Soju, Maekju, Galbi and Kimchi (S. Korea Day One)
From now on, I'll be updating from this blog with brief descriptions and photos of what I've been up to on my travels this summer - finally something more interesting than my dissertation!
My sister, Natalie, and her boyfriend, Nick, have been staying in Dangjin, Chungcheongnam-do in South Korea, working as English language teaching assistants at a Korean school. After finishing all my Uni work, I took a couple of flights over to see them for a couple of weeks, so that's what I'll be blogging about for a while. I'll be doing a blog for each day of my trip and write it as if from the end of that day and post-date them to catch up.
You know in films when they play stereotypical Asian music to set the scene when our protagonist arrives in an Asian country? That's what Incheon airport is like. It looks, feels and sounds like a film, and probably even smells like one.
These "PC Bang (Room)" things are everywhere
Outside of the airport isn't much different, but not as beautiful today as I'd been hoping for. The weather isn't great. But the few people I've spoken to so far have been extremely helpful and friendly; the lady at the information desk; the bus driver; the person on the bus who stopped the bus driver from driving further, preventing me from going too far!
So on my first night, I met N&N's friends, Steph, Danny and Dave. They're all teachers, from the US and South Africa. All lovely people, very welcoming and very good at breaking the ice with a bit of Soju (a vodka-like Korean liqueur) in my Maekju (beer). Very effective. We hit a restaurant called Don S Top (or Don's Top? or Don Stop? who knows) ate Baechu Kimchi (spicy marinated cabbage) and Galbi (marinated beef you cook on a grill at your own table!). Pretty awesome, tasted amazing and a really fun way to eat: just stuff it all into your mouth at once.
One of the many odd things (at least to an Korea newbie like me) about Korea is it's obsession with things like "wellbeing" - to symbolize this, they have a tree - a plastic tree - in bars, ironically. A plastic tree, symbolizing wellbeing, in a bar full of booze. Oh, and a lady with a baby! Go figure.
Oh, and by the way, I saw a Starcraft game on TV. What.