KoreanClass101.com Blog

The OUTBACK STEAKHOUSE’s franchise restaurants are also found in Korea, and they are spelled “아웃백 스테이크 하우스” and it’s very popular here, especially among young women (or maybe ONLY among young women and some young men who want to impress them.) Having a meal at 아웃백 스테이크 하우스 is quite expensive compared to cheaper and more regular meals, because an average lunch or dinner in Korea would cost about 3,000 won ~ 6,000 won (US$4~7) but a meal at 아웃백 스테이크 하우스 starts from 20,000 won (US$ 23). But the food is good, and the service is excellent, so the high price doesn’t stop people from going there.

And I saw this funny signboard of a steakhouse near my campus, called 아웃뷁 하우스.

뷁 is not just a funny and wrong spelling of the word 백 in 아웃백, but it actually means something, and you will never find it in any Korean English dictionary you have. But it’s usued quite often in Korean chat rooms online.

The word 뷁 comes from this singer named 문희준, who used to be a member of the male singing/dancing group H.O.T. until the team was broken, and he became a solo singer afterwards amist worries (because he’s not the most talented guy in singing, obviously).

In his last album he had a song that had the English word “BREAK” in the lyrics. And no one knew what he said before reading the lyrics and people thought it somehow sounded like “뷁”, a word that doesn’t exist, and ever since then, the word 뷁 has been used to mean that you’re upset or not happy with something or you even think something is disgusting.

So it’s used like this:

A: 야, 사장님이 크리스마스에도 출근하래. (Hey the president wants us to work on the Christmas day too!)

B: 뷁!!

So any Korean who knows this word would have a good laugh out of it, so I thought it would be good for you to know, too!

By the way, I haven’t been to this 아웃뷁 하우스 yet, but my friends say the food is very good there.

Our first night in Korea, after a day of touring around 여수, my wife had arranged a 한정식 dinner for us with her family. This turned out to be a very large meal. It included her four older brothers and their spouses/girlfriends, a few of their children that could make it, her mother, my parents, our four children and, of course, myself.

My mother has a difficult time sitting on the floor. Prior to making restaurant reservations, we had confirmed with her that she could indeed sit “Korean style.” However, when she arrived at the restaurant she made it clear that she could not sit on the floor. My parents had been out all day touring with another family and we were to all meet at the restaurant but my 일숙 and I were running behind. 일숙 began to get phone calls from her family asking, “how could you make reservations at a place where your mother-in-law can’t sit!” We were very concerned about what to do if we couldn’t eat there, where would we go and could we find a place with tables that could accommodate all of us. Because my mother couldn’t sit down, everyone was waiting outside in the cold for us to arrive and fix the situation. (Etiquette dictates that no one can sit until the guests do.) When we got to the restaurant (30 minutes late) we were pleasantly surprised that the restaurant servers and 일숙s’ brothers had stacked two short tables (상) and brought in several chairs for those at that table; my mother could sit on a chair and everything went well.

If you have never experienced 한정식 before you will be in for a treat. The meal typically arrives in courses that are representative of the many varieties of Korean food. Because we were late and this restaurant was quite busy, our courses tended to come out about as quickly as they could be prepared so our tables were stacked with dishes full of food rather quickly. Some of the dishes to come out varied from the simple raw ginseng in a leaf with a cherry on top to puffer fish soup (복어국). This restaurant focused mainly on seafood so we were treated to a variety of 회 as well as cooked fish. The meal concluded with some 찰밥 (sweet rice with beans cooked and served in a bamboo cup) and 수정과, a sweet, cinnamony tea, typically served cold.

We met with 일숙’s family in 부산 as well. Her cousin runs a small 횟집 there, consequently we ate very well. The second night we were there my oldest daughter asked for the opportunity to try live octopus (산낙지). I didn’t think that she was up for it since she had a hard time with 뻔데기 (it went in and then it came out again… she said it tasted like chicken but couldn’t get past the idea of what it was). She waited until the plate stopped squirming so much but then she had no problem. My dad even tried some as well as my seven year old daughter. (일숙 warned her to chew real good or it would stick going down but that didn’t stop her.)

In 서울 her family treated us to 불갈비 but again, the restaurant was a sit on the floor only restaurant. Really, you can’t find a very good Korean restaurant that has table and chairs. During our stay, we had asked many restaurants about stacking tables but none were willing. That didn’t stop my wife. She went back into the kitchen and got an empty milk crate for my mom to sit on: once again, no problem.

During our brief trip to Korea we visited with most all of my wife’s family and in the process ate a lot of most excellent food. I think that food and family transcend cultural barriers. What is that saying? “The quickest way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.” Korea can win over anyone with its great variety of food.

I usually go to the orphanage two days a week. Saturday and Monday. On Saturdays several friends from my church go to work with the pre-school aged children. Typically we try to teach them some stories from the Bible. (It is a Christian orphanage, and my church has been working there for the past several years.) Sometimes those regular plans get changed.

Living in Korea has challenged me in several ways. But perhaps the most difficult to overcome is how schedules can be changed so suddenly. And many times, decisions aren’t made until very late - something that makes Westerners really nervous. As an example, the day I write this is about 5 weeks before the Winter English Camp that I will have to teach. However, no final decisions have been made about location, content, schedule, which students…etc. And until it actually starts, nothing is set in stone.

So sometimes we experience this with the orphanage too. Today I showed up with my friend at about 10:45. But along the road, I kept seeing all these kids filing out carrying boxes full of stuff. I asked them where they were going, and it took me a while to figure out that they were going to have some sort of “sidewalk sale.” We thought it might just involve the older kids, but soon, all the adults workers were bringing EVERYONE outside. So, we just turned around and went to this street corner. Sure enough, the kids were selling tings. Old comic books, candy, notebooks, pancakes, roasted squid, etc. It was really bizarre. Initially we thought that maybe they were doing some more fundraising for the new building, but that just didn’t seem right. Every kid had a little chart where they wrote down each transaction, and had my sign my name. 100원 for candy, 500원 for a chocolate-covered banana, 1,000원 to through water balloons at a high-schooler’s head… strange.

So I asked one of the 5th graders: “오늘은 왜 많은 물건을 판매해?” (Why are you selling so many things today?)

-”경제 공부” (Economics study)

-”경제 공부 대회?” (is it an economics study contest?)

-”네” (yes)
-”1등 사람이 어떤 상품을 받을거야?” (What prize does the 1st place person get?)

-”50,000원” ($50)

Sorry there are no pictures of this event! I wasn’t prepared for it!

What comes to your mind when you hear the word ‘December’?

I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area but I currently live in a rural area near Yosemite National Park. When I was living in the Bay Area I regularly commuted by the Bart train (basically a subway system) and on occasion took Muni within the city. Now, however, I travel strictly via automobile. I can’t remember the last time I used public transportation within California, maybe 1992… Any trip overseas must rely on public transportation though, and my recent trip to Korea was no exception.

My trip begins at 8:00am Thursday morning with a three hour car trip to SFO (San Francisco International Airport). I am travelling with my parents and my oldest daughter. Our plane leaves at 1:20pm. We are flying United (I think they have the least amount of leg room available so beware of the reclined passenger in front of you.) and the flight departs at 1:23pm. We have plenty of time despite the lines at security. We arrive at 인천 at 6:35pm, ease through customs and head out into the airport proper. We are greeted by a large amount of photographers, reporters, TV crews, “welcome” signs and lots of flowers and flags. My dad is very impressed. Unfortunately, the welcome committee is not there for us. They are there to welcome back some kidnap victims from a fishing boat that fell victim to the Somali pirates. As soon as we are past the camera crews they all pack up their stuff and make a mad dash across the airport to the other customs exit. Oops, wrong door. My wife meets us though (very nice) and she has tickets for the limousine bus (리무진 버스) that will take us to 용산역. If you are traveling with luggage, this is really the only way to go from the airport but it isn’t cheap: 14,000 원 each.

The plane arrives an hour early but despite this we still have to wait until 10:50pm at the train station for the last 무궁화 train to 여수. So here I am in 용산 but am unable to browse the cool electronics stores that 현우 씨 has told us all about. We board the train and arrive in 여천 at about 4:15am. I believe there was a big exam that Friday and so the train was absolutely packed, standing room only for most of the trip with students returning to their homes. We had seats. I tried to sleep most of the trip. There are no more taxis waiting at the train station when we get there so we lug all of our stuff down to the main road and catch two taxis to the hotel. Our driver is not very talkative. He is just starting his shift. I am not feeling too talkative either. I’ve been up for quite some time.

By the time we get to the hotel it is about 4:30am Saturday. So the trip from my house to the hotel in Korea (including the time change of +17 hours) has taken roughly 44 hours! We have travelled by personal car, plane, bus, train and taxi. We have also travelled within Korea just about as far away from 서울 as possible. In hindsight it may have been better to stay in 서울 upon arrival and toured a bit before descending to 여수. However, my first stop really needs to be a visit to family…