Han River Boat Cruise

The Han River bisects the City of Seoul. The river is one of the most beautiful parts of the city, and you can take an hour and a half cruise at night for only about $15. I went with a group of college students that I've met while here and we enjoyed seeing Seoul's grand skyline contrasted with the water's edge. The highlight of the trip was seeing the floating stages built only a few years ago (if that) which light up and play music at night.

Speaking of music, I will be going to my second Korean concert tonight, a poplar veteran R&B artist named 인순이 (Insooni). Between work, my Korean language class, boat tours, concerts, and eating live squid, Korea is keeping me pretty busy!

Eating Living Squid in Pusan!

I had Monday and Tuesday off this week in celebration of 주석, Korea’s version of Thanksgiving. For the holiday I went South to Pusan, Korea’s second biggest city located off the coast of the East China Sea. Pusan is a beautiful place with great beaches and delicious seafood.

By far the most memorable experience I had there was eating 산낙지, or living squid. The plate was brought out with the small tentacles of the squid still squirming around. 산낙지 is a dangerous food, apparently, a few people have died in the past by not chewing well enough. The squid is still alive when they swallow, and latches on to the inside of their throat and suffocates them.

I went to grab one with my chopsticks and it wrapped itself around the tip in a stranglehold. Ready to do battle with my food, I dipped it in some soy sauce and attempted to put it in my mouth. The tentacle hopped from my chopstick and latched on to my outer lip with its little suction cups. I started laughing. I tried to work it into my mouth with my tongue, and soon it latched on to that. Then the little guy hopped from my tongue to the inside of my cheek. From there I began to fight back. After a couple of chews the lively squid stopped moving and I was able to swallow, with a shot of soju for good measure. The taste was actually quite nice and I enjoyed eating several of the living tentacles, making sure to chew well each time.

Weddings, Birthdays, Korean Class and More!

Quite a bit has gone on since my last post. Two of my co-workers had their last days, the executive on my floor had a birthday, I attended my first Korean wedding, I turned in a report that I’ve been working on since July, I took my first KOTRA Korean language class, and I’ve been planning for a trip to Pusan that I am taking next week thanks to the 주석 (Choo-Soak) holiday (more or less Korea’s version of Thanksgiving).

I’ll try and take a quick moment to elaborate on the busy last few days that I’ve had, starting with the leaving of two of my co-workers, 경환 and 잔환 (From here on I’ll refer to them by their last names, Kim and Lee). Kim and Lee are both interns that I’ve known for most of my time here in Korea. They have both left to start school at their respective Universities. I will miss them both at work, but still plan to stay in touch as they both go to school in Seoul.

The Kotra birthday party was for a man named Mr. Gwack. The party came as a surprise to me. I considered myself very lucky, it was the day after I had gotten my haircut, and I hadn’t done laundry in a while, so I was wearing slightly more formal clothes than usual. Mr. Kwack is what is known as an 이사님, he is not the President or CEO, but he sits on the board of directors and is highly respected in the office. As my team walked into Mr. Kwack’s office to celebrate, he asked me to sit next to him and be his guest. We talked for a bit about my time in Korea. When he asked if I spoke any Korean, I replied that I could speak a little. As I continued though, my nerves got the best of me and I let out some of the poorest Korean I’ve spoken in a while. Luckily, Mr. Kwack only laughed, he seemed to appreciate the effort nonetheless.

As for the wedding, I regret that I brought my camera, but when I pulled it out, realized that the battery was dead. I do have one picture of me and my co-workers with the bride and groom though. The wedding was more or less the same as America, with a few stark contrasts. The most noticeable being that instead of bringing wedding gifts, guests bring cash in envelopes and the dollar amount that they bring is recorded on a spreadsheet (I found this to be rather bizarre). Also, the bride and groom did several things that you may expect at a Korean wedding, such as giving deep bows to one and other’s parents; however, one thing they did not do was share a wedding kiss at the end of the ceremony. I am also sorry to report that while there was lunch reception afterwards, there was no chance to bust out any of my favorite dance moves. It may have been for the best though, as I had not eaten any pancakes for breakfast.

My first day of Kotra’s free language class was also quite interesting. There are several students of all ages from all over the world, including Russia, Taiwan, South Africa, Vietnam, and India. I was the only American in the room, however, the one language that everyone could speak was English. Knowing this, the teacher immediately banned all English speaking while in class. The lectures are quite challenging, had it not been for the near three months I’ve been in Korea, I’m sure I would have been quite lost. Fortunately, I was generally able to keep up, hopefully by the end of the class in mid-October, I will finally be at a comfortable “conversational” proficiency.

Korean Haircut

I got my haircut right before coming to Korea, and for the last two and a half weeks I have let it grow, delaying the inevitable. Eventually, as the edges began to curl out into a shag, I decided that I would have to finally stop putting off going to a barbershop.

And so today on my way home from work I did just that. I walked into the shop and the first thing I noticed was that it was not at all like the Greatclips I have gone to my whole life. There was one barber, who was in the middle of cutting a man's hair. He glanced up at me, and then back down to his work, saying nothing. I fumbled out a piece of paper with a couple of phrases I had asked one of my co-workers to write down. "Hello, I am here for a haircut," I muttered out in broken Korean. Again the barber glanced up, but said nothing, the man whose hair he was cutting started laughing. I felt exposed, standing in the middle of a Korean barbershop, holding my briefcase, with not much idea about what was appropriate for me to do.

I mustered up the Korean I've picked up since being here and managed to ask if I needed an appointment (I didn't), if the wait was long (it wasn't), and how much it cost (about 10 bucks). I was satisfied with this and took a seat in the waiting area. As I sat, I tried to think about how I was possibly going to describe what kind of haircut I wanted.

After waiting for a bit, the time came for me to have a seat. The barber spoke no English at all, so I was completely on my own. I managed to get across that I wanted to have a lot of hair cut off, other than that, all I could do was keep my fingers crossed.

As the barber cut my hair, we chatted a bit. I got through the typical small talk that I've come to memorize. How are you? What is your name? I'm a student from America, etc. It didn't take me long to wear out my Korean, and so I just sat and waited for the barber to finish his job.

The process was quite different from an American haircut. The barber took his time, unlike previous haircuts where I feel like the person cutting my hair is trying to set a personal record. When it came time to trim my neck, the barber didn't use a pair of clippers, but lathered my neck with shaving cream, and shaved the hair off with an old school strait razor.

The result was the best haircut I've ever gotten, far better than anything you could get for a similar price in the states. Being the goofy guy I am, I couldn't resist posting a picture of my new hairdo, that I think is.... "out of this world."

Soccer

Saturday afternoon I got the chance to play an organized sport for the first time since being in Korea- Soccer. If one of the Koreans I was playing with saw this post, the word "soccer" would make them upset. I sent an email saying that I had played "soccer" in high school and got a reply asking me not to use the word again, as the Koreans (like the rest of the world) refer to the sport as "football."

I went to the Eunamm High School football fields to play a friendly afternoon scrimmage with my Kotra co-workers. Kotra has an official team called "Kotra FC." When I arrived at the fields, many members of Kotra FC were there, along with a batch of uniforms that were modeled after the uniforms used by England in the world cup. They were by far the nicest uniform I've ever worn, and when I went to change, I felt like I was getting ready to play in the pros.

We went out onto the field and played several 15 minute games of 8 on 8 football. The the blistering heat reminded me of playing back in Georgia. I had a lot of fun, I was put in at forward because of my speed. I got a few good shots off, but never managed to score. Still, I played well and had assists on both of the goals that my team did score.

Because I played well, Kotra wants me to play forward for them in their next match on October 1st. Kotra is in a Southeast Asian tournament and has made it to the quarterfinals. The October match is against Japan's team. It is hard to overstate the level of rivalry Korea feels towards Japan, so the match is extremely important. My coworkers seem to have put a good bit of faith in me. It's rather bizarre that I've gone from a HS Varsity bench warmer to the big hope of my fellow co-workers in a coming match against Japan. I will certainly be playing hard come October. In the meantime, I need to get in shape, my legs still feel like they've been pumped full of led two days after playing the scrimmage.

Wedding Invite

Today at work I was grabbing some coffee at the snack bar when my department's receptionist approached me. I always smile and wave to her on my way in and out of the office, but have never offered a formal introduction. She smiled at me and said, "I would like to invite you to my wedding." I was caught a bit off guard, all I could do was smile, say thank you, and accept the envelope she gave me. I'm still a little taken aback at the turn of events, but I'm excited for an opportunity to see what a Korean wedding is like. The wedding is September 3rd, Ill be sure to take plenty of pictures and write a story or two about it.

Korean Independence Day

Monday was Korean independence day, which meant no work for me. I used the day off to explore Insadong, a famous historical Korean road thats bustling with tourists. Insadong is nearby the palace that I visited on my first weekend in Seoul. I went with two of my co-workers, 김 and 이.