Aug. 1, 2009- Out of Order, I Know...

Okay guys, you might find this to be hilarious, considering my last post. I have discovered something lovely, amazing, and fattening in Korea…

McDonalds Delivers!!!

Of course I had to try this out ASAP. Turns out, there are no taxes, no delivery fees, and absolutely NO minimum order amount! I would suggest this if you get too lazy one day or you have some heavy studying to do in your room. Also, this is not a country where tipping is the norm. From what I can tell, they don’t consider it rude, but it is definitely NOT a custom here. How did I find out that this applied to deliveries? I tried to give the delivery guy an extra dollar and he shot me the strangest look ever. So, yeaa… no tipping (lol). However, I would not recommend that you eat this often. Even though it’s Korea, it’s still McDonalds- talk about unhealthy!

Korean Word of The Day: I don’t drink soda, so my choice beverage from here was Water = Mul (mool).

August 8, 2009

My last official day in Korea has finally come. I don’t feel happy to be leaving, though I do miss my family. All in all, this was a wonderful experience, and any UC student that has the chance to participate in a study abroad in Seoul should definitely go for it! I have actually decided to teach here for a year, post graduation, so I’ll be here if you decide to come. A few things I’d like to mention for prospective students:

1. 1. A visa is NOT needed to attend Korea University. I spent around $90 to send my visa application to Chicago and to receive my visa. There was some confusion in the beginning, but the school sent us an official e-mail (after I’d spent the money of course) saying that Korea University Students do not need visas to participate or to get through immigration.
2. 2. Instead of only buying a normal T-money card (what they use for the subway- a black/blue or green/yellow card) purchase a rainbow colored card. I’d love to tell you an official name, but the entire card is in Korean. Sorry about that. Anyway, the card gives you 60 subway card for only 40,000 WON. This is a huge discount in comparison to the T-money card. Assuming you don’t transfer trains (and you will), each ride is 1,000 WON. Thus, you’d have to keep recharging the card and would be paying 60,000 WON. For 60 rides.
3. 3. Another note on transportation. If you use 2 or 3 methods of transportation (ie the subway and the bus or a taxi) within a certain time period (a few hours), all of your subsequent transportation for that day is free (excluding a taxi).
4. 4. Do not make any jokes about eating dog or cat. Although there is a dog market somewhere in South Korea, I’m told by my Korean friends that they consider it to be a pretty offensive joke/comment.
5. 5. The International Student ID Card is recognized nowhere in South Korea. Although it may be helpful for identification if you get hit by a bus or something (let’s hope not), you cannot use it to get into any clubs and it cannot be used in place of anywhere that requires your passport or Korea University student I.D.
6. 6. If you have to go to the doctor, bring a person who is fluent in both Korean and English with you. The medical personnel are not really bilingual.
7. 7. Learn the street signs. The street signs coordinate with the subway station stops and are written in both English and Korean. Korea University is on Line 6, and it’s pretty conveniently located to Myeong-dong (where my apartment was and shopping district) and Itaewon (an area typically frequented by foreigners and Koreans who are bilingual.
8. 8. Know your allergies and keep them written down in Korean AND English on a card to show to people at restaurants. Otherwise, you put yourself at serious risk. Korean dishes contain a variety of spices and foods.
9. 9. Never underestimate the power of making yourself look approachable and smiling. Korea has a low, almost non-existent crime rate. However, some of them are still wary of foreigners. If you get lost, smile and ask for help. If you look flustered and angry, it might scare them more than draw empathy. Thus, you might not get any help.
10. 10. Get yourself a Korean cell phone at the airport. It’s worth it. Using an American one to txt and call your friends will get VERY expensive. I used a little Motorala that only cost me $30,000 WON a month for unlimited talking and texting with-in South Korea. The phone itself was free upon the presentation of my passport.
11. 11. Last but not least, if you decide to come to Korea, please feel free to e-mail me prior to. I visit often and, as I mentioned, I will be living there for a year. I’m willing to help in any way I can.

Tuna fish, Cucumbers, cream of celery soup, and a traditional Korean salad with asiana dressing.

This was my meal on the plane leaving Korea. As usual, it tasted wonderful. The salad had walnuts, cabbage, tomatoes, lettuce, radish, and something else that I can’t pronounce nor spell (LoL, hey give me a break I was exhausted). Bye Bye Korea, see you soon! <3

Korean word(s) of the day: pyong won = Hospital. Kyong chal won = Policeman. Allojeegaisssoyo = Allergic.

I decided at the last minute to include some fun pictures that I’d neglected to in previous posts.

A rooftop BBQ before I left

My Friend, Vision, and I at a club.

My friends and I at a Korean bar all doing something crazy for the picture. I was a…. tiger? LoL

August 5, 2009

My time is coming to an end in Korea. I’m sad and I haven’t even left yet. On the upside, I passed the final with flying colors… and a lot of effort. So, my straight A’s are permanent. I’ve just been packing my things and getting ready to head back home to D.C. The time spent here will never be forgotten. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to write as much as I’d like, as I have to move out of my apartment today. My friend took me for a farewell dinner. I’ve never had this dish in America, so although it may not seem as exotic, it was a new experience for me.

Pumpkin Soup W/ Beef and Sushi

This tasted so good. It had a smooth texture to it, and it was very fresh. Oh I forgot to mention, the “bowl” it was served in was actually a pumpkin! This not only was aesthetically pleasing, but very pleasing to the taste buds. Give it a try if you want something foreign but not too adventurous. The beef was roasted, and the sushi was very fresh. We decided to have a glass of wine with our meal, which topped it off nicely.

This is one of those rare Korean restaurants that had chopsticks AND Forks available. I prefer chop sticks, and the sushi, honestly, is best eaten with them. Again, really make sure that you know what everything is. The plate that you see behind my soup had the sushi and beef on it, but also various vegetables. I have no clue what was on my plate, but it was scrumptious.

Korean word of the day: Po do joo (poedoeju) = Wine. Bye!

July 31, 2009

It’s almost the end of the semester, and I still have straight A’s. I’m really happy about this. I still have finals though, so keep your fingers crossed. I think I mentioned in the last post that I was on my way to a performance. I experienced more culture “shock” in the V.I.P. of the venue that my sig. other performed at. First, let me see, that I learned in my developmental psych class last week that South Korea is the only country with an average BMI of 0! I Aside from the billions of subway steps, I think I may know why. Koreans party often- just like we, in America do. However, almost all of their clubs don’t close until 4am or 6am. In clubs in America, typical food served is chicken wings, peanuts, pretzels, nachos, etc. In the V.I.P. of Club Answer, we were served the following:

Endless Fruit Plates

We were served an unlimited amount of fruit plates and little bowls of Granola. It was too dark to capture the granola. Now, obviously, I was exaggerating when I attributed the difference in avg. BMI (America has the highest) to the different food served in the club. However, I do feel that it speaks about their culture. Even in the club, they promote good health!

Another thing I must introduce you to is the Korean BBQ! You will absolutely love this! After most events and parties, friends in Korea sit around a huge table with a grill pit in the middle. Then, everyone cooks the food and eats. Not only is it a great way to mingle in an easy environment, the food taste wonderful!

Sam Gip Sal aka Korean BBQ

Here you see the grill. You can order beef or pork (or both) to grill. It comes to you in slabs and you cut into sizes of your own choosing, and then place the pieces on the grill. It cost about 7,000 to 9,000 WON per person. For all of the food you get, it’s worth it.

The veggies. Taste wonderful. Usually, you use those leaves (oops I mean lettuce haha) and put the meat, veggies, and sauce of your choice on the lettuce; wrap it up; and eat it. This is my FAVORITE meal in Korea. They usually are open 24/7.

Here’s an example of what I mentioned before. This wrap isn’t finished but you get the point.

You might have missed this in the above picture. Kim-Chi!!

Kim chi in Korea is like bread is in America. They serve this healthy dish with EVERYTHING. It is spicy radish or fermented cabbage, and if you can handle the spice (which I could) it tastes great and is very good for you. It’s best eaten with chop sticks, so learn how to use them (lol).You get an unlimited amount of this at the Korean BBQ.

Korean word(s) of the day: tay jee go gee = Pork. So go gee = Beef.

Peace and Love All, enjoy your weekends!

July 24, 2009

School has been going splendidly. I have an A in every class thus far. One thing, however, that I’m not happy about, is this business with the Academic Excellence scholarship. Korea University offers a $1,000 scholarship to any student who receives an A in every class. The catch? You have to be an Exchange student and not a study abroad student. L This really sucks. This program is VERY expensive when you include, in my case, rent, transportation, groceries, food, books, the flight, the regular amount for a UC quarter- which is $3,144- and other various expenses. Although the reception of the grant money was very helpful ($450.00), there were many cost associated that you simply don’t figure out until you get to Korea and live for a bit. Since the program the UC program is a study abroad, I’m not eligible for the $1,000, despite my wonderful grades. Oh well. Time for the food of the day. I decided I was missing home, so went for something a bit more western. This place is near my friend’s officetel, and it offers a variety of pasta dishes.

Shrimp and Broccoli Alfredo Pasta

I decided on the fresh shrimp and broccoli alfredo pasta. You can tell this place is “Americanized” because they actually had forks (lol). I still don’t know what those seeds were, but I was too starving to ask, so I ate them. Everything was delicious. The only downside is that the shrimp were fresh and still had the tails on them. Thus each time, I wanted to eat a forkful containing shrimp I had to pull it out, tear the tail off, and then eat it (ugh). One thing I’d recommend, even in an American restaurant, is that if you’re allergic to anything, know what it is before you go and have someone translate into Korean on a little note card for you. I didn’t know what these seeds were and it was fine for me to eat them, because I have no food allergies. However, this can be a dangerous yet common situation for many foreigners. Even in an Americanized restaurant, the wait staff are Korean and usually only fluent in Korean. So, keep that in my mind whenever you eat somewhere alone.

I’d write more but I have a ton of exams to study for, and my sig. other has a show to perform in about 2 hrs at a big club here in Korea- Club Answer. I’m not sure if I previously mentioned the music scene, but it’s so diverse out here. They love “American-style” music. Peace and Love All!

A Previous show of he and the band

July 17, 2009

Well, I’m still loving Korea. I’m not really big on tourist-y attraction, so unfortunately, I won’t be able to provide you with many of those types of pictures. I have been swamped with school work, but I still manage to hang out every weekend. It’s a wonderful time. One thing to be careful of, however, is that Korea has a heavy drinking culture. I don’t drink, but I can see how an American would come here and possibly have too much fun. Sometimes, even the Korean people do:

This guy got so drunk that he fell asleep before he could finish his drink at Angel-in-Us Coffee Shop.

One part of their culture that I did find interesting is that they drink at ALL hours of the day! Where as in America, people try to avoid being drunk before evening hours (well some people anyway), it’s the norm here to drink from lunch hours on. I don’t just mean one friendly drink, I mean WASTED.

What do they get so drunk from?

Soju

Soju for Korea is like beer is to America, only much much stronger. Cheap and strong, this drink comes in several flavors and is sold everywhere and at every meal.

Korean word for the day: kum y o il (koomyo-il) = Friday. Hooray for Fridays!! Have a good one!

I decided to add an extra word because it’s relevant: Maek Ju (mackjoo) = Beer

July 10, 2009

My weekend was awesome! I ended up on an island get away with good friends. The island happens to be Korea’s “honeymoon” island for young newlyweds- Jeju island. Being that I used to live in Bermuda, this gift/trip was very special to me. It reminded me of home! There were brightly covered houses, lots of tourists attractions, and beautiful beaches. My friends and I rented scooters, got a room in a cozy bed and breakfast on the island coast, and then we went exploring.

The first beach we visited- Horseshoe? (Sorry, the sign was in Korean).

As you can see, it was simply gorgeous, and this wasn’t even the prettiest day!

We ate dinner on this pier, prior to doing some more exploring

A beach side sunset concluded the first day on Jeju.

Although, I didn’t post close to the amount of pictures I took, you can see that the island was amazing. I would recommend a visit for anyone staying in Korea for an extended amount of time. It has its own airline, the tickets aren’t that expensive, and it’s a great get away. You can get full body massages for about $15 a person on this island (I should know, I enjoyed 2 of them lol).

Korean word for today: yok kwon (yukwon) = Passport. You’ll need your passport to travel in and out of Jeju so don’t forget it!

July 1, 2009

If you didn’t catch the last post, here’s a quick recap: it’s now the second week of school, everything is English, but I have absolutely NO time to slack! Since we are smashing one full semester into 6 weeks of classes, there is ALWAYS a test to study for, and I also have one graduate level class that gives me homework EVERY night. In addition to my classes in Korea, I have one online class at UC- Psych 537- Broken Brains. I’m in love with the course already, but since it’s self paced I have to remember to be diligent in getting everything completed. Despite all the work I have ahead of me, I’m actually pretty excited to because the fourth of July is coming up. Though not a holiday in Korea, there is a surprise waiting for me this weekend. Well, you know what it’s time for, the new food for this week, and it was absolutely delicious. My Korean friend, Anna, took me to a restaurant in one of Korea’s main shopping districts, which just happened to be right across from my apartment (yes!).

Crusted Lemon chicken with cabbage, soup, rice and sesame seed sauce.

Though you’re thinking this looks similar to something from America, there were actually full slices of lemon inside each piece of chicken- it was SO good!

The Sesame Seed Sauce

You might be thinking that this looks like bird food… because that’s what I thought initially. However, it actually turned out to be one of my favorite parts of the meal. You pour soy sauce in the bowl, and grind it up with a little tool they give you. Pretty good stuff- I dipped my rice and chicken in the sauce, and the combination was very good.

Korean word for today: Yoja: Woman. Our waitress was a woman and I asked my friend what the word for woman was. The next post might be a bit delayed as I have the weekend plans and my homework to attend to. Enjoy your holiday!

June 29, 2009 First Day of School

I feel like I’m 5 years old again. I’m a senior in college, the first day of class is nothing new to me. BUT, this is the first day of class in Korea… will everything be in English? Will my professors take kindly to the fact that my knowledge of the Korean language is terrible? I had no idea, but I was soon to find out. Korea University is located on the brown line, Line – only 35 minutes away from where I was on the blue line in Myeong Dong. When I finally arrived on campus, I was definitely pleased! The campus is beautiful and signs directing me to where I need to be are in English.

True to form, I scouted out some food places on campus as well.

I found this Popeyes first. I later discovered that the only sauce they had for the chicken strips was Salsa and Mustard… Needless to say, that did not make me eat there often. However, when my first class began at 10:50, I was pleased to find my professor was polite, enthusiastic, and a Fluent English speaker.

June 26, 2009. Street Food is Delectable

One major difference between Korea and the US is that they have “fast” food in little open “restaurants” on the street. Yes, I’m sure that made you reminiscent of hotdog /pretzel stands, but this is different. Many street food places in Korea have places to sit and provide free water. I was absolutely starving today after packing my stuff back up at my friend’s officetel in preparation to move into my apartment. Instead of heading to McDonalds or ordering pizza, we decided to head to the store and eat en route.

As you can see, there is a wide array of options. I had never had this pasta thingy so I decided to try it. Besides, it was only 2,000 KRW which is less than $2.00 USD. Oh by the way, I don’t speak fluent Korean so many of the foods here, I won’t have a name for. I’ll try my best to describe it though. Back to the pasta: It looked a bit like Chef Boy R D Ravioli sauce over spongy noodles to me, so I said “what the hey” and gave it a try. S.P.I.C.Y.!!! I had no idea it would be so spicy. I can’t even remember how the noodles tasted. Naturally, I didn’t finish it, my next thing to try was the chicken sticks (which I call stickens) that you see the woman making on the grill. The stick is only 1,500 KRW.

Once the lady finishes cooking the sticken, she puts a wonderful sauce all over it. The sticken tasted awesome! I ate these pretty frequently. And let me tell you, all sauces are NOT created equally! The sauce has a very rich, slightly spicy, sweet taste- tangy yet smooth. I had a sticken from a stand once that tasted pretty bland.

One important thing to note about street food is that you have to be careful to be sure the food is fresh. Get familiar with the street-food lady and her selection. In many places that foreigners frequent, the food sits out for a very long time. My friend lives in a quiet “suburb” of Seoul on Line 7 of the subway, and I became very acquainted with my street-food lady. We reached a light conversational level of friendship and I believe she only served me the best of her selection because of that. Also, I did my best to converse with her in Korean- she loved that.

Since I’m discussing Korean, here are 3 basic words to communicate with street-food vendors and with people in general:

Hello: An nyong ha sae yo (pronounced: Ahnyohasayyo). They say this very fast and ALL of the time, so you don’t really hear the “g” sound.

How much is this: Oh mai yo? (pronounced: Ohmyyo?) There is a more proper way to say this, but they will greatly appreciate if you can manage even this basic form.

Thank you: Kam sa hab nee da (pronounced: Kahmsahmneeda). This is said very fast as well, and obviously it is a word you will be using all of the time.

June 18, 2009 So I’m studying Abroad in South Korea Through UC

Your first thought upon reading the title was probably: “umm…why Korea?” Well, Korea is the 10^th largest city in the world and the availability of job for native English speakers is quite expansive. I figured, what better way to get my foot I the door than by studying there and learning the country. The classes offered through ISC at Korea University were extremely salient with my major of Bio-Psychology, and I was already very familiar with the country. Thus, off to Seoul I went. Although this was not my first trip to South Korea, I must say, my excitement wasn’t any less than it as when I first touched down on Asian ground. I’ve been here for several short trips prior to the study abroad, but never did I stay for such an extended period of time and never did I live all on my own here. As I boarded the plane, a mix of excitement and anxiety filled my stomach. This is actually what will be the focus of my blog- my stomach. Lol, only kidding, but food will be the topic. With such a wide variety of foods available in Korea, I could write a book on it, but instead I will share my brief food experiences with you as I “taste” them . (: The first food I experienced there that I was unfamiliar with was actually on the plane:

Though there were a few “American” options, I wanted to step outside of my comfort zone and taste the Korean sauce. It was delectable, but also very spicy… You’ll find that almost every dish in Seoul contains some sort of spice. Not surprisingly, I discovered through a class in Korea, that Korea has the highest rate of stomach cancer. However, they are also the best at preventing it, so Eat. Up.! :)