Rambling is Good for the Soul: Random Stuff in Korea

November 11, 2004

Random Stuff in Korea

Eating:
Eating traditional Korean style means sitting on the floor. This is something that I never did well – even in first and second grade. But I’m all about eating and therefore can usually survive pretty well. There are usually grills of some sort in the middle of the table. If you order the right thing (kalbi) then you get coals put under the grill and your meat cooked right in front of you. Of course, the eating with chopsticks things has been mentioned. And I’m MUCH better now that I was 1.5 weeks ago! Motivation is a wonderful thing! I still have a bastardized way of holding them, but it works for me, so I use it. And the food is all very cheap here. Traditional Korean is the cheapest way to eat. To visit the other “ethnic” places – Outback Steakhouse, Pizza Hut, an Italian restaurant – means paying 3-4 times what you’re paying at a Korean place.

Bathrooms:
My first problem here is that there aren’t many. For a person who drinks a gallon of water a day, this is a problem. I’ve had to be very careful about timing the liquid intake. However, they are also kinder about it when I finally find one. Since only a couple (or fewer) of stores on each street actually have one, they are not snotty if you come in and don’t really care about buying anything. The most interesting piece is in the women’s stalls. Traditional Korean toilets don’t look like Western toilets. It’s really just about imagining stopping in the woods. However, because they have a porcelain basin, you actually have to have better aim.

Language Barrier:
Since the only other country that I’ve visited is England (read: countries not on the N American continent), there are some comparisons that naturally occur. The first is that when I came to Korea, I expected to not understand. So, when I do, I’m pleasantly surprised. When traveling in England, there were several times that someone would say something to me and I would be like, “What?” I had expected to understand, and sometimes did not. I’ve learned some Korean while being here, but definitely not enough to function independently.