American Smell— The Big Stink

Late on New Year's Eve Gail, James, and I are wandering the streets of Hongdae searching desperately for a burger.  We had directions, and a map with a nice little penciled-in path, but we had no burger joint.  Bummer. We finally settled for Thai food, and turned down a side street with restaurants bunched up along each curb.  Then we spotted it: American Smell.  Certainly not the most enticing or appetizing of names, and it wasn't the place we were looking for, but something about it said: there is at least on big fat juicy burger on our menu just waiting to be devoured.

We walked up the black stairway into a brightly lit room and sat down in red metal chairs at a wooden table. The decor was...marvelous. Iron Man and Spiderman busted out of the walls, and a little row of Simpsons figurines guarded the window. The menu was simple and therefore wonderful. Delighted with the hat tip to my hometown, I went straight for the 'Louis' Lunch.'


James: So when did you guys open?
Waiter: 4:00 pm
embarrassed laughter from the waygooks
Gail: No, we mean, like...ever?
Waiter: Ahhhh!  Tuesday.


Yep, they'd been open a mere 7 days. Our hipster senses were tingling-- we'd struck foreigner gold!  The waiter continued to deliver good news. He gestured to the counter/cooler full of imported beer bottles, then directed our thirsty eyes to the various taps poking out from behind.  I could substitute cheddar for swiss. Then he said the magic words,"Fries included."

Louis Lunch actually came in between two perfectly toasted pieces of white bread on a bed of thin sliced, golden french fries to challenge Mickey D's. Layers of beefy burger, real swiss, juicy caramelized onions—and a flavorless Korean tomato slice—even remained untainted by the forbidden fruit (No offense to ketchup, I just kept it with the fries). The beer was cold and cheap, the fries salty and crunchy and plentiful, and the bill was so friendly that I tipped.

It turns out that writing an interesting restaurant review is actually pretty difficult, so here's where I'll tell you the things that you really care about.


The food was great, the price was gentle, and the location is thus:

마포구 서교동 402-12번지 2층 서울, 한국
Seogyo-dong, Mapo-gu, 2nd Floor 402-12 Seoul, Korea

So go check it out!

Busan, New Year's, DMZ

Yongdong Persimmon Festival

Adorable clock tower outside Yongdong Station

One day when I was living in Budapest I went to the élelmiszer downstairs to buy some veggies for dinner.  Back in our galley kitchen, I sliced open a tomato and out spilled a little confusion: the tomato was slightly slimy and sweet, with a hint of cinnamon.  It was delicious...but it was no tomato.  It was a persimmon and henceforth my love of persimmons flowered.

Naturally when I bumped into the Yongdong Persimmon Festival on the interwebs, I cleared my schedule.  The day came and I still hadn't found anyone who was willing to make the 3 hour trek with me, so I hopped on a KTX train and into an adventure.

It was surprisingly easy to get to the festival, despite how difficult it was to find any English directions or reviews.  The train dropped me off at Yongdong Station and the festival was a little less than a ten minute walk away.  I followed the red lanterns over a little bridge and around to the sounds of Korean music and smell of street food.

 Yongdong is the Holy Land of Fruit in Korea, a name which further attracted me to the festival for my favorite fruit.  But the festival was not just about eating-- there were demonstrations of different machinery for processing the fruit, performances, local wineries, and more.  It was not as large as I expected, but it seemed like a true neighborhood and cultural event.  I was the only foreigner I could spot.

My alien looks caught the attention of a few local news shows (or other promotional people, let's be real I have no idea).  I was asked four different times to be recorded tasting different vendors' variation on the dried persimmon, sampling sweet tea and persimmon candy, and saying in my terrible Korean "Yongdong persimmons are delicious!"

The fruits of my labor were many: I rode the train home with two boxes of dried persimmons, some whole and some sliced for snacking. And you know I snacked on the way. I figured out that you can ride the train great distances with a ticket but without a seat. This information would later prove handy (as future posts will explain).   And I saw and tasted something I'll probably never experience again.

Christmas

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all throughout Jukjeon

Not a teacher was teaching, not even ILS ones.

Their lessons were planned by the week with care,

In hopes that vacation time soon would be there.

When out from the hall there arose such a clatter,

I sprang from the desk to see what was the matter.

Away to the doorway I ran like a savage,

Tore through the lobby to spot a....Christmas package!

Mom had spoken not a word, but went straight to the post,
And sent off the box with great contents to boast.
Four bags of Cheerios, and lots of good tea.
But best, a letter and a Warhall Christmas CD.

I sprang in the air and let out a cheer,
I felt so loved from those far and near.
So I (virtually) exclaim, as I enjoy life's delights,
"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!"

Missing my family, my friends, my dog, my home, but loving my life and living the dream (to quote one of my new friends).  Thank you to the Warhalls for thinking of me; I'm already loving the latest installation of the best Christmas card series known to humankind! I hope you enjoy my own compilation of, erm, noises...

******Just to be clear, that bird is saying 안녕하세요 (annyeong haseyo) which means 'hello!'******

Something Old, Something New

Saturday morning I woke up at 7:45 and threw on a dress.  Bundled up to meet Warren at a bus stop, and traveled an hour and a half up to northern Seoul, where we attended a Korean wedding! Warren's soccer buddy was getting married, and Warren's girlfriend couldn't make it to the wedding, so I jumped at the opportunity to go on an adventure and dress up! But before we go any further, let's  clarify what I mean by 'wedding'... this was a Korean express wedding.  20 minutes in and out, so the next couple can use the space and tie the knot.

The wedding took place in a large conference center called the Seoul Foundation of Women and Family. There was even a little open coffee shop in the lobby.  Upon walking in I saw three tall floral arrangements, which I now suspect were waiting for the weddings that would occur throughout the day.  Warren picked up a white envelope from the security counter to fill with his cash gift and wrote a little note on the back.  Gifts from friends range from about $30-50.  A man sitting at a desk outside of the International Conference Hall exchanged the envelope for two business cards, and we entered the room.

We sat at a large round table next to the raised center aisle with some other foreign soccer buddies and their dates.  Everything was draped with white-- table cloths, aisle, stage, ceiling-- there were white candles and fake white petals along the aisle, and white pillars topped with white hydrangeas.  The bridal party waited at the end of the aisle, with the mothers of the bride and groom at the lead in their traditional Korean Hanboks. The fathers wore suits, the groom wore a tuxedo, and the bride looked ravishing in her white gown and veil.  There were two women from the conference hall orchestrating the event, another woman that followed the bride around and fussed over the arrangement of her train, and a man announcing the events in sports center fashion.

At 11:02 the mothers walked up the aisle to the stage and lit large white candles on either side.  They bowed to the audience and to each other, eliciting applause from both sides of the room, and descended to two sets armchairs set on either side of the front of the stage, where their husbands soon joined them. The groom strutted down the aisle to the Rocky Theme, amongst whispers confirming that he is a semi-professional boxer who often trains movie stars for fighting films.  Finally, the bride and her father walked down to some mushy English tune, and joined her husband to be.  They read their vows to each other (everything was in Korean else I might have something more interesting to report) and also completed a set of bows to the audience and one another.  The entire time the audience has a low buzz of conversation, as if every other person were giving their own play-by-play commentary to their neighbor.  Also, everyone left their coats on.


Bride and groom returned to the aisle to face a large projector screen. Prior to the ceremony, the screen flipped through cute photos of the couple, but now someone pulled up a YouTube video of a man, possibly the groom, in short soccer shorts playing a ukelele. Everyone cooed as he sang some Korean love song. Next, the bride and groom went to their parents and performed a more serious bow, not just at the waist, but kneeling with the forehead touching the ground. They stood up and hugged their parents, then went to the other set of parents on the opposite side.

By far the HIGHLIGHT of the ceremony was what followed. A cousin sand a song karaoke style to the bride and groom. It was a very lighthearted event and everyone was laughing and clapping in good humor throughout his performance. By 11:32, it was all over.

Friends (women on the bride's side, men on the groom's)

Family (see, more Hanboks!)

After, all us foreigners including me sheepishly headed up to the stage to pose for pictures with the newlyweds so the guys could run to a soccer match.  Korean photographers are quite intent on the perfect photo, so this was a serious process on display for everyone.  We obviously jumped the queue; the entire family was next, then just the immediate families, and last all their friends whom I thought were waiting for the next wedding as they had been standing in the back the entire time.

The 'reception' was on the third floor.  It turned out our business cards got us into a glorified cafeteria with an elaborate buffet.  There were flat screens all over live streaming the next wedding, which started as we were sitting down to eat. The food was great, and made up for the less-than-intimate setting of sitting next to a bunch of guests from someone else's wedding.  Plus, there was free beer and soju (Korean rice liquor)...and we all know it was five o'clock somewhere!

Bride and groom changed into their own matching Hanboks and sifted their way through the crowds to greet their own wedding guests, as we stuffed our faces like the Thanksgiving-deprived Americans we were.  If one of them ever reads this, thank you for letting me attend and sorry for being in that picture. I send you the best wishes in your marriage. It was was a beautiful and fascinating event. There was such a range between the details of tradition and convenience of modernity.  While parts of the event seems rushed, canned, or impersonal, the event was probably much more affordable and an easier addition to anyone's weekend. But somehow I doubt this is what my newly engaged cousin (Love you, Jeanette and Jim!) has planned. :)

Biting the Hand that Heeds

So, to the dismay and disgust of many, we did it.  We went to the restaurant and had dog for dinner.

Korean meals are served with many shared side dishes...three kinds of kimchi, pickled onion, dipping sauces, and some spicy peppers and raw onions.

The gave us water in bowls... at the dog restaurant.

Before anyone gets grossed out or whatever, let me give you a little knowledge (once again from my favorite reliable source): In Korea, there is a specific breed of dog for eating.  There are different words in Korean for a dog that you eat, and a dog that is a part of your family.  Linguistically, that's a pretty big deal- when was the last time you called your hamburger a 'cow patty'?  Oh, you were 10?  Got it.

Anyway, yes, the breed of dog is cute because dogs can be cute. And so can basically any other animal, depending on its stage of life... So just in case anyone was appalled, wait until you see the close-up photos.

This time we got smart and decided to order only two entrees between the three of us.  First came the side dishes you saw at the top of this post, along with that center dish which I hopefully suggested might have been some dark mushrooms.  Then they brought out the plate of boiled meat and greens on the right (one for each order), and finally two boiling bowls of broth.  Soup is often brought out still boiling, which makes for great presentation and often burned fingertips and tongues.

We each sampled the first dish.  They had a rubbery texture, not unlike the fattier skin on a piece of chicken.  I don't think we ate more than one 'mushroom' a piece.  The waitress and the chef (I think) were both kind enough to come over to our table and explain to us the best way to enjoy the meal. We put some of the meat into the soup; wrapped some pieces in the greens and dipped it into the sauces. The meat itself was pretty gamey, and didn't have much flavor.  We avoided the fattier pieces in favor of the meatier ones, and went for lots of the delicious dipping sauces.                                                                                                                                                                                            Our verdict? We didn't eat everything. For $15 a piece, the entrees are a bit expensive for Korean restaurants, but to my American mind, quite a deal-- tons of food, all those sides. Definitely worth the experience, but not something we will seek out again. We retreated to Pizza School, but not with our tails between our legs.                                                                                                                                                                                                 P.S. Shout out to my favorite dog, Winnie. Everyone should follow her on Twitter.  @RastaWinnie.