西洋오랑캐

Last night Darrell and I went out to get something to eat. We were wandering about looking for a decent eatery, when some foreigner asked us if we knew where to get decent 비빔밥 (bi-bim-bab) which is a Korean dish of rice and vegetables in a hot sauce. It turns out he was an English teacher from Japan, who was in our land on vacation. Darrell and I using our powers of white for good, rather than evil, assisted him, and ate some chow with him, which was pretty decent. Afterwords we pointed him in the direction of the subway station and returned to our respected homesteads. I found 1,000 won on my way home. Added to the 5,000 I found several days back, I’m amassing quite a fortune here.

Today was all about moving in to my new homestead up in Shinchon. Therefore I purchased a desk, a chair, and a clothing rack deal. All of which came in at 100,000 won (less than $100). For that reason I’m all about the country. Oh yeah and there was free delivery. Totally awesome! Anyhow right now I’m sitting around waiting for the internet guy to arrive (this entry was originately typed in word pad. Thanks cut and paste!) and for my bed to get delivered. Once those two items arrive I can legitimately move into this house. Oh also I purchased kimchi today to keep in my house. I don’t have milk, but I have kimchi. What’s my deal?

Here in Korea there is a whole genre of programs I can only describe as “celebrities doing stupid shit.” They are game shows in which these celebrities compete against each other for…um attention I guess.

Of these shows, my all time favorite is 위험한초대, which one (me) could translate as “Dangerous Invitation.” This show features a pannel of Korean comedians / singers / “celebrities” (male) who converse with another celebrity (female). The four male celebrities have a word and an action attached to them. The men don’t know what these words are, but if the woman says the word or does the action, the men are subjected to torturous consequences. If the woman is to say one of the taboo words, a man will get sprayed in the face with a firehose (ie. Anytime the woman says the word “I” one of the men will get sprayed in the face with a fire hose). If the woman does a particular action (ie. touch her hair) water will pour from the ceiling onto the man’s head.

The dangerous words and actions are displayed on the bottom of the screen for those of us at home, but in the studio, the men and woman have no idea what will cause the water to start spraying. The show really becomes fun once the men have figured out what the words are and start tailoring their questions so she will use the dangerous words and get their buddies wet.

Anyhow later on, the poured water, or maybe it was the hose was replaced with an ejector seat that would dump the men into a swimming pool. It was insane to see these Korean celebrities flying threw the air into a swimming pool.

You may wonder, why would anybody do this crap, let alone TV stars and pop singers. The answer is this (at least in my opinion): There is no Korean Jay Leno, no Saturday Night Live, no Opera where Korean celebrities can go and pimp their latest work, so we are left with the celebrities making asses out of themselves and risking injury.

Anyhow, all in all 위험한초대 is a pretty rediculous show, and if you have an Korean market in your neighborhood I’d recommend checking it out.

Green Bread
Originally uploaded by wdunn.

This is not technically a Korean dish, but it was purchased here (and I am doubtful that it could be purchased anywhere else in the world). The photo was not altered in anyway, and that’s not mold. It’s just a bread they sell that happens to have a green slimey looking topping on it. It tasted surprisingly decent for something that looks like it does.

At first I thought it could have been some sort of bread produced using green tea (since that is a popular ingredient in baked goods here) but it tastes nothing like tea. For now green bread of Korea goes in my Unsolved Mysteries file.

Cast of Nonstop III

Nonstop is a Korean sitcom about college students. In someways it’s similar to Saved By The Bell, in someways similar to Friends, and in other ways like no other show I’ve ever seen.

I have a soft place in my heart for this show and it was the first Korean television show I ever saw. Back in America, I watched two episodes of this show in a Korean class after our final exam (the exam was in class and days before the end of the semester). Those two episodes were enough for me. I thought it was one of the funniest things I’d ever seen and started renting tapes of it from the Korean market near my house.

The plot of the show itself is kind of hard to explain. A group of students live together in a dormitory, rarely attend class, and have a lot of really insane adventures. Their college has one professor who often visits the dorm and is part of the students adventures. The adventures the kids have are pretty random as well. In one the kids might be going to a wedding, in another someone with end up with a job as a fashion model, or perhaps someone will battle gangsters without knowing how powerful they are.

Anyhow since I arrived in Korea, the cast I knew and loved…eh eh eh (see the above picture) was replaced with a new group of students. I haven’t really gotten into the new people that much, but perhaps they will grow on me.

OB 1600cc
Originally uploaded by wdunn.

There it is…1.6 liters of beer! Holy crap is this country out of control or what? Anyhow the beer itself isn’t that great, OB is the worst of the Korean brews I’ve sampled, but in a fucking 1.6 liter bottle you can’t really go wrong now can you?

Today I began teaching at Big Tree. I met my students, and they all seem really nice. I have a class of four 5th and 6th grade girls, who have already told the lady who works at the front desk that they are happy I am their teacher. Sophia has got some competition now. Anyhow I’m all about this new job, and look forward to my one hour of teaching that occurs tomorrow.