Whitey's Wanderings and Ways With Words (Korea Week 5)
Note: Video finally added below. You may have to wait for it load because it's somewhat big. I need to figure out a better way to do this. Photos added now too.
Lots happening within the last week or so. Been one of those weeks where I've been feeling a lot like whitey.
Father's Day came a day early due to H's production schedule (not because we are SO in the future). She scoped out a restaurant that serves a Western-style brunch called The Flying Pan Blue. It's run by a couple of Australian sisters, or so the searches on the interweb tell me. It's in the neighborhood of Itaewon, which is very close to the US Army's base for the Yongsan Garrison (thanks again to the interweb for this info). Itaewon also generally seems to be the neighborhood that foreigners living in Seoul reside in. There's lots of eclectic cuisines to be had and several US chain restaurants to be found. H, K and I had been there once before and went to a Pakistani place that was deserted save for us. While the neighborhood seemed very busy both days we went, it was not really our speed. It just seems, well, gross...like it caters to a very low side of people. We only really explored a few blocks, so maybe I'm too quick to judge. Still, it just had a bad vibe for me. I can understand that people living far away from the US who didn't really want to leave might like a taste of home. Since I'm here by choice, I don't want to spend time on things that I could easily get at home, particularly food. Once was nice, but I think we'll be exploring other parts of Seoul for the rest of our time here.
Itaewon was also one of the few times we'd seen any other white people. Occasionally we'll see one on the street or in the hotel lobby. Not always Americans, but definately not Koreans. In general I'm enjoying the anonymity we have here (or at least as much anonymity as I can have with a baby strapped to my back in a big red bag). So I try to avoid contact with white peope whenever possible. They cramp my style. It's like they are going to reveal me somehow and I don't want to be found out. And whenever there's a white person around who is acting...white, it just makes me feel bad. I don't want to be lumped in with all those people who don't bother to learn any of the language or customs of the place they are in. Note to people who may be traveling against their will: not every place is just like America. Just get over it.
But I guess I'm one to talk about the language. I have tried and I could try harder, but I've found Korean to be completely impenitriable. The phonetic description of words in the books seems to be of no use, although I never did put in the time with the CD's like I'd planned on. I'm okay when I can combine the written phoneticization with hearing it, but totally lost otherwise. We've had K befriend the little boy of one of H's colleages and try as I might, I just cannot remember his mother's name. And we've spent an entire afternoon together, mind you. I just have no hook with it. I did manage to pull the word "photographer" from the phrase book and nail it on the first attempt, but that has been my only true victory. So far, aside from some food words, I know how to say yes, no, hello, goodbye, thank you, fish, water, slowly, good work, and one-and-a-half (people always ask how old K is). Of those ten phrases, I use at least four of them incorretly in terms of context, but I decided I don't care because at least it's something close that people will understand. Close doesn't not cut it when it comes to this language.
Oddly though, the language differences have become a kind of safety for me. This is only the second time in my life that I've spent a considerable amount of time in a place that the language, both spoken and written, is totally different from my own. The first week was a bit nerve-wracking and the second felt very isolating. Now it's pretty relaxing. For as much noise visually and aurally one experiences here, it's nothing that I really understand. I'm not distracted with haivng to decipher anything. The vast quantity of signs pull my attention with their colours and shapes, but they are totally meaningless to me, just objects. And people are always staring at K and talking to us, but since I don't know what they are saying, I can just smile and walk away if they get weird.
ummm...back to what I was talking about...
H also had Monday off here and we decided to take our first trip outside of Seoul. We opted to go the island of Muuido. This is a small island off the coast of Incheon and loacated right next to Yeongjongdo, island home to Incheon Internation Airport. It's about 3 hours door-to-door and requires taking two subways, a bus, a ferry, and a walk to get there. Oddly, the ferry takes the least amount of time clocking in at all of five minutes. There are a couple of beaches and some hiking trails there. Only about 600 people live on the island and near as we could tell, only one of them spoke a lick of English. This was nice, only until we realized that the "country-bus" driver was not the one. After a visit to the beach, we took said bus from our hotel in Silmi to Hanagae Beach to find some dinner. As we departed the bus, we thought we confirmed that it ran until at least 8:30. After dinner, as 9pm approached, we found out it stopped at 7:30. But the travel gods took pity upon us poor hapless three. After some embarassing cell phone calls and confusing rounds of hand gesturing, someone came along and offered to drive us back to Silmi. This saved us a good two hour walk back. K will never know how lucky she was in that she didn't have to carry me back through the cold, dark night. The rest of our short visit was spent hiking along the road the next morning. Here's a short compilation video from some of what we did (this is a new thing I'm trying out so bear with me...):
Back in Seoul now for two more weeks. K gets another visit from our Phillipino nanny, Dell, on Friday. She lives in Itaewon, as did the other nanny we interviewed. I may try to shoot some that day or get a massage at Dragon Hill Spa. K's week will also be busy with our first trip to the Namsan Public Library, which apparently has lots of children's books in English. We'll also be going back to the Coex Mall Aquarium and the Seoul Grand Park Zoo. And I'll be cooking more Bibimyeon, Wanjatang, and trying out Seogogi Kamjatang (all from the cookbook I bought at the international bookstore, The Very Best of Korean Cooking). Finally, there's likely to be at least one more Emart trip in our future. I'm beginning to hate Emart.
Lots happening within the last week or so. Been one of those weeks where I've been feeling a lot like whitey.
Father's Day came a day early due to H's production schedule (not because we are SO in the future). She scoped out a restaurant that serves a Western-style brunch called The Flying Pan Blue. It's run by a couple of Australian sisters, or so the searches on the interweb tell me. It's in the neighborhood of Itaewon, which is very close to the US Army's base for the Yongsan Garrison (thanks again to the interweb for this info). Itaewon also generally seems to be the neighborhood that foreigners living in Seoul reside in. There's lots of eclectic cuisines to be had and several US chain restaurants to be found. H, K and I had been there once before and went to a Pakistani place that was deserted save for us. While the neighborhood seemed very busy both days we went, it was not really our speed. It just seems, well, gross...like it caters to a very low side of people. We only really explored a few blocks, so maybe I'm too quick to judge. Still, it just had a bad vibe for me. I can understand that people living far away from the US who didn't really want to leave might like a taste of home. Since I'm here by choice, I don't want to spend time on things that I could easily get at home, particularly food. Once was nice, but I think we'll be exploring other parts of Seoul for the rest of our time here.
Itaewon was also one of the few times we'd seen any other white people. Occasionally we'll see one on the street or in the hotel lobby. Not always Americans, but definately not Koreans. In general I'm enjoying the anonymity we have here (or at least as much anonymity as I can have with a baby strapped to my back in a big red bag). So I try to avoid contact with white peope whenever possible. They cramp my style. It's like they are going to reveal me somehow and I don't want to be found out. And whenever there's a white person around who is acting...white, it just makes me feel bad. I don't want to be lumped in with all those people who don't bother to learn any of the language or customs of the place they are in. Note to people who may be traveling against their will: not every place is just like America. Just get over it.
But I guess I'm one to talk about the language. I have tried and I could try harder, but I've found Korean to be completely impenitriable. The phonetic description of words in the books seems to be of no use, although I never did put in the time with the CD's like I'd planned on. I'm okay when I can combine the written phoneticization with hearing it, but totally lost otherwise. We've had K befriend the little boy of one of H's colleages and try as I might, I just cannot remember his mother's name. And we've spent an entire afternoon together, mind you. I just have no hook with it. I did manage to pull the word "photographer" from the phrase book and nail it on the first attempt, but that has been my only true victory. So far, aside from some food words, I know how to say yes, no, hello, goodbye, thank you, fish, water, slowly, good work, and one-and-a-half (people always ask how old K is). Of those ten phrases, I use at least four of them incorretly in terms of context, but I decided I don't care because at least it's something close that people will understand. Close doesn't not cut it when it comes to this language.
Oddly though, the language differences have become a kind of safety for me. This is only the second time in my life that I've spent a considerable amount of time in a place that the language, both spoken and written, is totally different from my own. The first week was a bit nerve-wracking and the second felt very isolating. Now it's pretty relaxing. For as much noise visually and aurally one experiences here, it's nothing that I really understand. I'm not distracted with haivng to decipher anything. The vast quantity of signs pull my attention with their colours and shapes, but they are totally meaningless to me, just objects. And people are always staring at K and talking to us, but since I don't know what they are saying, I can just smile and walk away if they get weird.
ummm...back to what I was talking about...
H also had Monday off here and we decided to take our first trip outside of Seoul. We opted to go the island of Muuido. This is a small island off the coast of Incheon and loacated right next to Yeongjongdo, island home to Incheon Internation Airport. It's about 3 hours door-to-door and requires taking two subways, a bus, a ferry, and a walk to get there. Oddly, the ferry takes the least amount of time clocking in at all of five minutes. There are a couple of beaches and some hiking trails there. Only about 600 people live on the island and near as we could tell, only one of them spoke a lick of English. This was nice, only until we realized that the "country-bus" driver was not the one. After a visit to the beach, we took said bus from our hotel in Silmi to Hanagae Beach to find some dinner. As we departed the bus, we thought we confirmed that it ran until at least 8:30. After dinner, as 9pm approached, we found out it stopped at 7:30. But the travel gods took pity upon us poor hapless three. After some embarassing cell phone calls and confusing rounds of hand gesturing, someone came along and offered to drive us back to Silmi. This saved us a good two hour walk back. K will never know how lucky she was in that she didn't have to carry me back through the cold, dark night. The rest of our short visit was spent hiking along the road the next morning. Here's a short compilation video from some of what we did (this is a new thing I'm trying out so bear with me...):
Download | Duration: 00:02:41
Back in Seoul now for two more weeks. K gets another visit from our Phillipino nanny, Dell, on Friday. She lives in Itaewon, as did the other nanny we interviewed. I may try to shoot some that day or get a massage at Dragon Hill Spa. K's week will also be busy with our first trip to the Namsan Public Library, which apparently has lots of children's books in English. We'll also be going back to the Coex Mall Aquarium and the Seoul Grand Park Zoo. And I'll be cooking more Bibimyeon, Wanjatang, and trying out Seogogi Kamjatang (all from the cookbook I bought at the international bookstore, The Very Best of Korean Cooking). Finally, there's likely to be at least one more Emart trip in our future. I'm beginning to hate Emart.
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