Night Out in Hongdae

This year on my birthday, I was sick but sucked it up and kept my plans to visit another town in Korea with a few friends. However, on the way to the meeting spot, my phone broke, so I couldn't find them. I tried to redeem the day by getting lunch with a couple other friends, but at the restaurant, the executive chef (an American) came out and condescendingly yelled at us for what seemed an eternity just because we asked to have our meat cooked a little longer. That wasn't cool, so after finding another place to eat, I just went home and went to sleep.

This weekend, kind of as a birthday redo, my friend suggested that we try going to Hongdae, an area of Seoul known for its art scene and nightlife. I'm not a big partier; I'd take a milkshake over a beer any day, especially if I have to pay seven bucks for it. But, I love to dance, so I greenlighted her plan.

***

I got on the subway around 11:30pm and noticed a full row of empty seats in the car. Cool, I thought. I'll get to sit. After taking two steps towards the free spots, I realized why no one was sitting there. A completely trashed girl had flipped her stomach inside out in the aisle. I'd never seen an unaccompanied girl that drunk before in public.

The crazy thing though is that after she got off the train, three girls who I assume were strangers to each other and to the drunk girl, cleaned up her vomit! I was really impressed by that. There was something really redemptive about it.

***

Once off the train, I waited for my friend outside exit 9 of the #2 train's Hongik University stop, and a crowd began to line the road in front of me. I sat back and thought, Oh, maybe it's a celebrity sighting, like a K-Pop star are someone, so after a minute or so, I stood up to see if I knew the celebrity, but was it a celebrity? Noooo. It was two wasted guys fighting in the middle of the busy street. Fighting like reality show cat fight/wrestling match fighting. I've never seen anything like that before either.

Apparently, in Korea there's a word to explain why so many drunk people were out that night: "bulgeum," which I will translate for you as "#yolo it's friiiiiday. heeeey!"

Anyway, after witnessing these two events, I began to wonder what the night would bring for my friend and me...

going to see what the crowd was for...

But it was cool. When she arrived, we walked towards the main strip. There were a bunch of restaurants, cafes, bars, clubs, and people on the streets "busking."My friend and I split some hoteokk and then some fried squid and mandu at this place called Mimine before finding somewhere to hang out. 

4,000 for calamari. pretty good. mandu was meh. they're supposed to be
famous for shrimp though.

My friend suggested we head to this bar called Thursday Party. It was a great suggestion. The crowd was composed mainly of foreigners, but there were some very stylish Koreans there as well. The music was great -- until about 3:00am; after "Call Me Maybe" played, it was all downhill from here. Also, the drinks weren't expensive, about 3,000-5,000 for beer and 5,000-7,000 for mixed drinks. Fun, casual atmosphere. I'd go back.

friend outside Thursday Party

I forgot to mention that public transportation in Korea is not 24hrs, so if you go out at night, you have to plan ahead and find somewhere to crash or do what my friend and I did and wait until 5:30am to roll around when the trains start running again.

After we left Thursday party, we went to find a 24 hour cafe to wait in for a while.  On the way there, we passed another huge crowd on the street and a taxi parked with it's headlight serving as the spotlight for whatever was going on. I thought it was a really talented street performer or something, so my friend and I went to check it out. Surprise, surprise. It was another wasted girl, and everyone was just gawking at her. Really sad. A couple of fellow English-speakers voiced their shared frustration over the situation. At times like those, it would be nice to know a little Korean. People need help...

***

The cafe we found was crowded, like you'd think it was 4:00pm rather than 4:00 in the morning. All around, people were shamelessly sleeping mouth-agape, legs propped up on chairs. About twenty minutes after we got there, the staff kicked everyone out to clean the upper floor, so we had to find another cafe. (If you're waiting in a cafe, find a spot on the first level so you don't get kicked out!)

At about 5:15 am, we walked back to the subway station to catch the first train of the day. There were people already waiting in the cars. Again, they were knocked out. 

Around 6:00am, the old ladies in their hiking gear headed to their Saturday morning treks started to board, while we twenty and thirty-somethings were still en route home from the day before. It was fun though, like there was a sense of camaraderie amongst all of us, like, "Yeah, that was a great night."

No way I could do that every weekend though, haha.

Started from the Bottom...

Suggested Listening:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OQQsurQFQk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsLykJ17Oxc

On Friday night, I left with Seoul Hiking Group for Naejangsan National Park. That night, we slept at a nearby jjimgilbang so that in the morning, we could head straight to the park.

Now, I joined this trip by myself. In life, I'd much rather do things with company, but if no one wants to tag along, depending on the situation, I'll go it alone. In this instance, I figured I could meet people on the trip, and oh, did I...

A jjimjilbang is a Korean public bath house.  They're really, really popular here, and for only about eight US dollars, it's easy to see why. Jjimjilbang have a bunch of different sauna rooms and different soaking tubs you can use; some also have swimming pools, karaoke rooms, gyms, and massage areas. There are also areas where you can pay extra to have old women scrub a layer of your skin off. Most jjimjilbang are open 24 hours and have a rec room with mats and blankets for you to use to sleep on the floor -- something like an upscale high school lock-in, and when you enter, you're given a towel and a hospital gown-like uniform to sleep in.

The thing is, outside the rec room, everyone's naked. Like, even the old women who scrub your skin off. This was my first real culture shock moment since being here. There are separate floors for men and women, but still... Being a film studies major, I've seen a lot of naked bodies (the French New Wave, I'm telling you...), so I'm not offended or anything, it's just kind of... strange to me? To be having conversations with naked people... in a room of a bunch of naked people? The idea of a "public bath" in general just doesn't really appeal to me. I mean, it's like skinny dipping in a pool without chlorine, right? I already feel like normal bathtub baths are kind of odd (soaking in the filth you're trying to wash off?), so the whole public bath thing, I'm not really about that life, but tons of people enjoy it. So, you know. I didn't do it, but, really, cool for them. Bathe on.

We left the jjimjilbang around 7:00am to head out for the park. The trip was advertised as an easy stroll type hike, but it was far from it. The first stretch was difficult, as it was nearly all stairs (my quads hurt just thinking about it), but when we got a peek of the view below, our stamina was revived. We focused on breathing and trekked on.

first view.

After a couple hours and hundreds more stairs, we made it to the trail that headed towards the mountain's peak.

so. many. stairs.

Hiking is mad popular in Korea. On the weekends, the subways are always packed with 40, 50, and 60-something year olds headed to the mountains with their hiking clubs.

Koreans always have their gear looking fresh.

My group reached the final stretch at the same time as a lot of the Korean groups, and I think the Koreans were pretty frustrated with our collective lack of climbing skills.

hiking group, geared up and ready to go.

Eventually, after scaling a few short rock faces with ropes and walking across bridges made of thin metal slats (what about that says "leisurely stroll?"), we made it to the top. It was such an awesome feeling -- and an even better view.

the peak, a little beyond these people.

We took some pictures on the peak and then prepared to go back down.

the greyish area in the bottom left was our final destination, a temple.

Going down was a beast, maybe even more difficult than the ascent. My knees felt bruised from all the stairs and were shaking by the time I got to the bottom. Once, we finally did get to the bottom, there was a small temple where we stopped to eat our snacks.

After that temple, we walked to the bigger temple -- our final destination -- and got ready to head home.

of course there was makgeolli being sold at the end of the trail.

I'm glad the hike was challenging; it made it more worthwhile, like we accomplished something. Seoul Hiking Group does trips every week, so I'd definitely consider joining them again.

Saw some stunning views, met some new people, and got a workout. Winning situation. Surely made up for last weekends' roughosity.

***

Today, after church, I had lunch with a couple friends. Then, we went to a cafe and ordered the best hot chocolate I've ever had in my life, but more about cafes later... It was a good weekend. I'm thankful (and am working on being more thankful even when the weeks are roughosities).

But anyway, happy trails.

Day Trip: Daebudo

The church I've been going to here in Korea is really great. The service is in English, but the congregants call over 20 different countries home.

In addition to normal Bible studies, they also have activity based small groups. Like right now, I'm in a taekwondo group, and if all goes according to plan, I'll be a yellow belt come December. So, that's pretty fun. I'm also part of a day trips group, which has been a nice way to see the country and meet new people.

A couple weeks ago we took a trip to Daebudo, a little island a few hours from Seoul.

When we got to the island, we visited a new, manmade park situated on strip of land reclaimed from the sea. We took a guided tour of the area and learned about the irrigation and gardening difficulties there, with the land being so sandy and all.

it was a very Monet kind of day.

Though, with cosmos blooming in every direction, you'd never know the soil wasn't fertile.

After the park, we walked along the beach for a bit and watched some local fishermen haul in their catch.

Then, we headed to a seafood restaurant to taste some of the cuisine the island was famous for, namely, shrimp, haemul pajeon (seafood pancake), and a noodle that I think was called kalguksu.

For the shrimp, our waitress brought over a bucket of live creatures, dumped them into a boiling pot in the middle of our table, and closed the lid. Horrified, we all listened for a solid minute as the shrimp fought for their lives. Then it was silent. One of the Korean ladies at our table opened the pot, dished the shrimp, and instructed us to pull the heads and legs off and eat...

it would have been worse not to eat the shrimp after all they'd been through...

It was a nice trip. I wouldn't want to do the shrimp part again, but the ocean was pleasant. Sometimes it's nice to be reminded of how small we are.

Bootcamp NYC (Korean public transportation and other things)

At the conclusion of my freshman year of college, I watched the class of 2010's commencement ceremony from my 15th floor dorm room. When the ceremony was over, Sinatra's sweet voice played through the campus while elated graduates sang and formed celebratory kick-lines. "If I can make it there, I'll make it anywhere..." Looking down at the seniors, I couldn't wait for that to be me, and soon enough it was.

I'm convinced that I would not have transitioned smoothly into South Korea if I had not first spent four years in New York City, mainly for three reasons: public transportation, stressful situations, and being alone.

1. Visitors to New York are always impressed by people who can navigate the city with ease; however, they shouldn't be. New York -- Manhattan at least-- is a giant grid. Getting from point A to point B is basically as simple as plotting coordinates in a game of Battleship. The subway can be a bit tricky when it comes to transferring lines, and the buses may be reserved for more seasoned New Yorkers, but after some exposure, traveling in the city isn't too difficult. And if you do get lost, you can always catch a cab -- or call Uber.

With that said, if you've ever taken the subway from the Upper West Side to JFK with a 50 pound suitcase at Christmas time, you can navigate the Korean subway system no problem. The subways in Korea are much gentler than those of New York. None of that abrupt stop, trying to get you to fall on your face business. On the train, stops are announced in both Korean and English, which is crazy to me. I mean, despite the number of Spanish-speakers in NYC, you're never going to hear anyone speaking Spanish over the intercom... If you're in Seoul, I recommend the snazzy Jihachul subway app.

subway station out in the boondocks.

You can use your phone and get WiFi underground. That’s good in the sense that it's amazingly convenient, but you miss out on the beautiful sight of rows of people reading books to pass their commute time. Instead, you get rows of people on giant Samsung smartphones. 

touch screen station maps to help you get around.

The bus is a little more tricky. I'd say tag along with someone who knows where they're going until you learn your own way; that's been my strategy at least. There are a couple cool things about Korean buses. The inter-city buses tell you how many seats are available and also have WiFi and phone chargers onboard. There're also airport shuttles that take you directly to Incheon, so that's convenient.

bus with TV and internet.

You pay for the subway with a T-money card, but unlike MetroCards, with T-Money, you pay for distance travelled, not per swipe, so you save quite a bit. You can buy and refill cards at convenience stores or in subway stations.

NYC could learn a thing or two about bike lanes from Korea...

2. In the words of Forrest Gump, "S*** happens." You get set on fire at restaurants; you’re approached by emo guys who look like they’re going to kill you; you shamelessly cry in public parks; you get cursed out by strangers a couple times a year. (There are actually decent stories there... Ask me sometime.) But yeah, learning from past experiences, I feel New York prepared me to be pretty lax about situations out of my control. That's probably why I haven't quit my job... In the end, life is life. Conflict makes for better stories -- at least in the movies.

3. Lastly, likely one of the most important things New York taught me was how to spend most of my time alone without being lonely, which is not to say I'm never lonely. A city of over eight million people, it's astounding how isolated you can feel there. The numbers provide anonymity, and with everyone taking up an independent, "you do you boo" attitude, it's easy to get lost. NYC taught me to find peace in solitude. At the same time, New York -- specifically, the church in New York -- taught me to be intentional with relationships, to make time for friends, to stick to appointments, and to be sacrificial with my time because people need people. "It was not good for man to be alone." So, in Korea, I’m trying to do those things as I start to make friends here.

I haven't been here that long though, so these observations could be prematurely thought out... 

But anyway, I love New York. When I think about that city, I hear this song in my head and at the same time, remember all the brokenness that resides there. Regardless, I can't wait to go back someday. Until then...

Teaching in Korea: What I'm Doing Here

After a quick glance at a calendar, I realized I've been in Korea for over a month. Time flies, retrospectively at least. I also realized that most people don't know what I'm doing here, so hopefully this post will clear that up.

Until September 2014, I'm contracted to work as an English (ESL) teacher in South Korea. I work at a hagwon, which is what Koreans call private academies that are supplementary to students' regular school day. There are hagwon's for languages, math, science, music, and the list goes on. Most kids attend multiple hagwons per week, if not each day.

In the morning, from about 9:00 am to 2:30 pm, my hagwon is a kindergarten, so I teach a phonics and reading to a bunch of kids ranging in age from, I'd guess, three to seven. Once or twice a month, we get to take the "kindy kids" on a field trip, so that's nice.

last week, we took the kids to a traditional folk village.
it was like the Plymoth Plantation of Korea.

however, we spent most of the day in the amusement park area, which is fine
by me. the kids were really happy to be able to play.

In the afternoons from 3:00 pm to around 6:30 pm, the school becomes a hagwon for older kids, so I teach comprehension, reading, writing, and vocabulary to 2nd - 5th grade students. The school provides the textbooks, but we teachers have to write and submit all our own lesson plans, grade assignments, and send monthly progress reports to parents. There's always something due.

some of my boys on the field trip. the kid in the Dodgers hat never. stops. talking, but it's
impossible to get mad at him because he's so full of joy. i smile every time i see him.

Unlike public schools, hagwons are for-profit entities, and like most things, where money is involved, the stress level is inflated. The school I work at has an almost comical teacher turnover rate. The guy who I replaced lasted a week and then did a midnight run without telling anyone -- and he wasn't the first to do so...

the school does pay for our flights to and from Korea,
and occasionally they feed us when we have to work overtime or weird hours.

My first week of work, I was afraid of what I'd committed to because the place seemed so incredibly disorganized, but as the weeks have progressed, I’ve gotten use to the routine -- or lack thereof  -- and have become more open minded towards the constant flux of the school. I think they're trying to make things better though...

i don't mind the kids screaming on rides. just in the classroom.

In just a month, my patience has increased exponentially. Though, I regularly have to remind myself that kids are kids, that I was a kid once. They just want to have fun.

Still, the days can feel mad long, but like I said in the spider rant, I haven't been stressed at all -- terribly annoyed, but not stressed. The job does however take a toll on my body in that quite often I lose my voice before the elementary school students arrive, but I look at this as an area where I can practice the breathing techniques I've learned from my voice lessons, should I ever make it back to a stage...

sometimes, halfway through the day, i feel like this guy
and just want to hide somewhere quiet.

This weekend, I happened to meet one of the ex-teachers from the school I'm currently working at. She told me how much happier she's been since leaving and how being at the school taught her that she wasn't meant to be a teacher. I now wonder the same thing, which is interesting because before I started working here, I was planning on getting my masters in education once I returned to the US. Maybe I'm just teaching the wrong age group? Maybe it’s just the type of school I’m working at? I don't know. From this past month, I don't feel like this is what I'm supposed to be doing with my life. I don't want to sound too millennial, though; someone might tell me that I'm just lazy and have set the expectations for my life too high...

As one of my friends in Teach for America pointed out, "Teaching is hard." Yes. Yes, it is. I knew I was blessed with amazing teachers throughout my life, but since starting a full-time classroom position, my respect and admiration for my past educators has risen quite a bit. I want to send them all on a "thank you" vacation, but I can't because I have a teacher's salary.

At the church I've been going to here in Korea, we've been talking a lot about the weight of our words. "Death and life are in the power of the tongue (Proverbs 18:21a)." I know first hand -- as most do -- how one careless word can plant seeds that produce mental weeds well into adulthood.  Yet, at the same time, "Gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones. (Proverbs 16:24)." I know that to be true as well. As a teacher, I feel like there are so many opportunities to speak life -- and death -- into students' lives. I just hope that even through the craziness of the job, I can be sure to speak life. 

Anyway, I’m planning on staying for the full length of my contract. I mean, I signed my name to it and I was raised never to quit; plus, I like Korea and want time to see more of the country. So, we’ll see how it goes.

Behind the Scenes: Braised Tofu and Eggplant

You guys, this wan't cool.

While making dinner, a little spider, about the size of a quarter crawled in my apartment. I squashed it and kept cooking.

Four years in New York and having grown up in the South, spiders, insects, and pests are no strangers to me. I've handled roaches, silverfish, mice -- MICE as in plural, and spiders... within reasonable size.

I mean, at the moment, there's a spider that's setup shop outside the front door of my apartment, and you know, I just let it do its thing. Really, it's doing me a favor keeping flies out. After a couple days here, I realized there was another little one that lived under the step into my bathroom. It mainly would stay in the shadows but occasionally would pop out. Once I tried to step on it, but it jumped back into its hiding place, so after that, I was like, That's cool. You stay in your lane; I'll stay in mine.

Back to dinner, after I squashed that first spider, I put it in the garbage, then opened my front door to take the trash out, and a grasshopper jumped in. Nooooo! I thought, I don't feel like chasing you around. So I stood and stared at it for a bit. I turned around to pick up one of my muddy tennis shoes, which I've lazily left at the front door since getting back from WWOOFing, and chucked it at the grasshopper, who just hopped around more.

I don't know if it was in my shoe or if it came in while the front door was open, but a freaking GIANT SPIDER crawled in and over to the kitchen cupboards.

It was too big to squash, to big to allow to take residence in a corner of my home, and also too big to try and catch because it looked like Death. Like it might as well have been a copperhead as far as I was concerned. Like this wasn't even an "I wish I had a boyfriend" moment because I don't even think a guy wanting to display his manliness would have wanted anything to do with this thing.

I had a mini rush of anxiety and had no idea what to do, so I embarrassingly called my co-worker who lives in my building, but I think she was at a bar because her phone was answered but all I could hear was ambient bar sounds.

So I just stood petrified for a few minutes until the National Geographic specimen decided to crawl back out the door.

Not cool. Not cool at all. Guys, really so not cool.

Now that it's all over, the crazy thing is, I realized that this is the first time I've come close to experiencing anxiety in Korea, which is saying a lot considering how often I felt it in the States. I guess that's a blessing? I don't know, at the moment, my heart's still pounding. Ugh.

Braised Tofu and Eggplant

As I've shared before, my kitchen in Korea is limited. While thinking of what to make for dinner the other night, I was reminded of a time a couple years ago when I helped one of my Hawaiian friends with a film shoot. To thank me and the rest of her cast, she had us over for dinner. That night, I was introduced to sesame seed oil and how wonderful it was on eggplant and rice.

So, I decided to try and find a recipe for the eggplant dish she made. I found this one, "Sunday Supper: Braised Tofu with Eggplant and Shitakes." 

The first time I ever tried tofu, I was in Kindergarten, living in California. At a cookout at my vegetarian, model best-friend's house, I was prompted to try some sort of tofu faux-meat that didn't sit well with my stomach. I never really tried tofu again until college, where I learned that it wasn't an invented meat replacement for people who wanted to stay in shape, but rather had been a staple in Asian diets for centuries.

Anyway, this recipe was really easy to make and legitimately tasty -- as in I'd make it even at home where I have more than two-burners to cook with, so I wanted to share it:



Braised Eggplant with Tofu:

You'll need:
- 4 teaspoons oil (I used soybean.)
- 1 cup sliced shiitake mushrooms (I used the button kind.)
- 1 tablespoon chopped garlic
- 3 long, purple eggplants
- 1 tablespoon chili paste
- 1/2 cup water
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce (The recipe's gluten-free if you use gluten-free soy sauce.)
- 1/2 pound tofu, blotted dry
- 1 tablespoon dark sesame seed oil for garnish


* If you want to serve this on rice, go ahead and get that cooking so it'll be done by the time you're finished with the eggplant.

1. Cook mushrooms 5-10 minutes in 1 teaspoon of oil. Once browned, set aside.

2. Cook garlic in 1 teaspoon of oil until golden.

fun fact: garlic is so popular here, you can buy it in convenience stores near the fruit

3. Dice the eggplant. Cook in 2 teaspoons of oil for 5-10 minutes.

all this was only like $0.40!

4. Add chili paste and water to pan. Stir and cook 10-15 minutes until eggplant is tender.

5. Add soy sauce, diced tofu, sesame seed oil, and mushrooms. Stir and  enjoy!

Some of you may be thinking, "It looks like dog food,"
even though I tried to compose the shot in the most flattering light.
But believe me, it tastes like fluffy clouds of wonder.

Recipe from: http://markbittman.com/sunday-supper-braised-tofu-with-eggplant-and/