NYC!
Thursday, August 14th, 2008Well, I’ve made it safely to New York City! I have been here for less than a week and have only made it to the city 3 times (I live just across the river in NJ) but I have already had some awesome Korean experiences I’d like to share.
First, Korea Way. There’s a block of Korean shops and restaurants in Manhattan (W 32nd St between 5th and 6th Aves). It is pretty small, and mostly consists of restaruants, but it is undeniably Korean. One minute you’re walking towards Times Square from Macy’s, then you turn the corner and it’s like you’ve gone to Korea. All the signs are in Korean, most of the people are speaking Korean - It’s fairly awe-inspiring.
There is one restaurant on Korea Way that I particularly enjoy called 우리 집 (woori jip). All of the food is amazing (try the fresh 김치) and it is pre-packaged, so you can eat it there at one of the tables, or you can take it with you. And, it’s cheap! I also saw a bookstore on Korea Way, but every time I’ve been there it has been closed, so I really need to go into the city earlier. ^^
Second, there are so many Korean speaking people everywhere in the city! While I was walking around Saturday night with a friend of mine, probably one of every ten groups of people I passed by were Korean. It was actually kind of fun - walking down the street and understanding what people were saying!
Also, that night while waiting for the bus there was a very interesting group of people behind us. Two of the people were speaking Korean to eachother, but they were all speaking very labored english as a group. After that, it seemed like the girl was teaching the other guys Korean words, and then I thought I heard some Chinese as well. Being new to New York, I thought they would think I was crazy if I tried to talk to them, but I had already been eavesdropping, so I thought I would say hello. It turns out they are all college students - two from Korea, one from Japan, one from China. I ended up talking to them (in all of those languages, and english) for about 30 minutes, and the girl and I exchanged contact info. Not bad for my first day in the city!
I went back into the city last night and while waiting for the bus again there was an older couple that looked a little bit lost. I heard them speaking Korean to eachother, trying to figure out which bus they needed to take. I went over without hesitation and asked 어디에 가려고 해요? The woman answered before she looked up at me, and only looked slightly surprised once she realized I am not Korean. In the end, I didn’t know how to get where they were going so I wasn’t able to help them, but they seemed grateful that I tried.
So I have not been to NYC for a week and I have had more Korean experiences that I had in a year in Nashville. I am excited to see what else I can find! I plan to go to the larger Korea Town area in Queens on Saturday. I’ll make sure to take more pictures and give another update!
(sorry the pictures are not great, my camera wasn’t working properly)
Posted by holdfast in Learning Korean |
August 14th, 2008 at 11:46 pm
WOW!!! I am definitely looking forward to more stories and pictures!!!!!! I’m sure there’s more fun coming!! ^^ Thanks for the great post Emily
August 15th, 2008 at 6:13 am
I suppose I’ve only been back for two weeks, and I’m probably going to be in Toronto for a while still, but I still haven’t gone to either of Toronto’s “Korea Town”s, or to any Korean restaurants. Kudos to you for taking the initiative, being bold, and finding Korean practice– all within your first week!
August 15th, 2008 at 7:41 am
I want to go too!!
August 15th, 2008 at 6:52 pm
Me too! I wish there was a Korea enclave in Singapore too!
August 17th, 2008 at 3:36 am
Ah! i just got back from NYC, been there many times but never been to the Korea Way, I will definitely try next time! Thanks.
I guess by now you’ve been to Queens? There are lots of Korean restaurants/bookstores there. Mostly on Northern Blvd, and the surrounding area, blending together with lots of Chinese places as well.
So envy you can speak many different languanges well, I just start to learn Korean and now I am thinking about Japanese too. Will it mess me up if I took them both at the same time?
Have fun! Eat lots.
August 17th, 2008 at 8:28 am
i think learning korean and japanese at the same time is a good idea because their grammar is very similar. if you start to get confused, however, maybe you should wait until you have a pretty good grasp on korean first. either way, learning japanese after learning korean (or vice-versa) will make it easier.
yes, i went to queens today (i’ll write more detail about it next week) and when i got out of the subway, i thought i had gone to korea! there was so much stuff. i was disappointed, though, because quite a few of the store owners were pretty rude to me. i am not sure why, i tried to be as friendly as possible! i didn’t really even get to speak korean much because i was so upset about it. but, i’ll write more later!
August 20th, 2008 at 2:13 am
While K-town (32nd street between 5th and 6th) is definitely the center of the Manhattan Korean scene, you’ll probably also want to check out some of the neighborhoods in Queens. Flushing is the easiest to get to and you’ll see a lot of Korean things out that way, but they’ve got a bit of the Korean xenophobia out there and might not really respond well to you unless you’re Korean.
There are also some chic Korean restaurants downtown. My personal favorite is Korean Temple Cuisine (http://koreantemplecuisine.com/). I try to get there at least once or twice a month and the owner is a very good friend of mine (contact me if you’d like an introduction … she can give you some insight into the Korean community in NYC). There are a few other places further downtown, including one place that is partially owned by Quentin Tarantino.
If you’re looking for Korean stuff in NYC, you’re going to need more than a week!
Oh, and you MUST go to Kun-Jip. I’ve been to Korean restaurants all over NYC and Seoul, and KunJip on 32nd street is my clear favorite!
August 21st, 2008 at 10:46 pm
Great. I ´ve been there…Know exatly what you are saying…
안녕…
크리스, 브라질
August 28th, 2008 at 10:34 pm
ahh you went to the exact same places as i did when i was in NY last week xD haha. so awesome. ^^