Ariel and proclaimed Thursdays "Discover Korea Day." We don't have to teach until 5 p.m. so we are free to romp around the city. After being here for over five months, we realized that we have not been taking advantage of the city. We don't go out exploring much. As a result, we have been living in a bubble amidst 11 million other people. There are tons of museums and beautiful places to visit in Seoul, and so far, we have seen about five of them. Yesterday was our first Discover Korea Day, and we chose to visit a buddhist temple, Jogyesa (조계 사). It was a beautiful haven in the city. Whenever I am at a temple, people are doing things that I don't understand. I always just observe, but yesterday a cute, old Korean man handed us inscence and we had to figure out what to do with it. We lit the inscence and walked over to a pagoda and stuck it with other inscence. I'm sure that we missed out on at least eight steps of things we were supposed to do with the inscence, but who knows.
We wandered around in a new part of the city and found a nice vegetarian restaurant. At the restaurant, we met a nice western monk. When using the toilet, I stumbled across a knitting store. This is the first knitting store that I have seen in Asia. I saw a sign and followed it into a huge knitting store. For a minute, I just stood in the doorway with my jaw dropped. There were walls of yarn and knitting books (in an array of languages) and I was very excited. That's what happens when you Discover Korea. You love it even more than you did before.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Have it Your Way........ Just Not in Asia
Paco and I were trying to remember what foods we miss from home, and we have been away for so long that we have forgotten. I don't know what it is that I miss from home. Sometimes I get tired of eating Korean food, but then I can't think of what I actually would like to eat. I know that I didn't used to eat kimchi and rice everyday, so what the hell did I eat before I came to Asia? The grocery store always has the same five vegetables so that is what I tend to eat when I cook for myself. The other morning, Paco and I were discussing this over coffee and bagels (the other non-Asian food items that I consume). As we reminisced about the best western meals that we had while travelling, I realized something. People in Asia look at you like you are nuts if you ask for something slightly different than the menu. A few times, we tried to elicit to people that we wanted something modified from how it is normally served, and everytime they seemed baffled. Sometimes, they even try to talk us out of it. This is especially true in Korea. Here, there is a specific way that you are supposed to do things, and they will not let you waver from the norm. Once again, I am reminded of the hemogeny of this country. I have just learned that I cannot ask for my bibimbap without mushrooms. I cannot tell them that I do not want the awful anchovy soup that they always give me. It doesn't matter that I will never touch the dried minnows they set before me. They serve things to me the way that it is supposed to be done. This attitude also extends beyond food. For example, Ariel and I bought little brooms at the store to sweep our apartments. We picked out some cheap, simple brooms but were then told by a Korean salesperson that we had picked out the wrong broom. We were supposed to buy a different broom, and she would not accept no for an answer. What could we do but buy the recommended brooms? I know that I do things in ways that I am not supposed to all the time, and I think it just kills the Koreans. I have been told by numerous Koreans that I am not supposed to use chopsticks to eat my rice. You are supposed to use a spoon. However, I eat with the chopsticks because my students told me that it makes you smarter. I ride my bike to work in a skirt and heels despite the fact that bikes are only meant for exercise in a hardcore spandex outfit and not for transportation. I don't do these things to make people crazy. I don't know why I do things the way I do. I just know that I want things the way that I want them. When I am at a restaurant, I want to order things the way I want to eat them. I want to have it my way (I think that that is some fast food restaurant's slogan), but they don't do things your way in Asia. They do things the way they are supposed to be done. By the time I come home, I may forget what my way is.
The picture is a meal of pasta that our Korean "mom" made for us.
Paco and I were trying to remember what foods we miss from home, and we have been away for so long that we have forgotten. I don't know what it is that I miss from home. Sometimes I get tired of eating Korean food, but then I can't think of what I actually would like to eat. I know that I didn't used to eat kimchi and rice everyday, so what the hell did I eat before I came to Asia? The grocery store always has the same five vegetables so that is what I tend to eat when I cook for myself. The other morning, Paco and I were discussing this over coffee and bagels (the other non-Asian food items that I consume). As we reminisced about the best western meals that we had while travelling, I realized something. People in Asia look at you like you are nuts if you ask for something slightly different than the menu. A few times, we tried to elicit to people that we wanted something modified from how it is normally served, and everytime they seemed baffled. Sometimes, they even try to talk us out of it. This is especially true in Korea. Here, there is a specific way that you are supposed to do things, and they will not let you waver from the norm. Once again, I am reminded of the hemogeny of this country. I have just learned that I cannot ask for my bibimbap without mushrooms. I cannot tell them that I do not want the awful anchovy soup that they always give me. It doesn't matter that I will never touch the dried minnows they set before me. They serve things to me the way that it is supposed to be done. This attitude also extends beyond food. For example, Ariel and I bought little brooms at the store to sweep our apartments. We picked out some cheap, simple brooms but were then told by a Korean salesperson that we had picked out the wrong broom. We were supposed to buy a different broom, and she would not accept no for an answer. What could we do but buy the recommended brooms? I know that I do things in ways that I am not supposed to all the time, and I think it just kills the Koreans. I have been told by numerous Koreans that I am not supposed to use chopsticks to eat my rice. You are supposed to use a spoon. However, I eat with the chopsticks because my students told me that it makes you smarter. I ride my bike to work in a skirt and heels despite the fact that bikes are only meant for exercise in a hardcore spandex outfit and not for transportation. I don't do these things to make people crazy. I don't know why I do things the way I do. I just know that I want things the way that I want them. When I am at a restaurant, I want to order things the way I want to eat them. I want to have it my way (I think that that is some fast food restaurant's slogan), but they don't do things your way in Asia. They do things the way they are supposed to be done. By the time I come home, I may forget what my way is.
The picture is a meal of pasta that our Korean "mom" made for us.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Korean Spa Experience
After work on a Friday night, I went to a Korean spa with some girls. The spa was open 24 hours, and many people actually go to sleep there. There were something like four floors to the spa and all sort of different rooms. We sat in hot rooms, cold rooms, steam rooms and numerous pools. The pools had things like green tea or dirt in them, and no, the dirt was not from us dirty westerners. I went in a steam room that was about 200 degrees. In case you are wondering, 200 degrees is pretty hot. There were also other various rooms like a movie room and a computer room. There was even Dr. Fish. You may be wondering what Dr. Fish is. I had seen advertisements on the subway where people were sitting in pools and they were little fish swimming around them. I was quite perplexed by these ads. Why would you want to sit in a pool with fish? Apparently the fish like to eat dead skin. Yes, Dr. Fish is where you sit in a pool with fish that nibble at your skin. Being a biologist, I think about this as a mutualistic symbiotic relationship. The fish benefits because it gets a tasty meal of my flesh, and I benefit by being exfoliated. Who doesn't like having soft skin? I hear that there is a Dr. Fish coffee shop where you can stick your feet in the pools and drink coffee while the exfoliation occurs. Sign me up for Dr. Fish. While we didn't do the Dr. Fish experience at the spa, we did get a Korean scrub, which was a cultural experience in itself. I may not have mentioned this before, but Koreans are very comfortable with being naked at the gym. So much so that we actually have made friends with women while naked in the sauna. One day, I was showering at the gym and one of our friends was next to me. Out of nowhere, she leaned over, grabbed my shower scrubby thing and proceeded to scrub my back for me. I didn't really know how to respond to that. Am I supposed to reciprocate? Say thank you? I didn't know what to do so I just continued talking to her and pretended it wasn't happening. Now I am going off on a tangent (like I often do in class- sometimes I wonder if the kids ask me questions purely to get me off on some tangent instead of doing the classwork). Back to the scrubs at the spa. Basically, people walk around very naked (is it possible to be more naked than just plain normal naked because if it is, then that is how naked people are). I doesn't help when you are the only white people around; it just makes people stare more. Seeing naked people is one thing, but being touched by people when you are naked is a whole other story, and that is just what happened with the scrubs. The women who do the scrubbing wear lacey, black panties and bras (well, some of them wear bras), but they are old Korean women. They scrubbed every surface of my body. I really do mean EVERY surface, including the palms of my hands, behind my ears, and my butt crack. Seriously. They have special scrubby thingies that take off the top 953 layers of skin. I had to keep my eyes closed for two reasons. The first being that I didn't want to see all of the clumps of dead skin flying off of me, and the second being that I didn't want to get any glimpses of the naked people getting scrubbed next to me. The Koreans are not especially gentle people, which was very evident during the scrubbing process. Since I don't speak Korean, the scrubber couldn't tell me to turn over or lift my arm so she just grabbed me and yanked me around. The scrubbing is pretty abrasive as well, so I was left feeling a bit like I had been attacked by an older Korean women in black underwear. However, my skin felt really soft. I don't know which is a better way to get soft skin, the scrub or Dr. Fish.
After work on a Friday night, I went to a Korean spa with some girls. The spa was open 24 hours, and many people actually go to sleep there. There were something like four floors to the spa and all sort of different rooms. We sat in hot rooms, cold rooms, steam rooms and numerous pools. The pools had things like green tea or dirt in them, and no, the dirt was not from us dirty westerners. I went in a steam room that was about 200 degrees. In case you are wondering, 200 degrees is pretty hot. There were also other various rooms like a movie room and a computer room. There was even Dr. Fish. You may be wondering what Dr. Fish is. I had seen advertisements on the subway where people were sitting in pools and they were little fish swimming around them. I was quite perplexed by these ads. Why would you want to sit in a pool with fish? Apparently the fish like to eat dead skin. Yes, Dr. Fish is where you sit in a pool with fish that nibble at your skin. Being a biologist, I think about this as a mutualistic symbiotic relationship. The fish benefits because it gets a tasty meal of my flesh, and I benefit by being exfoliated. Who doesn't like having soft skin? I hear that there is a Dr. Fish coffee shop where you can stick your feet in the pools and drink coffee while the exfoliation occurs. Sign me up for Dr. Fish. While we didn't do the Dr. Fish experience at the spa, we did get a Korean scrub, which was a cultural experience in itself. I may not have mentioned this before, but Koreans are very comfortable with being naked at the gym. So much so that we actually have made friends with women while naked in the sauna. One day, I was showering at the gym and one of our friends was next to me. Out of nowhere, she leaned over, grabbed my shower scrubby thing and proceeded to scrub my back for me. I didn't really know how to respond to that. Am I supposed to reciprocate? Say thank you? I didn't know what to do so I just continued talking to her and pretended it wasn't happening. Now I am going off on a tangent (like I often do in class- sometimes I wonder if the kids ask me questions purely to get me off on some tangent instead of doing the classwork). Back to the scrubs at the spa. Basically, people walk around very naked (is it possible to be more naked than just plain normal naked because if it is, then that is how naked people are). I doesn't help when you are the only white people around; it just makes people stare more. Seeing naked people is one thing, but being touched by people when you are naked is a whole other story, and that is just what happened with the scrubs. The women who do the scrubbing wear lacey, black panties and bras (well, some of them wear bras), but they are old Korean women. They scrubbed every surface of my body. I really do mean EVERY surface, including the palms of my hands, behind my ears, and my butt crack. Seriously. They have special scrubby thingies that take off the top 953 layers of skin. I had to keep my eyes closed for two reasons. The first being that I didn't want to see all of the clumps of dead skin flying off of me, and the second being that I didn't want to get any glimpses of the naked people getting scrubbed next to me. The Koreans are not especially gentle people, which was very evident during the scrubbing process. Since I don't speak Korean, the scrubber couldn't tell me to turn over or lift my arm so she just grabbed me and yanked me around. The scrubbing is pretty abrasive as well, so I was left feeling a bit like I had been attacked by an older Korean women in black underwear. However, my skin felt really soft. I don't know which is a better way to get soft skin, the scrub or Dr. Fish.
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