Korean cultural habits

Well I am on the eve of my last night in Seoul. Since I really haven't seen anything new I have been making a list of Korean customs, or things that I think are note worthy of the Korean culture. So here goes:

1. Korean weddings - the bride and groom-to-be go together to buy a gown and tux at the same time. So the groom sees the bride-to-be as she is trying on dresses. The couple does not register for things prior to the wedding, instead it is customary to give money. At the wedding the women who are married or older Korean women usually wear the traditional Korean dresses. The wedding party also has white or pink balloons on their vehicles. Weeks after the ceremony, the bride's parents may then take people out to eat as a thank you for giving their children money.

These are pictures of Korean dresses I saw in a store window.

2. Korean funerals - there is never an open casket. If you were close to the person who passed away then you will stay at the funeral parlor for up to 36 hours to greet people and perhaps hold their hands while they pray. Cremation is rare, but do to space limitations in Korea it is becoming more popular. Many time there will be a family plot in the mountains or in a pasture, because space is limited. Vehicles for funerals have black balloons on them.

Plots on a hillside

3. Korean mayonnaise - for those of you that know me, know that I HATE mayonnaise. But I do have to say that Korean mayo is pretty good. One day I accidentally tasted some and thought it was butter!! I have since then eaten it again, by default mostly as it was on a sandwich. But it is much better than American mayo.

4. Drivers for drunks - there is a company here that will come to the location where you have been drinking and someone will drive your vehicle, you, and the occupants to your next location or home. This way no one gets in trouble for drinking and driving and there are no accidents; plus it is much cheaper than paying for a DUI. I asked how the drivers move around all night, and they either get a taxi or team up with other drivers and go around the city. What a brilliant idea!!

5. Korean education - education to Koreans is VERY important. The children start learning English when they are 3, usually. They then have English classes on top of regular school - so they may be at school until 10 p.m. just studying and doing homework. Most schools also are in session for a 1/2 day on Saturdays. Since Korea is so competitive for jobs (good ones), many Korean women may take their children to an English speaking country for their high school years (hence the high divorce rate in Korea). But when the students go to college most will go to an English speaking country for a college education. Any advantage they can get over the next person the better.

6. Korean military - all Korean men are required to serve 2 years in the military. They can do it immediately after high school or can do it after college. If the child has poor vision, a disability, or anything else that will not let them be active, then they are usually given police duty (as it is easier) or an office job of sorts. When asked if draft dodging is common the response was that sons who are born to wealthy families or into families who are high in society try to get out of it; and may even make up physical aliments to avoid active duty. A Korean musician moved to the states before he served his duty, and was considered a Korean American. But years later he wanted to come back to Korea to further his singing career; but people view him poorly as he never served his military duty. He kept saying he would do it, but he now tours in Russia, China, Japan, etc. just to continue to avoid the obligatory service.

7. Comfort women - during WWII the Japanese soldiers made Korean women become "comfort women" - or prostitutes, basically. Once a week on Wednesdays, the remaining women and supporters gather in front of the Japanese Embassy and protest. The women who were forced to be sex slaves continually ask for an apology from the Japanese government since 1992, but have never received it!

8. High heels - Korean women always wear high heels. This is not an over exaggeration. They wear them like other cultures wear tennis shoes or flip flops. Even on weekends when they are out sightseeing or on a stroll they have on heels. I have an image in my head of what happens at the gym, lol.

9. Kimchi - fermented spicy vegetables (usually cabbage) is very common in Korean diets. So much so that they will eat it for all 3 meals. Well it was believed that kimchi will protect you against SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome). So a few years back when SARS was in the media all the time, especially in Asian countries; the Korean people believed they would be safe by eating kimchi.

10. Korean age - Koreans count a newly born baby as being 1 year old, since they have already spent nearly a year in the womb. So since I am 30, I would be 31 in Korean age!

11. Work schedule - Korean people are work-a-holics. Many will get to the office before 8 and may stay until after 7 p.m. Even though they incur vacation days most will not use them (and they will go to waste), because using them may show that you are a slacker; especially if your coworkers never take time off either.

12. Korean breakfast - Koreans usually do not skip a meal (especially breakfast) because they believe it to be bad for their health. When I went to Jeju Island I had a "traditional" Korean breakfast. It consisted of rice, soup, kimchi, pickled squash, some sort of meat (usually dried fish), and seaweed strips. I think all Korean meals are the same; as this breakfast mimicked things I have had for lunch and dinner!

13. Blood type - Asian people (especially the Japanese) believe that a person's bloodtype determines personality characteristics (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_blood_type_theory_of_personality). There are some companies that will actually ask that question in a job interview. I checked into this a little more, and the Asian people are very serious about this, but all research that has been done on it has not been able to actually prove it to be true. But it does add an interesting new pick up question to the list.

14. Korean names - a Korean name is usually three characters (stemming from the Chinese characters). The first 2 are someone's first name (usually hyphenated) and the last character is the last name. While last names are very common among many Korean people (Kim, Lee, Yang, etc.), it is believed that at one point in their very, very distant past they were all related. After a Korean child is born the parents will take them to a naming expert. The naming expert will then usually select the name for the child. The parents may have some say in the matter; i.e., if they like a certain character they can ask the expert about it, and if it is favorable then it may be chosen. The naming expert may also choose an English name (if the parents choose) for the child. The naming expert relies heavily on the meaning of the name. A name is chosen only if the meaning is something desirable. I have also met people who were named by their English teachers or from a name of a celebrity on t.v. Most Korean people who work with American companies will use the American name, as foreigners think Korean names are awkward and hard to pronounce.

15. Korean food - Korean food is very spicy, perhaps more so than Mexican food. But it is great, and I have taken a liking to almost all of it. My co-workers were very surprised to find that, 1) I am not a picky person who will try anything, 2) I like almost everything I have tried, and 3) I can name almost all of the food in its Korean name. They have actually been very complimentary in saying that they loved going to eat places with me because they knew I would at least try anything. They were also very relieved that they did not have to alter their eating habits and locations just to accommodate me.


Top: Korean pancake (veggies, seafood, and an egg batter). Middle: fried noodles. Bottom: military soup.

16. Korean respect - it is very common to bow to people who are your elders, someone who is of higher rank than you, or if you are showing gratitude to a person. Also, if you join someone who is higher rank, or your senior it is customary to pour their drink for them; actually you would pour drinks for everyone, set the drink container down, and then they would pour your drink. You should never pour your own drink. When pouring a drink you should either put both hands on the container, or use one hand while the other is touching your upper forearm/bend of arm.

Well that is all for now. I hope you have learned a little more about the Korean culture. I know this experience has been priceless for me.

Weekend get away to Jeju Island.

This week went by ...slowly... but I was gearing up for a weekend trip. I had booked a 3 day, 2 night trip to Jeju Island (which is known to be a honeymoon destination) off the southern tip of Korea. But wouldn't you know it - the weekend I planned to go there there was a typhoon watch issued!! After having the guide of the trip assure things were safe, I packed a bag and got out of Seoul. I arrive in Jeju Friday afternoon and was pleased at how pretty the island was; it was so green and lush, also it was not crowded and the air was so clean - what a nice break from Seoul. After getting to my hotel and getting checked in,

(view from my room)

I decided to check things out. The hotel was relatively close to the ocean, so I headed down to check things out. While there was no beach area close to the hotel, there were lots of fishing boats.

Jeju Island is also known for its women divers. Women used to dive for shell fish, octopus, etc. before diving equipment was available. And now the island is known for this legacy.

While walking around I found a cool waterfall. As you may have picked up, I am NOT a fan of the humidity and heat, and after a couple of hours I was ready for dinner and a shower.

Saturday morning our guide, Victor (from Russia), picked us (9 people = 2 Australians, 3 Canadians, 1 New Yorker, 2 Californians, and me) up at 9:30. We headed out to see another waterfall, apparently this is the only waterfall in the world that actually falls into the ocean.

Next we went to a beach area that was near the Sunrise Peak (which is actually a very old volcano), on the way there we saw lots of falling-down rock walls. Victor informed us that at one point they were put up to protect Jeju from pirate invasions. And as you guessed our next stop was the Sunrise Peak (which has just been named to the Unesco World Heritage List); which is named accordingly because many people come here to watch the sun rise. But what is pretty handy is the each day of each month has the times listed of when the sun rises. While it only takes 25 minutes to get to the top, I figured I would die of heat stroke if I tried, so I took lots of pictures from the bottom and cheered on the three people from our group that braved the hike.

After a traditional Korean lunch we went to a Korean Folk Village (the one in Suwon is better) and then we went to a green house that has over 100 varieties of aloe, as well as orchids. We also saw the oldest "Grandfather" statues on the island, which were next to a thick rock wall which was used at one point to protect the city.

We then saw the LonelyRock; which is said to be the profile of a woman's face - crying out to the ocean for her husband to return. Another tale says that the rock is the profile of General Choe-Yeang, and when people saw the rock, they were so terrified of him they committed suicide.

After enjoying the scenery, Victor called it a day and we headed back to the hotel. That night we all went to dinner at a Japanese sushi restaurant; it was interesting as NONE of the staff spoke any English - but we managed with broken Korean. Jeju Island is also known for their mandarin oranges, I had bought a small bag earlier in the day and savored them after dinner - they were so good.

Sunday Victor picked us up at 9:30 again. We headed for Yakch'eon-sa Temple (translates to Medicine Stream); and luckily for us, there had been no rain from the typhoon yet. We went inside the 5-story Temple, which is the largest Buddhist prayer hall in Asia. The art work was ornate and there were thousands of Buddhas in there, pretty neat.

Our journey continued onto a statue park. There were thousands of statues of Grandfathers, faces, Buddha, and people in daily Korean life. There was also an underground cave that had a shrine to Buddha.

We then went to Hallim Park where we saw many different varieties of palm trees, Hyeopjae and Ssangyong Caves which are lava caves; but these are unique because there were also stalag mites and stalacitites, which are seldom found in lava caves. The picture below has a story that says two dragons used to occupy the caves, and as you can see on the ceiling, it is a V-shape and has pieces that look like scale marks - they say this part was where the dragon's back was.

We then walked through the Jeju Stone and Bonsai Tree Garden,

We went through the bird garden, the water garden, and the subtropical botanical garden. After exhausting ourselves at this park, Victor must have thought we needed a break because we went to a green tea place and had some green tea. While the log carvings are not native to Jeju, this place had tons of them - and notice the green tea shrubs in the background.

My time there was up, so Victor took me to the bus stop and I boarded the plane to head back to Seoul; where I finally saw some of the rain from the typhoon.

And a good time was had by all!!

Korean Folk Village

Wow, I am slacking on posting new blogs. Let's see when I left off I had tried dog and drank beer and soju. Well later that weekend I went to the Korean Folk Village. Now getting there was a little tricky, the subway line I had to take branched off in 2 spots, and of course once I went past where I needed to, so I had to back track; but I finally got there. The Korean Folk Village is about 45 minutes from Seoul near a city called Suwon and it is designed to be just like traditional Korea. There are tradition houses,

a couple of museums, and a bridge where they shot a scene from the movie The King and I (I never saw it, but that is what the sign said).

But my favorite part was the traditional dances and activities they performed.

There were also lots of crops, native flowers and plants. They also had people who performed some of the daily tasks, which was pretty cool, because you could see how things worked. After a day of being an extreme tourist (even had my video camera in tow), it was time to call it a day. Although I didn't get lost on the way home, it still made for a late night.

Dog days of summer

I finally figured out how to put pics up!! I am thinking about going through the previous blogs and adding some pics, so you get an idea of what I was talking about.

Well the moment you have all been waiting for... the dog consumption. But first let me tell you about the rest of the day. Friday morning we left the office and headed to a Hanwoo farm. The first farm had about 150 cows. They wean the calves at about 5 months, and do not castrate the bulls. This is because bulls grow faster than steers, and the producers are looking to keep costs down where ever they can. When the bulls are ~24 months old they slaughter them for consumption. Then when the cows get to be about 6 and get too old for production, they are slaughtered too.

The average size Hanwoo farm is about 150 cows, there is no room for anything larger and they are under barns, to provide shade and weather breaks. I was surprised at how clean it was.

After the Hanwoo farm we had lunch at a place known for their tofu. Now I am not much of a tofu person, but this stuff was pretty tasty. And as par to Korean meals, there were so many side dishes. One photo has tofu, kimchi, and steamed pork. And the other is a "normal" Korean table with all the side dishes - so much food is wasted!!

After lunch we went to a hog farm. They had about 100 sows, and about 1,000 head total. This farm has a branded product. They add something to the feed in the last 20-30 days of feeding, and can then call it - "(insert product here) enhanced". There is no governing body to monitor farms like this, it is just based on their good word. Things that make you go hum.

At the hog farm we saw a cemetery on the hill. This is common in Korea, I guess there are many cemeteries in the mountians that have a few graves.

After the hog farm we went to an importers' site. We were able to see the employees cutting short ribs, and preparing them for the store it supplies them to. While they use Australian beef now, they are open to the thought of US beef. The people we met with here escorted us to the dog (pronounced "k-go-ge") restaurant. Our tables were located by a creek and were outdoor, so of course I was hot; but it was very beautiful. We had dog (eaten with steamed chives and a chili paste), smoked duck, ginseng chicken, and tons of side dishes. The dog was great, it tasted like rabbit. It was a darker meat than what I was expecting, but it met my expectations. The group we were with was very surprised that I wanted to try dog, and they were impressed that I like it.

According to Korean customs, you drink at dinner. Then you go somewhere for the "second round" and keep drinking, and they order more food. So lots of food and lots of alcohol. Soju is the Korean alcohol (similar to vodka) and it is drank by itself, mixed with beer, chased with beer; pretty much anything goes. The video shows how the drinks were mixed.

After a day of great tours, great food, drinks, and great company we called it a day. The guys from the importer company have requested we get together for drinks again before I leave. I think I was the entertainment for the evening, and they liked the fact I could drink, haha. As Russell always said "alcohol is a social lubricant" and it is so true in Korea.

Till next time!!

Beef is back

Well it was official today. As of 5:00 a.m., July 10 (USA central time) beef is officially being slaughtered for Korea. So in a few short weeks US beef will be arriving here for consumption. It will be interesting to see what the reaction is. The good news is that the protests will only happen on the weekends from here on out. They have estimated that the month and half of protests have cost $2.5 billion in damages; which is in lost business, the ruined buses, hiring of extra police, restaurant and taxi business losses, etc., plus the grass at City Hall has to be replaced. And to top it off the founders of the Mad Cow group are holed up at a temple. I guess if they remain there, the police cannot come onto the temple grounds to arrest them, the only way it can happen is if the temple wants them to leave. President Lee has replaced 3 more of his cabinet in hope of trying to get public sentiment back to a reasonable level.

Burger King is under some fire now. In the US they released a statement saying that hamburgers were from cattle over 30 months of age (really? who would have guessed? I mean come on people, what happens to all those old beat up cows?). Well Burger King in Korea was telling people that their burgers were cattle under 30 months, so I guess the head office put their foot down, and now Korea Burger Kind has announced that yes, their burgers are from cattle over 30 months of age too. The good thing is that when we went there for lunch today, it was not busy at all.

Tomorrow I will tell you all about the farm and import visit, oh and the dog!!

Happy Hump Day

Well it is Wednesday, and I only have 2 1/2 weeks left here - it has gone by really fast. Well more like a rock rolling down a hill, a little slow at the beginning, but then it gains momentum, and at the end it is going so fast it is almost out of control.

I forgot to tell you guys that last Thursday night (July 3rd) we all went out for dinner to a seafood buffet called Makinochaya. There was so much food there; I had three plates and then dessert. There was some stuff that I have never seen before. I have some congee thick rice porridge) with Abalone – not my favorite, but the co-workers raved about it. There were about 40 different types of sushi and sashimi. There were little cups of various eggs, live octopus, and well things I couldn’t tell you about; because all the descriptions were in Korean only. After gorging ourselves we went and had drinks. I had some beers, didn’t want to get too crazy and scare them with the “drunken Lindsay”. Do you know that you can order a bottle of alcohol for your table? Pretty cool, beats the heck out of ordering a lot of shots or mixed drinks – and probably a lot cheaper.

Monday my co-worker and I went to Suwon, another city (but so close to Seoul, I thought that we were still in Seoul). We met with a galbi restaurant owner about the idea of using US beef. Galbi is marinated beef rib, the meat is cut into a long, thin strip that is cooked over a table grill with garlic and mushrooms. And as tradition goes in Korea, about 10 side dishes accompanied it. We had kimchi, salad, pumpkin, spinach, soup, etc. After the meat is cooked, it is rolled up in a leaf (sometimes sesame or other varieties), with onions, chili paste, and garlic if you choose; you then wad it up and shove the whole thing in your mouth. It was so good, and I ate a ton of meat, as red meat here is few and far between. After lunch, we met with a famous chef (Mr. Kim) about the idea of doing some promotional things when beef come back to Seoul. Although I couldn’t understand any of the conversation, it was great picking up on the non-verbals and facial expressions – I guess my Communication degree has really paid off. After a day of eating and listening to Korean, it was time to return home. At 5 p.m. our cab driver said he had to return to the shop. And they will literally just drop you off on the side of the street to get another cab. My second cab ride was like taking my own life into my hands. There were several times I thought we were surely going to hit another vehicle, and the driver would look in his rearview mirror; I think to see if I had a death grip on the oh shit handle. I got home safe and sound!!

It is so hot and humid here that it feels like you leave a path in the air behind you as you walk. And the fact it is sticky makes it so much better. They said it gets worse in August, so you can bet I am thanking my lucky stars I will not be around to witness it.

Friday is D-Day (dog eating day). I will post again once I taste Fido. Take care!