exercise for about 30 minutes or we take a walk. We’re the only foreigners who go there so sometimes we get looks or we hear little kids say, “Waegukin” (foreigner). As Lillian and I do stretches or other exercises or as we “battle it out” on our jump ropes, teens come out and sit and chat on benches under the yellow glow of the park lamps and ahjumas (older ladies) briskly walk around the perimeter of the playground, swinging their arms determinedly, their loose, bright “ahjuma-style” clothing fluttering as they chatter away. We usually hear lots of “Aigoos” (a multi-functional Korean expression for sympathy, exasperation, amazement, or anger: http://www.aigoo.net/) and talk about food.
Our park has benches for doing sit-ups and also a “twisty” machine. You stand on a disk that rotates and hold onto a bar and twist your body. Lots of parks have many more exercise machines that you can use to work out your arms and legs. There’s even one that’s like the Gazelle elliptical machine.
Lillian and I also bike a lot and we take the stairs (that can sometimes seem like mini mountains) at the subway. Out favorite place to bike is along the Han River. There’s a nice small little path that’s shaded by trees and there are sweet smelling pink honeysuckles whose scent I wish I could bottle for a special summer perfume. When we bike along the Han River, the bike paths seem to stretch on forever. There are always lots of people biking, and people usually bike together in groups. “Biker gangs,” I call them. Once when I biked with Lillian’s friend Sharnice at the river, she said it looked like “Seoul on wheels.” I think what makes me smile the most when I go biking there is when I see, or rather, when I hear people blasting music from little radios on their bikes. From older people’s radios come old Korean folk music and sad songs whereas the younger generation’s radios blare the latest K-Pop (Korean Pop) beats.
Friendly Souls in Seoul
I think that two key things can really make or break a place---- the food, and the people. Well, I think you all already know how much I love Korean food… so I can check that off the list. And secondly, the people. I can check that box off too. Of course there are good and bad people wherever you go (I’m not saying there aren’t any mean or unfriendly people here), but I’ve met many more wonderful, helpful people. For example, the tailor whose shop is across the street from my building is so friendly. I’ve gotten quite a few things fixed by him and he always fixes everything so well and it only costs 1,000 Won to 3,000 Won ($1 - $3). He smiles a lot and sometimes wears two pairs of gold-rimmed glasses on his nose, probably to help him see his thread through the eye of the needle.
The men at the car repair shop also are friendly and helpful. One day I knocked a spring off my bike (it’s really a tough spring and it was attached to the kick-stand) and after trying to get it back on my bike for about 10 minutes, I rolled my bike across the street to the car repair garage and asked one of the workers there if he could help me. So he got out big pliers and got the spring back on after a few tries. I was so happy that he was able to fix it for me. Recently the spring came off again (I accidentally knocked it on the elevator door) so when the car shop workers saw me rolling my bright green bike over again, they recognized me and were ready to help with my bike.
I’ve also met really kind and generous people. For example, when I went to Jeju Island and climbed Hallasan, a Korean hiker offered me and other people from my group some pieces of cucumber. And on the ferry ride back from Jeju Island, someone saw me studying Korean and then gave me an orange.
Tiny tidbits about daily life
You have to buy special trash bags for your trash--- each region has a different color bag. If you don’t use the bags and get caught, you could be fined. Wet trash (food trash) is thrown out separately just like in Germany. Plastics, cardboards, etc. are recycled and regular trash is collected daily. Older men and women (a lot of times they are grandmas and grandpas) collect trash during the day and late at night with carts that they push up and down the streets. They then take the trash and recyclables and sort it at a trash collection place. Then trash trucks come a few times per week to take the trash away.
South Korea is very technologically advanced. It has become the world leader in internet connectivity and speed. I’m reminded of how technologically advanced Seoul is when I see things like billboards at the subway station that really are screens, changing their ads every 30 seconds or so. Or flat screen TVs in convenience store windows showing commercials. Or when I go to a café and am handed an iPod-like device that shows commercials on its little screen and begins to vibrate and beep when my order is ready. Or even better, when I’m handed an iPad instead of a paper menu at a restaurant. You also need to get a number at places like the bank, post office, and movie theater. At the movies, seats are assigned, so when you buy your ticket, you pick your seat on a touch screen.
However, Korea also has little oddities. For example, some bathrooms at the subway do not have toilet paper in each stall. So what you have to do is take some toilet paper from the “master roll” that’s usually hanging on the wall by the entrance and then go to the stall. Most of the toilets are regular toilets, but sometimes there are the squatting kind. Another thing about bathrooms is that occasionally you’ll see blue bars of soap on metal rods. I never saw that before coming to Korea.
Another random fact: Some hotels and buildings skip the 4th floor, so it goes from the 3rd floor to the 5th floor. Four is an unlucky number in Korea because it sounds like the word for death.
Last little story about oddities: I used to tutor a girl named Daisy at her apartment on weekday mornings. Usually I’d hear someone yelling, “AAAaaahhh.” At first I thought it was a neighbor practicing his singing. When I asked Daisy she laughed and told me it was a person from the drycleaner’s calling out, “Sae-taaaaaaak” (which means laundry/drycleaner) to collect clothing that people wanted to get dry-cleaned.
Interesting side note
A few weeks ago one of my Korean friends asked me in Korean how my 아르바이트 (“Ah-re-bah-ee-te”) was going. Then I asked her if she knew German because it sounded like she was saying “Arbeit,” the German word for “work.” She told me that word was taken from German and that it means “part time work” in Korean. The shortened version of the word is 알바 (“Al-bah”). I thought it was really cool how the Korean language adopted that word. It has adopted a ton of English words too. For example: ice cream is pronounced, “Ah-ee-se Ke-reem,” and television is pronounced, “Tel-leh-bee-jun.” Here are some pictures of places that have German names here in Korea.
My internship
It’s going well and I really like the people who I work with. I have to admit that one of the best parts of working there is the food. The chefs always make delicious lunches for us all to enjoy together. I’ve also been able to learn more about Korean food and culture which is great! One interesting thing that I learned is that Koreans believe that eating hot and spicy foods in the summer will help you combat the heat. So if you sweat from what you eat, the outside temperature will make you feel cooler. An example of what Koreans eat in the summer is a chicken ginseng soup called “Samgyetang.” Likewise, they believed that eating cold food in the winter would give you strength. For instance, Naengmyon, (cold buckwheat noodles) originally was a winter food. I like eating it during the summer though because it’s so refreshing. Something even more refreshing is patbingsu! It’s shaved ice with milk, fruits, sweet red beans, and other toppings. There are tons of varieties and they are really delicious.
Another thing I learned from my internship is that Korean cuisine is based on the idea of balance. There are five colors: black, white, red, green, and yellow and there are five tastes: salty, spicy, sweet, bitter, and sour. Korean food combines and balances these elements to reach perfection.
My birthday in Seoul
I celebrated my 23rd birthday on 4/5. 2345. :-) A few of my Korean friends told me that April 5 used to be a tree planting holiday in Korea. It was a national holiday and government officials, soldiers, and volunteers would plant trees. Unfortunately the government took the holiday away because there supposedly are too many days that people got off from work. I don’t buy it! Korean people work so much! My friend told me that up until 2000, people worked 6 day work weeks (so they’d work on Saturdays). By 2000, people who were over 20 years old could work 5 days a week instead of 6 and those who were under 20 had to wait until 2002 to work a regular 5 day week. (Side note: I’ve been told that the minimum wage here is 4,320 Won per hour, which is about $4!!!)
Anyway, back to my birthday. Here’s the short and sweet version: I went on a hike (Chulsan Mountain), got a haircut, had really good pizza for dinner with friends, and I had three delicious cakes. Not all at once though! ;-)
Island trips
I was lucky enough to go to two different islands since the last time I wrote. Seonyudo (not the one close to the Han River) and Jejudo. Seonyudo is a quiet, not so populated fishing island. It is gorgeous! Jejudo also is beautiful. It’s South Korea’s largest island, and it’s located in the south. On both trips I saw so much natural beauty. (Take a look at my albums.) While in Jejudo I even climbed Hallasan, South Korea’s tallest mountain (6,398 ft/ 1,950 m). It took me two and a half hours to reach the top and it definitely was a challenge. The view was not as pretty as the view from the top of Seoraksan, but I still felt really happy to have made it. (Below: Seonyudo and then starting from the ship are pictures from Jejudo).
What’s next
I’m going to Germany from July 27 until August 30 to see Niklas, my grandparents, my aunt and uncle, my great grandmother, and some friends. My mom surprised me a few weeks ago and told me that she and my little sister will also be going to Germany for the month of August! I’m so happy that I will get to see them too. On my trip I’ll also be going to Spain and I’m really excited because I’ve never been there before. I can’t wait to practice all that “español” that I’ve learned over the years from middle school through college. So, as a final note, I’m doing great over here. I’m healthy, happy, and God is watching over me and providing for me every single day. I’ve been counting down and now there are only 14 days left until I trade in my kimchi, kimbap, and Korean barbecue for delicious German bread, cheese, and chocolate.
PS- Here are a few more albums (National Museum, Lanterns, and Food) and also a link to a really interesting video about Korean food. The video is called, "KOREA: ANCIENT FOOD, MODERN WORLD." Dan, who I work with at my internship, is in the video too! http://www.gourmet.com/diaryofafoodie/video/2009/01/306_korea
PS- Here are a few more albums (National Museum, Lanterns, and Food) and also a link to a really interesting video about Korean food. The video is called, "KOREA: ANCIENT FOOD, MODERN WORLD." Dan, who I work with at my internship, is in the video too! http://www.gourmet.com/diaryofafoodie/video/2009/01/306_korea
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| National Museum |
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| Lanterns |
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| Food |
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