Hello everyone!
Guess what?! I'm experiencing my first typhoon right now (written Sunday night). Isn't that exciting? Today I actually went to church with Matt and Kristen for the first time (which was a fun experience, and I'll tell you more about that another day), and afterward we met up with a couple of their friends for lunch at a Thai restaurant in another part of town. By the time we left church, the wind had picked up and rain began to lightly fall. And as we finished our meal and departed the restaurant to commute back home, both the wind and the rain had really picked up. Over the course of today, Matt and Kristen lost 3 umbrellas, and my umbrella experienced some damage as well. Whew. It was such a blustery day. We'll see how tomorrow and the next day treat us, although I'm pretty sure that we'll keep getting more of what we had today.
Let's see … nearly every time that I've chatted or talked with someone back home I've been asked, "How's the food?" So today I want to address that -- at least in part. Many Korean meals that I've had so far have included a few general things: 1. Kimchi, 2. Rice or Noodles, 3. Vegetables and/or Meat and 4. Sauce or Soup. Now maybe this is using too broad of a brush stroke, but most of my meals have included something along those lines. 1. Kimchi - frankly, I still don't know much about how it's made, but I like the Kimchi more than I expected I would. I'd had this a few times in the States, and it had always been full of cabbage and a spicy, bitter taste. Since being here I've had that kind of kimchi again (and it still doesn't really appeal to me), but I've also had it with radish or cucumbers, which are both (in my estimation) much better versions. I should also add that I've only had kimchi as a side dish; another one, while I'm on this topic, is radish. I've had more radish in the past 3 weeks than I've had during the previous years and years of my life. Ok, that's a slight exaggeration, but it's pretty close to true. And I will say that this is probably one of my favorite things that I've eaten so far. Sometimes it's pickled and little bitter, while other times it's served in a sweeter brine. In both cases it's been delicious. Mmmm.
2. Rice or Noodles. Yep, these serve as the base for pretty much any dish that you'll find over here. I've yet to see an option that didn't include one of these or the other. The Korean word for rice sounds like "bop" and noodles like "me-yun." So often with food names, one of those will be the last part of the name. For example, a quick, common food here is "kim bop", which is essentially a rice wrap … the one that I've gotten most often has a strip of carrot, a strip of radish, some tuna and something else down the middle, and it's then wrapped in rice with seaweed on the outside, I think. For one who's not too familiar with either, it could be mistaken for a sushi log, although they are very different. Another example is "jah jang me-yun" … aka black noodles. I just had this for the first time on Saturday, and it was double delicious. The sauce is very thick and pretty sweet, and it is black. I had this meal with Dianne, and she passed along an interesting cultural tidbit that connects to this dish: February 14th is Valentine's Day, and here one would expect boyfriends to give gifts to their girlfriends. One month later, on March 14th (aka- White Day), the opposite happens -- girlfriends give gifts to their significant others. And then one month later still, on April 14th, comes Black Noodle Day (I don't remember if there was another name for this day), on which occasion all those who didn't receive gifts for either of the previous two special days together go and get Black Noodles to celebrate one another. haha. Especially after having this meal I decided that this is a fantastic idea, and even if for practically all of my life I'd be one of those celebrating the last of the three special days, I think this is one tradition wholly worth incorporating into American life. So come next April, if any of you want to celebrate this day with me, let me know, and I'll make sure to send you a mix for some Black Noodles.
3. and 4. Obviously, eating only kimchi and rice/noodles for each meal would get repetitive pretty quickly, so all the dishes include an assortment of vegetables, meats, sauces, etc to compliment everything else. That seems pretty expected. Here, though, I'll mention something else: I have gone grocery shopping a few times, and each time I've been blown away by how much many things cost. I came into this position under the false impression that food was going to be so cheap, and thus I had expected that I'd be cooking a lot. As it turns out, though, nearly everything is at least as expensive if not more expensive than it was back home. Granted I did live in Grand Rapids, which boasts a notoriously low cost of living, but still … everything? Pretty much. Combined, I'm pretty sure I've spent a couple hundred dollars on my in-the-house food. Fortunately the school does provide lunch for all the teachers each day, and beyond that, going out to eat is actually very cheap around here. There's one restaurant that I've gone to more than any other; it's called "kim bop naro." (Remember that name from earlier … that rice roll?). This place has been a great restaurant to have nearby. It is basically a fast food equivalent for here, and it has a pretty big menu. The best part of this restaurant, though, and the true selling point is this: its menu takes up a whole wall, and it's simply full of pictures and names. Especially for those first few times that I went there, I would just look the food options, find one that seemed appealing and point it out to the waitress. Usually it turns out pretty well. I've only had trouble with this system once -- there was one day that I pointed to one dish, and after the waitress acknowledged my choice, I tried to point at it again to get her to say the name (so that I could try to order it by name next time), and I obviously tried to convey this request with both English words and some gesticulation, but it failed (although I didn't realize that at that moment). In that exchange, she thought that I wanted both that item, and the one next to it, so when another waitress brought out my first dish, I gladly took it. But then, when she tried to bring me another plate of food, I waved it away … until I realized that it was the dish that appeared next to my first item on the menu, so that meal I ended up eating more than I had anticipated, and I decided that the next time my curiosity spikes, I should just keep it in check and follow the safe route. All this to say, many meals are really cheap, so this year I'll be eating out a lot, which ultimately isn't such a bad gig.
Here are a couple more things about restaurants that I've found interesting: first, I've gone to a few places by now that had little buzzers on the table, such that whenever one needs a waiter/waitress, the person simply pushes the button to call someone. I've never seen such a thing back in the States, and it really just reminds me of call buttons in hospitals. I think it's really a great idea, and it'd be sweet to see those in wider use back home … although considering how picky and impatient Americans tend to be, perhaps it'd be more of a nightmare than it's worth. Second, tipping doesn't happen here. Apparently to leave a tip is actually more of a negative thing than it is a positive, complimentary action. Granted, back in the States I'd wonder if one can technically call it a "positive, complimentary action" since it's now just expected to happen, but still … that's been a big difference here. And that also applies to taxis or any other situation in which one would consider leaving a tip. Ok, and here's a funny final story on the food topic … for now. Each week, classes at Haba have a cooking day, when the class goes to a kitchen and prepares a food item. It's a pretty sweet thing. My first week we made a quick pasta salad, and during the second week students made a small kabob. This kabob included some bacon, a cherry tomato and some rice cake. During that time I was actually shadowing another teacher to see how her kids behave, and as she talked them through the cooking process, at once point she asked, "Where does bacon come from?" And without skipping a beat, multiple students replied, "America." haha. and oooohhhh (sad sound). After a few more wrong answers, Brooke coaxed the answer she'd been searching for (pigs), but I found it hilarious and a little sad that these kids would think their bacon came from the States. Bacon is cheap enough back home that I could get it whenever i wanted to, but still … is that the kind of impression we should be giving the world? We're known for producing/eating really fatty meat. That kind of interaction makes me stop and wonder.
I will write more about my food adventures as they come up. I've tried to take pictures of most dishes I've had and write down the names, or others have taken pictures for me. Look forward to those in the near future. On to the next topic: baseball! Korea's been full of so many firsts for me, and going to a professional/major league baseball game is another one of those. I've gone to a handful of minor league games, but this was my first time with a bigger match. Baseball's a pretty big thing around here, and one of my coteachers, Darrell, is really into it as well. I went to the game with him and another new teacher, Brian (this Brian's different than the one I replaced). Granted, I don't know home many MLB teams are in the States, but there aren't too many in Korea, so all of the teams end up playing one another quite a few times each season. The home team is the Kia Tigers, and they played against another team that's apparently really, really bad. Our pitcher ended up throwing a shut out, and the game ended with a 2-0 score. That one pitcher was in all 9 innings, so it was an interesting game to see, although there wasn't much action on the field beyond the strike outs and occasional small hits. The real action was happening outside the fence and in the stands. The stadium was full from top to bottom, and after that game, I can understand why. The Tigers have one person who's essentially their head cheerleader. This guy has his own jersey with number "V11" printed on the back, and throughout the whole game, he does lead cheers. Each player on the team has his own theme song, which seems to be a well known tune that they've altered to include the player's name. These songs are played when the person comes up to bat or when some other good thing happens. For example, the pitcher's song came on each time he struck out another batter. Now, mind you, when this happens fans don't just sit and listen; nay! Fans stood up nearly every time the Tigers were at bat, and they sing/move along with all the songs. There's some clapping and arm waving involved with all the songs, and it's great. Ha. In addition to the head cheerleader, there were 4 women wearing more typical cheerleader outfits and one tiger mascot in a jersey as well. This team of enthusiasts really brought the game to life, and I found that quite a few times, I missed some play because I was much more enthralled by the performers than the players. Also, right around "half time" there was a race on the field. Four people in large cushioned cars came out and raced from 3rd base, around home, to 1st. The cars bumped into one another and blocked and fell, and it was pretty funny to watch. I will upload one video to Facebook with a shot from the cheering time; in that one clip I caught the mascot leading the chant, but know that most often V11 took that role. One final interesting thing about this game, or games in general: many people brought a lot of food and drinks in with them to the game. There little stores/shops where one could buy beverages and food, but quite a few (our group included) brought in coolers with things from outside. This, along with so many other situations here, simply reminds me that life in Korea is often much more relaxed and carefree than it is back home.
Ok, and now I've reached my final topic: the beach! I've decided that I've been pretty spoiled over the last few years having lived in Grand Rapids and being so close to the Lake. We ended up driving about 2-2.5 hours away to reach a small beach along the southern coast. Here's another first: this was my first time swimming in an ocean. Woo hoo. It was a blast. That first time I plunged under the water to come up and taste salt on my lips was pretty phenomenal. Before then I had, I think, dipped my feet in the Atlantic, but I'd not done any more than that, so this was a pretty sweet experience. We arrived at the beach around 10:30 or so, and when we got there, the tide was out such that the water was very shallow, and there was a very long beach. It was so amazing to me to see how much that changed by the time we left. The water level had nearly doubled by that point because whereas when we first went into the water and walked out to some buoys, the water just barely went over the top of my shorts, while when we went out later, had we gone all the way to those same buoys, the water would have been over my head. This kind of tide action is completely new to me, and I like it. Seeing other Koreans at the beach was pretty amusing as well. We (Matt, Kristen and I) were the only apparent foreigners on the beach, and beyond us, only a handful of other men weren't practically fully clothed. People here are very concerned with getting sun, so many of the people, regardless of how wet they got, wore long sleeve and pants and hats or other head scarves and lots of other clothes. We all lathered up well with sun screen, and although some burns still managed to get through, I doubt that any of us would opt for the full-body protection that the Koreans chose. Additionally, here are two more interesting things: first, the Koreans also really liked inner tubes. Never have I gone to a beach nor seen pictures of one that had more people just floating around in the water or playing with the tubes. At one point we retrieved a stray tube and used it to stand up and jump off of into the water. This part of the trip was funny because we also took turns climbing onto one another's shoulders and jumping off, and we created quite the spectacle. I don't remember exactly what I heard, but there was one point when I jumped/fell off the tube (after having balanced on it for mere moments), and someone nearby said, "Amazing" or something very similar. Matt said he heard it too, and we both had a nice chuckle. Second, quite a few people go to the beach and bring along tents that they set up just behind the beach. There was a nice wooded area behind the beach, and there were camping tents all through that part. Some of these people would stay a night, while others might just set up their spot for the day. Our beaches back home just aren't set up in a manner that's conducive to this kind of camping, so I found this to be kind of cool. Oh, and I just remembered on more thing: one the edge of this beach (in a perfect spot for when the tide's high) stood a long row of permanent beach umbrellas. They were made of metal and had straw-ish tops, and they were just there for general use. Had we not had that umbrella, I'm sure that all of us would have been toasted because I, for one, spent any time outside the water under that shaded area. I think that having this kind of umbrella on a beach is brilliant. For those of you still around the Great Lake, you should make something like this happen … it'll improve your beach experience tenfold.
Ok, it's now a little after my bedtime, so I think I'll bring this to a close. As I do this, though, I want to let you know about another thing you can check out: my google map. Just a few days ago I tried to find my city on Goolge Maps, and I found it alright. I was able to zoom pretty close to my specific neighborhood, so I set up a shared map with markers to point out some of the things/places I've mentioned in my emails. You can follow this link to find the map: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=201541342930874185138.0004a9c322f33423710bd&msa=0. Now, as far as I know, none of you should be able to change anything about it, so it should be safe for you to hold onto this link and use it anytime. I'll try to keep it updated with markers for the things that I do/places I go, so feel free to check it out and get a better idea of what it's like where I currently am. Right now it points out my apartment, my schools, my motel from those first few days, the beach, and we'll see what else I can throw on there. For those of you unfamiliar with this kind of map, you should be able to follow the link and see a map with little blue "push pins" in various spots. On the left side of the page you should also see a list of all the locations, and you can click on either the pins or the list names to see a quick description of the item. Hopefully this will work well, and you'll all get to know my world a little bit better.
Also, I just found a letter that has the right line spacing for my address. Here's what you could use:
Ben Graves
#403, 1185-4 Pungam Odong
Seo-Gu
Gwangju 502-778
Korea, Republic of
Alright. I'm out for now. I wish you all the best, and know that you have my love and thoughts. Next time look forward to an email full of random things that should keep you chomping at the bit to come visit Korea for yourself.
Much love to you all.
pfn,
bg
ps- if you want to see some of the food I've experienced thus far, visit:
or
if you want to see a few shots from the health check, visit:
or
if you want to see the baseball game or the beach, visit:
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