KOREA Week 1 Review

Sun, May 3, 2009 at 1:38pm

Late Friday night I was treated to a brilliant display of fireworks, in honor of Buddha's Birthday (Korean holiday) and my arrival in Korea. The fireworks were viewed with little obstruction from my apartment window, and were a real treat. After this, I ventured out for an evening stroll. The streets were alive with families enjoying street vendor food, listening to musicians performing, watching fireworks, and other celebratory happenings. Apparently, The Buddha's birthday is a really big deal here. Most cool. I have also been told that Kim Yun-a, international figure skater and Sanbon native, made a public appearance this weekend.

After this, I returned to Jack's Bar and was greeted by the fire-breathing, juggling bartender from Thursday night (he obviously remembered me), and I also met "Jack" the Korean proprietor, who kicked my ass in a game of Cricket (bar darts). I later learned he and two of his staff members are Korean champions in Cricket, and are nationally rated, after he proudly showed me a tournament poster featuring their names at the top. I met another American ESL teacher named Marcus from Mississippi. He is a shaggy haired, chain-smoking fellow, but a nice guy, and we talked for over an hour. He's been living here three months and likes it very much. He says Sanbon is much better than Seoul, where the congestion and pollution are ridiculous. His only complaint, which he talked about for a good ten minutes, was his former girlfriend who invited him to live here with him, returned to the States just 5 days after his arrival. Bummer, but he says he will remain the year.

I have spent much time walking the streets of Sanbon and now have a better understanding of my immediate surroundings. It's a really nice town. Sanbon, apparently, is a Dong (large neighborhood) composed of many areas. I live in the old city or downtown area. The streets are narrow here and it's the major commercial district (maybe 20 square blocks?). My building is located directly in the center of Sanbon, and is approximately one block from the hospital and two blocks from the subway station. Gunpo City is the larger area (Si-city), including the numerous apartment towers located to the East of downtown Sanbon, and more commonly known when describing the region. There are two subway stations servicing Gunpo City (Sanbon Station and Suri San Station), and a complex bus system. Suri San is the tall mountain located immediately to the North/West of Gunpo, and is 450 meters tall at it's peak? There are many hiking trails through the mountains fed by three trailheads. The trailheads are located near bus stops, which is served by the Gunpo City bus system via a large ring road surrounding the city. I have walked this ring road, but apparently the bus service is only 600 Won or roughly $0.60 one-way. This service will help make getting around Gunpo, including mountain hiking trips to Suri San Mountain, far more frequent for Ethan.

When touring the streets of Sanbon, I have noticed some interesting observations about Korean metropolitan centers, or at least Sanbon. First of all, the buildings are perhaps 6-10 stories tall on average, but unlike in the U.S., they are filled with retail stores on every floor (such as Jack's Bar, which is located on the eighth floor of a neighboring building). When walking the streets and alleys, one must always look up to read the signs identifying the tenants and floor number of the business. It hurts your neck after a while of practicing this. As an example, other tenants in my building include: a large bookstore in the basement, sunglass shop and restaurant on street level, PC Bang and billiards hall on the third floor, wellness spa on the fifth floor, children's playland on the 6th floor, and countless restaurants and bars located throughout the building. I'm not entirely sure of this, but I suspect I am the only resident of the building. Another major difference is the main entrance to every building and elevator lobby are not clearly identified. In fact, they are not identified at all, so you really have to look hard to locate. Most buildings also feature a parking garage in the basement level 2, in which cars enter/exit via a small car elevator.

Saturday I slept until 11am, had breakfast, and visited the PC Bang or computer cafe. PC Bangs are large computer rooms with loud Korean music, and mostly filled with young adults playing interactive computer games. Cost is very cheap; I paid 2,000 Won ($2.00 USD) for an hour and a half worth of internet time yesterday. No video games for me. Last week, I purchased a power converter from 110V American service to 240V Korean service, but am frightened to use this. Cost was only 30,000 Won at a local electronics store, but I do not want to risk frying my laptop. So, until I overcome this fear, I remain without music in my apartment, and I am kickin' it at the PC Bang with the Korean kids.

I met my new friend, and student, B.H. at 3pm Saturday for screen golf. It's a small indoor facility on the third floor of a commercial building located closer to the mountain and apartment towers. Apparently, he lives nearby, and his health club is located on the second floor of this facility. I was provided the largest golf shoes they have in stock and a glove to use. We then loaded the computer and practiced for roughly thirty minutes. I imagine the Golfzon system we played is just like a golf simulator at a golf clinic. I learned how to place the ball so the sensor registers it, and the importance of properly following through on your swing so the sensor records it accurately. (Note: it's a very sensitive machine and the computer will place your ball way off the grid if not performed well). After thirty minutes of warm up, we loaded an 18 hole course and began playing. Despite a magnificent 20 meter chip shot on the 6th hole and a fine 10 meter put on the 7th hole, I was a modest 20 over after 9 holes. My host was a strong +6. For those of you familiar with my golf game, this comes as no surprise. I will spare the bloody details of what happened over the last 9 holes, but the second half of the game was played at roughly the same pace as the first 9 holes. I was, unfortunately, not the Tiger Woods my host was hoping for. Either way, we had a good time and enjoyed pleasant conversation together.

After golf, I was treated to another fine Korean meal followed by doughnuts and green tea latte at Dunkin Doughnuts. This meal was perhaps the spiciest I have experienced during my short time here. Like a traditional Korean BBQ with the gas grill located at the center of the table, a dish with beef spare ribs was served in a pot filled with onions and a bubbling, fiery red pepper sauce. Most hot! Several pickled vegetables accompanied this in side dishes, along with rice soup in a clear broth. The rice soup was very bland compared with the main entree, but the pickled vegetables served as a nice palate cleanser, and short-term relief from the heat of the peppers. My most embarrassing moment to date was when I placed what I thought was a pickled root vegetable in my mouth, only to realize it was some type of shellfish, perhaps a small crab, and had to politely excuse myself (with a full mouth) to dispose of this mistake. My host was pleasantly entertained by this display of awkwardness, and assured me not to feel bad. Once again, there was far more food on the table than two of use could realistically consume, and we left much behind.

After only one week, I am making progress and learning new Korean words each day. I really hope to learn the Korean alphabet (Hangul) this week, which will help me read Korean and properly pronounce words, despite the fact I may have no clue what the words mean. Obviously, this is probably the best way to effectively learn the language, though I have been complimented on my efforts thus far.

Annyonghi Kyeseyo!