Friends in Korea

I have started meeting with some Koreans who want to practice their English, in return for teaching them more about grammar and such they also coach me in my Korean. Message boards on university websites and physical bulletin boards are covered with requests from students and locals to meet with foreign students and practice English. While every Korean student studies the language starting at age 8, conversation practice is not emphasized, so there is always high demand for someone who knows colloquial English.

I also met with a friend of mine who I met while she was an exchange student at George Washington University. So Yoon was actually my Korean tutor, she has helped me settling into the city and finding my way around, (I would have had a very hard time buying a cell phone without her). Here I am with So Yoon and her boyfriend in COEX, a massive underground mall in southeastern Seoul.

So Yoon, Goofy Looking American, Han Yeong

If you look carefully, you can see that So Yoon and her boyfriend are wearing matching shirts, this is a trend that is extremely popular in Korea. Some couples are more subtle about matching, some go all out and wear shirts saying (in English) "This is my Romeo -->" and "<-- this is my Juliet." Funny stuff

MSL 2008 Finals

I have been trying to experience as much of Korea as I can in the few weeks left before I leave, trying to see everything at least once before I go back to Connecticut. In pursuit of a well-rounded impression of Korea, I've sung at Norebang, (ubiquitous Karaoke bars), been to Korean movie theaters, (without subtitles), eaten more than my share of Kimchi, and traveled to the 2008 MSL Starcraft Finals.

Starcraft is a computer game often played in internet cafes here. While the game is popular in America, here it rivals soccer and baseball for popularity among young men. Three television channels are devoted to showing the strategies of experienced players and many of them go on to make a living with sponsorship deals and a number of international tournaments.


I happen to be in Seoul during the tail end of a computer game tournament, the finals of which were held just an hour away from my dormitory. What I expected was a few hundred intense-looking men staring calmly at projection screens, what I got was a rock concert with keyboards rather than instruments.

The two players competing in the finals.

In stark contrast to the rabid fans and high-tech lightshow of the tournament, I also went to a jazz concert later that night. Juilliard has a group of its "All-Stars" in Seoul, who happened to be performing on my campus. I know it is strange to go halfway around the world to see Juilliard when I've never seen them in America, but it was a fantastic experience as well. A Korean jazz singer, named Lee Eun Mi, did a guest appearance, belting out "Summertime" in a voice that would have made Janis Joplin proud.

NY Times article on dining in Seoul

The Times just released an article that does a good job of describing many of the better foods in Seoul. Some of the restaurants mentioned I could never afford and the author's tone is a little fawning, (there is also a great deal of unappetizing street food and bland dishes to be had), but it's the best coverage I've seen so far.


here's the link

Run up Ansancheon

My university is right next to one of mountains that rise up throughout Seoul, called Ansancheon. Whenever I want to go for a run I tend to go up the mountain rather than on the streets that border campus, the view is better and the exhaust fumes can be overwhelming.

Ansancheon itself is beautiful, dotted with little parks and badminton courts where older Koreans, (ajushis and ajummas) picnic and talk with one another.

The whole run takes a little under an hour, and finishes up with a massive flight of stairs (about 250, yes I counted). The whole thing feels like the ascent to a Shaolin temple.

Many older Korean men and women use the mountain for their daily hike, calmly striding beside me as I sweat and strain up the inclines. There aren't many gyms in the city, but going for an afternoon or morning walk, even during the middle of the summer, seems popular.

The summit/outlook has a stone signal fire tower, from it you can see most of the Seoul city center.
All along the base of another of Seoul's mountains you can see the style of apartment buildings that houses Seoul's immense population.
These apartment complexes are typically constructed by the big Korean conglomerates, Samsung, LG, Sungwon, and you would not believe how uniform and how common they are. Most of the buildings, despite some changes in the outside paint job, look identical, the only way you can tell them apart is by their number. There is one other interesting sight on the top of Ansancheon, what looks like an old military radio tower. Sandbag trenches encircle the top of the mountain, and the antenna looks like it dates back a few decades.

(note: I added another picture to my gallery of Korean anatomy appliances.)

My neighborhood

Life at Yonsei University is starting to become more familiar. After two and a half weeks I have a handle on the neighborhood that surrounds my campus, called Sinchon. Sinchon has all of the excitement of an average college town, just multiplied a few times over, squeezed into high-rises and with a few extra unique sites as well.

This is actually the view from my dorm room window, on one of the few mornings where rest of the city wasn't obscured by mist or pollution. The brick building in the foreground is a copy of my own.

I went for a run out of the north gate of my campus, which, rather than facing the affluent downtown, is closer to the small shops and poorer neighborhoods. I wanted to get a picture of all of the little produce stalls lined up against this canal, but I didn't dare take out my camera while all of the women who tended them gave me glares. This part of the city, being less wealthy, also sees far less white people.

This is a picture of the underside of the highway that runs through the neighborhood. It looks peaceful and idyllic, but the water smells like untreated sewage.

Just outside of the north gate is the local fire station, it's the building with the gold emblem in the background. I took this picture mainly to remember what the sky looks like without rainclouds, it has rained just about ever other day for the past two weeks.

The guy hailing a cab in the foreground is a friend of mine. Cabs are cheap here compared to just about anywhere in America, a ten minute ride is about $3.

Sinchon has dozens of internet cafes, which are also much cheaper than similar places in America. A lot of college and high school students park themselves here after class, playing Starcraft for hours.

Store promotions in Seoul are anything but subtle. Besides the clown inviting pedestrians into Baskin Robbins that I caught on camera, there are cellphone salesmen singing karaoke outside of their shops, beauty store clerks dressed all in pink talking rapidly into megaphones, as well as alleys full of restaurant owners jumping in front of anyone who passes by and demanding they try their food.
There's also bowling. Nothing really crazy about it, just bowling.

Gyeongbokgung Palace

In the few weeks since I arrived, I have met a few Koreans my age, most of them from contacts back in America. While hanging out with Koreans has not been as effortless as it is with the other Americans in my program, it can be refreshing to not be around the same environment.

A boss of mine in Washington introduced me to her niece via e-mail, a young woman who is now studying in Seoul. On Saturday I met her for a tour of some of the city's more famous ancient sites, not knowing that the niece knows very little English. It was an interesting few hours, but it also reminded me that when I come back in September I'm going to have many similarly basic conversations. The idea of being limited to the vocabulary of a 10-year-old is daunting, but I still had a good time on Saturday, so it can't be too bad.

Gyeongbokgung is a reconstructed palace originally built in the 14th century. The site, which could be compared to many sites in Washington or Boston in terms of national importance, was surprisingly quiet. Tourists wandered through the grounds and slipped off their shoes before touring the old royal chambers.

Describing tourist sites makes for pretty dry reading, so I just included some of my better photos.




Lunch was buckwheat noodles in a red-pepper sauce, with the bonus of chunks of ice for the hot day, (this whole week is going to be about 85 degrees).

On the way back to the subway, we walked by one of the larger roundabouts in northern Seoul. The roundabout is also apparently on the path from Seoul City Hall to the president's Blue House, (equivalent to the White House). To stop U.S. beef protests from pushing on to the House, (50,000 people marched on Saturday night), the police put bus barricades across the street and post riot police in front of them.

I wasn't able to get any great photos of the barricades, but they are basically refitted police shuttles with riot shields and metal over the windows. Korean street protests can turn violent pretty quickly, last week protestors were pulling the buses back through sheer manpower as the police advanced. Even though I live relatively close to the protests, I must admit I haven't seen any or even heard them since I have been here. I don't know how welcome a white face would be at the rallies, so I don't plan to get too close any time in the future.

Shopping in Korea

While I know that a post on the beef protests is in demand, all I have so far is a few scattered photos and no real experience. Next weekend will be another scheduled demonstration in the city center, hopefully I'll be able to take some shots of the hordes of angry Koreans and offer a little insight.

I also added some more photos to the post about Hongdae, the nightlife district. The new pictures show how the whole place lights up at night.

There is a whole side of Seoul aimed at the multitude of fashion-conscious young professionals and students who populate the city. As of right now, the most popular clothing is covered in American phrases that are never quite appropriate, there is much to be seen in the shops of Seoul that is uniquely Korean.

Just down the street from the entrance to my university is a tower of shops much like Walmart. While I was only looking for a few things for my dorm room, the eight-story structure has just about anything you might need. Right next to the alarm clock that I bought was something that would be very out of place in any American store, and is best described as a picture.


Yes, that's a pen holder, and right next to them were these lamps.


(this is a photo I took at the Yongsan electronics market, that's a piggy bank/alarm clock with the coin slot in an interesting position).
My first reaction when I saw these was, quite naturally, surprise. The lamps and pen holders seemed to contrast with a society that is otherwise very conservative. Sexuality, while present in advertisements and of course, among young people, is still not displayed that openly. Korean couples will hold hands and cuddle on park benches all the time, but I have never seen them kiss in public and the average Korean woman is far more modest than her American counterpart.

I met an American who had taught in Korea for a year and still lives here, he wasn't fazed when I told him what I saw for sale, and was able to provide an explanation. Apparently Koreans can be very open about their bodies and their bodily functions, so long as there is no tinge of sexuality. Here there is less embarrassment when it comes to hygiene or what goes on in the bathroom, which explains why the pen holders, so long as they were purely humorous and not sexual, would not be a problem.

Just so you don't get the impression that Korean stores are full of naked plastic people, I was able to get another photo of a floor in a department store adjacent to the Korean Walmart. This particular department store, owned by Hyundai, has a whole floor of bakeries and a food court that actually beats most other restaurants I've been to in terms of price and taste. While I was soon instructed to stop taking pictures, (I still don't know why), I have to share the multitude of waffles that were for sale. Waffles are a popular street food here, equivalent to hot dog carts back in New York City. I will have to describe the other street foods for sale here, but for now I am happy with a country that has discovered the need for a constant and plentiful supply of waffles.