Future Korean Films

One of the most priceless and rewarding aspects of teaching English in Korea is when childhood imagination of your students combines with their limited, matter-of-fact English. Last week, in one of my writing classes with a handful of fifth graders, an exercise in the book had to do with the correct capitalization of titles, of books and movies, for example. One part of the lesson gave the students a general topic behind a movie and encouraged them to come up with their own titles. I laughed so hard after reading these and continued to chuckle for days whenever I thought about the student's (mostly) intentionally funny ideas. Here are some of my favorites:

idea: A Group of Teenagers in a Scary Place
student title(s): Pig Cage

idea: A Big Storm, like a Typhoon or Hurricane
student title(s): Scary Wind, Pig's Dung Wind


idea: A Trip on a Spaceship in the Future
student title(s): A Toilet on the Sky in the Future, In a Black Hole (Pig's Dung Hole), Space Monkey


idea: Two People Get Married at Age 80
student title(s): Happy Story, Two People Give Off Gas When They Die


idea: Two Boys Away From Home
student title(s): Go Away, Two Girls Eat Steak (note: both of these titles supplied by the girls in the class)

Bloody Sundae

Tonight, I finally dove into sundae (korean blood sausage + other assorted pork offal). The odd bits were special, some liver and other assorted parts (cheek? trotter?) dipped in ssamjang or sea salt.  Sadly, the sausage was only mediocre. Overcooked, lacking flavor, and too chewy, who knows how long it had been sitting there steaming in its own little pork jimjilbang. The sundae was purchased from this street food tent behind my apartment that doesn't seem to be noted for its quality but it was definitely cheap (3,000 won) and satisfying enough to make me want to seek out the stuff thats made and served with a little more care. But, I have to say, its going to have to seriously pull on my heartstrings to touch the morcilla that I had in Argentina.

Upz N Downz

Reading about expat life, speaking with friends who have lived abroad, I've learned that there is one unavoidable truth about trying to make a home in a new place, far away from friends, family, and comfortable surroundings - life will be a particularly volatile rollercoaster of high highs and low lows. You might have a low consisting of a couple weeks cursing your decision to move, fed up with your city, the foreign culture, and a lack of friends. The next couple of weeks may be a total blinder of enveloping yourself in a new world and meeting lots of awesome new people. Ups and downs over the course of months, weeks, and even confined to a single day are inevitable.

On Tuesday, I had a microcosm of a day that manages, I think, to sum it all up.

Tuesday marked my true baptism into the inner circle of hagwon life. Most hagwons are fast-paced and dynamic. Mine is no exception. Having worked in a restaurant for a long time, I'm used to dramatic, unforeseen changes in the work environment. Tuesday was my first schedule change, which means a whole new slate of classes. This stood to be my first "official" full time schedule since joining my school, which means consistency and the ability to start really establishing a rapport with a set of classes. I use "consistency" loosely and with hope but not without the understanding that in a month I may have an entirely new schedule. Its not good. Its not bad. Its just the nature of things.

After a particularly wild, exciting, and unpredictable day of lots of new, expectant faces, I decided to have a drink with a co-worker after work. I was having such a good time that I slipped off without my ever-present backpack. (I've made a habit of absentmindedly leaving and losing things here. Very uncharacteristic for me.) I got all the way back to my neighborhood and checked my Facebook to see that some friends were going out. To those of you who have lived abroad, trying to establish new friendships, you know the exhilaration of getting that first invite from someone who you just met last week. Reaching for my phone, I realize its in my backpack. Where is my backpack? Oh noooo! Its back in Guyeong, at the bar. So I hop a cab back to the bar, Mach 5 walk it three blocks, and luckily they still have my backpack.

Crises averted. Time to go have a drink with new friends. WRONG. My phone is dead. So I get in another cab and tell him "Ulsan University" in hopes that I will find my friends at a common watering hole. Of course, they were not to be found. What I did find was a desolately empty bar. It was a Tuesday night, after all, but what I really wanted was some sort of redemption for my tribulations. The only salvation (so I thought) was to be found in a bartender friend and the establishment's public computer, which is hooked up to a Korean version of Pandora. So I posted up and picked out some favorites, the first things that came to mind really. I've really been missing American rap music so I selected some Lil Wayne, Rick Ross, Big Boi, Kanye, and even that star-studded remix of Dj Khalid's most recent jam. Like chicken noodle soup, it was a familiar taste of home. I even threw on some LCD Soundsystem.

This went a ways towards making me feel better but then I relocated down the bar towards a group of boisterous Korean dudes. My bartender friend introduces them as her cousins. One dude in particular lives in Seoul and worked for the Korean version of MTV and we have a long, Konglish-filled conversation. This rapper sucks, this one rules. Have you heard of 2NE1? How about Girls Generation? The night ended with promises bandied about to meet up in Seoul in a couple of weeks. Gangnam, to be specific. Hopefully!

Through all the hectic happenings, despair, and revelry of the day, I had forgotten to eat anything since lunch. Nothing is open near the bar so I have to cross my fingers to find something back closer to where I live. Through sheer providence (or perhaps because it was their regular hours), I end up parking it at this noodle tent. The chef, a youngish dude, speaks some English and is very accommodating. He evens hands me a small cup of the broth he is preparing for my ramen and says "Taste test?". Needless to say, my bowl of seafood ramen was transcendent, especially on such a cold night, after such an exasperating yet fulfilling day. I told him in English he would be called "chef" and continued to call him chef throughout my entire spell sitting there slurping on his delicious, humble ramen. I'm pretty sure that he appreciated the gesture.

As much as life abroad can be trying, it can also be incredibly redemptive. This says it all.

Dinner Last Night

( Deulkkae kalguksu / 들깨칼국수)

So this is one of my favorite new dishes that I've stumbled across here in South Korea. I've had it twice so far, once on an extremely hungover Saturday evening (it was the first time I'd ventured out of the house that day) and once again last night, on what was by far the coldest evening I've yet to experience here. So, as its definitely delivered me comfort on two occasions otherwise characterized by discomfort, I would call this comfort food. 

The restaurant that serves it is a quaint little place about two blocks from my apartment; exactly the right kind of spot to find unexpected food treasures. The first time I went the staff found it curious and amusing that I was there. Last night, I slipped in around closing time without a second glance or sideways stare from anyone. I think that cleaning my bowl the first time expedited the process of acceptance from the staff.

Kalguksu is a "Korean noodle dish consisting of handmade, knife-cut wheat flour noodles served in a large bowl with broth and other ingredients". I happened across this particular type of kalguksu by absolute providence. As has been my habit here, I asked the server what was the most popular dish and five minutes later a bowl of steaming goodness was delivered to my squat Asian-style table. The broth has a decidedly grainy texture and is fairly thick, white in color but tinted by beige/brown flecks of unidentified material. This "unidentified material" turns out to be perilla seed. Along with the thick, chewy noodles, potato, zucchini, a bit of clam (or some shellfish), and a sprinkle of dried seaweed on top and served with kimchi and spicy peppers with soybean paste dipping sauce, deulkkae kalguksu makes for a filling, savory (and only slightly spicy) restorative vessel of food enjoyment.

Urban Explorations: Samsan-dong

Exodium Towers

Samsan-dong is the so-called "new downtown" of booming Ulsan. As home to the world's largest automobile assembly plant (Hyundai), the world's largest oil refinery (SK Energy), and the world's largest shipyard, Ulsan's economy is solidly grounded in a number of important and lucrative industries. Because of these successful industries, the citizens of Ulsan are awash in cash. At almost $64,000 GDP per capita, its easily the wealthiest city in Korea. With such a successful economy, the people of Ulsan need a place to spend their excess income. That place is Samsan-dong.

I had a brief introduction to the glitz and glamor of Samsan on my first Sunday in the city. A co-worker took me on a whirlwind tour of all the major landmarks. Today I set out to do a bit more in-depth urban exploration. So on a warm, sunny Sunday afternoon, I hopped onto the ever-present 307 bus for the almost thirty minute trip to the commercial heart of Ulsan.

Because I'm still relatively unfamiliar with the area (and because I hate missing my stop), I got off the crowded bus a little before reaching my destination. I could see the Exodium Towers looming in the distance so I decided to do a little back alley wandering. Ducking off of the main drag of Samsan-ro and drawn towards the crisp clanging of golf clubs coming from an urban driving range, I happened across this peculiar scene:

(Two large apartment buildings branded with the Samsung and SK logos.)

Are these apartment buildings built and operated by these two massive corporations? Are they dwellings exclusively made for the company's employees? Are these buildings just used as a blank canvas for advertising? Just for some perspective, imagine how weird it would be for a high rise apartment building in the states to be branded with a Microsoft or Exxon logo. In a country where family is so important (and so many people are closely united by blood relations with their neighbor), what role does the massive conglomerate corporation play in the public psyche and in people's every day reality as an artificial banner with which one identifies oneself? Interesting questions that I can't answer at the moment.

After a nearly ten block walk with the city constantly unfolding in front of me, I reached my destination.

(Hyundai Department Store)

The Hyundai Department Store marks the start of a thickly stratified, highly congested area of stores, restaurants, bars, dvd bangs, and more. As I was walking up, there was a group of four K-Pop dancing girls out front of the department store promoting a new Hyundai vehicle. Their performance ended just before I got close enough for a decent picture but this is the sort of thing I imagined randomly encountering during my time here in Korea: pulsating, optimistic, somewhat alien events.

Around the backside of Hyundai department store was a large, mostly pedestrian area (although as I've mentioned before, cars in Korea tend to snake through even the tightest of streets, sidewalks, even). There I found some amusing simulacrum of Western culture...

(Guessing this is a steakhouse. Just guessing.)

(Its never even "Miller Time" back in the States.)

These kinds of curious reinterpretations/attempts at recreation of Western culture can be found here and there around Ulsan. There's a "NY bar" near my apartment in Mugeo-dong called "Kuntakinte". There is a bar near where I work mixing vintage 50's found objects, American Indian decor, and two Blues Brother statues greeting you at the entrance. I don't think the owners of these places give the details much thought but then again, neither do the customers. Koreans seem mostly ambivalent about American kitsch and I can't blame them.

(The utterly massive Lotte Department Store.)

I spent much of my afternoon floating around the massive compound of capitalism that is Lotte Department Store. The main building is seven floors, mostly divided conveniently between clothing for the ladies and for the gentleman. There is Gucci, Burberry, Lacoste and every other expensive designer brand you can imagine. The first two floors are for the ladies with make-up, shoes, handbags, etc. The Korean fashion game is amazingly cutthroat and played at a really high level. My guess is this is where Korean women go to truly get their game on. There is a whole floor dedicated to the outdoor/sports brands that Koreans love so much: North Face, Nike, New Balance, K2, and tons of others. Puffy/bubble jackets and fleeces seem to be the hot item right now. Another floor is dedicated to casual/career men's fashion, suits, dress shirts, and the like. Wandering around this floor, I set off a wave of bows and hellos from the employees, each of whom were minding their little branded section of clothing. Once one bowed, I think all the rest felt obliged. It was truly amazing (and a little unsettling) bowing and saying hello to like ten people in a row.

Most of my wanderings had to do with my desire to find the Uniqlo store. Almost defeated after not finding it in seven stories of department store, I settled down in the large square separating the main department store building and another three story wing housing the Lotte cinema, Zara, Levi's, etc., and there I saw it. There is only one Uniqlo store in the States so, as it is a combination of being 2/3 Gap and 1/3 American Apparel, I wanted to check it out. They had some nice things (olive wool cardigan, sweet plaid) but I will have to wait until my first payday to go back.

After a long time of dodging, weaving, and melting my way through a voracious Sunday shopping crowd, I decided to head back to Mugeo-dong. But not before eating something delicious. After walking past what was surely a member of the Ulsan Mobus basketball team (1. How many 6'10" black dudes are there in Ulsan? and 2. I just saw him on television), I found a Vietnamese restaurant. Actually, I could smell the cilantro about a block away. Cilantro is far from a common smell here, sadly. I had some spicy seafood pho and left with a sweaty forehead and pleasantly warm ears.

"Its so hard for me to believe you are in Korea..."

                               "Its hard for me to believe too, every time I step outside the door."

So...KOREA.

As you might imagine, Asia can be quite the jolt to your system. But, aside from dealing with a new, currently incomprehensible language and having eyes constantly trained on my tall, brown-haired, green-eyed self wherever I go, things aren't really that shocking. Sure, people drive on the sidewalk here and you have to keep an eye on the roving gangs of Korean middle aged women, but its just a different kind of crazy. Reality is inherently absurd and I crack up at things multiple times in a day because they are so pleasantly shocking. Everyone here is incredibly accommodating and willing to tolerate your ignorance of their culture, all you need to do is show a little desire to learn and wield more than a little bravery in your daily travails. Men named Mr. Park seem especially eager to interact and by interact I mean buy you lots of alcohol. Its a pleasant problem, really. So, if I could sum up my first whole week in Korea, it would be wide-eyed wonder punctuated with pleasant problems and the occasional bout of gut-wrenching loneliness.

I hope this blog can function as a small window into my world here. Every foreigner that comes to Korea to teach English starts a blog, and while mine may be one of many, this is still a digital representation of myself and my life here and I want to make it something special. Expect some pictures, yes, but mostly prose about life and living in this strange, wonderful land. I hope to do some nuts-and-bolts posts eventually about discovering how to live and thrive here but I've only just started to live. Hopefully thriving is just around the corner. Please join me for all the inevitable trials and triumphs.