Kimchi. It’s the pride of Korea, the staple of their diet, and the blood running through their veins. There’s even a museum in COEX dedicated solely to the pickled cabbage.
I didn’t take a whole lot of pics because, well, as interesting as everything was I wasn’t inspired very much to take many. I did run accross these.
I saw this doll with hands soaked with Kimchi juice and immediately thought it might be fun to get a close shot showing just her hands and a further shot showing was she was doing. In the close shot I leave it up to the viewer to create a story of what she’s doing and thinking =)
The full-sized dolls were kind enough to feed me …
And here’s me and Eunhee/은희 at the end of the walking tour:
Well, that’s it. Now I can say I’ve been to the Kimchi museum.
I went to meet commenter and SNU sophomore HyeonSoo Kang for lunch and took this picture when I arrived at the SNU gate:
We went to a cafe and both ordered a different kind of mixed rice bowl (비빔밥). The one I had was incredibly good. Here’s a picture of us with our food:
After we finished lunch we went our own ways. Since one rooms don’t have dryers, I went ahead and bought a rack on the way home for drying clothes so I could do my laundry. Along with that I got some detergent and ant-killer food poison (stinking ants!!).
Since I already tried eating at 김밥마을 I decided to go to 김밥천국 and got some Cheese Kimbap for dinner. Like 김밥마을, the price was great and the food well worth the price. For my first course of desert I tried a cream sandwich thing at a quick bakery (1,000원) which was AWESOME. Wow, that really made me want to try all the other things they have. I’ve been wanting to try some ice cream also (despite being freezing-your-nickers-off cold) and because of the coldness most places are having a 50% sale. I bought two and tried one today(참붕어 싸만코) which was REALLY good. Without any discount it would have been 1,500원 so I’m glad I got it today =) I’m looking forward to try the other one tomorrow!
I’ve got more pictures and my adventure in Insadong from yesterday that I’ll work on and try to post today
I headed to the SNU station to meet the other students going to the new SNU student party (모꼬지). We took the 5511 bus to the SNU gate and walked to a building where we were split into teams. There were two new students assigned to each group as helpers who guided us to different places where we played games.
Whenever we were waiting for another group to finish to go in, we played one of many different games. Each game involved some sort of rhythm (usually hitting the desk and clapping, snapping your finger, etc.) and repeated phrase.
The first one, which is the one I am the worst at and have never succeeded in, was the Name Game. The first round you go around and everyone says there name. Then, someone starts and says there name (나는 모모모). After that the person sitting next to them says I’m so-and-so sitting next to so-and-so (모모모 옆에 모모모). Each person adds the previous person onto the list (I’m next to … who is next to … who is … and so on). I had to play the foreigner card since remembering names (especially many Korean names at the same time) is very hard for me and just say pass ㅜㅜ.
The next game was called Strawberry. There are 7 phases where each person says the number of strawberries as the phrase number and does a little thing with their shoulders and head if the number is over like 3.
Another game, which I’ve played before, was 007 Bang! (공공칠방!). This is a silent game, if anyone says anything or even shows their teeth they have to be punished. In all of these games, the loser has to go to the center of the circle and be used kind of like a drum by everyone hitting their hands on the person’s back. The first person draws a square with two fingers and points at someone (which means the first 0). The next person points at another person (the next 0), the next at someone else (the 7), and the last person points at someone (the bang). The two people immediately next to that person have to put their hands up in the air. The last person then repeats the process. The person who’s it an point at themselves as many times as they want (until bang, after which they would still be it).
There was also a game I had already played called Baskin Robbins 31. The first person starts at 1 and an say 1, 1-2, or 1-2-3. Each person after him must start at the next number of the previous person and say one, two, or three numbers. Whoever ends up with 31 loses. We also did a slight variant where you couldn’t say the same number of numbers as the previous person (if they said 5-6, you had to say 7 or 7-8-9).
The last game we played was a pointing game. I’m not sure what it’s called, but I called it Assa (아싸) because that’s the only thing you say throughout the game. The first person says assa and points to one person and another person. After the next beat (keeping the beat is important to keep the game fast) the chosen people must say assa and point to one person each. The process repeats until one person is pointed at by both people who are ‘it’. When that happens everyone has to raise their hands and do a serious of motions before that person starts the process again.
The first actual game we played to get graded on (for fun) was a math game. Each of these graded games was in a different building on campus so we had to walk around to get to each one. For the first phase of the math game, they put blank spots where there would be number in an equation (except for the number after the equals sign) and math symbols between the spaces (plus, minus, divide, and multiply). Our group was divided into five groups, one for each blank space. In order we had to each say a number to try to make an equation that equaled the number up there. One of them was like: _ + _ * _ + (_ – _) = 2. The next round it was switched up so we had to create an equation that equaled the correct number using the blank spaces for the math symbols. One was like 81 _ 27 _ 2 _ 3 _ 2 = 2. We only got two right which would have given us a C, but my teammate (창기/Chang-gi) went to the front of the room and did a little dance so they gave us a B.
The next official game was one where we had to use chopsticks to move beans, a mandarin orange, and one of two bottle caps from one pan to another. The two bottle caps had either a plus or a minus. Which one you got would add or subtract to your points (based on the number of beans and the orange). Our team got the cap with a huge bonus so we got an A.
Next we had a texting race. Something like four or five people had to type the Korean national anthem and text it to the judges one at a time. We didn’t make it in time, but our helpers pleaded and did a little dance so we got a C+.
Another game we did fairly well was the hacky sack (with an empty milk carton). I was volunteered to stand in the middle of the circle to make sure the carton never just fell in the middle. We got an A of course =).
The last event we made it to before dinner was a tongue twister context. Five people in a row would read the same tongue twister after which someone would pick a new one and repeated. We got some extra time since I was in the group and one of our team members was super fast so we got an A+.
After everything was finished and after eating dinner, we went to an on-campus pub to play some more games (but didn’t drink yet). We used punishments written on paper which the loser had to pick. When I lost, I had to go ask a senior (선배) for his/her phone number which I gladly did. It was WAY loud in there, I often had a really hard time hearing the other people. We had a campus quiz game where all the teams competed and answered questions about campus. One question required one person from each group to go to the front and we had to vote on who we thought was the youngest. My group sent me up, though everyone pretty much already knew my age. At the end, the seniors sang and danced for us:
The last activity before the optional 짐질방 (bath house) was drinking and playing more of the same games at a local bar in 녹두 (Nokdu) which is right by where I live. It was pretty fun, our table ordered Lemon Soju and 떡볶이 (spicy rice cake) of which both were exceptionally tasty. Here are some more games we played (names may not be right, these are just what I call them):
Shoulders: You can shrug each should one, two or three times. If once, the person next to you in that direction has to start again. If twice, the second person over has to start. You can do right then left which passes it on to yourself.
Multiply: Point at someone and say two numbers, the person must yell the result of multiplying the two numbers together and then point at another person and give two numbers. I think each number must be between 0 and 9. It can get really fun when two people keep pointing at each other.
Seven: You have to count starting at one going person by person. Anyone who would say a number with seven must clap after which the direction changes and the previous person says the next number.
Shock: The person who’s it can point at someone and say shock after which them and the people to the right and left must through their hands in the air or you an point up and say shock after which everyone must do the same thing. If you do the first one the person who’s pointed at is it and you’re still it after the second one.
Bbang (the two b’s are not an error): Similar to shock, but you can point at someone and say 호빵 after which they must through their hands in the air and say 빵, say 질빵 (spellings may be wrong) after which the two people next to that person must do the same thing, or 대빵 after which everyone must do it.
Point: This is another one I’ve done before. The main person calls out a number and everyone points at someone. You start counting from the main person and follow who they point it (it’s really fun when someone points at each other). The last person loses.
Yeah, I learned a LOT of games today =). It was way fun and I met a lot of really nice people; if you’re in Korea and will be going to SNU then consider coming to the 3rd party. The Daum Cafe for more info is SNU-10.
Today I spent some more time just walking around getting accustomed to 대학동 / 신림9동. I finally found a big super market here. I’ve been looking all over for one. The stores that say 슈퍼 are more often than not really small food stores. There fine to stop at to get something small, but there’s not always a big variety. This one is called 대성마트 and is located close to where 신림로 meets 호암길 if anyone needs to know (I know I’ve got some readers who are coming this direction so you might be interested).
I stopped by Lotteria (롯데리아) for lunch and got their special 불새버거 (Bulgogi and Shrimp burger) combo which was pretty good. I liked the bulgogi half of it so that’s what I would probably get if I go back.
I also walked from my place down to the end of 대학동 where the mountain trail starts and got a great view of the city (I’ll go back and take pics when it’s less foggy). I met a Korean there who talked to me for a super long time about the three kingdoms and China and Japan’s history in regards to Korea. I understood probably less than half of what he said since I’m used to much more ‘normal’ conversations. On my way back down I walked by this sign and giggled a little inside:
For those that don’t know what a dike is, search for it in an online slang dictionary. I have NO earthly reason why they wrote DIKE instead of DK. The actual Korean is pronounced as what English speakers would say reading ‘DK’.
I also got my T-money card today (mine looks exactly like the blue and black card above). It seems pretty cool and easy to use. You just bump it to the sensor when you get on and off the bus or subway. I highly recommend you get one of these cards (T-money or Ucard seems to be the most popular). By using one of these electronic cards you gate a 100원 discount on the base price and free transfers for like 30 minutes or an hour. There doesn’t seem to be a big difference between the two types of cards. From my research the only difference seems to be that the T-money card can be used for non-transportation purchases at stores like GS25. From what I can tell, T-money has become more popular and is more broadly used. The card costs 2,500원 or 5,000원 if you want to buy a little accessory with the T-money chip inside. You can recharge your T-money card at any subway station pretty easily.
I’ve been trying out some more really good food as well. I got some 호떡 (balls instead of the pancake-like one), 붕어빵 (4 for 1,000원!), barbecue (on a stick), and spicy 오뎅 (again on a stick). I got some 딸기맛우유 (strawberry milk), but I think the banana one is better.
Tomorrow I’ll go into the SNU office of international studies and hopefully make it to the immigration office to apply for my foreigner card before going to the new SNU student party which will take the whole day.
After making a quick and dirty video of my apartment (see last post) I decided to go to SNU to see the campus. I decided to go the long route so I walked east to a big road after which I followed it up to the main road which leads to the SNU gate. I also wanted to see how long it would take to get to SNU, which didn’t turn out to be that long. I stopped at 김밥마을 to have lunch. 김밥 was only 1,500원 and came with 김치 and a miso-like soup. It was a pretty darn good meal for ~$1.50.
On my way to SNU I remembered that I needed to get some adapters for my US electronics. I stopped by one little but they didn’t have them. One of the workers told me to go over to 리빙& 홈 to get the plugs. I went there and low and behold they had the little buggers for only 300원 each, not too shabby.
It took me about 30 minutes to walk from my place to campus, which isn’t too bad. I tried going to the 농협은행 but they were closed (I knew they would be, but I wanted to find it anyway). I also got a map of the SNU campus which should prove useful in the future. There seems like there’s some nice little cafes on campus, so you should be able to find something to suit your fancy wherever you are.
One of the interesting places I went to was the library. Before walking in, you can swipe your SNU card and reserve a place to study. I’m sure that’s a useful feature, the library seems like it’s used a LOT. Well, I walked in the first floor and convinced the worker to let me in (you have to swipe your SNU card, which I didn’t have). I was expecting to see books, but I walked around all three floors and all that was there were places to study and lockers. I asked a student passing by where I could find the books and he explained I had to exit the third floor and go up to the fourth floor which I did.
After looking around the library I also walked around the Student Center. There’s a bunch of stores and floors where school club rooms are located. That’s pretty cool how each club gets it’s own room. Anyways, there’s a bookstore, stationary store, SNU souvenir shop, etc. Most of the regular school places where closed since it’s a Saturday.
After going further down south to see the engineering building I’ll be having most of my classes in, I noticed a bunch of people walking by with hiking poles and shoes. Curious to see where they came from I started to walk to the most southern part of campus. I found out that there was a trail which went back to 불성사 (a Buddhist temple) and a marvelous view. I asked a passerby how to use the machine to get coffee since I never used a coffee-dispensing machine before (and felt so stupid afterwards. Yes, all vending machines are the same. Put in the money, choose product, enjoy). He was a really nice guy and invited me to join him and his friend to hike to the other side of the mountain. I accepted and we were on our way. We stopped a little bit further to eat some 떡 (rice cake) and home-made 호박죽 (pumpkin porridge, which was really good). While we were sitting there I decided to take this set of pics and merge them into a panorama.
The city you see down there is located in 동안구. We arrived at the bottom at 5 PM, them having left at 10AM and me having left at 12PM. I walked all the way from my apartment to SNU and up and down the mountain to 동안구 which is pretty stinking far. At the bottom we stopped by a little restaurant and ordered some food (해물파전 and 김치찌개, both excellent):
That was the first time I ever tried 막걸리 (Korean rice wine) and I’ve got to say, it might be my favorite alcohol beverage so far. I generally hate most drinks, but there’s something about this one that just let me drink at least a whole bottle. I was SO lucky to run into these people, they totally made my day memorable and fun. I was definitely tipsy afterwards, but we all managed to get home safe. We took line 4 and I transferred to line 2 and got off at 서울대학교입구역. I could have taken a bus back to 신림9동, but I decided it would be cool to just walk and look at all the stores and things on the way. Plus I was curious how long it would take to travel between my house and the station. Walking at a slow pace it took about an hour.
