Back to Seoul

After being a bit of a hermit these past couple of weekends because I've had a stubborn cold, I finally made it back to the big city this afternoon. As usual, going to Seoul has given me lots of blog material.


Some funny sights:


An ad in the subway announcing an upcoming World Toilet Association event. I was unclear if it was open to the public. Maybe I should go (with an interpreter) and finally learn how to use those hi-tech potties.



Also seen in the subway--the Supreme One website, featuring a soft focus image of a very blond very white woman's face. I'm guessing it's some kind of Christian thing, though I could be wrong of course.



On the street there was a small group of people "speaking" sign language. I wondered if it's a specifically Korean version. I took an ASL (American Sign Language) course at Wesleyan about 26 years ago and one of the only things I remember is that it's not a literal translation of English words. Instead, the signs often represent concepts. Apparently there's even a different grammar (or at least not the exact same one as in spoken English).


There were hikers out and about, as there seem to be every weekend here. They really get into having all kinds of gear and athletic outfits. Usually I see people carrying what look like mini ski poles. It's hilly here (some would even say mountainous), but not snowy. At least not yet. I asked my friend/student about it when we went hiking ourselves a couple of weeks ago and she said the poles are used to help maintain good walking posture. Seems like overkill to me, but whatever.


Another thing I see often are people wearing what look like surgical masks. Not in an OR, just on the street. I asked about this and found out that women think it's really ugly to get freckles so they go to extremes to protect their skin from the sun. I'm not sure how wearing a mask in public is considered more attractive than freckles, but it's not my culture. Sometimes the mask wearers are men and I'm told that in that case they probably have a cold.


Muzak is interesting here. It seems to be a succession of American pop songs, but only about 30 or 60 second snippets. Today in a restaurant I heard bits of Richie Valens ("Oh, Donna") and Eric Clapton. On the bus into Seoul it was "Copacabana."


Also in Seoul, a business sign reading "Wise & Gold" or was it the other way around? I wondered if it was a Jewish law firm.


I saw a store that advertised itself as a green market. The name was Lush, but I still had high hopes of vegetarian merchandise so I went in. It turns out it was kind of an independent version of the Body Shop. There was a young man with lime green nail polish showing eye cream to a customer. I checked the price--only 72,000 won (approx. $75.00)! Needless to say, I didn't stick around to buy anything.


One of the best tools I've had here is an index card with the following words typed in both English and Korean: "I'm a vegetarian. Is there any food without meat and fish?"
The office assistant at Ajou made it for me shortly after I arrived here. I regularly pull it out of my wallet and show it to waiters/waitresses and then say "ok" to pretty much whatever they suggest on the menu.

I used this twice today. The first time was in a small cafe/wine bar. I was there by accident, as is often the case. I'd been looking for the entrance to VIPS, a Western style buffet chain restaurant I'd been to once before. It's actually not very good, but I was hungry and the thought of a salad bar (even a mediocre one) was very appealing. Peeking through the door to the cafe, I saw books lining most of one wall and an acoustic guitar on the floor, so I decided to go in. It was the first non-Starbucks type coffee place I've been to here.


At the counter I whipped out my "I'm a vegetarian" index card and let the waiter guide me. I sipped a cafe latte (the coffee portion of the menu was bilingual) and flipped through Korean Vogue while waiting for my mystery meal. Funny, because at home I'd shun Vogue, and generally loathe the fashion industry. But I was obviously limited in my choice of browsing material (being able to comprehend pictures but not many words). Waffles turned out to be the vegetarian option I'd ordered. Not great waffles, but tasty enough. Not the wholesome low fat high fiber meal I'd imagined though. I wondered if I could add the words "low calorie" to my index card.


Having had just a waffle for lunch, a few hours later I needed something more substantial and went into a small restaurant on a side street near the subway station. Again, I used the index card. This time I got a wonderful vegetable porridge, with the usual complement of side dishes--kim chee and a couple of unrecognizable (to me, anyway) very hot tidbits. After the meal, I asked for ginseng tea (a student had written the words on a scrap of paper for me a few days ago when she told me I should buy it for my cold and I wanted to know what to ask for in the store). There wasn't any, but the proprietess told me she had another kind of tea. I didn't understand what kind, but I was able to write the word down phonetically. She nodded that I'd written the right word, but it wasn't in my meager dictionary.


I figured I couldn't go too far wrong with tea (I've had rice tea here that I didn't like, but still that's not like getting served live squid by accident), so I ordered whatever kind it was. I'm still not entirely sure what I drank. It tasted a lot like ginger, but when I showed her the Korean word for ginger in the dictionary she said that wasn't it. She went on to pantomime something very energetically, but I'm not sure what she was acting out. It seemed to have to do with harvesting something. Then she made what I think were bird sounds. Who knows? We were both laughing at that point. There were delicious pine nuts floating in the tea and big chunks of some kind of root or vegetable at the bottom of the cup.


When she started clearing my dishes, the woman saw I hadn't eaten the thing at the bottom. She pantomimed for me that I was supposed to do this, so I went ahead, thinking it would taste kind of like ginger. But it didn't taste particularly good (to me, anyway). Most places I've eaten didn't have napkins on the table. Occasionally I've asked for one, and this seems to surprise people. Anyway, luckily this particular restaurant did have small paper napkins on the table. Luckily because I used one to get rid of a half-chewed piece of mystery root while the woman wasn't looking.

I almost forgot to mention that the initial goal for my trip today was to find the salsa bar that I keep meaning to go to. I figured locating it in the daytime would be a good idea before trying at night. It turned out to be extremely easy to find, and I even listened to the music coming from inside for a few minutes. With any luck, my cold will be entirely gone by next weekend and I'll finally make it there.

One last stop before getting on the subway to head home--Hyundai department store. And I thought they were just cars. I basically hate large department stores, but went in out of curiousity (and because I'd been feeling like a slob all day, wearing jeans and sneakers. Probably influeced by the dolled up Korean women, I'd begun fantasizing about some stylish new boots). The shoe department was right near the entrance, conveniently. There are so many salespeople everywhere whenever I go shopping. It's like being followed. I nod and smile and say "anyounghasayo" ("hello") and then try to politely ignore them. Then trust that they'll leave me alone because I can't speak their language. I was half-tempted though to try on some boots. But they didn't have prices visible. And the thought of trying to find out the price (which always involves my having to actually see it written somewhere, as I can't understand when it's spoken) as well as communicate things like color and low-heel and huge size with gestures was just too overwhelming, so I left.

The one and only bit of Christmas decorating I've seen anywhere so far was in the entrance to Hyundai's. Just a small relatively tasteful replica of the Nutcracker and a few tree ornaments. What a nice change from the US.