Day 4 - Adventures in Seoul

Sunday, three of us rode a series of two buses to Seoul to meet the fourth member of our group, who had gone home for the night.  By good luck, on the bus, one of our group met a young woman who was Korean, but had attended school in San Diego, California.  While she was waiting to meet her friend, she kindly led us on a tiny tour of Seoul.  Eventually, our little group wandered underground and through a street food vender alley, then we met her friend for lunch at this restaurant.

Our motley crew :

Interestingly, it was situated on the second floor, and we had an excellent view of the street below.  We caught sight of one unfortunate-looking girl who had a job of holding a sign outside of a glasses shop, somewhat like the guys who hold sandwich boards or giant arrows back in the States.  You know, the ones who stand on street corners, waving their advertisements?  I always thought that was a pretty awful job, standing in the hot sun all day, trying to convince people to come to your store (but a job nonetheless!).  She wore a purple cat mask, and we're still not agreed on why.

After the meal, we bid farewell to the friends and stopped by the somewhat famous Cat Cafe.  You purchase a drink, and you're allowed to sit and play with the cats for as long as you like.  The cats seemed overstimulated to me, though, and often refused to be touched.  I was impressed that no one got scratched, however.  None of the cats looked to be declawed, and they only patted your hand gently if they wanted you to stop petting.  No cat I knew was ever that docile....

You're required to remove your shoes and wear slippers inside.  There were cats everywhere!

We moved on to the shopping area around a train station.  Funny enough, we passed a dancing "cat" advertising the same Cat Cafe we had just left!  I suppose they were short on business that day or something, but good heavens, that suit must have been torture in the heat and humidity...

Scratch what I said earlier about the girl in the cat mask.  This looks like an even worse job.

Next, we spotted something amazing: a giant IPad in the street.  Of course, it was in Korean and we couldn't read it, but there was a Google Map available.  How incredibly helpful!

Wow, can you imagine one of these in NYC?  It'd be mobbed by tourists!  Wait...

Soon, however, we heard something even more amazing.  Someone was playing the drums and piano on the street to the tune of Coldplay's Yellow.  We stood in front of them to watch the magic, and as he began to sing, music swept across the sidewalk and stopped pedestrians in their tracks.

We got a front row spot to experience this pair's talent...

By the middle of the song, a crowd had formed.

What a way to earn a living!

In that moment, I felt like we were in a movie, an adventure one with minimal drama and a happy ending.  There was music, my friends and I were exploring the vibrant city of Seoul and the crowd seemed silent, in total awe of these incredible people.  Her drums were impeccable, his piano wandering through the rhythm in a familiar tune.  Although his voice wasn't quite like the Coldplay singer's, there was a strength that lent itself well to the song.  And as the music ended, the thunderous applause drowned out the surrounding traffic.  We quietly left to continue our journey, but I think those few minutes will remain with me for a long time.

For the remainder of the afternoon, we shopped and called our resident translator from a pay phone.  Luckily, our mistaken train stop wasn't too far off, and after a few dropped calls, we managed to meet up.  I'd like to note now that Seoul, day or night, is very crowded.  It's the largest city in South Korea, with about 60% of the South Korean population either residing in Seoul or in the surrounding area, and truly colorful.  The really amazing part is that I don't think I've heard a single car honk in Seoul.  Check out why I find this pretty special:

Considering the amount of street space, there's probably a car behind me...

After a little more walking through the crowded streets and dodging cars (people walk in the streets, parting like the Red Sea for the occasional brave driver), we stopped by a noodle place for dinner.  This fascinating contraption was in front of the restaurant:

Unfortunately, it's not visible in the picture, but the chopsticks rotated in a circle, supported by a hidden stick in the bowl.  I stared for a good 5 minutes before I figured it out.

In Korea, food is typically served with side dishes.  In this case:

Onions (left), kimchi (back) and pickled daikon (front).

After a little more wandering, it was time to board the bus again.  We had work tomorrow!

Postscript:  That's how busy we've been; I meant to post this on Monday!  Sunday night was out of the question, since most of us fell asleep on the bus and then knocked out as soon as we got back to our dorm rooms.

Day 3 - Wandering Songdo

This morning, I woke up bright and early with my roommate to see the sun rising over some buildings amidst the soft clouds.

Foggy, but lovely!

We debated whether breakfast was served from 7:00-8:00am or from 8:00-9:00am and went down to the cafeteria early, just in case.  It turned out that I was wrong, but the women who ran the kitchen were kind enough to allow us to buy tickets and eat anyway.  Luckily for us, they forgave our lack of Korean and directed us to the trays and food.  Several embarrassed bows and "kamsamnida"s (thank you) later, we gratefully sat down to generous portions.

The mound of rice accompanies every meal, this time white rice mixed with black rice.  Not much of a distinguishing flavor, but there was a pleasant, hearty texture reminiscent of oatmeal.  The spicy beef broth included bean sprouts and daikon (white radish), very satisfying.  Soup accompanies each meal.  The brown, wheel-like objects at the top were lotus root slices cooked in soy sauce, a sweet-salty vegetable with a crunch.  My favorite item were the quail eggs cooked in soy sauce, however.  Hard-boiled and peeled, a thin, chewy white surrounds a rich, creamy yolk that takes up about 80% of the volume of the egg.  Artery-blocking, for sure, but absolutely delicious.  I was interested to find that in Korea, water is not served with the meal.  If you order a beverage in a restaurant, they will serve it during the food.  At the cafeteria and later, the food court, however, small steel cups are provided for the customer to sip hot or cold water after the meal.

Our next stop was to E-Mart, a sort of one-stop shop for both groceries and department store items, such as clothes and kitchenware.  Guided by a friendly instructor whom we had met the day before, all four of us picked up snacks and essential supplies, like laundry detergent.  Afterwards, the boys and our guide bought breakfasts from the food court.  An interesting (and quite beautiful) novelty was the displays of glass or plastic food.  Each was crafted to look exactly like a dish served at the food court.  I found it lovely and enticing, an investment that certainly, most food businesses in the US have neglected.  I have seen these mock dishes in the US before, but almost exclusively at Japanese restaurants and never at this scale.  Two full cases of beautiful, realistic dishes were on display, each case about 15 ft. long by 6 ft. high.

Top Left Photo courtesy of Rendy.

After a quick nap back at the dorm, one of the boys went home for the night while the rest of us visited Incheon's shops.  Taking the bus in a different language is an experience all itself.  With the stops announced in Korean, then English, we needed to keep an eye out for our stop.  Also, in Korea, the bus stops only go one way.  In order to return to SUNY Korea, we found another bus stop across the street and a little further down than the stop where we had gotten off.  Wandering around Songdo, a region in Incheon, we stumbled across...

A tank full of adorable, active, live squid!

Clothing stores with discount racks!

Finally, dinner!  Pasta cabonara (minus the bacon) up top,
fried potato wedges with peach salsa, and a dozen buffalo
chicken wings.  The yellow sauce is honey mustard.

A sweet woman wiped down the tank when she noticed I was taking a picture.  She knew a little English, we put together some broken Korean ("Anyeounghaseyo!" means "Hello!" or other greetings) and we managed to talk for a while.  We also managed to find several of the items on our shopping list and stumble across a small restaurant for dinner.  Luckily, one of the servers knew a little English.  The food was remarkably good.  The potatoes were crisp and hot, the peach salsa sweet and spicy.  At the end, we caught the bus back to our dorms, to prepare for another day!

Edit:  We also finally found our electrical adapters in a small hardware store.  They were inexpensive (~$3 or so each), but difficult to find.  For anyone visiting Korea or other countries, I would suggest trying to hunt down these adapters early in the trip.  I would have liked to have purchased an adapter or two in the U.S. before flying off to Korea.

Day 2 - Flight and Incheon

I love to fly.  It's not that I'm obsessed with being scanned, checked and crammed into tiny spaces with limited bathroom facilities.  My favorite moment of a flight is always the liftoff, followed by the descent.  In between, there are glimpses of the lands and seas below and the perpetual beds of fluffy, inviting clouds.

Floating somewhere over Canada...

Of course, one of the downsides of international flights is the meals.

Lunch #1: Unidentifiable vegetarian item with boiled fruit in the black tray,  surprisingly crisp
iceberg lettuce salad in the box, packaged bread and cookies and melted margarine.

Lunch #2: Mushy "chow mein" noodles, vegetables and dumplings
in the black tray,potato chips and raspberry shortbread.

But there are views of Alaska along the way!

The Alaskan summer is thought to be lovely, full of flowers and life.

And airports always have the most interesting architecture.

And toilets!  I think this is a Korean thing, but there are little spools of plastic the cover the toilet seat and move with the push of a button to clean the seat.

The button on the wall is to flush, and the red button
on the toilet is to change the plastic.  Handy!

In the Incheon Airport, there was a beautiful cactus display, with a cute sign.

After about 40 minutes on a bus to SUNY Korea...

Here we are!  It's proof that all four of us made it!

And a picture with our guide, a very kind person who met us at Incheon Airport and led us to our dormitories at SUNY Korea.

Here we are, in front of the cafeteria before dinner.

Speaking of dinner...

Soup, rice, imitation crab meat (mostly fish), bean sprouts and kimchi.
I regret to admit that kimchi may be an acquired taste.
I have not acquired a taste for kimchi.

The dinner was alright.  The food was well-prepared, but I hadn't quite adjusted to the time and wasn't quite hungry.  The soup was a warm broth of beef and daikon (white radish).  It was quite rich to my taste, since I don't really eat meat.  The rice was ordinary white rice, quite comforting to me since I grew up eating it with every dinner.  The bean sprouts were nutty and lightly cooked.  The red item on the left is the imitation crab meat, which was cooked in a sort of ketchup sauce.  The red item on the right is the kimchi.  

After a 10pm walk to the local Family Mart (a 7-11 equivalent) for toilet paper, snacks and a few other items, we returned to our rooms and promptly began remedying the 13+ hours of jet lag.  

Day 1 - SFO

I love the San Francisco International Airport.  There is food and art from various cultures, hallways full of museum exhibits and right now my favorite bonus, free internet.  This morning, security was quick and simple (helpful to check in early!) and the agents kind.  As I type, I sit nestled in a quiet, cozy little booth with electricity.  This trip has already start off well, and I can't wait to see what I find when I land in South Korea!

This post is only delayed due to some issues with my SD card...
Pretend it was posted yesterday morning :P

About There and Back Again

There and Back Again – A Student’s Tale

I’m a biomedical engineering student from the United States with a mechanical engineering minor (which leads to less sleep than I want to get), a passion for robotics (which leads to puttering about in various labs) and a love of food (which started this blog back here).  I was lucky enough to be chosen as an intern at POSCO, a major steel company in South Korea, for just under two months and will study abroad at POSTECH, the Pohang University of Science and Technology for two weeks for the summer of 2012.  This blog will document my experiences here, which will quite literally be once in a lifetime. 

Although my adventures in South Korea may not rival the danger a plucky little hobbit faced crossing the known world to help steal treasure from an infamous dragon, I hope to fully immerse myself in this opportunity that I never thought I would get.  I hope you’ll come along for the ride!