Korean Basketball League and a familiar face

Sporting events in Korea are very intriguing to me because, well: a) they are sporting events and b) I'm curious to see how they differ from their Western counterparts.

A few months back I had a chance to go to a soccer game.  That certainly was a different experience with all the chanting and singing, etc., but America doesn't really have a good soccer comparison for any foreign league.

But Sunday I went to a basketball game.  Well, let's just say we invented the game.  I didn't really know what to expect when I entered the arena for the first-place showdown between the home team and league-leader Incheon ET Land Elephants and the Wonju Dongbu Promy.

In some respects it was much like an NBA game with the piped in music, fan giveaways and such.  But the cheerleaders in Korea are much more intense about getting the fans involved.

The man pictured in the two pictures above was seemingly the head cheerleader and he stood on a platform that jutted out of the second deck and led most of the cheers.

It was a pretty entertaining game, with the Elephants pulling out a narrow, come-from-behind victory to remain in their perch atop the KBL (Korean Basketball League) standings.

Final thoughts of the game:
• It was pretty strange to see former Marquette center Amal McCaskill suited up for the Elephants.  I didn't expect that he would still be playing anywhere, seeing that his MU teams of the early 90s are among the first teams I remember watching seriously.  And after all, he's 37 years old.

McCaskill is second from left if you couldn't tell.

The old man didn't get that much playing time, only 10 minutes, but it was pretty cool to see someone from your childhood playing on the other side of the globe.

• Elephants is such an awesome mascot choice.

After the game my host Kwong Min, a teacher from school who has gone out of his way to be friends with me, and his friend, strangely enough the son of my school's vice principal, moved on to a new activity - ping pong.  OK, you can stop laughing now.  And yes, all those stereotypes about Asians and their ping pong skills are completely true.  I got smoked even when they took it easy on me and/or spotted me points.  Seeing some of the things some of the players could do with a ping pong ball was pretty crazy.

Then it was off to dinner.  We picked up Kwong Min's wife and young daughter and headed off for some samgyeopsal.  At first his daughter, who had met met me one other time, was quite shy and/or scared of me, but by the end of the night she warmed up to me.  Dinner was fantastic.  The samgyeopsal was amazingly porky and delicious, but there was one catch that made my night all the more interesting.

Shortly after our food came out Kwong Min uttered a collection of words that would change the night.  Among them were soju and juseyo (please).  In Korean culture it's impolite to turn down drinks, especially from your elders.  And considering that my meal and the basketball game were a treat on Kwong Min, I wasn't about to step on any feelings, real or imagined.

Luckily, the guys drank rather slowly, but we still polished off 3-4 bottles of soju.  And that left me with a sufficient buzz as we excited Pork Heaven.

Considering it was a Sunday and all, I was looking forward to getting back home fairly early, but Kwong Min was determined to have us stop by his home. Next up was a series of stops at different stores to pick up different things, including my assigned task of finding ice cream. 

Finally we made it back to his family's very nice, quite spacious apartment, watched some home videos, ate fried chicken (for some odd reason they thought we needed more food), sampled some pretty solid cookies and cream ice cream and Kwong Min broke out some Korean wine.  All the while his daughter was offering to feed us ice cream or other snacks.  It was pretty funny and cute, especially considering her initial reactions to me.

When it was time to leave I set off with the vice principal's son not really knowing where the heck we were going, although assuming it was toward the subway.  Well, he pulls into a building presumably to go to the bathroom or something, I didn't hear what he said, other than he would be right back.  Fast forward 10 minutes later - he's still not back.  So not knowing how to get to the subway I just flagged down a taxi, since I just wanted to get home.

I found out this morning he did take the subway back.  But I'm still not sure what the detour was about!

Home Cooking

Some people say it's cheaper to eat out in Korea than to eat at home, and while there are many places to find a low-price meal, it's still much cheaper to dine at home.  Plus, it often can be healthier as you control more closely what shows up on your plate.

But so far in my time here, despite not eating out all the time, I've avoided doing much cooking at home.  Or maybe more accurately I've been lazy and/or uncreative in my home-cooked meals (think scrambled eggs).  However, last week I decided to try my hand at adding some Korean flare to my cooking repertoire.  I made a very basic Korean style meal with rice (obviously), sesame leaves, ssamjang (seasoned bean paste), laver (seaweed), and mushrooms.  I just rolled the pan-fried chicken pieces in the sesame leaves with some rice, paste and mushrooms dipped in soy sauce for a simple, decent meal.

But Monday I was at the grocery store and while wandering the isles had the inspiration to see if I could pull off something new.  So I picked out a bunch of ingredients and set off for home eager to eat in my post-workout daze.  When all was said and done I had pulled off haemul pajeon (Korean style seafood and green onion pancake) and chamchi (tuna) bibimbap.  And it turned out alright!  Well, enough with the words.  Check it out yourself.

School Festival

Unless you've experienced one it's hard to fully describe the South Korean school festival.  It's kind of like homecoming week all squeezed into one day: carnival games, food stands, a haunted house and of course the talent show.  My school held its festival a week ago Friday.  I'll let the pictures (and videos) do some of the talking.

Yogurt drinking contest.

On my third go around I won back my money and a pair of socks!

Human bop-it game.

Samgyeopsal (grilled pork)

My haunted house escort.

Teacher rocking out while dressed like a student.

 

 

 

School Lunch

I really can't complain about my school's lunch program.  Four of five days I'm plenty satisfied with my meal.  I think the quality is a notch above American school lunch.  The biggest difference between lunch time at a Korean high school and its American counterpart is that you won't see anyone eating anything but what the school provides.  Sure, the kids will have snacks throughout the day from the school store, but at lunch everyone eats the same thing.   Below is a sample lunch (unfortunately not one of the best days).

Every lunch has some sort of kimchi (top left).  On this day we were blessed with radish kimchi (probably one of my least favorites).  And we always have rice (bottom left) and some time of soup (bottom right).  This day it was seaweed soup, which is a pretty steady, mild choice.  Then we typically have some other type of vegetable dish and a meat or tofu concoction. 

Today was seaweed soup, a carrot and meat (including octopus tentacles) entree in a sweet sauce, with cucumber kimchi (my favorite) and some other slightly sour greens.  A pretty solid lunch.

Korean Wedding

Last weekend I had a chance to go to a Korean wedding, as one of the English teachers I work with was getting married.  I was anxious to see what a ceremony was like here, so I was a little disappointed to find out it would be a Catholic wedding.  But it still was far from a Catholic wedding you might see in America.

Bride and Groom

I went to the ceremony with a few co-workers, and we watched as the Korean priest rambled in Korean for a while before the vows and giving of the rings.  But after that the bride and groom disappeared from my view (maybe sat down?).  And a minute or two later our group left the sanctuary to hit the buffet.  I was a bit taken aback that people would walk out before the ceremony had finished, but we were far from the only ones, and when we reached the first banquet room I was shocked that it was almost full.  Apparently in Korea it's quite common to not attend the ceremony and just give a gift of money and grab a bite to eat.  Well, since the first banquet room was full we headed downstairs to room number two and snagged plates full of food from an incredibly varied and long buffet table.

And after eating we took off.  That was it.  Very different in some regards and very normal in other.  Someday I hope to catch a more traditional ceremony.

A Little Taste of Home

There are many things about being so far away that make one miss home, but the holidays are a surefire place to look.  So it made life a little bit easier when a group of us were able to celebrate Thanksgiving right.

That's right we had turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberries, mixed vegetables, stuffing and pumpkin pie (not in the photo).  Wow, was that a treat.  And it was all made possible by a private restaurant on a nearby U.S. military base. 

And thanks to our gracious hosts, Brian and Whitney, who welcomed us over, picked up the food and organized everything, we had a fantastic Thanksgiving meal.

Latern Festival and 11/11

It's been a busy week yet again.  I played basketball with students after school Monday and tonight (Thur.), Tuesday night I went to Seoul for the second Seoul Lantern Festival (see AnsanAnswers.com for a great video on the festival), and Wednesday it was off to Ansan for a weekly dinner with friends. Plus today was 11/11, and in Korea that's meaningful.

First, the lantern festival.  Lotus lanterns have a traditional role in Korean culture thanks to Buddhism.  But this festival, which this year coincided with the G20 Summit being held in Seoul, celebrates many different aspects of Korean culture through lanterns of many shapes and sizes.  And with the G20 in town, lanterns representing different countries of the world dotted the beautiful Cheonggyecheon Stream.

Thursday also was an interesting day as it was 11/11, which in Korea means a celebration almost like Valentine's Day (which they also celebrate) sweeps the country.  It's called Pepero Day after the thin wafer stick dipped in chocolate of the same name.  Lotte, the company that began manufacturing pepero in 1983, denies that it's behind the holiday, but it's official origins are unknown.

Different varieties of pepero, with the traditional on the right.

Regardless, every year on 11/11 people, mostly students, other young people and couples, exchange pepero sticks, other candies and small gifts.  Promptly at 8 a.m. this morning I had a student give me my first box of pepero for the day.  But I came well prepared myself (thanks to my friends at AnsanAnswers for tipping me off) with a variety box of pepero.  I let each of the teachers in my office pick what kind they wanted, and I still had more than enough to dole out as treats for students throughout the day.  And I received and ate more than my fair share.  Thankfully a box is less than 150 calories!  Still, I don't want to know how many calories I showed down in chocolate sticks today!

Overall, it seems like the type of contrived holiday, think Sweetest Day, that back home I abhor, but it was fun to experience it once, especially when the students are so excited to give me a gift.

I can't imagine what next year, 11/11/11, will be like!

Seoraksan

I made the pilgrimage this weekend that every visitor to Korea is required to make.  I traveled to Seoraksan, which means Snow Peak Mountain, and conquered two of its famous peaks with a travel group from Adventure Korea.

Seoraksan, located in the northeastern corner of South Korea, is not only one of South Korea's top natural tourist attractions, but the national park contains the third highest peak in the country.  It's especially popular in the fall because it's supposedly one of the top places in the country to catch a fantastic display of fall colors.

Unfortunately, maybe fortunately for my aching calves, we were unable to climb the 1,708 meters (5,603 feet) to the highest peak because we didn't arrive until Saturday afternoon.  But we still climbed the famous Ulsanbawi, which is over 800 meters high and boasts a steep finish.  Ulsanbawi contains six granite peaks and on clear days you can see all the way to the East Sea.

It was a quite foggy when we arrived, but it cleared up nicely, although not enough to catch a view of the East Sea.  Still it was spectacular, and as advertised, it was packed, especially as we got to the steep stairs near the peak.  And that actually made the hike, although quite steep at times, not that difficult because we had lots of rest on the stairs.

All the waiting was well worth it.  The view from the top was spectacular.

My friend Alex at the top.  (I borrowed this photo from Marc.)

After working our way back down, and having an interesting conversation with a student from Kazakhstan, we got back on the bus and made the hour journey to our hotel.  After dinner many of us hit up the natural Osaek Hot Springs that were harnessed and pumped into a hotel near ours.  It was heavenly and just what I needed after a long hike.

Although it was my first Korean spa experience, and it is quite something if you're not used to it.  Koreans, unlike Americans, don't think anything of nudity amongst people of the same gender.  So first you have to get over an uneasiness of walking around naked, but once you get in the spa you almost forget about the fact you're wearing nothing but your birthday suit!

The next day a small portion of the 130 people on our trip got up early and hit the trail at 8 a.m.  We hopped on the bus and rode to the other side of the mountain to hike up and over and back to the hotel.  Starting on the opposite side was the best decision we could have ever made.  We had the mountain to ourselves almost the whole way up.  One of the valleys on the course, the Heulimgol Valley, was closed to the public for 20 years to allow nature to repair it after severe flooding.  The canyons were beautiful and the water running through them serene.

After reaching the summit (1014 meters), we worked our way down and ran into a number of waterfalls including Yeongso Falls.

Me at the top.

Yeongso Falls

Then it was back from lunch and the long trip home.  If you like hiking and nature this trip is one I'd definitely recommend.  In fact, I'll probably go back in the spring to check out the rushing water from the snow melt.

My hagwon experience

Last night I tagged along with one of my students to his hagwon, or private school.  Ki Heon talks to me probably as much or more than any other student, and when I found out he wanted to be a chef I was really intrigued.  When I found out he was actively pursuing that dream already I was impressed.

Fast forward to Monday night.  I'm on the train heading to Ansan to go to "school" with him.  He gave me a tour of the school, which is a specialty school for hotel and restaurant management.  Then we settled in for class.  On this particular night the students were learning how to make Spanish omelettes and beef stew.  First the teacher gave a demonstration.

As she was finishing up, I could tell the discussion turned to me based on a few key words.  If that didn't tip me off, the students all turning and looking at my grinning face sure gave it away.  But it was good; I got to eat the omelette.  It was delicious, although I would have upped the spice a bit.  The eggs were incredibly pillowy (I don't care if that's not a word).

Then it was time for the students to get to work.  It was quite impressive with the skill some of them already possessed.  As they worked away, I wandered around and took it all in.

Ki Heon working on his beef stew.

A student multi-tasking.  His omelette looked very professional.

All in all, it was a good night.  And it was interesting to see students outside of high school.  Although it was just like my first day of school in Korea, as everyone wanted to know who I was, where I was from, what my name was, how old I am...

But when it all comes down to it, who can complain about free food, especially when it's so good.

Teeth brushing

My fellow native English teachers keyed me in on this phenomenon early on, but I didn't really notice it at first.  But once my eyes were opened I couldn't avoid it. Koreans brush their teeth all the time!

Everyone, students and teachers, brushes their teeth after lunch, but on Wednesday I even caught my co-teacher brushing his teeth at 3 p.m.  Maybe he just forgot to after lunch?

It's not that it's a bad habit; it's not at all.  But it's inescapable.  Thursday a student asked me a question, and when I finally figured out that she was asking for toothpaste, suddenly I had a heard of students following me into my office to feed at the trough of free toothpaste.  It was crazy!

But the really weird moment involving teeth brushing came later that day.  I was in the shower at the gym and this guy came in, you guessed it, brushing his teeth.  Crazy!

A pick me up

By the end of the day my cold and the lack of success of my lesson caught up to me.  I just wanted to get out of the school.

I could have easily went home and crawled into bed for the rest of the night, but I knew getting a workout in would make me feel better.  It definitely did.

But what boosted my spirits more than anything was the little boy heading to tae kwon do class that said hi to me, asked me my name (in Korean of course) and was very excited to talk to me.  I was able to practice my Korean, telling him my name and following that up by telling him in English.  He was adorable and so eager to learn and to teach me his name.  I couldn't wipe the grin off my face all the way home.

My first real Korean hiking experience

After my interesting Friday night, I was very much looking forward to Saturday's hike with many of my fellow teachers.  The weather was fantastic, and it definitely lived up to all my expectations.

So after meeting at Geumjeong Station, we made our two-plus hour trek south to Youngbongsan.  It wasn't an incredibly tall peak, but it was quite steep.

I hiked most of the way with a couple teachers that I just officially met.  One is a Korean teacher and the other a social studies teacher.  That may have been the best part about the day.  I have been wanting to get to know more of the teachers, and Saturday gave me a great chance to do just that.

Once we reached the peak, we walked down to a bit to a shaded area and had a nice picnic.  I was even given some extremely processed Swiss and American cheese.  I've eaten some strange things here, but that may have been one of the worst.  But it was a gift, so I swallowed it down, reluctantly.

My friend and fellow teacher Kwong Min finally made it to the top with sleeping daughter in tow!

Then we started making our way back down the mountain for more food and makgeolli, which is Korean rice wine.  Then we boarded the bus and started our way home.  I made a good impression on many of the teachers by making an effort to meet them and try their food and drink.

After we made it back to Geumjeong I went to dinner with one of my hiking partners and two other teachers.  It was a delicious mountain of steaming, spicy seafood and bean sprouts.

Then it was time to go home.  I knew how to get back, but I followed my hiking buddy since he lives in the same apartment complex as me.  But all of the sudden I see we are in Suwon.  We went the wrong way on the subway!  So we get off the train and instead of turning around, he is adamant about taking a taxi.  Fine with me.

We finally made it back, and not surprisingly he refused to let me pay.  I tried to pay for the bus, food, drinks, the taxi ride, and nobody let me.  Another great day in Korea!

A Friday surprise

Friday was just chock full of surprises.

Coming out of school, I was planning on going home to change, run to the store and go meet a friend, but that all changed when I came out of the building and saw a baseball game going on.  I went over to say hello to some of my students and watch.  Well, next thing you know, they want me to play.  So, I quickly change my shoes and step up to the plate dress pants and all.

I had a blast, and it was a great way to get to know some of my students better.  Most of them have a long way to go baseball-wise, but they had fun.  And for those of you wondering, of course my team won.  I'm not trying to brag or anything, but someone I know may have had a couple triples, a double and a single.  On the single, probably actually an error, I collided with the first baseman, who got in the base path on an errant throw, and went flying through the air, tumbling to the ground in my khakis!

After the baseball game a few of us moved on to basketball.  Between squats at the gym on Wednesday and baseball, my legs were gone, but it was still fun to play again.  But dribbling on dirt/gravel is a challenge, and my teammates didn't quite understand didn't play any defense. 

After the game concluded I went home, showered and headed to the store to pick up some much needed groceries.  On the way back I overheard someone talking on the phone in ENGLISH!  Somewhat shocked, I went over to say hello and found out this guy, Justin, lives directly two floors below me.  And his friend, Bonnie, lives right across the street.  Strangely in two months I've never run into either of them.

To make a long story short, he invited me to dinner, and considering I hadn't eaten a proper meal I thought why not.  It turns out he was meeting up some others, some of whom I had already met!  What an interesting way to start the weekend!

Suwon with Juwon

A few weeks back I was on my way home on the train from a long night in Yeoju when the girl next to me reluctantly started talking to me in English.  She was very nervous to talk to me, but she wants to improve her English and probably thought what better opportunity than this blonde-haired dude who almost certainly speaks English.

Her English is pretty good already (she's a university student studying biomedical engineering, aka way over my head), but she wants to improve before a trip to New Zealand next year.  So I gave her my email and told her she can send me questions, just correspond and/or we can meet up and talk.  Plus, she can help me with my rudimentary Korean.

So late afternoon Saturday I headed off to Suwon to check out the Hwaseong Fortress with her as my guide.  Built in the 18th century, Hwaseong was build by King Jeongjo of the Josean Dynasty to honor his father Prince Sado who was murdered by being locked inside a rice chest by his father the king.

My rice chest experience sans the rice, thankfully.

After checking out the fortress and patrolling the grounds, we headed off to dinner.  She gave me the option of choosing where to go, but I deferred to her expertise with Korean food.  We ended up at a small restaurant eating gamjatang, which is one of her favorites and her mother's specialty.

Juwon

Side dishes: radish kimchi, soup with some sort of pressed fish and blood sausage (sundae) and salty pork.

Gamjatang - potatoes, mushrooms, onions, peppers and pork bones in a spicy broth.

It was a good day.  I made it home by 9:30 or so, went to bed early and woke feeling quite refreshed on Sunday.  I was tempted to watch the Badger game live, but I held off because quite a few GEPIK people were going to watch the game on tape delay at Sam Ryan's in Itaewon.  I made it just in time to see David Gilreath house the kickoff and start what was a fantastic victory over the nation's top team.  What a day!  It would have been a great night in Madison that I'm sure of!

School is school, right?

I've been meaning to blog about the differences between American schools and Korean schools for some time, but I wanted to give myself some time to soak things in before I made broad generalizations.

So here's the list:
- instead of bells between classes a little chime plays
- everyone (teachers, other staff, students) wears slippers in school
- teachers will sometimes sleep at their desk during free periods (or in some schools in the teachers lounge)
- many students and teachers are at school until late into the night: a majority of students stay after to school sometimes until almost 10 p.m. studying, and many of those that don't stay instead head off to private schools for the evening.  Education is emphasized, at least through time commitment, much more here.
- my smallest class has over 30 students, my largest is over 40 (that's very common)
- the students "clean" the school every afternoon (let's just say things aren't sparkling!)
- physical discipline is still practice, even if discouraged by the government (slaps, hits with a short stick, push ups, etc are handed out as punishment daily)

Well, that's far from a comprehensive list, but it gives you a little glimpse into the South Korean education system.

Street fights, surprise charitable donations and ice cream...

That title was catchy wasn't it!  You'll have to wait for the good stuff.  We'll get to it later.

I fell to the allure of the nap Sunday morning, deciding sleep was more important than heading out to explore at the moment.  But after a very refreshing nap I saw the sun blazing and knew this wasn't a day I could afford to waste just hanging around home, especially with winter knocking on the door.

I got a late start, as I didn't leave until 1 p.m., but I decided to set off to Seoul with Insa-dong as my goal. Insa-dong is an area of Seoul famous as the art galleries, antique shops, souvenir joints, tea houses and traditional restaurants.  Between walking the street, checking out a bell tower and a Buddhist temple, I figured there was plenty for me to squeeze in an afternoon, especially since it would take me at least 90 minutes to get there on the subway.

My first stop was the Bosingak Bell Pavilion.  It dates back to the Joseon period (it was build around 1400).  Supposedly, it tolls everyday at noon except during December, but my laziness prevented me from finding out firsthand.

Across the street from the pavilion is a distinct member of Seoul's skyline, the Jongno Tower.  I've been told the Top Cloud Bar & Grill Cafe has great food and an even better view.  It's on the list.

Then it was off to my first "real" Buddhist temple in Korea.  This one, Jogyesa, is the head temple of Korea's largest Buddhist sect.  It was definitely worth the stop.  It was tucked right in the heart of the city.  I observed an ongoing chant led by a monk and slowly started to hear the chanting of all the people.  It was hard to hear at first, but when I really listened I could hear the slow buzz.  That was pretty cool.  And I met a U.S. embassy employee whose daughter is a freshman at UW (he was wearing a UW shirt).

Money, water and other gifts are appreciated.

After the temple it was on to Insa-dong, the reason I set out on this adventure in the first place.  Insa-dong is basically a street with all the goodies I described above.  At the head of the street, I stopped to check out some water features and take everything in for a moment.

As I stowed my camera and was about to head down the street I was stopped a monk/huckster, maybe both.  My guard was let down because he's a monk right, so I didn't think anything of it when he presented me with this Buddha metal print and wanted me to sign my name in his little book.  Only then did I realize what he was really after was my wallet.  As I reluctantly dug for my wallet, he put some beads around my wrist.  I gave him 10,000 won, thinking that was pretty generous, but he insisted on 30,000 and when I balked, 20,000, but I stuck with my offer and made my way, lesson learned.

My gifts from my charitable contribution.

My little learning experience with the monk behind me, I finally made it to Insa-dong.  Expecting to take in all the street is reported to offer, what do I run into first but an Irish heritage celebration.  This is Korea, right?

Shortly after resuming my way down the street I got stopped by a quartet of high school students who wondered if they could interview me.  Flying solo and without anywhere to be, I said what the heck.  Two cameras and a couple of sets of batteries later the interview was done and I was back on my way.

Insa-dong was pretty cool, and I'll definitely go back again when I have some more time and a better grasp on Korean.  I decided to walk through Myeong-dong on the way home and almost witnessed my first street fight, as a guy about my age was not about to back down from a senior citizen who had a beef with him.  But sorry to disappoint many of you, but nothing really materialized (sorry for the headline tease).

I snagged some ice cream (more frozen yogurt-ish really) at a familiar place in Myeong-dong and then set off for the subway stop.  The trip was capped by the sight of a brilliant orange moon in a pink sky over the river.  And tomorrow's Monday.