so I know there are only a few of you out there who this really bothers, namely my mother and father, but I will apologize for our lazy ways with this blog, although I'm sure this pattern will probably continue. But one can only hope that Warren and I get it together someday.
Anyway, we have now been in South Korea for 2 months. Hooray for us! We were just talking about how it feels longer, as we hiked around in the mountains behind our apartment this evening. I think the routine we follow makes us feel very comfortable in our little world, and while I still have moments when I am struck by the whole foreign country experience, it has become part of the routine as well, and so is familiar in a way.
What really strikes me, which I haven't really thought about much, is how safe I feel most of the time. Granted I rarely go anywhere after dark/without Warren, but I can't help but feel like, for such a big city, Busan feels more like a never-ending small town with a lot of skyscrapers. Its not a place where you hold your purse tightly to your side, or think that everyone is charging you double, (although this has happened, but rarely), or wonder if every mans who looks at you is thinking crude thoughts. In that respect, Korea is a much more enjoyable place to be than many countries in Europe, in my very limited opinion. People leave things on the street you would never imagine in another country. Brand new washing machines and refrigerators get left out overnight in front of shops, which could easily be hauled into the back of some mini truck (all the trucks are mini) but are not, tons of stores have outdoor racks, with no one staring hawk-eyed at you as you look. Its just nice.
I want to comment a little on the food here, since I don't think many westerners are familiar with Korean food. I know I wasn't before I left. They do indeed eat kimchi everyday. I don't mind this very spicy, kind-of sourish, fermented cabbage, but I can only eat one or two bites, and after a few weeks, I had to cut back to every few days instead of everyday. But Koreans eat it at least twice a day, 7 days a week. It is supposed to be very nutritious with lots of good "germs" as my coteacher described it. So everyday at school we get served kimchi and rice, always white rice, usually with other things in it, like different grains and beans and things. There is always soup. Koreans do not usually drink anything with their meals, because they believe it messes with the digestion process, so their only way to wash down the food is soup. Usually the soup is broth-based, with lots of limp veggies and random sea life, sometimes beef or pork. I am working on liking the seaweed soup, and the soup with lots of fish scraps and bones and some tiny fish eggs, but most of the other soups I either really enjoy, or tolerate pretty well.
So many of their dishes are cooked with red pepper sauce, in varying amounts, which range from spicy to eyes watering and nose running hot. It can be used on meat, pasta, veggies, and anything else the Koreans decide needs a little heat. They eat a ton of different kinds of sprouts, leaves, and green things. Its difficult to identify most of them. Actually it can be difficult to identify a lot of what I put in my mouth. I have gotten to the point that as long as it tastes good I can handle whatever texture I am experiencing.
People eat anything that comes from the ocean. Anything. And if they don't eat it whole they chop it up and put it in their main dishes and the soup. I am loving the amount of calamari available, although I am intimidated to try to cook the giant blobs I find in the grocery store. Octopus swim sadly in little tanks and buckets in every marketplace, and in front of half the restaurants are fish tanks with flounder, gigantic crabs, eels, different fish, and strange floating reddish blobby things I have yet to learn the name of, but have eaten, all awaiting their fate. And their fate is not pretty, I know; I have witnessed the skinning of live eels, and the blood that splatters when they are beheaded. (they are turned inside out.)
But actually a lot of the food I eat regularly ends up being more earthy tasting and usually involves beef or pork. Bulgogi is a specialty of Korean. It just means barbecued meat, and can be used to describe many different types. There are many restaurants where a grill sits in the middle of the table and the waiter brings you a plate of raw meat, which you can then cook yourself at the table. Various side dishes are brought out, and you wrap your meat with rice and garlic (they love garlic, they eat pounds of it) and other veggies, all together in lettuce or seaweed, and then eat it in one giant mouthful. It is delicious.
Street food is usually fried tasty things-shrimp, squid, potato, and many other things. They cook omelet/pancake type things with veggies and seafood which is quite good, and they also have these very thick rice noodle roll things in red sauce that is very popular. A wonderful variety of dumplings can be found in Seomyeon, all for very cheap of course. But after some indulging when we first arrived, and some gross feelings that followed, we try to limit our intake of the grease.
bread is a novelty which has become increasingly popular recently, so bakeries are all over, but they have not really embraced brown bread, or anything that might be remotely healthy, so its just white bread for us, and we are loving it, guiltily.
It perplexes and amuses me to imagine American elementary or middle schoolers having a tray of the school food the Korean students eat placed in front of them. They would freak. Many things retain their eyes, for one. The spiciness is legitimately intense sometimes, and its all usually pretty healthy. So all serious no-nos in the American cafeteria.
Deserts are where Koreans fail me sometimes. Well, actually they have many delicious cakes, and things made with sweet potato, which is really tasty. They have a soft spot for individual ice cream treats, chocolate, and candy. BUT, they love Dak. And this is something I cannot do. Dak is a thick, sticky, chewy, fills-your-mouth-makes-you-gag-slightly rice "cake". But do not fooled, it tastes nothing like cake, and is only mildly sweet. Koreans go crazy for it. I have watched students beg teachers for some of the extra dak in the office (dak and other foods are offered all the time as gifts from teachers to teachers) and then when they get a piece they shove the whole thing in their mouth and grin as if they just stuffed themselves with, well, real cake. Its probably really healthy in comparison, yada yada yada. I brace myself and nibble sometimes to satisfy the onlookers, but inside I'm cringing.
But all in all, Warren and I have both adjusted a little too well to Korean cuisine. We are complimented regularly on our mastery of chopsticks, and we get proud looks of approval with every bite of Kimchi.
Now I will post some pictures to make up for it if you were bored.
These are from our trip to Beomeosa temple a few weeks ago with one of my coworkers and her family. Beomeosa temple is Busan's most famous Buddhist temple, and it is obvious why. It is up in the mountains, isolated and beautiful and mysterious. The buildings are large and spread out, with amazing architecture, artwork, and sculpture, some of it hundreds of years old. My favorite things are the traditional roof tiles. I could stare at these roofs for hours. I have more pictures, but I think we will make a webshots account or something soon for all the pretty pictures.
We miss everyone at home very much, and we are especially thinking about Megan, Paul and the baby on the way soon, our moms since mother day approaches, and Justin and his birthday! We wish we could be there with you, but we will send cards and love and phone calls!
XOXOXO-Sarah
(and Warren)
