corner store lifestyle

Koreans are busy people. I officially feel like a lazy slob… always. They’re busy everywhere, all the time… on their phones and ipads on the subway, not bothering to stop for red lights when driving and the so-called ‘holiday’ was the busiest day I’ve seen so far! I was beginning to wonder if these people ever rest; then I discovered the convenience stores.

The convenience stores are just that – convenient. They have everything you need and they are everywhere. And I mean everywhere. I literally have two GS25s, two 7/11s and four Family Marts within a 4-minute radius of my house. For this reason, and the fact that they have anything I might want to buy, I rarely go to the grocery store anymore.

This is a concept I’m still getting used to, as I was a loyal 2-3 times a week grocery store shopper in Canada. Now I’m going to the convenience store every other day to pick up milk, fruits and veg, face wash, tampons, chocolate, batteries, laundry detergent, chopsticks, beer, soju or whatever the occasion calls for. I’ll even go there for dinner sometimes, as they have pre-made meals (kimbab, my fav) that they will heat up for you.

The biggest difference between Korean and Canadian convenience stores is that people go there to hang out. There’s plastic lawn furniture outside the stores where one can often find locals sitting down for a drink or kids snacking on chocolate bars.

Typical hang-out spot (pic from google images)

Since nobody really has a yard or an apartment big enough to have company over, if you want to hang out with friends, you have to get out of the house. So, if you just want to grab a drink or sit and chat for a bit, what’s a more convenient (for lack of a better word) meeting place than the closest convenience store? Koreans take full advantage of these breaks in their busy schedules and chill out in the most efficient way.

These plastic chairs with tacky umbrellas are also the closest I have seen to patios in Canada. Just today, we were looking for a place to sit outside in the sun. The two places with tables outside are beer and chicken places, and convenience stores, so we opted for the 7/11.

Did I mention that these stores sell beer? I couldn’t possibly write about these stores without mentioning alcohol. I can’t say Korea has the cheapest beer I’ve seen, but it’s just so darn easy to get a hold of! You can get alcohol at stores every 20 feet and at any time of day. I’m not sure if this is an effect or a cause of Koreans being such big drinkers, but it sure is handy.

So the next time you get to the beer store at 9:01, or you wait 20 minutes in line at the LCBO, think of how awesome life would be in Korea ;)!!

Cheers to Seoul mates ^^! A between-bar cheers that was made possible thanks to the nearest Family Mart.

 

 

a family affair

After a month in Korea (!!!), I finally got to see some mountains and traditional family lifestyle. It was an abslutely gorgeous day and probably my favourite day in Korea to date. It all started Saturday night when Elisabeth told us about her family who lives in Korea and owns several restaurants in this small mountain town.

As I went to bed that night (as the sun was coming up), I made sure to set my alarm for 11 so I wouldn’t miss the girls to talk about plans before they left. Waking up was not fun, and I almost didn’t get out of bed, but I pulled it together and thank goodness I did! After a shower and some mandu guk (dumpling soup) I was ready to roll and went to meet the girls at a nearby subway station. We had some communication difficulties, so I wasn’t sure exactly where I was meeting them and we almost didn’t meet up. Again, fate was on my side and I found them about 20 minutes later and we were on our way!

After a short subway ride and a slow, crowded bus ride we were in the mountains and could see glimpses of the beautiful view through the trees – a preview of the day ahead. We arrived at the small town on top of the mountain and walked to Elisabeth’s aunt’s restaurant. On the way, we passed her second cousin’s restaurant and stopped in to say hi! We got to her aunt’s and were welcomed with open arms. Her aunts gushed over us and sat us down, and then the food started coming.

There were so many dishes I really can’t remember them all. We had a bacon-type meat that we grilled on a table-top grill, balanced out with veggie side-dishes. Since Paige is vegetarian, they made a special potato pancake type thing and gave us raw tofu, which was really good with kimchee. There were mushrooms and potatoes to grill, gim (dried seaweed) and dumplings that were to die for. And of course, rice to top it all off. We ate until we couldn’t move, and then we ate some more haha. Her aunts brought out a big plate of watermelon and peaches, and of course we couldn’t resist.

After we had digested a bit, we decided to wander around and check out the temples in the area. We got to a temple close to the restaurant and we started peeking in the windows, wondering if we could go in or not. At this point there was nobody around… probably the first time that’s happened to me in Korea.

An old man appeared and motioned for us to go in the temple. So we all took off our shoes, went in and the old man started lighting all the candles. We were completely in awe… here we were in this beautiful place and we didn’t know if we were allowed take pictures or even talk. The old man eventually left and we sat on mats on the floor, taking it all in.

After a while we left and did some more exploring. We climbed up to a wall that goes all the way around the top part of the mountain. Apparently when the Japanese invaded Korea, many Koreans fled to the mountain and the wall was made as protection (which we were a bit confused about as it’s not very tall).

The view from the wall was breathtaking. There were layers upon layers of mountains in the distance, and we had a perfect view of Seoul, nestled between them. It was amazing and refreshing to see that not all of Korea is a concrete jungle and relieved to find that there are places to go to “get away from it all”. We sat on the wall for a while, until someone told us to get down (actually what they said was “danger danger!”). Then we made our way along the wall down a more popular trail back to the town.

me at the wall... lots more pictures to come!

Next we stopped in at Elisabeth’s uncle’s restaurant (yes, the third family restaurant in the town). They kept trying to feed us but we had to refuse because we were still so full. They told us we had to come back the next day to eat. We sat down for a drink and Elisabeth’s friend Dahee came and sat down with us.

It turns out that Dahee spent several years in NYC and speaks excellent English. She offered to drive us home, so we went to say goodbye to Elisabeth’s aunts at the other restaurant. After many pats and compliments we left in Dahee’s white Tuscan. It took about half an hour to get to my part of town and we stopped for a treat at a coffee shop near my house. We questioned Dahee about everything from tanning to plastic surgery and made plans for the year ahead, including a trip to Everland!

Overall, the day was just what I needed. Fresh air, trees, open sky and great company. It was also so heart-warming to see how close Elisabeth’s family is and the hospitality they showed us. We’re already planning to go back in a few weekends and I can see myself spending a lot of time there with my Seoul sisters :)!

the doors are on your left.

One thing that I discovered very quickly (thanks to some fellow teachers :)) is Gangnam station. This underground paradise is not merely a subway station. It is a shopping haven for pretty much any female under 40. I try not to go in when I’m feeling poor, but since I just got paid…. lets just say I spent a lot of money in a short amount of time. There are stores of every kind to make girls drool. From make-up to shoes to hair do-dads and cell phone trinkets and clothes, clothes and more clothes. I recently read that Gangnam station is up there for most expensive shopping destinations, but a smart shopper can find all kinds of outfits for under $10.

Did I mention that it’s also a subway station? The subway system is Seoul is world class. It’s clean, fast and definitely more efficient than sitting in the horrendous traffic at street level. It can get extremely packed, but I’ve never been so jammed that I couldn’t move… like I have on some other city’s subways.

My two favourite things about the subways are the songs and T-money. There are two totally awesome songs – one plays at the station to let you know that a train is approaching, the other plays on the train when you are approaching a transfer station. To hear these wonderful ditties (and get them stuck in your head all day), watch the video below.

 

 

Another fabulous Korean invention is the T-money card. At first I thought it was a simple card that you swipe to get onto the subway, but it’s so much more than that. You use T-money to get on the bus, you can pay for a taxi with it, pay for groceries and use it at stores at the station and I’m sure there are more uses that I haven’t even discovered yet! Basically, as long as there’s money on it, it’s all you need! No more cash or debit cards… it’s all about T-money.

Another feature about these cards, and about the subway itself is that you don’t just pay a set fee. You swipe your card to get onto the platform and when you leave the station. Apparently it calculates the distance you’ve gone and you pay accordingly. It’s 900 won (90 cents) to get on the subway, and then depending on how far you go, you could pay an extra 0-500 won to get off.

So it’s cheap, fast and fun, but there are a few downsides to the subway. It’s surprisingly only open until midnight or earlier. This is probably intentional, as Koreans are big drinkers and it might cause some problems to have the subways open after everyone’s had a few too many soju. I’ve also experienced a couple crazies on the subway. Nothing scary, mostly just pushy old ladies preaching about Jesus.

So the bottom line is getting around in Seoul is easy-peasy and it’s definitely one perk that I missed while living in a small town.

random act of kindness

I am so excited that two of my best friends from teacher’s college are in Seoul right now! What are the chances? Unfortunately, we all live at opposite ends of the city. I’ve been able to meet up with Shannon a few times and with Paige several times but we never seem to be able to all meet up together. Not having phones is brutal.

On my second get-together with Paige, we decided to meet up in Itaewon, an area where a lot of foreigners can be found. It’s about half way between us and it’s a good place to meet new people, so we thought why not? I asked my fellow teachers what the best way to get there was, and they said the bus is quicker than the subway, since there are so many transfers on the way. I was a little bit wary because so far I had only taken the subway and taxis. So fine, I got the directions to the bus stop and found out which bus to take. I didn’t ask which stop to get off at because I figured it would just stop at Itaewon station. Wrong. I would have never found the right stop if it hadn’t been for a girl who heard me ask the bus driver if the bus went to Itaewon.

She said (in perfect English) “excuse me, are you going to Itaewon?”

Me: “yeah…”

Girl “you need to get off here.”

Me: “oh really!?”

Girl: “yep, it’s a short walk from here. I’m going there too, I can walk you. So where are you from?…”

We talked the 10 minutes to where I was meeting up with Paige and said goodbye. That simple, short convo made my day. It was so heart-warming to have someone be so kind… especially in Korea where I find Koreans will barely look me in the eye, let alone say hello.

Since then, I’ve often wondered what would have happened if I hadn’t met this girl and had just stayed on the bus. I probably would have eventually realized I had gone too far and decided I was too late to meet up with the girls and just gone home. I doubt I would have met up with Paige and friends for a pleasant evening of white wine and bar hopping.

I’ve experienced so many helpful people during my time here. Usually when I am speaking to Korean people and they don’t speak much English they will still do whatever they can to get the message across.

Hooray for random acts of kindness!

so true!

a bit of this, a bit of that

As most of you know, I’m currently living in South Korea teaching kindergarten/ESL. This post will tell you a bit about how I came to be here and a bit about my favourite Korean food so far.

Last year I attended teacher’s college in Ontario and heard stories from various friends about their awesome experiences in Korea. After toying with the idea for a while, I started asking around about people’s experiences in Korea. Everybody I talked to only had amazing things to say and I was shocked by how many people know someone who lives or has lived here.

If we back up a few years, I would have told a completely different story. I went to UofO for a degree in “Second Language Teaching”. During my undergrad, my classmates were headed in two distinct directions: teaching French in Ontario schools or teaching English in Asia. My head was always set towards the first option and I had no intention whatsoever of teaching English – abroad or elsewhere. So many people suggested it to me but I could just never picture myself here. Well, times change, people change and job markets change, so I ended up here… loving life in Korea so much that I decided to blog about it :).

A bit about Kimbab: 

Disclaimer! I don’t claim to be an expert on anything Korean thus far. I’ve only been here for 3 weeks, so I have a lot of learning to do. However there is one Korean dish I have become very acquainted with.

Kimbab is a delicious Sushi-type dish that is cheap, fresh, fast and readily available anywhere in South Korea (well.. in Seoul at least). It’s made with a piece of seaweed (gim), layered with rice (bab/pap) and a bunch of random bits of food and made into a roll.

mmmmmm... Kimbab

The difference between Kimbab and Sushi is that Kimbab has a medley of fillings whereas sushi usually has mainly fish. Also, the seaweed that it’s wrapped with has a milder flavor than the Japanese kind. It’s the perfect size for a meal or big snack… I usually opt for it when I don’t want a big meal. Kimbab can range from 1,500 to 3,500 Won ($1.50 – $3.50) and if you eat in the restaurant, the Kimbab will come with a soup, Kimchee (spicy cabbage) and Danmuji (pickled radish). The first time I was served these side dishes I purposefully avoided the slippery yellow radish, but now they’re practically a treat for me.

slimy but delish 🙂

I love a lot of different kinds of food but I find my favourite meals are ones that are bits of everything. I love combining the different flavors (yes, I’m one of those people that mixes everything on their plate at Thanksgiving) and textures. So, Kimbab is pretty much the perfect meal for me. It’s also an awesome alternative to American fast food, and it’s just as fast and cheap.

I was pretty relieved that I like the food here, because I heard that most of the food is pretty spicy (which I can’t handle!). It’s so much easier to adapt to the culture when you like the food and are willing to try new dishes. So here’s to lots of rice, Kimbab and new tastes over the next year :)!!

to blog or not to blog?

To blog or not to blog?

I have flirted with the thought of starting a blog for ages. I’m 23, living in South Korea teaching English… let’s just say life can get pretty interesting. Plus I can give a cultural perspective to those back home who have yet to venture this side of the Pacific. So why not blog?

I don’t think of myself as a good writer… even though I did work as a student reporter for two summers. So, if I do get this up and running, I apologize in advance to all those Journalism/English students who are internally criticizing my use of the ‘dot dot dot’ twice already in this post… and run-on sentences. But for those of you who can excuse some grammatical faux-pas, I think this could be the start of something neat.

The most positive thing I can see to blogging is the communication aspect. Living abroad, I spend countless hours sending e-mails to friends and family that all contain pretty much the same information (OK, so Grandma doesn’t get ALL the details, but otherwise I’m pretty open) in order to keep them up to date. It occurred to me that if I update a blog regularly, I may not need to rewrite the same info to everyone, and it could save me some valuable time. Also, I have a horrible habit of losing touch with people, and this provides me the opportunity to let them know what I’m up to and hopefully they’ll do the same in return!

What makes me nervous about blogging is that there’s a lot of creepers out there… so I figure the more you put yourself “out there” on the web, the more accessible you are. Those who have me on facebook may be slightly critical of this last argument. I admit, I am a facebook addict and I have put a good chunk of my life on this social network. I do worry about that fact and, sadly, the best argument I have against it is “everyone else is doing it”!!

I do have a lot to share and I would really love a more efficient way to keep in touch with friends. I also love reading other people’s blogs, such as the lovely nuts at inanutshell.ca and the insightful nomad of nomadicramblings.wordpress.com. I sincerely hope that I can share this enjoyment with anyone who may be reading this.

I’m sure that by now you may be wondering what the point of this particular post is, since I obviously have started this blog. I find that I can organize and articulate my thoughts much better when they are written down, and I just wanted the readers (if I get any!) to know where I’m coming from and what my motives are.

I doubt there is going to be any kind of focus to my posts, but if I had to classify it, I would call it a travel blog. I intend to share with you any shenanigans I get up to over here and hopefully be a source for Korean culture; from Kimbab to K-Pop :)!

Happy reading!

-G