I came back some weeks ago from a visit to München - after 6 months of doing Seoul it was about time. (No racist remark or innuendo intended)
The girls are gone now but we had a pretty agitated couple of weeks together. They came and visited us from Germany.. our bestest friends ever... Silke "the red Hawk" AKA Ramona Fox and the ever so dangerous Simone "tight panty" Armoire.. no explanation needed.
We travelled quite a lot togehter throughout Korea.. Darling man, the Girls, Brady the dog and of course yours truly - me.
I could probably write a short novel telling you the stories and all our adventures but I'll start with telling you one.
We took the car to the southern part of the peninsula, about 4,5 hrs away from Seoul. Gyeongju is a beautiful place, or at least it could be If it weren't for the city itself. Like the most of Korea, Gyeongju is no exception, it is full of postwar, quickly and badly built buildings, quiche french style, yet "oh so not french" cafes but remains, nonetheless one of the best destinations in Korea to do tourism due to it's historical past.
Don't get me wrong I mean it's not that I expect everything to be beautiful there are beautiful places in Korea it's just, I haven't been there yet nor have I been anywhere where the people try so hard to make something that could be so beautiful, so gorgeous look like a garbage dump, and then be proud about it. And to my dismay it's been like that everywhere I've been to here so far.
Anyway, we got to THE place to be in Gyeongju: the Temple site. We got there and saw some temples... some Buddha statues... some buildings... When we were out we almost simultaneously said, "Seen one temple, seen them all.." Ok, sarcasm aside it was nice. Great Buddha paintings statues, temples and all.
Anyway, we were staying at a "Ritzy" resort at the border of a lake surrounded by nature, hills, lakes, the historical sites of the ancient Silla civilization... bla bla bla...
Between Hooker hill and Gay hill.. where else would you expect to find this glitzy, decadent little haven. Remember, this isn't India or Asia minor, this is Korea.
Die letzten Wochen war ich sehr viel unterwegs. Anfang April stand Toronto Canada auf meiner Agenda. Leider gibt es keinen Direktflug und do musste ich ueber Vancouver nach Kanada einreisen.
Neben den Flight Attendants der Air Canada waren nur eine handvoll Kaukasier (wie man uns hier freundlich nennt) auf dem Flug.
Dies führte schon beim Einsteigen, wahrend des Fluges, und beim Landen zu einigen Schwierigkeiten.
Grund hierfür ist wohl eine generelle Abneigung gegen Sicherheitsgurte. Die werden auch im Straßenverkehr sehr ungern geschlossen und so gab es lange Diskussionen immer wenn das Anschnallzeichen aufleuchtete.
Auch das Konzept, dass man bei Start und Landung wie auch bei Turbulenzen nicht herumlaufen soll scheint dem Koreaner fremd zu sein.
In Vancouver angekommen musste man dann durch die Immigration. Die Behörde war vorbereitet, denn alle Beamten die da saßen waren Asiaten die wohl ursprünglich aus Korea kamen.
Als ich an die Reihe kam, schaut mich Herr Park ( der Kanadische Immigration Officer mit koreanischen Wurzeln ) verwundert an.
„You are from Munich Germany?“ kurze Pause „Why are you living in Seoul!!!!!!“. Die letzte Frage wurde mit einem ungläubigen Gesichtsausdruck untermauert.
Ich antwortete ihm, dass ich in Seoul arbeite. Daraufhin schüttelte er den Kopf gab mir Stempel und Pass und sagte
„Welcome back to Civilization“
Ich glaube Herr Park war geschockt, denn er hat ganz vergessen mir die sonst üblichen dummen Fragen zu stellen und ich war auch ein wenig verwundert, dass Exkoreaner anscheinend ihrem Heimatland nicht viel abgewinnen können.
Hace poco fuimos a un partido de Baseball aquí en Seul. Estuvimos Stefan, una pareja amiga y yo... fue.... digamos que, interesante. El tipo que sale en la foto fue la mascota del equipo donde nos habíamos sentado, lamentablemente al lado del equipo perdedor. Mas que nada pareció que en vez de alentar a los hinchas, quizo cantar karaoke y se mostro casi ajeno a su equipo. Igual el tipo estuvo entretenido. Mitad dibujo animado Manga, mitad hincha.
Puedo decir eso si, que a los Coreanos como al resto del mundo les gusta carretear ante un espectáculo... son re buenos pa'l hueveo. El partido estuvo fome, la cerveza caliente y los baños hediondos. Pero igual la pase chancho... Fue buena manera de despedir el invierno letárgico y comenzar la primavera aquí en el poto del mundo... [disculpen por quitarle lo romántico]
I went to the Market a few days ago and had an interesting experience. I tagged along with the German Ladies Club of Seoul (I don't belong to the group yet....) They would allow me to join the group even though I'm not German or a Lady - Nice ladies [a little decadent but a little decadence is nice], who like me have plenty of time on their hands...
Anyway, as we were going through the Market, we stumbled upon a stand which sold cooked dog meat, whole and chopped, with and without head. In front of the Butchers table and scale was a tiny cage with about 7 dogs inside, alive. The breed they use is called "Nureongee", although they do use other breeds as well. Now as a dog owner I was appalled but on the other hand I have to say that we as westerners, eat pig, snails, frogs, cows, baby cows.... etc etc etc... so even though I wanted to open the cage and let all the dogs out, I was able to understand that it's not bad that they eat dog. It's simply their culture and I have to respect that. Still, I came home and had to give Brady the dog a hug. I still freak out when some people look at him with a hungry look about them..
Kimchi, Korea's #1 dish consists of fermented cabbage with chili and spices. It is served with everything you eat. As one of many side dishes that come with every meal or as the main ingredient in soups and many traditional dishes.
Fusion has also invaded Korea.. you can find Kimchi on Pizza, Spaghetti and most other international cuisines.
Mostly it tastes tangy and very very spicy. You either love it or hate it. I love it. But too much of it will, you know... upset your stomach.
Here's a quick way how to prepare your own Kimchi.
You'll need:
2 Chinese cabbages
5-10 spring onions
100 g Sea salt
4 heaped tablespoons (about 20 g) Korean chili powder
2-3 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tablespoonfuls sugar
Tablespoonful kimchi sauce (if available)
5 g Small piece of ginger, crushed, or teaspoonful powdered ginger
Half an onion (optional) Not used everywhere.
Rinse the cabbages, then quarter them lengthwise, discard the stems, and then chop the cabbages laterally, which should leave you with the largest pieces measuring perhaps 5 cm on a side. Don’t get too carried away while doing this. Place the cabbage in a clean plastic bag or equivalent (with no holes) and sprinkle salt over each layer. The best kind of salt is sea salt, although non-iodized table salt will do. This will create a brine solution with the cabbage juice. Press the leaves in your hand to squeeze as much water out of them as possible. Once finished, tie up the bag and set it aside for 5-6 hours. Take the cabbage out of the salt solution and rinse it if necessary. It should be a lot softer than it was. Again, remove surplus water. Place cabbage in a sealable plastic box. Add the spring onions, chopped into small pieces. Crush the garlic and ginger in a press and mix in. If you do find Kimchi sauce add about 15 ml. If you don't, then you can do without. You can add a tablespoon of Chinese Fish sauce but this is only optional. Add the chili powder. Mix well. The colour you're looking for should be a dark red but not to dark, you wanna be able to eat the stuff.
Serve with a typical Korean dish. Bimbibap is good or shop around.
The picture above I took was from 2 old ladies who have a tiny, little Restaurant on a quiet street. They are precisely making Kimchi, hence the inspiration for this post. I asked if I could take a picture and they said yes although 2 of them ran into the restaurant and out of the picture... Sweet.
Besos
