seoulfulsojourn.net

We’ve almost been here a month now and it is hard to imagine summer ending in the States, Labor Day festivities and the start of school since the academic year began a month ago for Daphne and Zoe.  We went to the MS and US Back-to-School nights last Wednesday and Thursday and, much like the BTS nights at PDS, we hustled around the halls of the school trying to find classrooms and teachers quickly so we could listen to their 15min. introductions and course descriptions.  The evening was harried, hot and tiring with very little food or drink, but a necessity since we now know at least what each teacher looks like when we communicate by email.  Unlike PDS BTS, there was very little socializing since we really don’t know anyone at the school….

Daphne loves, loves, loves her Korean model building class and is working on a traditional Hanok style shadow box room that will look much like our new home.  Despite joining the class two weeks late and dreading the required art course, she looks forward to every class and is ahead of her peers and even considering doing an independent project in the spring.  Surprise, surprise!

In search of some green and respite from the buzz of the city, I often find my way to a street with a man-made stream set below street level called Cheonggyecheon Stream.  Bill’s building is on the stream so the one time I met him for lunch this past month, we picked up some Gimpap (Korean sushi roll) and sat on some stones in the shade next to the stream.     

As you can see, one can cross the stream at various intervals by stepping on the stones and there are steps and shade beneath the bridges where folks go to sit and talk.  I have taken a book to read there or strolled along the stream to get to Dongdaemon market which is a HUGE maze of outdoor and indoor markets well-known throughout the city.  I went for a very specific reason…baking utensils and supplies…and found “Bakery Alley” pretty easily given the vast maze-like situation.

You can see pictures of some of the stalls in the market that carry household goods (the one I shot is of bunches and bunches of cloth gloves that are used when handling food or goods by shopkeepers), but there was a separate shop for sponges, for rubber-bands, for mops, towels, ribbons, paper cups, baseball hats, construction cones, fire extinguishers, etc.  Across the stream apparently, there’s a huge food market with stalls and stalls of produce, fish, etc. and I plan to return soon.  Trucks, bikes and motor-scooters, piled high with product surround us everywhere.

Garage/recycling is a serious business too despite the ubiquitous plastic bags that shopkeepers try to offer me and I proudly say “Ah ni yo, kamsamida” (no, thank you) and show them my green bag that I bring everywhere to tote stuff home.  Mostly garbage is collected by individuals who lug carts behind them like the one pictured with plastic bags hanging off of it.  All food waste can be put in a special bin with a top, glass and plastic containers go in a separate bin, paper and cardboard boxes get sorted, flattened and recycled. Finally, one can also put “general waste” in a plastic bag for pickup.  Each type of item to be recycled is lugged around a separate cart like the one featured below so we often see cardboard and glass/plastic carts walking by while small blue garbage trucks pickup the food and general waste.  Nothing is smelly, thankfully, and the manually pulled carts travel in the road with cars and buses driving behind them, patiently.  At our house, the landlord told us that we can put out our garbage daily and it will be collected by the security guard at the end of our street…free of charge!  I just need to be sure to have the proper color bags and containers which are apparently sold at the 7-11 nearby.

I took pictures of a water dispenser in a restaurant, the tiny paper napkins (4″ square) and their tissue box container and the trash cans because all of these items are SCARCE relatively speaking.  Water is not served unless requested and usually you are directed to a wall dispenser with flat paper cups (look at the slit with paper above water faucet) that you unfold and then put about 3 sips of water into to try to quench your thirst in this hot, humid city!!  These tiny napkins are really the only type seen and available to buy at grocery stores unless we go to a non-Korean fancy restaurant with cloth napkins.

  

After a month though, I admit that the thought of an American-sized paper napkin seems SO wasteful and unnecessary.  There are NO, NONE, NADA public trash cans on the street so if you happen to eat an apple on your walk, or finish your bottled water, you get to carry the core/bottle back to your apartment.  I don’t get it, since Koreans do eat street food from the various stalls around the city, but they tend to eat very quickly the food on the stick or the entire fried octopus/eel///!!! and then move on.  Coffee, however, is savored and lingered over and there are at least 3 coffee shops (“kuh pee”) on each block, full at all hours of the day.  Starbucks is apparently owned by one of the Korean “chaebol” companies, like Samsung, Hanwha, etc, but despite being franchised out, it feels very familiar and is as unnecessarily expensive as ever.

There’s a picture of one of the many Buddhist monks, dressed head to foot, in pale grey that we see often on the streets.

They blend quietly into the city and ride the subway with the rest of us. Temple-stay vacations are very popular in Korea and I’d love to try one, but am not sure what the rest of the family will think of the experience and days of silent meditation, early rising. We’ll see…maybe year #2?!  Speaking of the subway, the broadband wifi (see picture of signal) is amazing everywhere…even 3 floors below the city streets on the subway trains.  Everyone, grandparents to kids, has a mobile phone and is generally using it at all times.  Bill finally, finally gave up his dinosaur Blackberry and entered the world of smart phones on Friday…and he is shocked by the breadth of what his phone can do…especially the maps features which help him feels less lost in this crazy city.  He texted me this morning that his “emails are flying like the wind on his new Samsung Galaxy 5 Notes”.  He felt pressure to get a Samsung because so many of Citibank’s clients are suppliers to Samsung and everyone in the office has a Samsung.  The camera is decidedly weaker than the Apple phone’s but there may be other features that are better….

We opened our local Citibank accounts (see passbook picture) and I tried to use an ATM on the street, but couldn’t begin to decipher the commands (see picture).  The Citibank ATMs allow you to switch the buttons to English so I’ll be a very loyal customer.

Most folks use ATMs to handle recurring payments to vendors since the machines allow you to set up an ACH transfer from one bank to the other.  In fact, this is the only way I can pay for some of the events/tours offered by the American Women’s Club of Korea that I want to attend so I had to learn this transaction quickly and it’s quite easy…as long as I find an ATM with English commands.  Another example of how Samsung driven this market is, I cannot use online banking with Citibank Korea because the platform requires Windows and does not interface with my Apple computer or Bill’s iPad.  Unbelievable!

I made it into the free Basic Korean class and now go every Tuesday and Thursday from 12-1;30pm to a small classroom in an office building downtown to learn this challenging language.  In my class of 16, there are students from 14 different countries (US..me and a soldier from a military base on leave…, two girls from India, two missionaries from Malaysia, and then individuals from France, Pakistan, Kyrgystian(sp??), Belgium, Mongolia, Iran, Liberia, China, Vietnam, Germany, and Japan).  The teacher is Hanguk (Korean), feisty but with a good sense of humor and we are learning our vowels, consonants and proper pronunciation..slowly, slowly.  We are often called up to the board to write a letter or to say something out loud and I am struggling with all of it despite my efforts.  The teacher even said in front of the whole class as I was walking back from the board: “Amanda-shi, your writing is good, but your pronunciation is bad, bad!”. I wilted visibly but continue to practice with my CDs at home.  Both Bill and I had our first private tutoring lessons that are part of our Citi relocation package this past Saturday.  We each spent 90 mins. with Eunsun (who is young, lovely and patient!) and I practiced “greetings” and Bill worked on how to order food and get directions for cabs, etc.  We will each have another session during the week and hopefully, this Korean immersion will pay off.  Daphne and Zoe are learning at a much faster pace and are comfortable with simple transactions in a store/ordering food. Maybe if we combine our 4 knowledge bases, we will survive these first few months!

I have a friend (!) in Korean class who is also a SFS mom and her daughter Ilinca plays Saturday soccer with Daphne and Zoe.  She is originally from Romania, was raised mostly in France and has lived the past 7 years in China.  She’s very game and the two of us made a date to see an art show since her dad is an artist and she loves museums.  We took the subway for almost an hour to another part of the city where the Seoul Olympic Park is located.

There are many venues in this park and it was nice and green so I plan to bring Bill and the kids back on the weekend to walk around the sculpture garden and different stadiums.  We went directly to the Frieda Kahlo exhibit which thankfully had some English signage.  What a painful life she had between the trolley accident and the abuse from Diego Rivera!  There was a nice wrought-iron silhouette sculpture of a man’s face that changed with each angle from which it was viewed as well as many modern sculptures and murals.   I look forward to future art outings with Cristina…my new friend!

A few words on food of course since it is still very much a challenge for me.  You’ll see a picture of a man wearing a food prep chin mask and gloves which is very common and makes one think about the unsanitary conditions of American fast food establishments.

One of the side dishes that came with our Korean dinner was huge chunks of raw jalapeno pepper smothered in spicy kimchi sauce.  We didn’t go NEAR it.  The vast selection of sardines, live and dead octopii, abalone, eels, etc in the supermarkets is still daunting though I did buy some already skinned and nicely cut salmon (American style) and it was very fresh and delicious.  Spam is a delicacy and there are entire aisles devoted to it.

 

Last weekend, Bill and I woke up early and went for a hike up near Inwangsan Temple which is nearby and was recommended to my by Cristina.  Daphne and Zoe slept in so we were able to catch up without having to be quiet in this tiny apartment we share.  The hike was relatively short but quite vertical and full of stairs.  For Bill, it was yet another opportunity to sweat through his clothes in no time flat.  We had plenty of Korean locals around us the whole time since Koreans love, love, love to hike and take their hiking clothing a gear VERY seriously.  I tried to take some pictures but it felt rude so just imagine: top of the line hiking boots, Patagonia type pants, long sleeved moisture-wicking shirts with short-sleeved similar shirts on top.  The men often wear vests with netting and many pockets, almost like fishing vests I guess.  Most hikers have a colorful (but not red…which is really not seen at all in Korea, btw) bandana tied neatly around their necks. Hiking poles are common and again, no one seems to carry water…????  Hats and gloves to protect from the sun (haze).  Groups go out together and have a jolly time.  The hike was along just one portion of the old city fortress walls as you can see in the hazy distance.  There were great rock formations to explore as well.  Every now and then there was a small lean-to with an attendant who had utensils/food vessels for hikers who chose to rest and eat.  Inwangsan Temple with its surrounding area is one of the most sacred shamanistic spots in Seoul and although 25% of the population is now Christian, most everyone still believes in and practices some ancient shamanistic rituals, including going to see musok-ins (prophet/healer of sorts) who might help you with a difficult decision.  The views from up on top of the mountain were gorgeous and inspired us to hike each weekend.  There’s a continuous City Wall loop of about 20km that we can do over time, weather permitting.  Again, the broadband connection is so strong that we were able to have a lengthy chat with Claire in CA while we rested atop of the mountain. Seongbuk-dong where our permanent is located apparently has lots of trails easily accessible to us and there’s an Expat hiking group waiting for us to move in!!

After 3 weeks of living in Fraser Suites apartments and hoofing it back and forth to a supermarket 20 minutes away, I asked the front desk if there was a place nearby where I could buy meat since I can find dairy at the 7-11 and a simple selection of fruits and vegetables on the  corner.  The Fraser folks said to go out the front door and walk 25 meters to some stairs leading underground…so I did.  WOW…it is a veritable rabbit warren of food and good stalls as well as a place where locals go for their midday/evening meals.

Tunnels/underground aisles full of fresh fish, bins of red peppers and rice (see photos), even pianos are sold down there as you can barely see in the picture of Zoe holding some giant scallions.  I even found Best Foods Mayonnaise at a stall that has several non-Korean items…for a mere $15!  I didn’t even hesitate.  Peanut M&Ms too.  The environment is daunting and truly very local so I have to be brave and speak my few words of Korean when I head underground, but I make myself go daily.  Slowly the pointing will give way to words as I learn more Korean.

A quick selfie of me in my massage outfit…I went back despite the painful foot massage experience and had a wonderful full body massage.  Heavenly and needed after all the walking I’ve been doing.

I even got my hair cut and dyed and it looks great!  Bill and Zoe went to the same salon so now all four of us have successfully found grooming in Seoul.  Phew!  You can see how beautiful the girls look in the picture below.

A few more shots of an outdoor farmers market Cristina and I checked out after the Kahlo museum visit.

As you can see by the bags and bags of garlic (it is only sold peeled here…never in whole-bulb form anywhere) and flatbeds of peppers drying in the sun, that the volume of food offered wouldn’t begin to fit in my backpack.  Still, the food adventures are fun.

Daphne is still committed to the coaching and even got to scrimmage for a bit this weekend.  Her gear still hasn’t arrived so it was gentle, but she loved it.  She is getting bolder when she uses her coaching whistle too.  Bill was brave enough to drive our new Hyundai (of course!) SUV to the rink which takes an hour due to traffic and they were on time and didn’t get lost (thanks to the English GPS).

We drove up to our house this week and got horribly lost, though, since the GPS only recognizes the “old” address and I kept punching in the “new” address.  Fortunately, our tutor guided us up to the house where she was waiting to start our lessons.  We’ve gone every day since just to be in the beautiful spaces and move a few boxes in.  You’ll see our front door and steps up to the house, as well as the long hallway leading from the front of the house to our room and a shot of the empty living/dining room spaces.  I’m going this Wednesday to a furniture store outside of Seoul with another (!) friend who is the wife of one of Bill’s colleagues.  She came over for a picnic lunch in our garden today and helped me measure the spaces.  Our driver starts Wednesday which makes all of this possible!!

 

No pictures, but thought I’d mention the baseball outing Bill went on with work colleagues. Seoul has 10 professional baseball stadiums, each with their own team.  Most teams have American names and Bill watched the SK (big Telecom company here) Wyberns play the LG Twins.  During the entire game there was Pop Music broadcast over the speaker system and the Korean fans sang to it constantly.  Hot dogs, lemonade and popcorn were not be found and Bill shied away from the dried fish offered.  He did however buy 6 tall beers for his friends for a total cost of $15 which is far less than the $60 bucks it probably would have cost at home.  Bill likened the talent to a US minor league team and pulled out, hungry and tired, in inning 7.  Just not the same.

Undoubtedly the lowest point of the past two weeks was the soccer outing we (evil, stupid parents) forced upon Zoe this weekend.  We had heard through the Expat “grapevine” that the best soccer is a coed team coached by Johnny Collins on the US Army Base and we called him about Zoe and her talents.  (She is the super star on the SFS Middle School team already.) He is a Korean American who lived and attended school in PA but has been back in Seoul for the past 20 years being a “jack of all trades”.  He was friendly on the phone, but clearly stated that he is a MANIAC COACH WHO SCREAMS AT HIS KIDS AND OFTEN REDUCES THEM TO TEARS.  I suggested that we come watch a practice to see his coaching “style” in action and then let Zoe decide.   Because the practice is on the US military base, we had to bring our passports and other ID and be escorted on and off the base by Johnny.  We agreed to meet two weekends ago…and I blew it.  Earlier in the week, I had been on the base to rent our car and just assumed there was only one entrance.  Wrong!  Johnny had specified the Ichon Gate and I had taken us to the Dragon Gate…20 minutes away. We went home apologizing to Johnny who fired off a less than friendly email chiding my error.  This past Sunday, we tried again and barely made it there on time due to traffic.  We literally ran, all 3 of us for 8 minutes, to get to the gate to meet Johnny.  He is intense to say the least.  He was mildly friendly until we got to the field, at which point he then turned into Dr. Jekyll and started screaming at the kids for not being on the field, demanding pushups on the spot from laggers.  Zoe was like a deer in headlights already and then he turned to her and told her to “suit up and go join the team…OF ALL BOYS…on the field”.  We had promised her that she didn’t have to play and we were both amazed she didn’t burst into tears right then.  Bill and I too were traumatized by the situation and began to fight with each other out of stress on the sidelines.  Really fun.  Brave, brave Zoe warmed up and then played in the scrimmage for 5 minutes before going up to Johnny to tell him she wasn’t interested in playing on the team.  He told her to sit and watch and we weren’t able to leave until the practice ended 2 hours later when he was then able to escort us off the base.  We witnessed his crazy, maniacal behavior and listened to his verbal abuse the entire time, dreading the moment we’d have to interact with him again.  We are so proud of Zoe for advocating for herself and gathering up the courage to tell him “no”. Zoe and I  celebrated by eating pasta with parmesan cheese for a good ol’ American Sunday night dinner while trooper Bill went with Daphne to the rink.  Ah sports…. As Bill said, there was bad Karma all along and we just refused to listen to it!!

That’s all for now.  Two steps forward, one step backwards…sideways…we are on a journey!