Back-blogged: last few pictures

1. why I'd rather go to Seoul's indoor skating rinks.

Look at that awful ice.


What self-respecting Canadian would choose to skate on that... except on a first-to-third date, with a legitimate shot at some smooching?



2. Girlfriendoseyo took this sweet picture of me at Morning Calm Garden: I like the question-mark shape I'm making. My fiance has a really good eye for photography.

Back-Blogged: Daegu

So I went to Daegu on December 30 and 31. That was nifty. I had two weeks off before winter sessions started, and I had to get out of town. I met up with a few pals, had the worst Guinness beer I ever tasted. I think it was some of that swill where they mix one part guinness with one part hite, but it was awful. Seriously, I just don't get the mixed drink thing. Cranberry vodka? Rum coke? Yeah, I get that. But pouring soju and coke into a pitcher of beer? What the yuck!

Had a nice long talk with a pal, and then slept in a jimjilbang for the night.

Then next morning, I met up again with my pal and Dann Gaymer, ATEK's public relations manager, and had a nice breakfast, and a little walk around the famous Korean traditional medicine market near Dongseongno, and then wandered almost all the way to Dongdaegu Station, the KTX terminal. I like the Daegu Downtown: because it's more centralized, it's a little less bewildering than Seoul, which has at least five legitimate, frantically busy downtown shopping/hangout areas, and a bunch more almost-there's - Hongdae, Jongno, Hyehwa, Kangnam, Apgujeiong, plush Shincheon, Konguk Univ., Yongsan, Itaewon and let's not forget the sweet downtown spots in some of the satellite cities.

Downtown Daegu.

Daegu's slogan is "Colorful Daegu" = which could be seen all over. I especially liked this shot, because of the colorful spill-stain on the tree-grate.


It was colorful, though.


The main road had no crosswalks, and underpasses instead. Nice for traffic. Bad for chronic knee pain.


Cars weren't allowed in the downtown area. This was another thing I really liked. I suggested to Girlfriendoseyo that Seoul should also ban cars in the downtown shopping areas. She replied "But there are too many assholes who like to show off their cars, who would stop it from happening in Seoul" ... and Girlfriendoseyo is so sweet and well-mannered, that her use of the word asshole really has meaning - I hear her say it less than once a month. But... well said.


The car-free downtown was also people-free, because it was a bloody cold day.








Shiny at night.


Daegu is up with the cheesy, stylish food crazes: don't be calling daegu-ites a bunch of rubes!


They got brand-name chains, too.


I crossed the Geumho river.




Along the way, I hit up some markets in Daegu. You can find this stuff in Seoul, too, but it was fun walking around the ones in there.




This market had some especially nifty stuff:



Coolest thing: I saw the rice poppers. You know those crunchy, rice-puffy things that you eat at a bar? Well this is how they make them.

I saw them making it. It was sweet. Then, while they were waiting for the rice to get hot enough to pop (it takes quite a while), the ajumma started doing one of those sweet bbong-chak dances that are the glory of old age in Korea. Her husband joined in, and it was one of those little moments when the world is awesome... and I got it on video. Sweet! Usually I can't get my camera out in time.


This was funny, too: this plastic surgery clinic was right in the middle of downtown Daegu - Daegu's aiming to be a medical tourism hub... or was that mecca? -- and it made me laugh that Korea's first playboy model, Lee Pani, was all over this clinic, promoting it. That a nude model was promoting a plastic surgery clinic was intriguing, and kind of funny: nude poses and lingerie promotions are one of the things "respectable" Korean female stars avoid like the plague, while vociferously denying that they had plastic surgery... so it seemed both appropriate and funny to see a nude model on a cosmetic surgery clinic.







And when I got back to Seoul Station (yay, KTX!) this was happening.

Back-Blogged: Christmas trip to Suncheon Bay and Boseong Lights Festival

So... my nemesis Dan Gray of Seoul Eats and I got together and planned a nemesis-themed Christmas party. It was great.

We got turkey from the army base near Itaewon.

There was way too much food for the size of the group (as Christmas dinners should be), so I got to take home a pumpkin pie. The world is a wonderful, wonderful place.

Joy was there with a hat she got from one of those places (Baskin Robbins, Paris Baguette, and I forget which others) that always have a dumb awesome hat contest.

Chris in SK was there, with his hilarious girlfriend, as were a bunch of Dan Grey's friends from the Seoul Eats meetups, and Kelly NameChangedForPrivacy made an appearance as well, as did an old coworker whom it was great to see.

Then, Girlfriendoseyo and I hopped in a car and started driving: we were heading down to Boseong, for the Tea Fields there, where every Christmas they string the tree plants up and put on a light show. We drove all day, stopping for an early dinner in Jeonju, home of the world's best bibimbap, where they threw more food at us than we could comprehend, and had the best yukhoe (raw, minced beef - traditionally not a favorite of mine, but I'll make exceptions) I've eaten in a long, long time.

The lights were nice. Strangely, the closer we got to the lights, the nicer they looked, and the were definitely the prettiest when we were right out there, walking around in the middle of the field.

Thanks to a botched reservation, courtesy of Roboseyo the dumb, whose Korean (lack of) skill still leads to the occasional snafu, and sometimes makes him feel like a noob, we got stuck out in Boseong with, literally (she checked) not a single room for hire within a forty kilometer drive. We drove to Suncheon, where there was one hotel room open in the entire town, and that thanks only to a cancellation (this is what happens when you travel inside Korea on holidays... especially on years when all the red letter days fall on Saturdays and Sundays)

(Here's a video of the lovely lights of Boseong, and Suncheon bay. Keep reading for more on Suncheon.)

But we found a place to crash. And you know how food tastes way better when you're starving, and there's a chance you won't eat the next day? Well dear readers, when you're worried that you'll have to spend the night in a skeezy 24 hour jimjilbang near Suncheon Bus Terminal, or crammed into reclined bucket seats in the car, waking up once an hour to run the engine and warm up the car... then even a simple room in a business hotel seems like a luxury suite. Oh, yes it does. And yeah. The irony was not lost on me, that we were driving around Jeollanamdo, and there was no room at the inns, on CHRISTMAS night. I'm also sad to report that we didn't see any shepherds, and no angels appeared.

On Saturday morning (the 26th), we woke up early enough to check the weather reports: it called for snow on Sunday, so we decided to drive as far as we could on Saturday, rather than do the lion's share of the driving in bad weather. Thanks to some sweet sleuthing, some good luck, and another cancellation, Girlfriendoseyo once again found us a place, one town over from Boryeong, and this one was pretty sweet. It was a beach condo, and it was an amazing, gorgeous place to say... except that whole below freezing thing. (it was cold and windy. Pretty, but bad beach weather).

However, before we headed out, we got a chance to meet up in Suncheon with Brian in Jeollanam-do, in Jeollanam-do. We had a nice hanjeongshik meal with Brian and his fiance, who's just wonderful, and I'm happy to report that Brian's a wonderful guy, and the in-Jeollanamdo's, as a couple, are adorable. Girlfriendoseyo liked them the first time she met them, last Christmas, and this year again, we had a grand old time. We'll look forward to the next opportunity to hang out with them.

After lunch, Girlfriendoseyo and I headed out to Suncheon Bay, which Girlfriendoseyo told me is spectacularly beautiful.

I concur.

It was crowded, crowded crowded (cf: famous places in Korea, Korean holidays)

And this poor girl was there. She'd dressed appropriately... give or take twenty degrees celsius.

I nearly froze my camera and my fingers taking pictures at first (it was beautiful bobbing in the breeze... but cold), and then, climbing the hill to the Suncheon Bay observatory, I was sweating in my winter gear....

but the photos were worth it. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, worth it.

from the observatory

The water reflected the amazing blue sky.

Kopi Luwak: The World's Rarest Coffee. Yep. roboseyo drank cat poo coffee

Kopi Luwak: it's not a myth.

it's a real coffee, made from beans that have passed through a civet cat who has a knack for picking only the best coffee beans on the entire plantation, to eat.

It's a really rare delicacy, but my buddy Bryan (you can see him in the video) knew a place in Hongdae where we could get some. So, of course, we had to get some. Bryan explains more. And hang on for the reactions after we make the coffee and try it.

And of course, we made a Youtube video about it.

If you want to try the amazing cat poo coffee for yourself, you can go to Kaldi Coffee Club, up and around the corner from exit 4 of Hongik University Subway station. Here's their website, and their phone number. 02 335 7770, and here's a map of how to find them.

Canadian Embassy Wants to hear from you, Canuckers

[Update]: The guest list is now full, but you're still welcome to contact Ms. Kim by e-mail (see below)

I got a message from Nicola Kim, a political officer working for Mr. Ted Lipman, the Canadian Ambassador to Korea himself. After a year of discussion about the English teaching experience in Korea, as well as Korean media representation of them, not only here on the blogs, but in Korean courts, and even in the international press (not to mention CBC Radio), the embassy is interested to hear feedback about life in Korea directly from Canadian English teachers.

The meeting will be at the Canadian Embassy in Seoul, from 2:30-4pm on Thursday, January 28th, and Nicola's looking for a one or two more voices to round out the discussion. They're especially looking for long-time teachers, who have been around the block a few times, and have a longer perspective, and even more, at this point, females are underrepresented on the guest list. If any of my readers, especially the female ones, are long-term English teachers in Korea, who hail from Canada, and you have a thing or two to tell, or ask the Canadian Embassy about life in Korea, here's your chance to put in your two bits.

If you aren't free at that time, but you can think of something you'd like to tell the Canadian Embassy, either a complaint or a request, or a "is there anything you can do about ___" or "you could help new incoming Canadian English teachers if you ___" kind of tidbit (or should I say timbit), you are invited to either leave your comments at the bottom of this post, at which point I'll be happy to relay them on to the Canadian Embassy when I go, or you're also invited to contact Nicola Kim directly by sending an e-mail to nicola.kim at gmail dot com

image source

I'm glad the Canadian embassy is doing this; it's a great gesture, and while it makes sense insofar as it will reduce the number of anguished calls they have to field from distraught English teachers, it is also a opportunity to open more communication between the community and the embassy.

So fire off that e-mail, if you can come to the meeting, or let Nicola know what you'd like to say, whether you can come to the meeting or not.

Periodic Table of Canada

I'm not a tech blogger, but memo to Korea: Germany thinks your browser sucks

The country of Germany has encouraged the whole country to stop using Internet Explorer, as it was the browser that made the hacker attacks on Google China possible. Microsoft itself has said that Internet Explorer might have been the weak link in those attacks.

Meanwhile, Internet Explorer six remains the most popular browser in Korea. Imagine building the greatest highway infrastructure in the world - a country full of Autobahns - and then allowing only horse and buggies on it. That's Korea's internet right now.

I really like that google's finally taking a stand against China's web censorship. The information age is making the great firewall of china more porous: it seems that it can be circumvented if people know how, easily enough. Meanwhile, it makes me nervous that the google accounts being attacked were those of Human Rights agitators living in China. I like that Youtube/Google Korea preferred to block uploads and comments from Youtube Korea, rather than require real names.

This is reminiscent of a little while ago, when hackers based in China took over a bunch of zombie computers, including that of the Dalai Lama, hacking into the computers and stealing access to their files, and even being able to take control of their webcams to snap photos ... later the Chinese government seemed to tip its hand, communicating to people who were scheduled to meet the Dalai Lama that such meetings would be ill-advised. (see here)

Ladies and gentlemen: the battlefield of the future, where ones and zeros will be more important than munitions and laser targeting systems.

The internet's an interesting place these days.

Tough Love, Cupcake: How to learn Korean or English

The Korean has an excellent article about how to learn a foreign language as an adult. The summary: suck it up and work hard, you wuss. Who ever told you learning a language well was going to be easy? Go read it.

In Which Roboseyo Exhorts Seoul City Not To Get in A Snit About Lonely Planet

So Lonely Planet says that Seoul is the third most hated city. Similar statements have been made before, and then as well, Seoul city got all worked up...

Now, first of all, the idea that an institution is within its rights to "correct" people for their opinion, getting upset and responding with "are not, either!" the way Seoul City has, especially when it comes to something like travel preferences, is just silly... yet it happens. And then it happens again. And a similar pattern occurs in other areas. . . not least Korea Times' infamous "Setting The Record Straight" (ps: note the absence of comments below said article)- which is basically the same attitude in a totally different arena. (speaking of which... since publishing that correction (of its readers), The Korea Times has demonstrated an admirable change of direction.... not. yep. I made a 'not' joke.)

For the record, Seoul City's response makes more sense, and more valid points, than the KT's.

Now, as far as the deeper, cultural-level workings of this kind of reaction, I'm probably out of my depth, but we've seen this "let's correct his/her opinion" attitude before: KT's unapology, Brian in JND's 2008 cyber-bullying incident, Seoul City's previous head-buttings with Lonely Planet, and, uh, VANK. Korea's hyper-polarized political scene demonstrate that there IS a healthy bit of disagreement allowed in Korean society... but then this "Let's correct" thing pops up, too... often enough for me to want to start investigating it, looking for a sociological source. So, if anyone wants to give me a grant, I'll get on it.

A few guesses, though: this "let's correct his opinion" thing might simply be traces of Korea's quite recent authoritarian history, in which the people in power right now grew up in a time when those in power COULD say "are not, either" and quash their critics' dissent... but that doesn't work anymore, and the sooner they figure that out, the sooner they will stop appearing arrogant and snippy and hypersensitive, the sooner they will stop taking outdated approaches to modern challenges. I wrote at very great length on the way Koreans get defensive about criticism way back in 2008, and might recommend you read that.

But here's what I want to focus on right now:

Getting all worked up because Lonely Planet says that Seoul Sucks is just not what a world class city does. Sorry, dude. If somebody in a major magazine, or a travel guide, says "Paris has dog crap all over the sidewalks, and the citizens are rude" (commonly-known stereotypes), Paris city hall doesn't go to the press nitpicking those claims, questioning the methods of the survey which discovered tourists don't like stepping in dog crap or getting shite service at a cafe. Why not? Because they're motherf***ing PARIS, that's why. And because they're motherf***ing PARIS, they either figure the travel writers can say what they like, because all press is good press, or they try to improve the complaints they can, if they care to, but I'm SURE they don't write 160 pages of promotional material and send it to the publishing company that called their city... whatever they called it. When Seoul announces itself as a world design capital or a mecca of whatever or a business hub or whatever else, but then feels the need to strike back at a travel guide that said something they don't like, they undermine their attempt to be taken seriously. They'd do better combing the criticisms for ways to improve, and then moving on... or ignoring it, because it's just the internet. Better still: say nothing, and let other people jump to their defense, which makes it look like Seoul is taking the high road, while still further increasing the amount of Seoul-related discussion that's occurring here and there.

Defensiveness. There are myriad reasons Korean companies, netizens, or individuals might get defensive, possibly stemming individually from the frustration of being crapped on by the level above them in a deeply hierarchical culture, in organizations that are frustrated that many people in the world still think Samsung is Japanese, nationally from the frustration of being sandwiched between China and Japan, two richer neighbors which have left a larger imprint in the consciousness of the world... and we end up with people who can't abide someone who whispers that D-wars sucked (that's changed... even the kimcheerleaders who originally supported it smile with embarrassment, or feign amnesia, like the Beef Mamas who are buying American beef, and can't quite remember where they brought their kids in strollers last spring.

And you know, sometimes, singling something out to say it sucks, is a higher form of praise than anything else. There are thousands of dumber songs written than Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da, but the people writing these top ten and top five lists know that tagging the Beatles will get them more viral headlines, and a stronger reaction. But saying the beatles suck, or one of their songs suck, or their name sucks, is just a tribute to what a deep impact the band has made... if people are taking cheap shots at Seoul, maybe that means Seoul has officially entered the pantheon of world-class cities! It's been validated as a big, easy, well-known target. Don't you get it, Seoul City? That's GOOD! The New York Times put Seoul on ITS list of places to visit this year (though it didn't clarify whether this year means 2010 or 2010 to 2012) --

If Korea wants to actually have the place in world culture it claims to aspire toward, it's gonna have to get used to these kinds of cheap shots. People aren't going to see Ninja Assassin because Rain is Korean. They'll either see it because it's a good movie, or ignore it because it's a bad movie. Right now, Korea's trying to have its cake and eat it too- it wants to be a world media force, but it also ONLY wants people to use approved phrases when talking about it. That just ain't gonna happen.

Korean video parody
Uploaded by MeowHouse. - Family events, birthdays and parenting videos.

When Korea figures out that if Wonder Girls gets a bad review in a rock magazine, that's better than being ignored, I'll get to stop writing blog posts like this. If Rain gets mocked on the Colbert report, that's GOOD - he's becoming more famous! Anybody who doesn't get that, well, it seems to me that they're concerned less with whether Korean culture is actually rising to prominence, and more with... something else (possibly what Gord Sellar once wonderfully described as the standard, near-universal conviction among Koreans that a positive image of Korea must be presented to the world). Eventually Korea will have to let go -- it'll have to realize that the country's big enough, and significant enough a presence, that they will no longer be able to strictly control its perception and its promotion. Creating an authenticity badge for Korean restaurants abroad will accomplish nothing, because people will eat the food if it's good, and they don't care if some stuffed shirt from Seoul approves of it. Eventually, if a teenager from Des Moines blogs that The Wondergirls Suck, Korea will be confident enough in its position that thousands of fourteen year olds WON'T feel compelled to tell that teenager to kill herself. Until then, this all-fired defensiveness just screams "Inferiority Complex" to everyone but the kimcheerleaders who are too red-in-the-face to notice.

2S2 January: a rousing success!

Happy music: Mass Romantic, by The New Pornographers. Glee.


So 2S2 happened again on Saturday. First of all, I'm thrilled to report that Wonju had a 2S2 of their own, over there, and they had an awesome time. You can read about it at the 2S2 Blog, and you can go to my superstar buddy Danielle's blog and tell her how wonderful she is.

This picture is a teaser: for the full write-up of the 2S2 get-together on Saturday, you'll have to go to the 2S2 Community blog.





Tee hee. Snow on trash.


This sweet New Year's ice sculpture was on the way from one place to another.


the good thing about this picture is my nemesis Dan Gray giving me his "seduction" face. Look out, ladies.

The bad thing is I'd urged him to make a more embarrassing pose, and he refused. I'm very disappointed that he's figured out not to do that stuff when my camera's out. For my readers, even more so: we're going to have to find somebody else to tease and/or embarrass with silly pictures.


footprints on one of those bench blocks in Insadong.


#2 bummer of the weekend (#1's personal)

We headed to my favorite spiced wine shop. It was not far from the 2S2 meetup. I led a whole group of about 20 of my good friends and Dan Gray's food fans...

to a missing cafe.

See, one of my favorite things in the world is finding great restaurants and stuff, and then showing my friends where they are, and watching them enjoy the victuals. But because I'm so often bringing friends to a place, when one unexpectedly disappears on me, more often than not, I've got a friend or twelve in tow, to watch my dismay, and to think I'm a doofus for leading them to restaurants that don't exist. I have to say this was the largest group ever to mock my despair, as one of my seriously favorite restaurants had been replaced...

by a freaking handbag shop. A handbag shop. Because Samchungdong REALLY needed another handbag shop. it's the only thing the friggin' place was missing. Spiced wine schmiced schmine. Handbag shops are what really defines a great district.

Oh well. Could have been worse. It could have been replaced by a telephoto lens shop for all the froofy couples.

But bitterness aside: the rest of the day was great, and a very rewarding experience, and I'm super glad it happened, and I'm already excited about the next one.

Special thanks to Dan Gray for doing a double-down 2S2 with the Seoul Eats crew: it was a great shot in the arm, and a really positive experience for everyone... except the girl who left the tea house without paying. She's gonna get it.

Just kidding.

Have a good one, all!

Come to 2S2 today!

It's the Second Saturday of January, so it's time for another 2S2. This month, we're doing a 2S2 special, teaming up with the Seoul Eats Meetup, and here's the score: meet at 12pm, at Anguk Station exit 1, for the Seoul Eats part of the meetup. You'll walk down Insa-dong street, and coming from that direction, just past the Ssamzie Square, you'll see a pharmacy on a corner on the left: turn left down that side-street. You'll walk right past a Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. Then, once you're past the coffee bean, go left again on the first really small side-street. Look, once again, to your left, and you'll see a dumpling restaurant called "Koong". They have the best large Korean dumplings I've eaten, and I highly recommend the ddeook mandukuk - rice-cake dumpling soup. The broth is simple and tasty, the ddeok is super fresh, and the dumplings are fat, juicy, and flavorful, with all the dumplingy goodness you could hope for.

Now here's the sad part: because of an unexpected twist, I have to do something for my boss that's going to keep me busy from 10-12 this morning, which means the earliest I can arrive at the Seoul Eats meetup is about 12:30. That'll be time enough for me to get a good meal, but I'm a little choked that I can't be there for the beginning of the event I helped plan with Dan.

Next, at 2pm (hence, 2S2) we're going to the Twosome Place, the usual 2S2 meetup. We'll muster there, but not stick around too long: I'd like to get out of there fairly quickly, in order to go to a quieter place. If the group's smaller, it'll be spiced wine (glauwine) at a sweet panini restaurant I know, and if the group's bigger, it'll be tea at one of Insadong's great tea houses.

If you live in Wonju, please go to the second 2S2 Pocket, organized by Wonju Wife: read about it here.

There's a google map at the 2S2 Blog, for the Seoul Meetup, and the Wonju meetup.