Working in Korea has been fun in other ways too. When we had the company ceremony for closing the work of 2007 in the dining hall at Seoul HQ, we toasted with beer! Of course this was not a beer guzzling affair, it was about the gesture. Beer drinking on company premises was strictly verboten at my company in the US. The next day of work, the opening work day of 2008, they hired a Korean comedy show writer to give a speech. I sat all the way in the back row but with my being the only foreigner, my height and distinctive hairless-do, I was an obvious target. I couldn't understand much but it was hilarious anyway. Everyone laughed, including me, and all had a memorable time.
As a foreigner, I find I'm alternatively put on a pedestal or treated with skepticism and mistrust. Generally, I'm treated very well and many restaurants, bars and such love when I show up to add a bit of international color to their establishment. For example, when I joined a small health club in my apartment complex this weekend, the proprietor spent the whole time with me as my personal trainer. And he's already got my workout schedule going forward planned out for me. The funny thing was his English is about as bad as my Korean! But when it comes to bank accounts, cell phones and credit cards, I'm assumed a high risk pain in the ass. This problem is a definite business opportunity as the Korean government is very much wooing foreign investors and businesses to target areas such as Songdo 송도. And to set-up shop, foreigners need these basic services. For the record, I now have a bank account, cell phone and should have my credit card in about a week. But the cell phone and credit card did not come easily and required intervention by my company to establish.
Now that I've been here more than one month, I'm starting to appreciate some of the challenges of living here. Because I love Korean food, that aspect has not been difficult. But coming from the San Francisco Bay Area where I was spoiled by high quality, relatively low price coffee, beer and bread. I have not been able to duplicate those items here in Korea.
Coffee: Starbucks seems to be the only game in town for the full bodied espresso coffee I like to drink. And that goes for about $25/pound in Seoul so I've settled for lesser quality McNulty espresso for about $10/pound. And we have no Starbucks in Incheon anyways. Many Koreans prefer getting coffee at a large cafe chain called "The Coffee Bean", which I presume is because the coffee served is not as strong and bitter as what is served at Starbucks. The amazing thing to me about going out for fresh brewed espresso style coffee after a meal in Korea is that coffee will cost nearly as much as the meal. That said, most restaurants will serve you instant coffee loaded with creamer and sugar for free.
Beer: If I had to wager, I'd think most Koreans prefer lager to ale. I have found no ales. Hite has a brand called "Black Beer" which is malty and dark. It's maybe kind of like Negra Modelo and okay for my taste. A bar that serves cheap beer in Inchwon will run about $3.50 per pint. Typical price for beer in a bar is more like $5-6. Soju on the other hand is very affordable and excellent quality.
Bread: I'm not a huge bread eater but the omnipresent chain western style bakeries do not have bread that interests me. Their breads do not have the high gluten content I prefer and tend to be made with bleached flour. They have a crumbly texture. I finally found a relatively dense, whole wheat bread that I like at HomeEver called 호밀. And it's only about $1 per loaf.
I still have not found oats or oatmeal though... there are numerous grains in the Korean diet including barley, various types of rice, wheat and others I don't know yet, but oat is not one of them. I found pre-made granola at both E-mart and Costco but they are pricey and not my preference. I want to make my own granola but need to find oats...
Surprisingly, wine is not a problem. Wine is imported here from around the world and I saw a selection of $7 South African red wines I may try. I don't recall seeing South African wine back in the Bay Area. Most wine here seems to come from Australia and France. There's also California wine, Chilean and Argentinian. California wines go for about twice as much here. Earlier this week, I found a bottle of French Merlot at E-Mart for about $4... and it was good. Surprisingly absent are Chinese wines which I found to be pretty good when I visited China last May. Maybe this is another business opportunity...
I am a big fan of what may best be called as unusual music. I get bored listening to music very quickly and like variety and non-standard approach to songwriting. Pop music usually bores me very quickly. The music I've encountered on TV and on my coworkers car stereos is quite varied. Most Korean pop sounds like the same stuff you hear in the states and in all the same genres. One of the funniest things I saw on TV was a Korean boy band doing a choreographed Boys2Men style R&B ballad performed with big grins. Not my style but corny and funny nonetheless. Some Korean pop music sounds a lot like the "banda" music of Mexico with accordions and an old world European aspect to it. There's serious art music on network TV on a routine basis in additional to classical music performances. I have heard abrasive jazz, punk, metal or noise music yet though. As I've stated before on this blog, Korean broadcast TV is probably more interesting than what's available in the US. I about lost my mind trying to understand what was happening while watching Fellini's Satyricon in Italian with Korean subtitles.
I have logged on to my favorite radio station, KALX, and enjoy listening to them on the web in the morning as I prepare for work. They stream MP3s and other formats.
Here's a photo of me and a couple coworkers goofing around in one of the cool photo booth businesses in Incheon 인천. You select a backdrop, costume accessories and graphics to go with your photos.
1 comment:
very interesting - Jay
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