Week 4 - 새해 복 많이 받으세요!

My fourth week in Korea started off with a visit to the local 짐질방 jimchilbang. And it was a very nice 짐질방 indeed! 짐질방 at minimum is a community sauna or hot spring but usually they're much more. I've been to two including the one earlier this week and between them I've seen 짐질방 include a restaurant, exercise club, game room, massage therapy, TVs, live performance, haircutting, a floor to sleep on, and a cold room to sit in after the hot sauna. The one this week was special because they have giant ceramic huts of different temperatures as hot rooms. They look kind of like hobbit cabins with small doors you duck through to enter. The entire family comes, and on Sunday there were lots of kids having fun racing back and forth through the crowd. Boiled eggs are a traditional treat to eat in the jimjilbang, likely because in a natural 짐질방 the eggs would cook in the near boiling temperatures where the hot spring comes out of the earth while you bathe downstream where the water is cooler. I did not verify this on Naver or Wikipedia...

After 짐질방, my housemate and our coworker introduced me to a new favorite dish called 감자탕 Kamcha tang or "potato soup".

By chance, I ended up having this dish three times this week and each time it included lots of pork spinal bones and maybe one potato. As with many Korean dishes the meal is a process and includes a series of steps of adding things to the cooking basin in the center of the table. My favorite add-in are the potato noodles.

For Christmas Day, I went on a bike ride with the Director of Songdo KEMTI, Dr. 유. I took my folding bike on the subway to meet him. The day started off as an unusually warm and sunny. But by night fall, after many hours riding, my toes were frozen!

A very nice place we stopped to visit was 선유도 Seonyudo, which is on an island in the middle of the Han river. It is a water treatment facility converted into a park in 2002. Many of the old structures have been left to form walkways, waterfalls and garden beds. It is a popular place for teenagers to take photos of themselves dressed up as anime characters.


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After my second-ever meal of 감자탕 we went to Technomart to buy a cell phone for me. Purchasing a cell phone plan in Korea is not entirely straight-forward in Korea, even for Koreans. For foreigners, there are even more hurdles. Of the six different cell phone vendors I spoke with, all gave different requirements and plans available for me. I heard everything from "you are not eligible to buy phone service" to "you can get the plan you want". Of course I chose the plan I wanted, which is KTF.

A funny thing about my cell phone is that it supports video phone calls and has a built-in pinhole camera that transmits an image of your face. I have not seen anyone use this feature yet and I'm not sure if I have (or want) access.
I purchased a bluetooth headset to use with my phone so I can talk while riding on my bike more safely.

I have decided studying from Korean language textbooks is more effective than watching Korean TV. The books are better for me at this stage in building basic vocabulary and grammar. I remain impressed with the educational aspect of Korean TV and how even the biggest broadcasting companies compete with EBS for viewers interested in culture and language programming. I also enjoy watching Korean language cartoons like 아따맘마.

The unseasonably warm weather ended on New Years Eve and it was very cold. I went for dinner with my coworker 재혁 and we ate 해물탕 Haemul Tang (seafood soup), which was very delicious and different for me. It arrived as a large basin filled with very large shellfish of various species, some fish and a live octopus. The covered basin then cooked at your table. With this method you take no chances to ensure fresh octopus.

After dinner we went to a couple bars. Another one of our coworkers came to meet us and we toasted the new year with excellent 마고리 Makoli. 마고리 is a traditional rice wine and famous for giving those who drink it a headache the next day. Luckily, I was spared that particular problem and perhaps this is a sign for good luck in 2008! 새해 복 많이 받으세요!

Here are Korean language corrections from my earlier posts:
Not 이 면박, but 이 명박
Not 갈비당, but 갈비탕
Not 소주와 삽엽살, but 소주와 삼겹살
Not 진짜은 이어도가있어요, but 진짜이어도가 있어요
Not 고주창, but 고추장