My Condolences

This weekend, my director's mother passed away after a long battle with cancer and so yesterday, my co-workers and I went to pay our respects. It was the first, and hopefully only, funeral/memorial service I've attended in Korea and, as with weddings here, distinctly Korean. The "reception" (which is the best word I can find to describe it) was held at the hospital where she had died. As near as I could figure, the bottom floor of the hospital has an entire wing devoted to funerary receptions, and Mr. Park's family had one of the many small rooms reserved for his mother. Visitors lined up outside the room and waited their turn to enter. Inside, there was a display with floral arrangements (which looked exactly like those used at grand openings for businesses in Korea, except that the flowers were all white and not pink), a photograph of his mother, burning incense, and several dishes of fruit like dried persimmons and dates arranged on a sort of altar. Mr. Park, his elder brother, and his eldest brother-in-law stood on one side of the room dressed in black suits, greeting the visitors from the far side of a rattan-like mat in the middle of the floor. We each took a white flower from a vase on the floor (I'm not sure what flower it was exactly, but it certainly wasn't a lily) and then placed them on the altar next to the pot of incense. Afterwards, there was a short moment of silence and then we lined up across from Mr. Park, knelt and bowed our heads to the ground, as did he. Finally, we deposited our envelopes full of money into a wooden box below the altar, contributions for the bereaved. There were also beige-colored armbands with a thin black stripe running through them for the family members to attach to their suits, but of course my co-workers and I didn't don them. Outside of the room there was food available for the visitors (what looked like samgyeopsal and soju), but we didn't partake and made our exit, after getting our parking tickets validated. As with Korean weddings, the only other family-oriented ceremony I've attended in Korea, it was a hasty affair but deeply significant for all those involved. All in all it was a very somber time, but I hope that Mr. Park can take some solace in the fact that his mother's suffering is over and she is at peace now.

Bosintang

Recently, I finally had the opportunity to try an old Korean delicacy: bosintang, a.k.a dog meat soup. It beings to appear in certain restaurants during the summer months because it is said to help keep the body cool in the heat (as well as working as a natural laxative, but let's not get into that). Essentially, it is similar to a lot of other Korean-style soups: some vegetables (leafy greens and onions) and some meat (in this case that of a dog) in a spicy broth served with a side of steamed rice. In addition, there is a side of sweetened gochu sauce (red chili paste) that is mixed with thinly sliced ginger and something that isn't mint but is from the mint family; the dog meat is supposed to be dipped into this. The meat itself had a lot of fatty portions attached to it that I chose to remove, and it tasted like a cross between slow-cooked beef and the dark meat of a turkey leg. In short, delicious. According to my Korean lunchtime companions, only about 25% of Koreans have ever eaten bosintang. Of the two of them, only one had tried it, and then only once. The dog is a specific breed that is raised only for slaughter. As with beondegi, my students are equally split as to whether bosintang is good or not. The other fact that separates it from other meals is that it was more expensive (8,000 won in the restaurant I went to, about twice or even three times what sun dubu jjigae or doenjang jjigae would cost). My first experience had no negatives, so I see no reason for me not to try it again.

Rose Festival

The second annual rose festival is currently underway in Ulsan Grand Park, and so far I have been three times, finally bringing my camera along on the third day. The rose garden near the south gate is actually one of the first places I ever visited in Ulsan, over nine months ago (can't believe it's been that long already). The roses are representative of a variety of different strains, mostly from Japan, Germany, France and the States. The garden is quite impressive, and even more impressive at night under the lights. Clearly, I know absolutely nothing about botany and even less about roses aside from their aesthetic qualities, so without further adieu here are some pictures of the flowers:

Free Hugs

This is actually a picture from my trip to Seoul last weekend (snapped by Yassin, who demanded that I give him credit for the photo), but it photographically illustrates a phenomenon I was introduced to in Korea called "Free Hugs." The Free Hugs campaign was started by an Australian named "Juan Mann" in Sydney in 2004, and then popularized by a video on YouTube in 2006. According to Mr. Mann's website, he started the campaign after watching people greeting their loved ones with hugs at the airport in Sydney and realizing there was no one there to greet him. He started standing in the busiest pedestrian sites in Sydney with a sign reading "Free Hugs," and although most people were initially wary, they soon began approaching him and accepting his offer of a free hug. The campaign was temporarily banned in Australia because he hadn't bought public liability insurance, but a petition with 10,000 signatures led to the ban ending. Now, the Free Hugs campaign has spread around the world to many major cities, including in Korea. I have seen it a couple of times in Ulsan (there's even a television commercial involving it on Korean TV) and have always approached the person for a hug. Every time I've been to Insa-dong in Seoul, an area of the city that is heavy with pedestrian traffic and popular with tourists, I have seen someone with a "Free Hugs" sign. On this particular occasion, someone had initiated a "relay free hugs," which means that if you hug the person, then you have to take up the sign and wait for someone to hug you and pass it on. As one can gather from the picture, I too got caught up in the action. Sure, it sounds a bit hippie-ish (ok, really hippie-ish), but sometimes the only thing you really need is just a hug.

Sailing Through The Air

Those of you that know me well know that I have a severe fear of heights (which is only compounded by the fact that I live twenty stories up and have recurring nightmares about falling to my death, but that is neither here nor there), so it will come as some surprise that I was talked into trying out the latest craze to hit Ulsan Grand Park. As summer vacation approaches, the good folks at SK have erected a "bungee-trampoline" contraption near the front gate (it's off to the right for any Ulsanites who want to try it) and it caught the eye of my friends as we were walking through the park on the Wednesday holiday. I was one of the only members of our group who weighed under the 80 kilogram weight limit and was also willing to give it a shot. Basically, you are strapped into a harness attached to twin sets of bungee cords and suspended over a trampoline:

The attendant winches you into the air a meter or so and then pulls down on the bungee cords, and soon enough you are launched high into the air. As thrilling as it was, it also scared the living daylights out of my acrophobic self. I'm still surprised I did it, but at least I tried!

Beondegi

As with any city around the world, Ulsan offers a wide variety of street cuisines to choose from when one is wandering around downtown. One of the more "distinctive" Korean street-food specialties is beondegi, which I've had the lack of sense to try two or three times. literally means "pupa" or "chrysalis" in Korean, and it is just that: silkworm pupae which are boiled or steamed and seasoned. It is one of the oddest foods I've ever eaten (and I've even eaten camel before!). One of the best descriptions I've heard is that it tastes like "moldy dust." Certainly, it has a strange texture inside, but there really isn't much taste to it beyond whatever seasoning it has been prepared in. Depending on the city one is in, it can cost between 500 and 2,000 won for a small paper cup full of pupae. I've never been able to finish an entire cup, but just a few can actually be quite appetizing from time to time. Impromptu polling of my students and friends leads me to believe that one either loves it or hates it, and there seem to be equal numbers on both sides of the debate. There is also tinned beondegi available in most grocery stores, but I haven't been brave enough to try it yet.

Seoul Pictures

Since Blogger can occasionally be an extremely frustrating platform to work with (and my browser is in Korean, which doesn't really help matters), I was somehow unable to attach my pictures of Seoul to the last post. Try to read the post in conjunction with the pictures below, sorry for the confusion.

Seoul Part III

This weekend was one of those beautiful weekends at the beginning of summer that begs one to give in to itchy feet and so, along with some Ulsan friends, I headed up to Seoul. Even though Seoul was brutally hot this weekend, it was the same welcoming, exciting city that I've come to admire. Once again, we hopped on the midnight express (really the 1 A.M. express, but whatever) out of Ulsan, arriving in Kangnam at 5:30. After a breakfast of pancakes in Apgujeong, we took the subway to Sinchon to meet up with my friend Ja Young, who has just completed the exhausting process of applying for a job with the United Nations and anxiously awaiting their decision, and one of Jessica's friends, Dae Jin. From there, we walked around Cheonggyecheon, a small river near the palace district that used to be the home of newly emigrated Seoul residents and has been preserved as a walking path.

From there, it was a short walk into Insadong for lunch on different jjigaes. Thankfully, Ja Young, was able to get us the "student" menu so we avoided be price-gouged like most other tourists in Insadong. Ja Young had a wedding to attend on Yeouido, so we followed her down there and took the opportunity to ascend to the top of the 63 building:

The view from the top was actually nice on Saturday as there was relatively little haze. Afterwards, we took a ferry from Yeouido to Jamsil, which takes about an hour, and met up with my friend Gyeong Min, another Ulsanite who has been studying for the TOEFL exam in Seoul. As the evening was fast approaching, we decided to head over to Hongdae, one of the centers of Seoul's nightlife. After dinner, we went underground to Seoul's famous "Ice Bar," a bar that is constructed almost entirely of ice, complete with ice cups. The temperature inside is kept at a "balmy" -5 degrees Celsius. The bar provides guests with insulated ponchos and gloves. Apparently, the record for time spent in the bar is a little over three hours. We certainly couldn't last that long. My camera battery died at this point, but here is a picture of Jessica posing in an ice sculpture holding a sign that reads "Stop Global Warming." I found this incredibly ironic given the amount of energy it must take to keep the bar frozen (a more cynical person might even suggest that it was intentionally ironic):

After a changing locations to a Belgian beer bar, Yassin and I met up with Ja Young again and spent a couple of hours dancing at a hip-hop club called Catch Light. Once again, I was amazed by the breadth of the DJ's knowledge of American club hip-hop. Although it wasn't entirely up to date, most of the songs weren't exactly the biggest hits outside of the club, and I was happily surprised to hear them there. Finally, fatigued, Yassin and I walked back to our hostel in Hapjeong to sleep.

The next day, Yassin and I went up to the palace district and walked around Gyeongbokgung, one of the main palaces of the Joseon era. It is quite magnificent and elaborate without being ridiculously ostentatious. I was especially excited to see this building (the name of which escapes me) where hangeul was invented in the 15th century under the auspices of King Sejong:

Finally, this is the view from outside of the Traditional Folk Museum, which is adjacent to Gyeongbokgung, and some of the examples of traditional village guardian totems. Unfortunately, due to time constraints we didn't have time to visit the museum as we had to meet up with the rest of our Ulsan posse and catch the bus from East Seoul back to Ulsan. I guess that means I will have to go back to Seoul, which isn't such a bad thing at all.