James sells his soul to Seoul, SOUTH KOREA

Annyeong Haseyo!

Well, here I am, finally in Seoul, in what is looking to be a really
exciting and interesting year for me teaching English to adults,
predominently business people and even CEOs of big companies. Anyway,
just thought i'd write my initial thoughts on Seoul...

SEOUL FOOD

The food in Korea is an acquired taste - everything is so spicy!
Almost every meal comes with a collection of Kimchi - which are
several small servings of pickled and spiced seafood and vegetables.
This may also come with cold soup and rice. Anything else complements
this basic arrangement of dining. So you can see why after a few days
I was starting to crave burgers and fries...

Other more notable food is a dish called Bimbimbap, which is a
collection of sliced vegetables and other unidentifiable substances on
rice, with a fried egg on top. Usually served in a sizzling hotpot,
you pour a generous amount of red pepper paste on top and mix it all
around.

But nothing is better than the Korean BBQ. In these places, at the
centre of a table is embedded a gasfire stove, where you would put in
assorted types of meat, marianated or freeze dried at times, along
with a generous helping of garlic. And of course the everpresent
kimchi.

The coffee is absolutely awful here! It's a very weak, hazelnut
flavored tasteless brown water - but apparently people acquire a taste
for that too. I personally doubt it.

Then there's the alcohol Where else can you buy a 375ml bottle of
soju (similar to vodka) for 1US dollar? That and the really nice beer
they have called Cass has resulted in many nights where "just going
for one beer" ends up at a 4 o'clock in the morning having incoherent
conversations smelling of garlic from the Korean BBQ you decided to
have with all your mates and ever more resolving in your mind that
"once i'm more settled working i'll stop spending so much going out
and having fun".

Korea as an interesting form of entertainment - bangs (meaning rooms).
Everywhere there are DVD bangs, PC Bangs, Karaoke Bangs, Boardgame
Bangs, etc. What they are are little rooms that people hang out in
with privacy any thing they want to do. DVD bangs are notorious for
being used for shagging since most Koreans live at home and they can't
do their naughty business anywhere.

One annoying aspect of the bars in Korea is that most of them require
you to order side dishes, as this is how most of them make their
money. This doesn't sound too bad, but when you take into account that
a side dish would cost on average $15AUD, when all you want is a beer,
it's pretty frustrating. After a while though you start to learn where
there are other bars that allow you to order beers only, usually the
ones highly frequented by foreigners.


FOREIGNERS

Seoul has a substantial number of foreigners, either working as
military, or as teachers. There are alot of American GIs around, who
have a curfew of midnight to return to their army base, because they
used to cause alot of trouble getting drunk and getting into fights.
I'm not surprised, not wanting to critise Americas military, but most
of them are really a group of meatheads that follow orders. Most
people (other foreigners and Koreans) generally avoid them.

The foreigners live in Haebonchon (where I currently reside), the
cheapest area of Seoul, which is interesting because this area is
quite close to the city centre. It's a very hilly concrete jungle with
the US military base right in the middle, but having the Seoul Tower
above on the very top of the hill does add a good point of reference
and illuminates nicely at night.


DO I GET MISTAKEN FOR KOREAN? YES

I've lost count of the times that I would be ordering a meal with
other foreigners, and when the waiter/tress comes, ignoring the orders
from my friends, would look directly at me, as if I'm supposed to
order for them or something. After spouting some words to me in
Korean, I would try to explain to them that I don't know Korean, do
you speak English? The waiter/tress would stare blankly at me for a
moment, then repeat what they said originally but louder. It would be
quite amusing if it didn't happen so often.

My favorite was when I went into a restaurant and asked the waitress
if I could have an English menu. Her response was to look at me
quizzically and ask "why?"


THE WORLD CUP

Is a very big event here, so it's a shame Korea failed to make it to
the next round. Whenever Korea were playing (the matches usually
showing at 4am), the city center would be filled with thousands of
Koreans wearing red shirts, glowing devil horns and red plastic blow
up sticks (Korean team being the Reds), chanting "Dae-A-Ming-Go (sic)"
which means "Korea". Of course me buying a red shirt myself didn't
help seperate me from the locals - my friends kept losing me; all i
needed to do is turn around and i'd vanish into the crowd!

Koreans are very well behaved. When the lost the game to Switzerland
and failed to quality, there was no anger or rioting, just a massive
silence throughout the several thousand strong crowd. It was sad to
watch, as they all went home very quiet and withdrawn.

The Korean people have truely won my heart, they are endearing, social
and hospitable people. Crime is at an all low here. For a city of 10
million the overall effect makes you feel like you're in a gigantic
community - you feel so welcome and comfortable even though its
crowded and you're anonymous. The city is also very spread out, so
there are not many skyscrapers that make it look like a compact city.
The big hill in the centre, the huge palaces dotted around the place
(which I have yet to see) and the river prevents any compact
construction of skyscapers, which makes it feel even less of a big
city and more a (very very) big town.

Korean girls are very fashionable and beautiful, slim and wear makeup
with style.

Anyway, next email i'll write more about my work, housing, friends and
a Korean girl named Sammy. Stay tuned.