Foulks' Tales From Korea

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Gotta Love That Butter Smell!

Living in America, it’s almost impossible to go very long without hearing about the topic of racism, whether it is through school, the media, or during casual conversations. It’s undeniable it still exists in the United States, but fewer people nowadays experience or are witness to blatant, out-in-the-open, in-your-face, public displays of racism. Especially when you have the “privilege” of growing up white in suburban America.

Growing up white, especially middle or upper class white, inevitably leads to a sheltered life in the United States. My upbringing was no exception. (This is not a knock on my parents, as they did their best to try and provide a decent life for my sisters and me and, in my opinion, did a damn fine job of it.) If you asked me to recall a time where I was witness to an unabashed public display of racism back home, I would struggle to think of one. Also, I was never given the chance, luckily or unluckily depending on how you want to view it, of being the minority for any extended period of time. Living in Korea changed all of that.

Being a minority here, I’m surprised it took almost a year and a half to be the target of someone’s prejudice (that I was aware of). A couple weeks ago, a bunch of friends and I wanted to spend a relaxing weekend on one of the many islands that litter the southern coast of Korea. We chose the island of Bijindo for our stay. The eight of us bussed to Tongyeong, went shopping, and lugged everything onto the ferry for the one-hour journey to the island. Actually, it is two islands connected by a narrow strip of sand, which is what leads to the island’s nickname of ‘Bikini Island.’

Ferry Ride

Yes, I did do this.

Anyway, there are two pensions on the island and naturally, we ask the one Korean in our group to book it. The first one she called was full for the night we needed so we reserved rooms in the second pension. Part of the arrangement was for the pension to send a van to meet us at the ferry port.

Our pension, from the ferry.

Upon disembarking from the ferry, the pension van pulls up. We are loading our belongings onto the trailer when we notice a long discussion between the owner of the pension and our Korean friend who booked the rooms. Naturally, we were getting worried as it was a holiday weekend and the possibility of an overbooking entered our minds.

Eventually, our friend came back and said we could load up the van and trailer. It wasn’t until later that we found out that the owner balked at foreigners staying in his pension. While some of what was discussed may have been lost in translation, the explanation was that he didn’t like foreigners staying in his pension because they smell different. Specifically, foreigners smell like butter while Koreans smell like kimchi. I guess that means kimchi farts are a real thing!!! He had asked our friend to stay at the other pension on the island and only relented when she told him that we tried, but it was already full.


DAMN!!! I bet that van smelled like butter after transporting all those foreigners!!!

Avoiding the butter fumes!

Maybe it is because I’ve rarely, if ever, been the victim of racism that I was more amused than offended. In fact, I was not offended at all. It also didn’t hurt that in the end, our plans were still intact and aside from a short delay, there weren’t any negative consequences to this man’s racist attitude. We were still able to enjoy our weekend of hiking, grilling, card games, and playing on the beach.

Next time, it may not turn out as well for me when I encounter the ugly face of racism, but even if it doesn’t, it is experiences like these that will help me become a better person now and in the future. I never said it was going to be easy, and you may think I’m nuts for saying this, but these experiences help me further justify my decision to relocate halfway around the world.

The view from our pension.

Hiking

View of Bijindo from the mountain. Can you see why it is called Bikini Island?

View from the hike

Sunset after the hike

Nothing like a cold, slushy beer on a hot day at the beach. Even if it is only Hite!!!

Get the hell away from me!!!

The recipe for a good weekend was 7 parts butter to 1 part kimchi!

Sunday, March 3, 2013

Lesson of Seodaemun Prison

If you stay in Korea long enough, you cannot avoid hearing about how many Koreans hate the Japanese. I've had students say to me, “We hate Japan” so many times that I lost count after a month teaching here. I always found this hatred to be illogical because in my opinion, the biggest threats to South Korea were China and North Korea. Yes, I was aware that Japan did occupy the Korean peninsula for most of the first half of the 20^th century but in my mind, I would think, “Almost every area in the world has been occupied by a foreign presence at one point or another, so get over it.” I would think that a South Korean-Japanese alliance would be necessary given the political climate of the region, and the governments officially seem to agree with me. However, one trip to Seoul would be enough for me to see the problem with my logic.

When looking at the section for Seoul on Lonely Planet’s website, the first thing listed is Seodaemun prison. Given my fellow travelers’ fascination with history, as well as my own, we decided to go check it out. As we learned, Japan did not simply colonize Korea. Rather, the Japanese treatment of some of the Korean people during occupation was as bad as, or worse, than the conditions other occupied people have suffered at the hands of some famous dictators.

It was here that many political prisoners were kept and tortured on a daily basis. Some of the methods used included waterboarding, forcing the prisoners to remain inside a small box where they could neither sit/nor stand properly for hours at a time, prying back of fingernails, and forcing the prisoners inside a small box with hundreds of long sharp nails and then kicking and shaking the box. Many prisoners were also killed and then their bodies were taken through a secret tunnel built into the hillside so no one would see the victims.

After arriving home, I did a little research into the matter and learned that the Japanese even forced Korean women into sex slavery. Nowadays, every Wednesday, the surviving “comfort women” protest outside the Japanese embassy in Seoul. Over 60 years later, the Japanese government has still not given any official apology about their actions toward the Korean people.

Before my visit, I was aware of the actions of Japanese soldiers during World War II towards captured enemy combatants, but I never imagined they committed these offenses on civilians. Considering that there are still may people alive that have first-hand knowledge of Japanese atrocities committed during occupation, I can now understand the hatred many Koreans display towards Japan.

* Unfortunately, I could not take as many pictures as I wanted as the prison was closing and we had to rush through much of what there was to see. I plan on going back in the near future to get the chance to explore the museum and prison grounds more thoroughly. I will share some of the pictures I was able to take below.

Seodaemun Prison Main Gate

Seodaemun Prison Front Side

Seodaemun Prison Museum Entrance

This is a model of the prison grounds during Japanese occupation. The prison was later used by Korea after gaining their independence until 1987.

Panoramic shot of a room memorializing many of the victims of Seodaemun Prison.

Seodaemun Prison Grounds

Seodaemun Prison Exercise Structure Entrance - Obviously, the prison wasn't built with the comfort of the prisoners (or me) in mind.

For exercise, the prisoners would be allowed to walk up and down one of the "alleys." The walls would prevents the prisoners from seeing or talking to one another during exercise time. I took this picture from the spot where the guards would watch the prisoners.

This is what the guard would see while the prisoners were doing their exercise.

The prisoner's view during exercise time (minus the apartment buildings of course!)

Seodaemun Prison Guard Tower

This picture, and the one below, is of the secret tunnel build into the hillside to remove the bodies of the deceased without detection.

Sunday, January 6, 2013

Seoul: What Could Have Been

Over a year and a half ago, I began contemplating whether or not to come teach in Korea. I told myself that if I did go, I would want to live and teach in Seoul. Other than just over the border into Canada, I had never been outside of the United States before and I thought that Seoul would offer a good first experience for living abroad. My reasoning was that even though I would be on the other side of the planet, I would still be able to maintain a lifestyle with some resemblance to my life from back home and that I could “transition” into a new culture. Anyway, without detailing the whole process, I did not end up in Seoul, but rather Changwon, and I have been happy with my decision

My being happy in Changwon, however, does not answer the question, “Would I have been just as happy, or even happier, living in Seoul?” I could not answer that question until I actually visited the city in person, so I could compare the two locations for myself. Last weekend, after over a year in Korea, I finally ventured up to Seoul with a few friends and I can now reflect upon this question.

Almost immediately after dropping our bags off at the hostel and exploring the surroundings, I could tell I was in a different city. My experiences in Korea thus far have been that all cities generally look and feel the same, at least to a foreigner. Not Seoul, however. There are many things, positive and negative, that set Seoul apart from Changwon (and other Korean cities).

In my opinion, the best reason for living in Seoul would be the fact that it is an international city. If you really cannot live without specific foods or products from your home country, this is where you want to be. Yes, one can find some foreign goods in other cities, including Changwon, but they are limited in range and can be more difficult to find if they do exist. During our stay, we dined on burritos and Turkish kebabs when we did not want to venture far from our hostel. One night, we splurged and enjoyed the various meats at a Brazilian steakhouse. Although we didn’t have time to do everything, a brief venture through Itaewon, a district of Seoul, showed that there were restaurants and pubs from seemingly every country around the globe. German pub? Check. Canadian poutine shop? Check. Paraguayan food? There’s a restaurant for that too. In Itaewon, there were more foreign faces than there were Korean ones.

Also adding to the international “flavor” or Seoul is the amount of English spoken there. In Changwon, some people do know a little English, but more often than not, the Koreans there either don’t know English or are not confident in their ability and thus pretend not to know it. I can’t give an exact number, but almost all of the Koreans I interacted with in Seoul, both briefly and extensively, knew at least some English and were confident enough to use it.

Some people may consider this an added bonus (I do not), but the effect of the international feel of Seoul is you lose some of the traditional Korean experience. I’m not saying it doesn’t exist, but having lived in a more traditional city in Korea for over a year made me realize that some of it was missing.

Another thing I liked about Seoul is that there is more to do there than any other city I’ve visited. We were there for only 3 nights so we were only able to sample a little of what Seoul has to offer. During our stay, we visited 2 of the traditional palaces in Seoul. One thing I found interesting about the palaces was they were right in the middle of downtown Seoul. I would be walking along the street looking at modern buildings and businesses and then out of nowhere, a palace complex would appear!

경복궁 (Palace): Notice the buildings immediately

in the background.

경복궁 (Palace): Just outside the main gate were

many government buildings, including the U.S.

embassy.

경복궁 (Palace)

During our stay, we visited 3 museums. In addition to the Korean Folk Museum, we explored two temporary exhibits, The Tim Burton exhibit at the Seoul Museum of Art and Van Gogh in Paris which was displayed at the Seoul Arts Center. There are many more museums to visit and other temporary exhibits coming soon that I would like to go back to see.

Walkway Leading to the Seoul Museum of Art

Entrance to the Seoul Museum of Art

At the Tim Burton Exhibit

I visited museums and palaces because those were things I am interested in. If history and culture is not your thing, you can still find things to do including shopping, nightlife, hiking, and much more. Some of the people in our group were even planning on bungee jumping until the weather closed the facility!

All of these things to do would be pointless if people couldn’t get there. In Seoul, it is not a problem as Seoul has one of the best public transportation systems I have experienced. The subway system, while extensive, is clean, efficient, and cheap (one ride only costs about 1100 won). While it would be nice if the subways were 24 hours, it’s not a problem as taxis are everywhere and cheap as well. A 20-minute taxi ride at 1:00 A.M. was only 10,000 won. A comparable ride in many U.S. cities would be at least 2-3 times as much.

Looks confusing, doesn't it? It was actually quite easy to navigate!

Nothing is perfect in this world, and Seoul is no exception. I would have to say the biggest drawback is how crowded it can be. This should be expected in a city of over 10 million, but it can be aggravating nonetheless. During rush hour, it took almost 15 minutes just to exit the subway because so many people were trying to merge into the stairwell to leave the station. The area around our hostel became crowded at night due to all of the bars and clubs in the area. Even the museums were crowded, especially the Tim Burton exhibit. It was so crowded that after you purchased your ticket, you had to get a number which assigned you a time to enter the exhibit to avoid a mass of people entering at once.

I also did not enjoy the weather while I was there. It was much colder in Seoul for the 4 days I was there than any day I spent in Changwon. I knew it would be colder in Seoul, but I did not realize by how much. In addition to the cold, it snowed a lot our first day there. The snow itself is not a problem for me, but rather, the snow removal, or lack thereof. The plows only cleared the main roads in Seoul and nobody did anything about the side streets, alleys, and sidewalks. The result was the massive volume of traffic condensed the snow down into a sheet of ice so everyone was driving and walking on a city-sized ice rink over the next few days. It came as no surprise to me when, after the snowstorm, I saw many people, especially women (probably due to their poor choice of footwear), with casts and slings around their limbs. I enjoy the milder and relatively snow-free winter in Changwon much better.

Snow.....

More snow.....

Even more snow. And this was just the beginning!

While I think I would have enjoyed living in Seoul, I think I am happier in Changwon. In Changwon, I get a more traditional Korean experience along with some modern amenities. If I need the international feel, I can always hop on a bus and take the 45 minute trip to Busan. If I can’t find what I am looking for in Busan, Seoul is not difficult nor expensive to get to from Changwon.

RANDOM HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE TRIP

- While Johann and I were planning to take the bus for the four hour journey to Seoul, we ended up taking a taxi instead! Why, you ask? We arrived at the bus terminal in Changwon and a taxi driver asked where we were going. We told him we were going to Seoul and he offered to take us for the same price as a bus ticket. It turns out, he had a fare from Incheon airport (near Seoul) to Changwon and he had to make the return trip with or without a fare so it made sense for him to get something for the return trip. As a result, Johann and I took the longest taxi ride in our lives!

Our Transportation From Changwon to Seoul

Our Taxi Driver

- This was the first time I had ever stayed in a hostel. I was nervous having only seen them in the movies, but I had a great experience. It was cheap and clean, and the owner was very friendly. It also was cool chatting with other travelers from different parts of the world. I would definitely stay in a hostel again, and when I go back to Seoul, will stay in the same hostel again.

- The area around our hostel was full of graffiti. This was significant to me because I had not seen any graffiti (besides bathroom stalls and classroom desks) during my time in Korea. The graffiti can most likely be from the students from nearby Hongik University, a school known in Korea for it’s top-notch fine arts program.

Graffiti Near Hongik University

- Upon exiting the folk museum, we saw the most disturbing statue. What the children are doing, I don’t know, but it looks like something a catholic priest would have designed. Of course, we foreigners had to have our fun with it!

Why is the kid in front lifting his shirt? And why is

kid in back pulling down his pants?

Of course we had to have our fun!

Somehow, the cigarette and 50,000

won note seemed appropriate!

- We were sitting in the hostel, getting ready to start our day, when a Korean asked if we would like to join him for some dog meat for lunch. He looked surprised when all of us responded enthusiastically at once. On the way to the restaurant, we all named our dog we were eating. Mine was Scooby Doo. The meat was served in a salty soup and tasted a little like roast beef.

보신탕 (Dog Meat Soup): According

to Koreans, eating this increases virility!

I felt more manly afterward!

- We ended up doing the traditional New Year’s countdown on the street. We were late getting back from our tourist activities and couldn’t figure out where to go. We ran out of time and rang in the New Year with some random people in the streets of Seoul.