The Korean experience isn't authentic with having a strict plan. Orientation has been structured to a T, but many of the lecturers have clearly stated that you must be ready to change your plans on a dime while teaching here in Korea. I've experienced Korean cultures flexibility when I worked at HSA (the Korean Institute "hagwon") in Boston. More often then not, I would have my classes swticed on me right before I got to the class or I would be given a class with very little notice. I'm not one to whine so I would always roll with the punches. Music therapy has really prepared me flexibility wise because often times I had no idea of the reactions of the clients, state of mind of the clients, if group would be cancelled or who would be present at class. I had to go in each session with an open mind. I'll have to keep that up while I'm here in Korea.
Anyway, I brought up the flexibilty topic to explain my trip to Seoul this weekend. Usually I can't function without making a plan of what I'll be doing, be it traveling or just in my daily life. However, my trip this weekend had no plans what so ever. The group as a whole already made it to Seoul for a performance and cooking classes, which were really fun. We watched Nanta which is a non-verbal musical performance with cooking. Think of Stomp meets Emril Legassi meets a goofy childhood cartoon. Too bad they didn't let us take any pictures. I'm sure if you google it there is some video snippet of it. We then wandered around Myeong-dong, which is an upscale area to shop in Seoul, to get some lunch. A group of us ended up at a fried chicken place that was empty. We ordered three plates of different chicken that were extremely delicious. Now I've had young-nam chicken (seasoned fried chicken) in Boston but this fried chicken was at least 3 times better.
Earlier we were given 10,000won each for dinner and with drinks it cost only 10,000won. Aka free meal.
We even got some great traditional Korean tea and I got some Shi-key.
We then got together and headed out to some cooking school. Here we watched a chef from a really nice hotel in Seoul make Bibimbap and cold cucumber soup. After that we got in groups of 10 and made the same dishes.
Before
Middle
Result
It was quite delicious, I have to say.
Everyone was allowed to stay in Seoul until Saturday at 9pm so a lot of people were waiting outside the cooking school to get people together to head out. Yes, very few people had a plan. No, I was not one of them. Ben and I headed to Seoul to meet up with some of his friends that he met in a program he did in Korea a while ago. We got a little confused on the subway, but we made it back to Myeong-dong. We ate at an Outback Steak House with his friends which was pretty good, but much different than one in the States. First the price was ridiculously high, like $30+ for a steak dinner. They also had us dip the bread in chocolate sauce. Ben and I just got an appetizer and some beer. We then headed to Lotte World (sorta like Korea's Disney World) and drank some alcohol at a bar near by it. By this time we acquired one mor e of Ben's friends and there were six of us. We splurged a bit and got a small bottle of Jack Daniels, a bottle of Jose Curevo and a pitcher of beer for almost $200. See now if we kept on the Korean track (Soju) we would of had paid $100 or more less. Living like you would in the States sure is way more expensive here in Korea. I'll stick to living like a Korean and being stingy. Anyway, we had a great time socializing, but we had no place to stay for the night. We were desperate yet flexible. Luckily, one of the girl's Juju was kind enough to invite us to stay at her place, with the approval of her mom. Again, young Korean's live with their parents until they are married. At first I was very shocked to have this girl invite us, because she is inviting two guys to stay at her parent's place, but Koreans I guess tend to be more lienant with foreigners. We woke up and cooked some pancakes, bacon and eggs. Umm umm
I've researched were to find a music store in Korea and I found this really large one in Seoul. Ben and I both being musicians were curious to check it out so we left Juju's place and went to Nagwon Arcade. All we knew about the place is what stop to get off of. [Thank you cell phone subway map] We walked around quite clueless, so I had to ask a younger guy in Korean where the place was. He actually understood me and pointed us in the right direction. We found this monsterous building in the middle of a busy area and preceded to climb to the second floor. We looked down the corridor and wow was that place big. I'm not sure how many little shops there were but there must have been at least 100 vendors in these small little shops. They had every instrument you could think of, however, the american guitars were ridicoulsy expensive. I tried out a few of them and one guy kind of kicked me out because I was playing a $3,000 guitar and knew I didn't have the money. haha. Ben and I headed for lunch at a Soon-dae Gook place. Soon-dae is blood sausage and is something I really enjoy to eat, though I never have tried the soup version. The place was a whole in the wall which meant it was really good.
I was right. It was really good and for only 4,000won it was a steal!
After that we headed to meet Ben's other friend Sohee near the Olympic Stadium (for those that do not know Korea hosted the 1988 Summer Olympics). She plays guitar so she took us back to her place and we jammed out for a little bit. She showed me her very nice Les Paul standard with a flame top. It cost her almost $1,000 more than if she would have bought it in the States. Too bad she was shy because she didn't really want to play too much.
Anyway, we met Sohee's mom who was a riot to be around. Sohee's mom really likes to sing so when she found out I played guitar she wanted to hear. We sang a few Beatles tunes and a Sinatra tune as well. It was fun to be able to communicate with her because of some of the things she said. I'm glad I understand some Korean otherwise a lot of people I've met so far I wouldn't have been able to understand them as much as i have been able to. We goofed around for a bit more than Sohee's mom wanted to take us out to dinner. I had my first experience in a car in Korea.
It was actually quite nice and less of a circus act then I had imagined. Many people said that Koreans are crazy drivers. I have to say the bus drivers are crazy though. Not too far from Boston bus drivers or Subway drivers, however. Anyway, we went to a Nakjibokum place and that was a real treat.
Nakjibokum has to be the spiciest Korean dish, but one of my favorites.
We then met up with one of my old Korean friends from Boston in Gangnam (the ritzy part of Seoul). It was a treat to see Joohee again after a number of years. We headed to a pat bing soo (red bean and crushed ice) / bakery place. Since the three years I've seen Joohee she has gotten married. I wasn't expecting that but I am very happy for her. Here we are and I'm holding the pat bing soo.
Again without a plan Ben and I had to find another place to stay. Sohee's mom invited us to stay the night and we gladly accepted. We were treated to Kimchi pancackes at 10 at night and had a fun conversation in Korean and broken English. In the morning we were again treated to a very nice breakfast of eggs and fruit.
In my opinion Koreans have the best hospitality out of anyone that I have met thus far. This weekend was a great treat and if Ben and I had a plan we would have never been able to experience the true Korean experience.
I'll make sure to bring the sd card so I can take more pictures. Next up English camp, then Gangwon-do orientation.
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