First, I went to the larger Korea Town area in Flushing Queens last Saturday for a few hours. It was just me and my trusty map (in Korean, no less) and the 7 train.. As soon as I stepped out of the subway station it was like I had gone to Korea instead. All of the signs were in Korean, everyone was speaking Korean; It was much more “Korean” than the area in Manhattan.

There were quite a few amazing shops that I found - a few bookstores, The Face Shop (it’s the Korean version of The Body Shop, basically), and a little novelty store called Magic Castle. For the most part, however, I found that most of the store owners were very uneasy when I went into their shops, some of them even following me around or basically telling me to leave. One store in particular was the worst, one lady was following me around and when I tried to buy something the girl at the counter was very blatantly rude to me. After that encounter, I was very discouraged and just got on the train back to Manhattan..

Now, I’m definitely not saying all of the shops or people in Flushing were like this. This was the first time I had ever experienced anything like this from Korean people. I thought perhaps I had done something wrong, or perhaps there was some sort of etiquette that I wasn’t aware of..

In my search for revelation on the subject, Keith offered me some insight. He told me that many Korean immigrants in Queens had to really fight to succeed in order to establish a community in that area. So, there may still be people who have the mindset that they need to be “on guard” towards Americans or other immigrants. So basically, what I experienced was not really a “Korean” thing, but a “people holding on to their survival mindset” thing.

This makes sense. I think it really explains the experience that I had: it explains why it was generally older people who seemed to have a problem with me but people my age were generally very friendly. It also explains why I haven’t had this experience in Korean shops in Manhattan. So, thanks Keith! (And I hope you don’t mind me quoting you..)

And there have been many experiences since then, including: Onnuri Korean Church, eating 샤브샤브 for the first time, attempting to buy Brian concert tickets (from fly to the sky), and making some Korean friends…. But it is just too much for one post! However, I did write about making 김치찌개 in the forum if you want to read about that.. I’ll be back next week with more stories.

Has anyone else ever had an experience like I did this week? Do you have any other insight about what might have happened?

No, not quality. quantity. There is a serious void in the stomachs of Koreans. That void is water.

I drink a boatload of water. Realistically I drink probably three liters of water a day on average. Oh and 3.8 liters to a gallon there people. Most doctors recommend that at least 2 liters be consumed daily to simply replace the lost fluids by normal functions such as excretion, respiration, and perspiration. But if you consume about 2 liters of water in a day, then you’re probably doing fine by most - and probably more than most.

Most being Koreans. Koreans straight up do not drink water at meals. It’s amazing. I go to fill people’s water cups and they haven’t even touched it. Mind you that we’re eating Korean food which is not exactly I.B.S. friendly - many traditional dishes are downright fiery while the rest of simply hot and a few are mild. No matter - my Korean buddies don’t crave fluids the same way that I do. Is it because I’m from Texas and it gets nasty hot here? Maybe, but so does Korea. Is it because I’m listening to doctor’s orders? Partially - but then again, I naturally want to drink lots of fluids at my meal. Is it because they are drinking different fluids instead if water? Well, sort of. 보리차  is a staple at Korean tables but they aren’t exactly downing it. Soda is served in skinny little cans and is quite rare at most restaurants as a main source of fluids.

So why aren’t Koreans shriveling up and dying from dehydration? Who knows? Maybe it’s the huge amounts of fruit consumed - we’re talking daily 수박 intake. 90% of the fruit’s content is water while the rest is downright a crime not to eat - Have you not tried Korean watermelon yet? Missing out.

Maybe it’s the fluid found in the soups, stews, and broths. Come to think of it, I do eat every last possible ounce of fluid in any 찌게 I eat and certainly in every bowl of 떡라맨 - don’t you know it’s sacrilegious to not eat the broth?

Perhaps Koreans know what’s the deal after all. Maybe they just got lucky…

Regardless, the serving cups for water are typically just that - a fluid cup. One cup. Like a measuring cup. What am I supposed to do with that? I feel like a fatty when I have to get two cups just to make it where I can sit down for the majority of the meal instead of always getting up for me. My secret? Sitting in the table right next to the water cooler. Arms distance away is an oasis untapped by the locals. Water~ I am here - wait for me!

Come to think of it, my Korean friends are always asking me if the food is too hot - assuming that since I am a foreigner, I’m eating Korean food, I’m drinking lots of water, I’m sweating like a duck (inside joke - sorry) that I must be tolerating the food to save face. Not true! This food is frakin great and I’m enjoying a nice refreshing shot-glass size cup of water in an attempt to cleanse my palate. I appreciate the concern, but I’m plenty rude enough to not eat the food served to me - okay so I’m not that rude - but I am eating Korean food out of choice - not out of obligation. Maybe you’re the one who needs to cool down? Here, have some water.

Thoughts?

My wife’s nephew caught a ride here on the same flight last minute so we have a full house. He is in his early twenties and just out of his 군대 service. He is here to (drum roll please) learn English and tour a bit before getting back to real life in Korea. He has ambitions of getting a government job and English experience seems to be a real plus on the resume. It seems like everyone wants to get a government job in Korea. Of course, we are all on the other side of the coin trying to learn Korean. I don’t think there are too many government jobs in the States that require Korean language experience though.

My oldest, having now lived in Korea for a short time is doing good with her understanding. My number two, Luke, is not having such an easy time of it, however. Here are some of his thoughts on the matter now that he is sharing a room with his cousin:

Living with Koreans is kind of hard because it is hard to understand them. I want to learn how to speak Korean but I just don’t want to take the time to learn it. My cousin who is staying with us doesn’t speak much English and he is sleeping in my room so that makes it hard to really communicate with him. The other two kids are better at speaking English but I don’t think they are learning anything because they are speaking Korean too much to each other and to my mom. I think I am going to try to learn some Korean during my older cousin’s stay.  

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)

Are you all following the Olympic matches(경기)? What is your favorite(가장 좋아하는) sport? I love watching all kinds of sport matches, but my favorite is gymnastics(체조)!! So if you have a favorite sport match that you never want to miss on TV during the Olympic Games period, here’s the list of the 28 major match names in English and Korean.

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• Modern Pentathlon = 근대5종 (geundae o jong)
• Basketball = 농구 (nong gu)
• Wrestling = 레슬링 (re seul ling)
• Volleyball = 배구 (bae gu)
• Badminton = 배드민턴 (bae deu min teon)
• Boxing = 복싱 (bok sing)
• Shooting = 사격 (sa gyeok)
• Cycling = 사이클 (sa i keul)
• Softball = 소프트볼 (so peu teu bol)
• Swimming = 수영 (su yeong)
• Equestrian = 승마 (seung ma)
• Baseball = 야구 (ya gu)
• Archery = 양궁 (yang gung)
• Weightlifling = 역도 (yeok do)
• Judo = 유도 (yu do)
• Sailing = 요트 (yoteu)
• Track and Field = 육상 (yuk sang)
• Rowing = 조정 (jo jeong)
• Gymnastics artistic = 체조 (che jo)
• Football = 축구 (chuk gu)
• Canoe = 카누 (ka nu)
• Table Tennis = 탁구 (tak gu)
• Taekwondo = 태권도 (tae gwon do)
• Tennis = 테니스 (teniseu)
• Triathlon = 트라이애슬론 (teu rai i ae seul lon)
• Fencing = 펜싱 (pen sing)
• Hockey = 하키 (ha ki)
• Handball = 핸드볼 (haen deu bol)

As you can assume, -구 means - ball, and -도 means - art (as in martial art).

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For those of you who know all the words above and want to know some more specific terms, please leave your request in the comment. And like I said, I LOVE the gymnastics games, so here’s a list of the match names in gymnastics. ^_^

• Floor Exercises = 마루운동
• Horizontal bar = 철봉운동
• Rings = 링운동
• Pommel horse = 안마
• Parallel bars = 평행봉
• Uneven bars = 2단평행봉
• Balance beam = 평균대
• Vault = 도마
• Gymnastics rhythmic = 리듬체조
• Trampoline = 트램펄린체조
• High Jump = 높이뛰기
• Long jump/Broad jump = 멀리뛰기/넓이뛰기
• Javeline = 창던지기

I hope this helps! Thanks for reading! ^^

If you are 1 in 5 billion people that are vegan (these are verifiable facts here, people), you must be:

1) Angry at something, or
2) Conscientious of something that doesn’t quite sit with you.

Either way, you have chosen a meat-free life that has almost exclusively alienated all of your closest friends and family. Great job! You will continue to live this lifestyle until you are a tired, old, cynical shell of a human being that is known more for vulgarity than eco-friendliness. Wow! I can’t wait to subject my own children one day to this Hollywood-esque lifestyle!

Hey, I’m okay with it. But many vegetarians react to their diet defensively almost like being accused of racism. “But I have lots of meat-eating friends!” Sure, that’ll convince them that you don’t secretly hate them.

So, somewhere along 37°35′N and 127°’E, there lies a country where vegetarianism isn’t as strange as you might expect. Korean people are indeed eating more meat now, but there is a long-standing history of vegetarian cuisine. Granted, their reasons for a meat-free diet aren’t the same as most western vegetarians, but regardless, let’s go over some key phrases and more importantly, how exactly vegetarianism works for Koreans.

I’m here to tell you that it blows my mind how Koreans look at the abstinence of meat or other animal products. In America, I simply have to tell someone “Oh, I’m a vegan” or “Oh, I don’t eat meat. No thank you”. Some people ask what exactly is a vegan, but most just take a moment to wrap their head around that idea. “…there goes the Whopper, the Big Mac…” but generally, most Americans understand the idea in general. Every so often, someone remarks “Well you can still eat quesadillas or fried eggs at least” In which case you can simply point out that for many vegetarians and all vegans, those foods are like Paris Hilton - you just don’t want to touch that. Some people get defensive (because come on, who wants to feel like a murderer of sweet little chickens?), others attempt to find common ground (”That’s cool - last year for lent I gave up hamburgers” ) while others are simply baffled (”Well, then what CAN you eat?”). But really, when you look at the psychology behind the responses, all of them indeed recognize the philosophical aspect - it becomes like a koan - an unanswerable question or riddle.

But with Koreans, it really doesn’t matter. You can tell the cook “채식주의자임니다” all day long and it really doesn’t mean anything. He will still give me 오징어 or some other 반찬 that clearly contains meat. I find it more useful to order food using a three-step process.

1. say which food you want
2. say what you don’t want in it
3. then tell them you are a vegetarian.

This formula usually gives the person taking the order a logical process to absorb the reason. “He wants this, without this, because this”. I also like to add this little ditty in. “고기를 못먹어요” This means “I can’t eat meat” as opposed to the more commonly heard “고기를 안먹어요” “I don’t eat meat”. The latter phrase implies that you may or may not eat meat, but as for right now, you don’t want to eat meat.

Speaking of meat, the idea of vegetarianism encompasses a plethora of meat. This is generally understood to include bacon, pork, chicken, beef, fish, etc. In Korea, it’s not this way. You pretty much have to specifically say what you don’t want/can’t eat. All too many times I have told the 아저씨 that I am a vegetarian, I can’t eat meat, I can’t eat fish - and I STILL get a steaming hot bowl of 순두부찌개 with happy little 해산물 floating in it. From an American mindset it makes me think “What exactly did you think I was talking about it when I said no fish?” His response: “Shrimp isn’t fish. Clam isn’t fish”. He’s a sweet guy though so I don’t let it bother me. More than anything, I just feel embarrassed that he has to make another one. After all, I’m not there to get anyone mad or upset or preach my values - I just wanted some food.

Also, I would strongly recommend giving the 아주머니 or 아저씨 a little credit. Admit it, you have an accent. It might take them a while to understand you as it is. Also, you’re messing with their menu. Exceptions to dishes are not as common in Korea as it is in America. In America, we can order a cheeseburger with no lettuce, extra pickles, no sesame seed bun, and extra cooked and it not be a big deal. In Korea, it is slightly unusual to make changes to a menu item. They are likely used to people just saying “김밥 주세요” and that’s all. So try to order things that are already pretty close to being animal-free but need only a little tweaking.

Here’s a little formula to remember. (모모) 안먹어요. Replace (모모) with anything you don’t want in your stomach.

• 고기 - beef
• 해산물 - seafood
• 물고기 - fish (also 생선)
• 새우 - shrimp
• 계란 - egg
• 햄 - ham
• 조개 - clam (also 대함)
• 낙지 - octopus
• 오징어 - squid

Keep in mind that many dishes are naturally vegan while others can be modified. Most 순두부찌개 comes with 해산물 (seafood) but as long as you point out to the server that you can’t eat 해산물, you can enjoy the spicy goodness that is 순두부찌개. Also, if you are unsure if a menu item has meat in it, you can ask “고기 있어요?” There is another phrase I use and has been met with huge success. “고기빼고 해 주세요” means “Leave out the meat”. Insert anything you don’t want in your food instead of meat and you have a perfectly good formulaic phrase! But keep in mind, it kind of depends on the food. This is appropriate if the restaurant makes its 짜장면 sauce separate from the beef topping. However, many places cook the beef in the black bean sauce in which case you should order something else.

The word 야채 (vegetables) is sometimes placed in front of something to indicate that it is devoid of animal products. I would like to remind you that not everyone considers 계란 (egg) an animal product. In which case, the 야채비빔밥 while likely still have a bright and smiling egg right on top to greet you. However, I am usually pleasantly surprised that 버섯 순두부 찌개 (mushroom tofu jjigae) oftentimes comes completely meat-free without any special requests. Score!

I leave you with a few suggestions. I hesitate to list some non-standard dishes because I don’t want to get anyone’s hope up. The following dishes are pretty common and well known.

• 돌솥 야채 비빔밥 (or just simply 돌솥비빔밥 minus egg and beef)
• 비빔 국수 (minus egg on top)
• 비빔 냉면 (minus egg on top)
• 떡뽂이 (careful here - usually there’s 오댕 mixed in - it’s your call)
• 버섯 순두부 찌개 (or just 순두부찌개 minus seafood)
• 김밥 (carefully poke out ham, crab, egg - these are usually premade so no special ordering here)
• 김차 김밥 (minus the egg and you’re all set)
• 매운고추김밥 (if you can stand the heat - one of my favorites!)
• 쫄면 (minus egg on top - careful - quite spicey - but oh so delicious)
• 빔치파전 (batter contains egg - not vegan friendly)
• 된장 찌개 (minus seafood)
• 김치 찌개 (varies - may contain pork, tuna, or other meats - just ask)
• 야채 민두 (my veggie mandu will rock your socks)
• 의김치 (my personal favorite)

So maybe you don’t eat because of animal rights. Maybe you are trying to reduce your eco-footprint. Maybe you are trying to get closer to the source of energy in your foods - take on a more natural approach. Maybe you just want a lighter meal. Either way, it is 100% possible to live a vegan lifestyle in Korea. However, one must realize, though that you will be eating out less than your meat-eating friends. It’s just like in America. I don’t really eat out much; I go out to eat maybe twice a week. I most generally cook and eat at home. Although I must admit, I find it so much easier to eat vegan Korean food than I do vegan American food. Plus veggie Korean food is guaranteed hippie-free!  Bonus!

My advice? Grow tough skin, be confident, and dust your shoulders off if you get some uneatable food served to you. Always remain polite about your choice of foods and people will learn to respect your decisions instead of dread your patronage.

Thoughts?

We’re all here to learn Korean, and we already know the language, but here’s some more tip on the words themselves that we use to refer to ‘the Korean language’ ^^ As you know, the Korean language is called ‘한국어(han gu geo)’ or ‘한국말(han guk mal)’.

Both the words ‘한국어’ and ‘한국말’ are composed of two meaning blocks : Korean + language.

어, which can be written in the Chinese character 語, means “language”, and 말, which is a native Korean word, also means “language”. So basically 한국어 and 한국말 are the same meaning, but I’d say 한국어 is a little more formal word while 한국말 is a more colloquial word.

‘어’ can be found in many other language names, but ‘말’ is not so commonly used other than in the word ‘한국말’ or ‘우리말(uri mal - ‘our language’, which is a word that Korean people use to mean ‘Korean’).

Here are some examples:

• English = 영어
• Chinese = 중국어
• Japanese = 일본어
• Arabic = 아랍어
• Spanish = 스페인어
• French =  프랑스어
• Latin = 라틴어
• Russian = 러시아어

‘말’, however, is a native Korean word, so it’s used much more commonly in everyday conversations. And in this case,말 also has the meaning of “words” and “what one says” as well as “language”.

For example,  (the following sentences are all in the intimate politeness level)

• 내 말 안 들려? = Can’t you hear me?
• 말 조심해. = Watch your language.
• 내 말 무시하지 마. = Don’t ignore what I’m saying.
• 말이 씨(seed)가 되는 거야. = Your careless words might turn into reality.
• 그런 말 하지마. = Don’t say such a thing.
• 무슨 말이야? = What do you mean?

I hope those sample sentences are helpful, and in conclusion, 한국어 and 한국말 are the same thing, but 어 is a dependant Chinese-character-based letter to mean ‘language’, and 말 is a word of a wider variety of meanings. ^^

Thank you for reading!

I’m from Texas. It’s true - everything in Texas is bigger. I wonder if the reverse is true for Korea?

South Korea encompasses a skant 38,492 square miles - which makes it slightly bigger than the state of Indiana but slightly smaller than Kentucky. Woah~ that is small. What about population? Kentucky has roughly 4,500,000 residents while Korea has just under 50,000,000. That makes Texas roughly half the population of South Korea. So, Kentucky has 40,411 square miles of land with about 111 people per square mile. Texas fares a bit better with 268,601 square miles - that’s roughly 93 people per square mile. Korea? 1300 people per square mile. Shall we have a chart? Oh man I love charts:

• Korea - 38,492 square miles - 50 million people - 1300 people per square mile
• Kentucky - 40,411 square miles - 4.5 million people - 111 people per square mile
• Texas - 268,601 square miles - 24 million people - 93 people per square mile

That means that even if we kicked everyone out and put Korea’s population within the borders of the Lone Star state, there would still be 186 people per square mile. Nuts to that!

Notice that even though China is slightly larger in land mass and more than four times the population, they have a much smaller ecological footprint. I wonder where Korea ranks? I couldn’t find any pertinent data. I’d imagine it’s comparable to either Japan or China ( Sacrilegious! )

The most obvious reason for this discrepancy is how much America is consumer-driven. We buy a lot of stuff. Also, we like our space. We like a little bit more space than our East Asian friends. We also don’t build up as much - more of a side to side motion. I’m sure eventually we’ll start building up.

I’m certainly not an expert (they don’t teach much about nothing here in college) and I’m also not trying to get into a eco-battle over who is better, but I wanted to write about the sheer size difference between these countries. It’s also kind of mind boggling just how many of us are learning Korean - a language that is from a country that is easy to miss on a world map (“Isn’t that little Florida looking thing part of China?” ) .

Thoughts?

So on an early release day at the elementary school where I helped teach, my aunt picked me up and I went with her to help her with her job, which was a private English tutor for kids. Her job seemed to consist mostly of driving to each kid’s apartment, checking their homework, asking a few questions and assigning more homework for next time. (maybe it was homework-check-day or something) but after we visited a few kids and got in the elevator to ascend yet again, we were joined by some very young “초딩”s. Before we came to that apartment we had each bought an “ice cream” (more of popsicle type things really) and were trying to eat it before we got to the kids house and when my aunt saw the two second or third grade boys, she immediately offerred her half eaten ice cream to one of them saying “무글래?”(먹을래). I was a little suprised that she would do this, because I highly doubted that she knew this kid, let alone be close enough to offer her ice cream!

Later, as I was leaving a tutoring session, ( that I taught by myself) with “Michael” (6th grade) who came from a different apartment and therefore had to go home also, we were joined by another small kid from that floor whom neither of us knew. Michael was eating a box of 빼빼로 that the 아줌아 whose kid I was teaching supplied for refreshments. When he saw the kid, he offerred some to the little guy who took a couple. I asked Michael if he even knew the kid and he was like , “No. Just.” (그냥 makes more sense in Korean, which by itself means like, ‘just because’ or ‘no reason̵ and when I asked “why would you give a kid you don’t even know something to eat?!” to which he replied “Koreans are just friendly.” I thought this was a very interesting thing. I don’t know about other places, but here, random people are not apt to offer you stuff, unless they’re flyers advertising something but I know I would be a little freaked out if someone I didn’t even know offered me their 과자 they happened to be eating at the moment. Anyone else have a similar experience?

These stifling expressions of fashion in the West share a much bigger spot in the limelight in the East. School uniforms are commonplace in Korean music videos, dramas, and movies. They also differ in style from school to school. It would certainly exhausting to catalog all types offered, although I’m pretty sure at least one or two bloggers have tried in the past.

School uniforms become mandatory at the junior high school level. I wonder if this is because the cirriculum gets harder at that time - hence requiring more professional attire. Maybe it’s because they are too expensive. Maybe it’s because elementary age children play outside more and would get them dirty much quicker. I wonder…

It’s important to note that school uniforms are purchased locally at retail stores. Okay okay, so Wal-Mart does the same thing over here, but we’re talking blue polo shirts and khaki shorts mostly, right? I was under the impression that Catholic school-style uniforms are purchased through a supplier linked to that particular school and not readily available at most retailers.

교복 prices vary but they most certainly cost more than their American equivalents. Cheapies will run around 250 000₩ while others go up to 500 000₩. Granted, many junior high school students will end up taking care of their 교복 and were them for three years straight until they reach high school where yet another 500 bucks can be spent on a new set. Joy.

Don’t get me wrong, I think they can be bestow a sense of distinction for students. They are unique to the students of that school and no two uniforms look quite alike from school to school. They help to foster a sense of community. They also help identify themselves in the larger community. It’s easy to spot a student with a uniform. What better way to place someone socially? Almost like a businessperson’s suit.

I did not wear a uniform in school. In fact, I didn’t even know anyone who did wear a uniform. Also, if you were to ask me in high school about uniforms, I’m sure I would have barked back some rhetoric on freedom of expression, celebration of diversity, and Slipknot. In retrospect, uniforms were probably a good idea on the grounds that they are cheap in America and they help put less focus on showing off your clothes and more focus on your studies. But then again, many Americans genuinely feel that uniforms are stifling. I suppose it varies by area. I say this because many American schools both public and private use school uniforms and seem to do just fine by them.

For that matter, I wonder which other countries have uniforms and to what degree? Do east European school students have uniforms? Are the dress codes strictly enforced? I don’t know exactly how a certain community adopts a new dresscode. Is it a smooth transition? Does it go quietly? Is it a heated debate? I pose this question because for most, uniforms are just business-as-usual; the students don’t think about them because they have always been there as long as they can remember. But certainly they were once without a dress code, right?

Thoughts?