Stranger in a strange land

Well I have to say that Korea is nothing that I had expected it to be. It is not a bad place to visit but I find myself getting bored quickly. In hindsight I would say that three weeks here is too much, you could probably see all the cool sights and absorb the culture in about ten days or so. The culture here is very secular meaning that there is not a whole lot of outside influence. They do of course have some foreign brand names here but for the most part everything is Korean. One thing that I found to be different from a lot of countries is that hardly anyone here speaks English. Not that I am saying that foreign countries should adopt English but I have found in my various travels over the globe that even in most foreign countries there would be a portion that could speak at least a little English. Not here, though it makes for some interesting communication usually involving various hand gestures and pointing at objects. Basically trying to communicate here is a giant game of charades or pictionary.

One of the reasons I say that three weeks is too long is because pretty much every city in Korea is exactly the same. Without much outside influence they seem to be happy all looking the same. They all have the same style of clothing, the same haircuts (men and women) and when you are walking down the street the same stores. They may have a shopping district or market area that covers 5 square city blocks but on every block you will see the same types of stores. I think you could really get the feel of Korea by visiting Seoul, the DMZ (the de-militarized zone between North and South Korea) and Jeju Island.

For the most part the Korean people are very friendly and courteous but there are defiantly some here that want nothing to do with foreigners. Here in Korea a foreigner is referred to as a way-gook (now I know where the American soldiers from the Korean and Vietnam wars got their Monikers for the enemy soldiers which was gook) and every once in a while you will get called that, usually by an older man or woman. The younger generation seems to be a lot more accepting of foreigners than the older generations seem to be. One thing that I have had a hard time adjusting to here is the staring, every where you go people stare at you. Korea is not really a big tourist attraction, probably because no one knows anything about it. You can go days here without seeing another foreigner, in the bigger cities like Seoul and Daeygo they are more prolific but even then they are few and far between. So when you are walking around town you are defiantly the oddity and people will just blatantly stare at you which after a while can become quite annoying. Of course if you want to see a bunch of Americans you can always go to the Itchewon section of Seoul where you can witness the complete stupidity of our glorious American soldiers that are stationed here, idiotic morons that make Americans look like total retards (I just cant even put into words how annoyed I was when I went to the American GI section of Seoul, don’t get me wrong I have had my “I am in the Army away from home moments” but this was just ridiculous).

The foreign exchange here is not too bad. The Korean dollar is called a Won and at this point in time 1,000 Won equals about .80 U.S. cents. They also have coins which are the 500 won coin and the 100 won coin (I have been trying to get rid of all my coins but it seems to be impossible, my pack is now full of them and the exchange people at the airport are probably going to have me killed) When looking at the prices of things I just round up and think of it as 1,000 won to one dollar. Things are fairly cheap here you can get a full Korean meal for around 5000 or 6000 Won and a bottle of Soju for around 1500 Won. Those prices are for the basic Korean cuisine you can also of course go to a fancy restraunt and pay 300,000 Won for a meal, no thanks.

Soju is liquor that is made from potatoes or rice and tastes like watered down vodka. When it is mixed with any type of fruit juice it is extremely dangerous. Soju used to be made entirely from rice but when the Korean War started the government told the people that they had to stop making it out of rice which they all needed for food so then they started making it out of potatoes. The cheaper versions of Soju are still made from potatoes but you can also get Soju that is made from rice for a little bit more money. The potato soju is about 40 proof and the rice soju is 80 proof. If you ever find yourself in a situation where you are drinking soju, don’t be fooled by the lower proof, it sneaks up on you. There are some other unknown ingredients in there and in some of the cheaper versions there is definably a chemical type after taste. There is also a type of beer here called Malaki that is made of rice. I say beer because it kind of tastes like beer and is carbonated but that is where the comparison ends. It is a while milky color and not as carbonated as beer but has a higher alcohol content then our version of beer.

They have what I would term a drinking culture here in Korea. Public drunkenness is not frowned upon and you will frequently see young and old alike staggering down the streets in various stages of drunkenness. A lot of the drinking establishments here also do not have a specific closing time, they seem to close when the last customer leaves (or whenever they get tired of serving you). You can leave a bar at 4AM walk to the GS25 store (there is one on damn near every corner) and go buy as much booze as you like and sit on a park bench or on a street curb if you feel like it and drink till the sun comes up. But besides the occasional drunkard bobbling down the street there is very little crime in Korea. One cause for this is that there are video cameras everywhere. When I first got here I was in Iraq mode and would scan all the rooftops and look at all the buildings around me and the first thing I noticed was all the cameras. Even on the 30 story buildings of downtown Seoul they had cameras. They also have cameras on almost all of the traffic signal poles; they even have specially equipped police cars with cameras on the roof of the car that can be moved around by the cops inside.

Korean food is pretty basic meaning they do not have a lot of different dishes. There is of course the basic Bee Bim Bob dish which in America is pretty much the same, here in Korea there are a few more options but basically it is the same, a big bowl of rice with a bunch of stuff on top and the red sauce. They also have what they call Galbi which is Korean BBQ; it is not really BBQ like with sauce and what not. Basically you sit on a floor around a table and in the center of the table is a place for a tub of hot coals. They place the coals in, cover it with a metal plate then give you a plate of whatever meat you have ordered and you cook it yourself. There are a bunch of smaller side dishes mostly consisting of fresh vegetables with Kimchi sauce that come also. They do have Chinese, Japanese and other foreign food restraunts here but the difference between those types of restraunts here and the ones back home is that all that foreign food here is still cooked by Koreans so in most cases it is not that good.

One great thing about Korea is they are very energy conscious. You can literally take a bus from Seoul to Buson for about 35,000 won which equals about 28 American Dollars, now keep in mind that Korea is a small country ( about the size of Minnesota ) but even so that is a pretty good deal. All the cars here are of the economical variety and a lot of people ride little scooters or bicycles. A lot of the lights inside buildings are motion detection lights that turn off after a minute or so. They also do way more recycling than America; they have collection points spread out all over. Also instead of just one trash can there will be four in a row for each different type of trash.

As far as the whole North / South thing goes there does not seem to be much interest in re-integration. Most of the partially English speaking Koreans I have met don’t want to re-integrate with North Korea because it would be such a huge economic burden for the south. Also a lot of the families that have been split up by the Korean War have died off. I have been thanked numerous times, by people that find out I am in the Army, for Americas help during the Korean War which is an actual feel good moment. When I came here there was a lot of posturizing between the North and South over the sinking of the South Korean Naval warship. The American news agencies were making it sound as if war in Korea was just around the corner. Not one person mentioned it the whole time I have been here. Let that be a lesson for you about the Fear Factor American news machine.

One thing here in Korea that I think is absolutely brilliant are the Korean showers. Basically in your bathroom instead of having a separate shower stall your bathroom IS the shower stall. So not only can you take a shower but you can clean your bathroom at the same time. When you are done you just squeegee the floor and you are good to go. A couple things to keep in mind though. Make sure to put the toilet paper up and also be sure to put your change of clothes or towel in a semi dry spot. Other than that, simply genius. Another great aspect is you can pee in the shower (at least us boys, might not work as well for the girls) and no I do not mean on the floor. Usually the toilet is situated right across from the shower head, how excellent is that.