Korean food

Korean food is very different from everything else I have been eating before, so I’ll tell you about some of the most popular dishes. Firs of all I must say that Korean food is extremely spicy. (Especially for Europeans who are only used to salt and pepper.) They even dip chili peppers into chili sauce! On every meal you have Kimchi as side dish. It’s like a Korean version of sauerkraut, cabbage with hot chili sauce. The basic ingredient is usually rice, but in some meals noodles are used, too. Meat is often pork, because beef is expensive and it’s cut in small pieces. It’s very hard to find good steaks here, and that’s what many guys seem to miss. Otherwise, chicken and seafood are popular. Some common Korean dishes:
Samgyopsal: Very popular Korean barbecue which is often eaten in student parties. It’s a thick piece of bacon style meat and the name comes from the three fat stripes on the meat. Very unhealthy and greasy, but delicious!
Bibimbab: A bowl of rice, meat and vegetables which you mix with spicy sauce. Basic student food.
Kimbap: Similar to maki sushi. A seaweed roll filled with rice and vegetables, meat or something similar. Nice snack.
Dubu-/ kimchi jjige: A stew made out of tofu or kimchi. Kind of soup which will be good both as side dish as well as dinner.
Maeunmatjeyukbokkeum samgakgimbap: Just because of the name. A triangle shaped rice snack with pork.

WILD STUFF:
Ok, if you have problems with nerves, heart or mind the following stuff is to be read on your own responsibility. You are welcome to write your moralizations on the comments… =)

So, there is this rumour that Koreans eat dog. Is it true? Well, yes it is possible to get dog here and they have restaurants that make dog food. It is not something that you eat every Sunday and Koreans don’t really talk about it, but if you ask, many people have at least tried it. It’s also a special food, so there is no chance that you would end up finding dog in your food accidentally. In fact, you have to know where to go to get it and know what to ask for. Anyway, yesterday I had my first dog meal. It was like a stew with soup, vegetables and dog meat. The meat was very different from pork or beef because it was more tender and the structure reminded maybe a little bit chicken or something.. I couldn’t finish the whole big portion, but I did eat quite a few bites anyway. It was more of a mental thing to imagine a Chihuahua on the plate, but in reality the dog is an own breed raised just for food, not as a pet. And pork, beef, lamb, chicken, fish are animals too!!

Another exciting food experience was pondaegi, which is like a cocoon of silkworm. They sell it on street sides and also in some restaurants for side dish. You can’t really miss it, because the smell of it on the street is very strong. The taste was not exactly delicious, more just slimy and weird.

In the pictures: me eating dog, the pondaegi cocoon dish and a local food store.

The story continues...

My host mom is just too nice. After the episode described below she called to her friend who speaks fluent English and asked her to explain the situation to me. She felt sorry because I felt sorry… And you know the Asian way.. =) I keep telling her that she should be selfish sometimes, but she is definitely a person who puts everyone else before her own needs. I wish all the people were like that, the world could be a slightly better place then.

Cultural differences

Ohh, now I’m struggling again… The more time I spend here the more I grow into the culture. However, that also means that people start to treat me more and more like a Korean an expect me to know all the unwritten rules. One of the things I’m really struggling with is schedules between my host family and me. We are both very busy, and don’t have too much family time together. However, in Finland you plan things well in advance where in Korea you are more spontaneous. Today I faced this fact again when I had already made an appointment with my Korean friend for the evening. However, in the lunch table the family told that we are going to do something together in the evening.. I felt so bad and tried to tell that I already have appointment and it would be extremely rude to cancel it, but I feel that the family didn’t quite understand it. They tried to say I should cancel the dinner with my friend, but then again, I just confirmed in the morning that I will join them and they will pick me up with car at 6PM… I have had this problem so many times before, too, and I have tried to tell politely that I will arrange time in my schedule if they just tell me a few days before. However, still after 2 months they try to find hints in my speech instead of asking directly and then we end up in the cultural crash. I might have an appointment made a week ago, and then on a Saturday morning they might have everything planned for the day. When I mention that I have other obligations, they are surprised because they thought I’m free and found it unnecessary to ask… And of course I end up feeling so bad… From now on I will try to ask them more about their plans and tell about mine, so that I don’t have to disappoint anyone… =(
My Asian friends, do you have any suggestions?

A few words about the Virginia Tech shootings

People have been asking how Koreans have reacted to the Virginia Tech tragedy after it was found out that the shooter was Korean, so I will write a few words about it. Of course, the whole world has been shocked of what has happened and feel sorry for the victims but in Korea the nationality of the shooter has been even bigger news. People are afraid that this tragedy has ruined the reputation of the whole country and that Koreans will face attacks abroad. Many of my schoolmates are concerned about Koreans in USA and fear that there will be prejudices against Korean immigrants and Korean-Americans and possible riots or violence. Many Korean parents in States try to avoid sticking together with other Koreans and pick their kids up from school to avoid any possibilities of danger. The whole country here is ashamed that the boy was Korean and they feel losing their face according to Confucian belief. However, the shooters family is in the worst situation. In their view they have raised their son to be a murderer, so they have lost their face. Because of this, the only option they have is to commit suicide. I heard that both of the parents tried to kill themselves, but the mom might have survived after taking poison. However, there are a lot of rumours and speculation going on, so I cannot be sure if this is the case. Koreans feel ashamed to talk about what has happened and they keep apologizing, even it has not been their fault. Most of their concern however, is that the attitude towards Koreans will turn more negative, especially in America.

Aina ei voi ymmärtää aasialaista mieltä, ja nyt on taas tullut sellainen hetki. Olin erään pienenen taidegallerian avajaisissa singaporelaisen kaverin kanssa. Oikeastaan tässä tuli jo ensimmäinen ihmetyksen aihe – kaveri ei ollut tippaakaan kiinnostunut taiteesta, mutta halusi mennä paikalle luomaan suhteita tärkeisiin ihmisiin. (Tämä kuvaa hyvin monen kyseisen maan edustajan mentaliteettia: ihmisiin ei tutustuta sen perusteella kuinka mukavalta hän vaikuttaa vaan sen, kuinka paljon ihmisistä voi hyötyä ja millainen sosiaalinen asema hänellä on. Siellä poika sitten jakeli käyntikorttejaan ja myhäili tyytyväisenä uusista networkeistaan.) No, jatkoimme galleriasta syömään paikalla olleiden ihmisten kanssa. Ihmetyksen aihe kakkoseksi nousi aasialaisten halu olla ikäistään vanhempia. Poikaparka (23v.) pohti kuumeisesti kuinka näyttäisi fiksulta ja ikäistään vanhemmalta, kun päällä oli vasta puku, kunnes keksi ratkaisun: vihkisormus sormeen! Koulussa sormus on kuulemma jo tehnyt vaikutuksen, vaikkei kumppanista ole vielä tietoa. Killutin nimettömässä hän sitten innoissaan kyseli näyttääkö ikäistään vanhemmalta. No, illallinen jatkui ja tulinen ruoka ja kuumuus saivat kaverini korvat lehahtamaan punaisiksi, josta sitten tuttavallisesti naurahdin pöytäseurueessamme. Emämoga! Illalla tuttu raivosi mesesessä kuinka voin tehdä jotain sellaista ja nolata hänet koko pöytäseurueen edessä. Hänen suuret networkinsa olivat takiani tuhoutuneet ja kasvot menetetty. Siinä sitten rauhoittelin miestä mäessä ja kehotin olemaan stressaamatta, mutta turhaan. Myöhemmin sain vielä sähköpostia kuinka pettynyt hän on minuun ja käytökseeni ja kuinka en lainkaan kunnioita häntä ja olin sivuuttanut suuren tragedian mese-keskustelussamme. Voi pyhä sylvi!!!

There's no place like home

When I came here I said that I could never live in Asia permanently and that even I like it here, I could never feel home. Well, now I am afraid that I do start feeling like home and start turning more and more into a Korean.. I have become close with my host family and they treat me almost like their child. The father told me that he doesn’t feel that I’m a foreigner at all, because my mind is so Korean. Today Joshua, my Singaporean friend was laughing at me and told that my behaviour is starting to bee too Korean. Yesterday we went to amusement park with the host family and had good time together.. But today Tommy, my host brother dropped the bomb: Mom, I love Johanna! Owwwww, I have to see that boy after 10 years!!!! Another fun thing happened in a technology shopping mall when my friend said: Johanna, let’s not speak English so they don’t think we are foreigners and charge more.. (Like with this face they’d ever think I’m Korean!)

I also love the way the people are in my suburb. The bus drivers already know me, so I always get a good morning greeting. If I’m the only customer when I come back home they will stop right in front of my door and they also stop if you just wave on the street even there would be no bus stop. If it’s crowded the people sitting will insist to hold your bag, which would never happen in the city subway. And lot of random people come to talk, where as in downtown Seoul they couldn’t care less.

In the pictures: my dear host family

Pink…is my favourite colour =)

All of a sudden the whole city has turned pink. The spring is finally here and it means that all the trees are blossoming – especially the pink cherry blossoms which are my favourite. I feel much happier now when the sun is shining, butterflies circle around you and it’s getting warmer day by day. I just we could have this kind of spring back home, too! Well, let the pictures speak:

B-boys, fly girls

How much culture can a person take in one week? I tried it out and ended up to three performing arts shows. Well, the first wasn’t really art but my mentor brought me to see a b-boy show to increase my hiphop credibility. Actually I expected there to be the whole Seoul hiphop posse, but surprisingly the room was full of girls who came to see the b-boys. Then, on Tuesday I went to see cirque du soleil which was just awesome! I don’t have to explain it in detail – u all know it – but to put in one sentence it was like artistic circus made for adults. Music, visuals etc… Then, like that was not enough culture, on Friday we went to a show called Korean dance meets Finnish music. It was about postmodern dance which was actually really good. They did really weird things and it was different from other classical dance performances. The music part however.. well I never knew such music exist in Finland! Only one time I heard Fnnish language and the rest was something else (like French one time!)…

In the picture my mentor MiSun in green and two Japanese.

Dancing, writing and fighting

During the semester I’ve been taking part to a culture experience program. This program lasted for 5 weeks and consisted of traditional Korean activities: mask dance, calligraphy and martial arts. The mask dance reminded me more of an African than Asian dance, because it consisted of big movements and jumping wearing scary masks at the same time.

After the dance practices we changed into a more peaceful activity: calligraphy. It was writing, arts and meditation at the same time, and I totally lacked patience for it. It was fun, but I was never satisfied with the results – the one thing I hate is bad handwriting. We were doing simple Korean alphabets, but it was actually much harder than I taught. The last part of the program was traditional Korean martial arts. It was nothing like the usual things you see, for example Taekwondo or Karate, but much smoother. The idea was to kick the other person in the head, but the kicks were soft and hurting the “enemy” was not the point. This martial arts really looked more like an art than fighting and it even had some elements from dance. From the whole program this was my favourite part and I was really happy to let my school stress out by kicking my classmates… =)

Ruokaa!

Jos haluat laihduttaa, Korea on oikea paikka muuttaa sanat teoiksi! Korealaiset eivät nimittäin syö juurikaan mitään ja länsimaalainen saa olla jatkuvassa nälässä jos haluaa elää paikallisen rytmin mukaan. Seuraava esimerkki kuvaa hyvin mentaliteettia: Tänään olimme viettämässä perheenisän syntymäpäivää ravintolassa. Menimme ensimmäistä kertaa syömään länsimaista ruokaa ja ajattelin tietysti tilausta tehdessämme, että kaikki ottavat omat annokset. Tilasin siinä sitten pihvin, mutta yllätys oli suuri kun pöytään tuotiin vain kaksi annosta: minulle yksi ja yksi yhteinen nelihenkiselle perheelle. Korealaiset eivät kertakaikkiaan syö mitään! Koskaan ei myöskään tilata omia annoksia, vaan kaikki syövät pöydän keskeltä samasta lautasesta. Ei siis ihme, että aasialaiset ovat hoikkia. Jos syömme hedelmiä ei myöskään jokainen ota omaa omenaa, vaan yksi omena jaetaan viiteen osaan. Eräänä iltana puolestaan illalliseksi oli kuuden aikaan pieni kulhollinen keittoa. Kun yhdeksän maissa hain pakastimesta leipää oli perheen äiti järkyttynyt valtavasta ruokahalustani.
Ruoka-avustuksia otetaan vastaan!

Party weekend

Hard work needs hard free time activities, so after a hard week of studying I decided to dedicate the weekend to partying. On Friday two Swedish girls were celebrating their birthday, so first we I had dinner and some soju with them. It was mostly Scandinavians there so people decided to head to an ice bar. I however met with some Korean friends to hang out in Hongik University area, which is full of bars and clubs and especially one specific friday a month is the offial party day. First we visited a club full of American soldiers and Korean girls, but for some reason didn’t stay there long. Then we changed to another bar and just sat there having fun until 4AM. I planned to rest for the Saturday, but my other Korean friend had a better idea. She was going to another MT and over spoke me to join. The last MT was full of exchange students, but this time we were only two non-Asians there. The main language spoken was Korean and the party style was Korean, too. We played a lot of weird games again – in Korean of course - and ate some Korean food. Compared to the previous MT, this one was not as wild, if you don’t count the fact that the Swedish guy totally ruined Sweden’s reputation (and I got all the credits for Finland of course…).

In the pictures: birthday party, Korean friends and the area close to our university.