Apparently the beloved quiz show, Blockbusters, is coming back to the UK--there was a casting notice posted without much comment.
I know what you're thinking--why do you care so much about a show that's coming back to the UK? Well, it was originally an American game show with a rockin' theme song, but it didn't quite have the charm of the UK show. And I've been watching some of the episodes of the UK version on YouTube, and I'm hooked. Take a look:
It's a really innovative format--and the board never allows for a tie. Not to mention the host, Bob Holness, is fantastic--you can tell he's really enjoying himself, and he has great rapport with the rather awkward kids on his show. I think it could work if it comes back to the States, but a bit like the original UK run...don't you think?
(OK, so we can't replicate the awesomeness of this theme music, but...)
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Saturday, October 15, 2011
ICT: Battle Sweetfish: Michiba vs. Hanato
BATTLE DATA FILE
Japan Original Airdate: 6/10/94
Episode: 32
The Challenger: Katsumi Hanato, who began his apprenticeship at the age of 15. He is now under the wing of the infamous Toshiro Kandagawa, who defeated Iron Chef Chen Kenichi some four months earlier. Having practiced with over 40 different theme ingredients, he believes that defeating an Iron Chef is the top diploma as a professional. He wants to take down the mightiest Iron Chef of them all.
The Iron Chef: Iron Chef Japanese I, Rokusaburo Michiba, arguably the mightiest of them all. So far in this timeline, he's had two impressive wins...can he make it three in a row?
The Battle:
TV host Keiko Kohno joins Fukui and Hattori in the broadcast box for this match, making her first appearance.
Kaga is quite peeved by the fact that Toshiro Kandagawa "barged into my Stadium," as he puts it, after his minions defeated his Iron Chefs before, then marched into the Stadium himself anyway and blew Chen Kenichi out of the water--even after he vowed he would only do so if his men lost.
Kandagawa's designated hit man this time, Katsumi Hanato, desperately wants to take on Iron Chef Michiba--he's been preparing for this battle with over 40 possible different theme ingredients in rehearsal battles. Kaga speculates whether this is Kandagawa's plan to take down Michiba himself...
It's pretty obvious that they're using an applause track here, as the challenger's Royal Box is completely empty and applause can be heard. But no matter, Chairman Kaga enters...with a rather nasty scowl, might I add.
TV host Keiko Kohno joins Fukui and Hattori in the broadcast box for this match, making her first appearance.
Kaga is quite peeved by the fact that Toshiro Kandagawa "barged into my Stadium," as he puts it, after his minions defeated his Iron Chefs before, then marched into the Stadium himself anyway and blew Chen Kenichi out of the water--even after he vowed he would only do so if his men lost.
Kandagawa's designated hit man this time, Katsumi Hanato, desperately wants to take on Iron Chef Michiba--he's been preparing for this battle with over 40 possible different theme ingredients in rehearsal battles. Kaga speculates whether this is Kandagawa's plan to take down Michiba himself...
It's pretty obvious that they're using an applause track here, as the challenger's Royal Box is completely empty and applause can be heard. But no matter, Chairman Kaga enters...with a rather nasty scowl, might I add.
Kandagawa's right-hand man is led in by the man himself, a contingent of followers tailing him in.
"Each time you march in, the troops have grown," Kaga remarks.
"You look like you've been eating well, you look healthy!" Kandagawa replies. "You've got a glow." Whatever that means. Kaga definitely doesn't look pleased.
Nevertheless, he calls upon his Iron Chefs, and as if it's any surprise as to whom Hanato will choose..."MICHIBA! YOU'RE GOING DOWN!" he shouts. (I wonder if this was the battle to which Michiba was referring when he said he told the guy "Look, when a chef asks you to be impolite, it's OK to refuse...")
"I hear that the challenger prepared for this occasion for over 6 months. I wonder how effective this strategy was," Kaga says. "I'd like to tell his fortune as a chef with a particular fish. Its Chinese character can read 'a fish of prophecy.' Yes, that fish. It's in season right now."
Well, Kaga, what is it? You've lost the American viewers on this one...nevertheless, it's SWEETFISH...and Hanato looks very pleased. Michiba...well, we can never get a read on him.
And remember with sweetfish, heed the words of Rosanjin Kitaoji: "To enjoy sweetfish, go for the innards."
6 months of preparation may pay off in a matter of seconds when Kaga calls out the familiar call to battle: "ALLEZ CUISINE!"
Sweetfish, or ayu in Japanese, is similar to trout, according to Fukui's notes. Hattori says the ones they have today are half-and-half--half raised in fish farms, then released into the wild.
Michiba has innards, or uruka, written out on his menu, and a pot of kelp broth boiling away. Hanato, meanwhile, has some smaller anchovy-like fish in a pot...and it looks like Michiba has five...no, six items on his menu.
Hanato is breaking down some pumpkins as Ohta reports that he's working on five items. Michiba pours some soy sauce in a pot full of ayu, and just like that, 15 minutes are gone...Hanato is extracting the innards, which Hattori said is the key to sweetfish, so it's very important not to damage them. And Fukui supposes Hanato's being a bit of a general with his assistants...
Michiba, meanwhile, is frying some fish heads, and simmering and stewing some innards. Fukui has no idea where he's going with that, and Hanato's clean slice through the back of a fish gets an instant replay. Keeping the natural shape of the fish, apparently, is a matter of pride with Japanese chefs.
Michiba's pouring some beaten egg into the pot where the uruka (innards) are, and he looks like he's added some leeks to that. There's a lot of repeated commentary from Hattori regarding the innards being the best part of the fish...thank you, Captain Obvious! -_-
35% of the fish, according to Hattori, has to be thrown away. But Hanato will have none of that, as he's skewering whole fish through the right eye. Rule of thumb is that the fish must be facing the left side, if it's a river fish...Japanese cuisine philosophy and all that jazz. Hanato's salting that for the grill, and a thick layer is going onto the fins and tail (to prevent charring and to preserve shape).
Michiba is chopping the fried fish heads, and scooping out some rice...Fukui speculates that he'll combine the two in some way. Meanwhile, Hanato is slicing some fillets but not all the way through the skin (plowing through that, we might add). Hattori supposes some egg might go over the top of that...and we're already halfway through!
Michiba has somen noodles out on his side (one of his items on the menu), while Ohta gets an interview with Kandagawa. Of course, the big man thinks Hanato will win, giving him some brusque encouragement. Michiba's dipping the end of the noodles in hot water, gluing that part together. Then he boils the whole bundle (which will be stuck together), which can later be pulled apart.
Hanato has corn starch in a pot, while Michiba has the "stubborn rice" on his side (that's with the fish heads mixed in, while Hanato has his skewered fish going under the salamander oven, left side up.
One of Hanato's assistants has mixed egg yolks with...something sweetfish and wrapped it in plastic. Meantime, Michiba is making what appears to be onigiri (rice balls) with his stubborn rice...Hanato is pulling the skin off the fish fillets, and a sushi roller on his board.
20 minutes left, and Michiba is doing some deep frying of fish skins (harako, Michiba says--fish roe, so everyone's wrong.) Hanato, meanwhile, is boiling the eggs wrapped in plastic, but we still don't know where he's going with that. He's making kimi-zushi as well, which is essentially sushi but with vinegared egg yolk instead of rice. Kandagawa's now spying on Michiba! And all he has to say about that: "Interesting."
Michiba's stewed ayu is done, and he's pouring that out into a small pan. It's the only one of his that has the whole fish involved...
15 minutes left now, and Hanato has tofu paste along with some small pieces of ayu (camera's straining to get that in focus), and his steamer is open, but we have no clue as to where he's going with things. Sounds like an hors d'oeuvre, says Hattori. And Michiba's rice balls are under the salamander!
Speaking of which, they're applying a miso paste over Hanato's grilled fish. Hanato himself is beginning to pick up the pace a little bit--Kandagawa, usually the loudmouth in the Stadium, is oddly relegated to kind mediator between Hanato and his assistants!
5 minutes left, and Michiba's taken out his egg yolks with sweetfish.
"Hey, what do you guys think you're doing?!" Hanato shouts at his assistants. He's sounding just a *little* cross here...
The egg yolks wrapped in broth (and plastic) are in bowls, possibly a soup. Michiba has uni and prawns on his side, and as Kohno wonders where the fish is, Fukui jokes, "Don't worry, it'll be swimming along shortly."
Meantime, on the other side, the fish has swam along in Hanato's soup, boiled and situated right on top of the egg mixture. And with three minutes left, Michiba's harako goes next to the uni and prawns.
Hanato has a very artistic presentation as he fogs up the camera with the soup, while Michiba adds grated daikon to his stewed fish.
Hanato can still heard over the rabble of the battle, while Michiba is garnishing one of his dishes with a water pepper leaf or two--that goes on top of the grated daikon he just plated.
1 minute to go, and Michiba is still slicing into some fish...Hattori notes that the challenger has been more orthodox, while Michiba has been sticking to his guns and being more adventurous, something that will work heavily in his favor in the long run. But Hanato could still very well pull it out in the end, you never know around here...
Michiba enters hurry-up-offense mode while Hanato puts the finishing touches on his dishes as the clock runs out...
"And THAT'S IT! The cooking's done, the Ayu Battle is OVAH!"
Hanato expresses that, despite preparing for this for a long time, it was a lot shorter than he thought it would be. Michiba rates his performance today on a 93/100, although I thought I heard him say "kyu-jyu-hachi" underneath the dub...that would be 98!
Challenger Hanato's four dishes:
--Sweetfish Hors d'oeuvre
--Sweetfish on Egg Tofu
--Sweetfish, Five Styles
--Miso-flavored Grilled Sweetfish
Iron Chef Michiba's six dishes:
--Stewed Sweetfish Innards
--Chilled Sweetfish Sashimi
--Sweetfish Noodles
--Poached Sweetfish
--Fried Sweetfish Roe
--Sweetfish Rice Ball (his "stubborn rice")
On the panel today for the Sweetfish Battle are:
--Copy writer, Shigesato Itoi (yes, he of Earthbound fame)
--TV talent, Keiko Kohno
--Rosanjin Scholar, Masaaki Hirano
Challenger, as usual, is up first...Hanato serves his hors d'oeuvre to open.
"I didn't know what the theme was, so I had several ideas in mind. Had to pick one pattern to match the ingredient."
Itoi thinks it's very clever, but he questions whether he needed the uni. Hirano says it could've been for visual effect, but it wasn't the best move.
Kohno really likes the soup. Itoi was surprised by the dried sardines Hanato used for the broth, saying it created a really powerful aroma. Combining two strong elements really paid off, it appears. A pleasant surprise, he says.
Hirano doesn't like the strong vinegar in the five-ways ayu. But Kohno likes the one-bite size of each of the preparations. Itoi thinks the sushi was overpowering in flavor.
And the grilled fish--Itoi thinks Hanato's idea was to conquer the sweetfish by overpowering it. A little tough for him to swallow, he says.
Well, mind over matter for now, as Michiba now faces the panel.
"It's a popular ingredient in summer, so we have a lot of recipes to choose from. Deciding on which one to use was the key to this battle."
Hirano thinks the identity of the sweetfish is in Michiba's opening course of innards. Itoi was proved wrong by the egg flavor...
...and he likes the match with plum in the next, but says it was almost too sweet for him because of the last dish.
The noodles are generally well-received...Itoi really likes the skin of the fish in that dish.
Kohno doesn't want to ruin the picture of the whole fish...but we don't get any comments on taste! (I think we're in hurry-up-offense mode ourselves, as we jump straight to the uni and prawn salad...and Itoi.)
Itoi thinks that dish is a very compelling story, knowing which order to serve the ingredients. Kohno was put off by the greasiness at first, but later relented when she tried everything else.
And Itoi likes Michiba's rice ball as well, although Hirano thinks it's a little too much for him to handle. Almost too perfect, too manipulative, he says. (He's been rather quiet today, oddly enough...)
But now, it is time to know...victory as sweet the fish, defeat as bitter as the innards. Who takes it? Is it the Iron Chef or Kandagawa's designated hit man? Whose cuisine reigns supreme?!
"Tetsujin, Michiba Rokusaburo!"
And Kandagawa isn't happy about this one...even though Hanato shakes hands with Michiba, Kandagawa stays right where he is! I think this means war...
Sweetfish, or ayu in Japanese, is similar to trout, according to Fukui's notes. Hattori says the ones they have today are half-and-half--half raised in fish farms, then released into the wild.
Michiba has innards, or uruka, written out on his menu, and a pot of kelp broth boiling away. Hanato, meanwhile, has some smaller anchovy-like fish in a pot...and it looks like Michiba has five...no, six items on his menu.
Hanato is breaking down some pumpkins as Ohta reports that he's working on five items. Michiba pours some soy sauce in a pot full of ayu, and just like that, 15 minutes are gone...Hanato is extracting the innards, which Hattori said is the key to sweetfish, so it's very important not to damage them. And Fukui supposes Hanato's being a bit of a general with his assistants...
Michiba, meanwhile, is frying some fish heads, and simmering and stewing some innards. Fukui has no idea where he's going with that, and Hanato's clean slice through the back of a fish gets an instant replay. Keeping the natural shape of the fish, apparently, is a matter of pride with Japanese chefs.
Michiba's pouring some beaten egg into the pot where the uruka (innards) are, and he looks like he's added some leeks to that. There's a lot of repeated commentary from Hattori regarding the innards being the best part of the fish...thank you, Captain Obvious! -_-
35% of the fish, according to Hattori, has to be thrown away. But Hanato will have none of that, as he's skewering whole fish through the right eye. Rule of thumb is that the fish must be facing the left side, if it's a river fish...Japanese cuisine philosophy and all that jazz. Hanato's salting that for the grill, and a thick layer is going onto the fins and tail (to prevent charring and to preserve shape).
Michiba is chopping the fried fish heads, and scooping out some rice...Fukui speculates that he'll combine the two in some way. Meanwhile, Hanato is slicing some fillets but not all the way through the skin (plowing through that, we might add). Hattori supposes some egg might go over the top of that...and we're already halfway through!
Michiba has somen noodles out on his side (one of his items on the menu), while Ohta gets an interview with Kandagawa. Of course, the big man thinks Hanato will win, giving him some brusque encouragement. Michiba's dipping the end of the noodles in hot water, gluing that part together. Then he boils the whole bundle (which will be stuck together), which can later be pulled apart.
Hanato has corn starch in a pot, while Michiba has the "stubborn rice" on his side (that's with the fish heads mixed in, while Hanato has his skewered fish going under the salamander oven, left side up.
One of Hanato's assistants has mixed egg yolks with...something sweetfish and wrapped it in plastic. Meantime, Michiba is making what appears to be onigiri (rice balls) with his stubborn rice...Hanato is pulling the skin off the fish fillets, and a sushi roller on his board.
20 minutes left, and Michiba is doing some deep frying of fish skins (harako, Michiba says--fish roe, so everyone's wrong.) Hanato, meanwhile, is boiling the eggs wrapped in plastic, but we still don't know where he's going with that. He's making kimi-zushi as well, which is essentially sushi but with vinegared egg yolk instead of rice. Kandagawa's now spying on Michiba! And all he has to say about that: "Interesting."
Michiba's stewed ayu is done, and he's pouring that out into a small pan. It's the only one of his that has the whole fish involved...
15 minutes left now, and Hanato has tofu paste along with some small pieces of ayu (camera's straining to get that in focus), and his steamer is open, but we have no clue as to where he's going with things. Sounds like an hors d'oeuvre, says Hattori. And Michiba's rice balls are under the salamander!
Speaking of which, they're applying a miso paste over Hanato's grilled fish. Hanato himself is beginning to pick up the pace a little bit--Kandagawa, usually the loudmouth in the Stadium, is oddly relegated to kind mediator between Hanato and his assistants!
5 minutes left, and Michiba's taken out his egg yolks with sweetfish.
"Hey, what do you guys think you're doing?!" Hanato shouts at his assistants. He's sounding just a *little* cross here...
The egg yolks wrapped in broth (and plastic) are in bowls, possibly a soup. Michiba has uni and prawns on his side, and as Kohno wonders where the fish is, Fukui jokes, "Don't worry, it'll be swimming along shortly."
Meantime, on the other side, the fish has swam along in Hanato's soup, boiled and situated right on top of the egg mixture. And with three minutes left, Michiba's harako goes next to the uni and prawns.
Hanato has a very artistic presentation as he fogs up the camera with the soup, while Michiba adds grated daikon to his stewed fish.
Hanato can still heard over the rabble of the battle, while Michiba is garnishing one of his dishes with a water pepper leaf or two--that goes on top of the grated daikon he just plated.
1 minute to go, and Michiba is still slicing into some fish...Hattori notes that the challenger has been more orthodox, while Michiba has been sticking to his guns and being more adventurous, something that will work heavily in his favor in the long run. But Hanato could still very well pull it out in the end, you never know around here...
Michiba enters hurry-up-offense mode while Hanato puts the finishing touches on his dishes as the clock runs out...
"And THAT'S IT! The cooking's done, the Ayu Battle is OVAH!"
Hanato expresses that, despite preparing for this for a long time, it was a lot shorter than he thought it would be. Michiba rates his performance today on a 93/100, although I thought I heard him say "kyu-jyu-hachi" underneath the dub...that would be 98!
Challenger Hanato's four dishes:
--Sweetfish Hors d'oeuvre
--Sweetfish on Egg Tofu
--Sweetfish, Five Styles
--Miso-flavored Grilled Sweetfish
Iron Chef Michiba's six dishes:
--Stewed Sweetfish Innards
--Chilled Sweetfish Sashimi
--Sweetfish Noodles
--Poached Sweetfish
--Fried Sweetfish Roe
--Sweetfish Rice Ball (his "stubborn rice")
On the panel today for the Sweetfish Battle are:
--Copy writer, Shigesato Itoi (yes, he of Earthbound fame)
--TV talent, Keiko Kohno
--Rosanjin Scholar, Masaaki Hirano
Challenger, as usual, is up first...Hanato serves his hors d'oeuvre to open.
"I didn't know what the theme was, so I had several ideas in mind. Had to pick one pattern to match the ingredient."
Itoi thinks it's very clever, but he questions whether he needed the uni. Hirano says it could've been for visual effect, but it wasn't the best move.
Kohno really likes the soup. Itoi was surprised by the dried sardines Hanato used for the broth, saying it created a really powerful aroma. Combining two strong elements really paid off, it appears. A pleasant surprise, he says.
Hirano doesn't like the strong vinegar in the five-ways ayu. But Kohno likes the one-bite size of each of the preparations. Itoi thinks the sushi was overpowering in flavor.
And the grilled fish--Itoi thinks Hanato's idea was to conquer the sweetfish by overpowering it. A little tough for him to swallow, he says.
Well, mind over matter for now, as Michiba now faces the panel.
"It's a popular ingredient in summer, so we have a lot of recipes to choose from. Deciding on which one to use was the key to this battle."
Hirano thinks the identity of the sweetfish is in Michiba's opening course of innards. Itoi was proved wrong by the egg flavor...
...and he likes the match with plum in the next, but says it was almost too sweet for him because of the last dish.
The noodles are generally well-received...Itoi really likes the skin of the fish in that dish.
Kohno doesn't want to ruin the picture of the whole fish...but we don't get any comments on taste! (I think we're in hurry-up-offense mode ourselves, as we jump straight to the uni and prawn salad...and Itoi.)
Itoi thinks that dish is a very compelling story, knowing which order to serve the ingredients. Kohno was put off by the greasiness at first, but later relented when she tried everything else.
And Itoi likes Michiba's rice ball as well, although Hirano thinks it's a little too much for him to handle. Almost too perfect, too manipulative, he says. (He's been rather quiet today, oddly enough...)
But now, it is time to know...victory as sweet the fish, defeat as bitter as the innards. Who takes it? Is it the Iron Chef or Kandagawa's designated hit man? Whose cuisine reigns supreme?!
"Tetsujin, Michiba Rokusaburo!"
And Kandagawa isn't happy about this one...even though Hanato shakes hands with Michiba, Kandagawa stays right where he is! I think this means war...
My take: Usually, if Michiba's involved, it's bad news for the challenger. While this proved no different today, I think Hanato could've given Michiba a run for his money...but if he were a little more adventurous in his approach. Then again, maybe because he's trying to uphold the tradition that Kandagawa does...maybe they were all screwed from the start.
Watch this battle at the Iron Chef Collection here.
Saturday, September 3, 2011
Those Little Nights When You Can't Sleep
I'm writing this partially because I was up until 3:20 am last night on duty (hey, they never said this job was easy), but also because I've had quite a lot on my mind that's preventing me from sleeping.
Just the other day, my resident faculty member runs into me just outside the dorm and says, "You look like you're a zombie!" It didn't feel like it, but according to him, I had the tired-looking eyes and the sleepwalking shuffle. Despite that, I played it off like it was nothing.
How I have the energy I do some days (all without drinking coffee or any form of caffeine) amazes me.
Aside from the fact that I had four incidents to report last night while I was on duty (which is what kept me up at night) and that I have a throbbing headache (no doubt due to lack of sleep), there's just a few thoughts that I can't really articulate. Whatever they are, though, they're keeping me awake. Anxiety? You bet. And it sucks.
I've always presented myself well, or I'd like to think so. There are times when I get unnecessarily nervous (though I'd like to believe you'd never know it), and I completely lock up. And then I can't spit out what I want to say. Which in turn means I can't talk about what I really want to talk about.
You might be thinking, "well, jeez, it's not THAT hard..." When you get embarrassed easily, it's tough to talk about. Which is exactly why I'm beating around the bush and such and not really saying much about it.
It's the Internet, after all. Anyone can see this.
Just the other day, my resident faculty member runs into me just outside the dorm and says, "You look like you're a zombie!" It didn't feel like it, but according to him, I had the tired-looking eyes and the sleepwalking shuffle. Despite that, I played it off like it was nothing.
How I have the energy I do some days (all without drinking coffee or any form of caffeine) amazes me.
Aside from the fact that I had four incidents to report last night while I was on duty (which is what kept me up at night) and that I have a throbbing headache (no doubt due to lack of sleep), there's just a few thoughts that I can't really articulate. Whatever they are, though, they're keeping me awake. Anxiety? You bet. And it sucks.
I've always presented myself well, or I'd like to think so. There are times when I get unnecessarily nervous (though I'd like to believe you'd never know it), and I completely lock up. And then I can't spit out what I want to say. Which in turn means I can't talk about what I really want to talk about.
You might be thinking, "well, jeez, it's not THAT hard..." When you get embarrassed easily, it's tough to talk about. Which is exactly why I'm beating around the bush and such and not really saying much about it.
It's the Internet, after all. Anyone can see this.
Monday, August 22, 2011
ICT: Battle Natto: Michiba vs. Ishikawa
BATTLE DATA FILE
Japan Original Airdate: 6/3/94
Episode: 31
The challenger: Kuniyuki Ishikawa, certified Maestro of the Japanese Cuisine Seminar Group, an organization with over 20,000 members. Established in 1930, the group was founded to preserve such intangible treasures as knife skills passed on by legendary chefs. He believes chefs must stay behind the scenes, whereas Michiba rides into the limelight.
The Iron Chef: another certified Maestro and the leader of the organization, Iron Chef Japanese I, Rokusaburo Michiba. Last time he put the kibosh on commentator Yukio Hattori (and did he ever), but can he turn back another one of his colleagues as well?
The Battle:
First-timer, actress Ritsuko Tanaka joins Fukui and Hattori in the broadcast box today.
Kaga has always been interested in the Japanese Cuisine Seminar Group, and says that the challenger, if Kaga had met him first, might've been the Iron Chef Japanese instead of Michiba. Hmm, interesting. Nevertheless, the Maestro marches into Kitchen Stadium, clad in traditional attire.
"If Michiba is the sun, you may be the moon," Kaga says to Ishikawa as he greets him at kitchen level. And after some more flowery language, he summons the Iron Chefs, and as if it's any surprise as to whom Ishikawa will challenge...indeed, Michiba is the marked man today!
"Today's battle is between two men of incredible caliber. I don't want to pull any cheap tricks to spoil the occasion," Kaga begins. "They will fight it out without giving up. Yes, persistence. Ah, could be 'sticky.' Japanese cuisine...sticky...yes, that's it."
And as Kaga leaves the American viewers scratching their heads, he rips the veil off the ingredient stand and reveals--of course! NATTO! And did I see Michiba crack a smile for once?
For those of you wondering...what the heck is natto, anyway? It's basically fermented soybeans, with silky, sticky threads that contain all the flavor and texture. And remember...stir it up 15 times.
Maestro vs. maestro showdown in one hour with natto...and Kaga calls out the famous battle cry, "ALLEZ CUISINE!" Small beans on the left of the stand, and large ones on the right today. Traditionally, it's used on top of rice and flavored with soy sauce.
Michiba, of course, starts out with his menu-writing--"Mini-Full Course Natto Dinner," Hattori says he's writing. And check this out, Ishikawa's doing it as well! Fukui notes that Ishikawa's planning on abalone steamed in sake, as well as Japanese beef with Japanese flavored-soy sauce. And here's another Michiba tradition: the Broth of Vigor!
Ishikawa is rinsing the natto to get rid of the sticky strings. Ohta's first report is that they're both planning on 5 dishes. And as Michiba fillets a flatfish, Ishikawa has a bonito broth of his own on his side! 15 minutes gone already...
Michiba is curing the flatfish with konbu, and word on the floor is that he's planning to use udon noodles! Ishikawa, meanwhile, is steaming sardines.
Michiba's food processor has natto, and his cutting board has lobster! We hear Ohta report on Michiba's comments on Challenger Ishikawa, and how he appears to be mirroring him...and in a rare twist, Michiba actually gets in a dig at him! "He didn't learn everything--I wish he learned how to smile more!"
Tilefish is being broken down on Ishikawa's side, and Michiba takes the natto (to which he's added the Broth of Vigor) for a spin in the food processor. And foie gras on the challenger's side? I'm as confused as Fukui, why is Ishikawa going for foie gras in Japanese cuisine?
Michiba's added kudzu starch to his food processor and taken it for another spin, saying that's to solidify the mixture. Meanwhile, Ishikawa has yuba out on his board, to wrap the tilefish in. The mixture from the food processor has hit some small hotel pans and the steamer, while we hear of trouble on the challenger's side--he gave instructions to one of his assistants to steam some clams, but the assistant steamed the sardines instead, which Ishikawa was going to use for meat fish balls! Uh-oh. He doesn't look happy at all.
And bad news on Michiba's side! He's cut his finger handling the lobsters, and he's bleeding a little...and the thing in the steamer on his side appears to be in limbo, if Fukui's comments are any indication.
In the meantime, Michiba has an omelette in the works. And as the halfway point is announced, he's added natto to that pan. Ishikawa is wrapping the tilefish in kelp in the yuba, and that's where the foie gras ends up! But no natto yet...Hattori speculates there will be a natto-flavored sauce to accompany that.
Omu-rice is on Michiba's side, and he's shaping it in a cup. And Ishikawa's broken out the beef! And Michiba's got uni right on top of the omu-rice...sparing no expense in Kitchen Stadium! A value-enhancer, they're saying...so THAT'S how he takes our money!
And there goes the beef on the challenger's side, on skewers and being cooked over an open flame! Not long after that, it hits the ice water for a very rare inside...he also has a sauce in the works, soy sauce and natto, it appears. The yuba wraps have hit the steamer, while on the other side, Michiba's whisking a mixture of shirotama rice flour and natto. Fukui thinks it'll be a dessert...perhaps in the vein of Chinese sesame seed balls?
20 minutes left, and Ishikawa has seaweed, yams, and ham in a wrap. He'll be deep-frying that, but maybe the oil's not hot enough?
Ishikawa isn't sure he's going to make it as he works with some clams. And there goes the natto right inside the holes he just cut inside of that.
Michiba also has a sesame seed cake in the fryer, and Ishikawa's already plating those stuffed clams!
Yuba also makes an appearance on Michiba's side, and he's wrapping natto inside of that. Speaking of yuba, Ishikawa's yuba is down on the plates, awaiting a potential sauce.
10 minutes left now, and Michiba is finishing up with his flatfish. He'll be wrapping the small yuba wraps from earlier into the fish.
Ishikawa has tataki-style beef on its own, but where's the natto?
Michiba's cutting up the kudzu starch mixture from the top of the battle, while Ishikawa is plating a sauce for the beef (natto soy sauce, Hattori says). And down goes the sauce on the yuba wraps! Michiba's flatfish wraps are plated as-is in small glasses, as are his sesame-coated natto confections.
3 minutes left now, and Michiba's adding more natto to a sauce for the udon noodles. Ishikawa is putting the finishing touches on some of his dishes as the one-minute call is announced, and Michiba's omu-rice has been garnished with lobster.
They're wondering where the sardines went...but Ishikawa had to give up on that one, try as he might. Final seconds ticking down...might be a battle of sauces in this maestro vs. maestro smackdown...
"And THAT'S IT! The cooking's done, the Natto Battle is OVAH!"
Challenger Ishikawa's 4 dishes:
--Steamed Clams Stuffed with Natto
--Japanese Beef with Natto Soy Sauce
-- Fried Natto in Beefsteak Leaves
--Tilefish and Foie Gras in Yuba with Sweet and Sour Sauce
Iron Chef Michiba's 5 dishes:
--Natto in Kudzu Starch
--Natto Rolled in Flatfish
--Natto Omelette
--Udon Noodles with Natto Miso
--Fried Sesame Seeds and Natto Biscuit
On the panel today for the Natto Battle are:
--Novelist Tamio Kageyama
--Actress Ritsuko Tanaka
--Rosanjin Scholar Masaaki Hirano
Ishikawa's up first, as always. He says he thought about the combination of natto with the other ingredients, then tried to use each one to their full potential. (Sound familiar yet?)
Kageyama thinks his first dish is very good for summer, despite thinking it would be overpowering. Hirano thinks it would've been perfect if it were chilled--Ishikawa said he had that in mind, but ran out of time..
The beef gets accolades from all the judges--Hirano describes his approach as delicate.
Of the fried wrap, Kageyama says the yam flavor appears first, then the natto comes out from the background. Hirano likes the texture.
Tanaka likes the aroma of the yuba wrap, but Hirano doesn't like the combination of tilefish and foie gras.
A bit of a sour note for Ishikawa as we move on to Iron Chef Michiba's dishes...
Kageyama's amused by the kudzu noodles' texture. "Fun to eat," he adds.
Of his second dish, Kageyama says, "Natto wins." Without the yuba, it would've been overpowering, he says. But Tanaka thinks there's too much natto...
Once again, Kageyama, ever the chatty one, says the omu-rice is very luxurious with the addition of the uni and lobster. An unusual use of natto...
Hirano comments on the use of foreign cooking techniques in the omu-rice, and says the only purely Japanese technique was the use of the lobster. Whatever that means.
Hirano would've liked to see some citrus juice to add a stimulating element. "Natto and miso is too boring," he said. I tend to agree, as it's two different things made from the same base ingredient...
The dessert gets many "mm"s from the judges, while Hirano goes on about so many different things that I can't even keep track of them all. Dubbing fail?
But as Fukui says, this verdict means more than just a hill of beans. For one Maestro, the verdict will be bitter. It's now time to know...who takes it? Is it the Iron Chef or the young Maestro? Whose cuisine reigns supreme?
"Tetsujin, Michiba Rokusaburo!"
He does it again! No surprise there, but Ishikawa--even in defeat, finally cracks a small smile! Victory for the viewers as well!
My take: Natto is tough. It's got a strong taste, but it's not an easy ingredient to make the centerpiece without overpowering everything else. Having said that, both chefs did an adequate job of controlling the natto flavor. I think it essentially came down to clock mismanagement on Ishikawa's side...but then again, what battle doesn't?
This is, however, an example of some of the hilariously bad dubbing, especially during the tasting segment. I guess now we know why Hirano disappeared from the show later on in the run...he never really said anything useful!
Watch this battle at the Iron Chef Collection here.
Episode: 31
The challenger: Kuniyuki Ishikawa, certified Maestro of the Japanese Cuisine Seminar Group, an organization with over 20,000 members. Established in 1930, the group was founded to preserve such intangible treasures as knife skills passed on by legendary chefs. He believes chefs must stay behind the scenes, whereas Michiba rides into the limelight.
The Iron Chef: another certified Maestro and the leader of the organization, Iron Chef Japanese I, Rokusaburo Michiba. Last time he put the kibosh on commentator Yukio Hattori (and did he ever), but can he turn back another one of his colleagues as well?
The Battle:
First-timer, actress Ritsuko Tanaka joins Fukui and Hattori in the broadcast box today.
Kaga has always been interested in the Japanese Cuisine Seminar Group, and says that the challenger, if Kaga had met him first, might've been the Iron Chef Japanese instead of Michiba. Hmm, interesting. Nevertheless, the Maestro marches into Kitchen Stadium, clad in traditional attire.
"If Michiba is the sun, you may be the moon," Kaga says to Ishikawa as he greets him at kitchen level. And after some more flowery language, he summons the Iron Chefs, and as if it's any surprise as to whom Ishikawa will challenge...indeed, Michiba is the marked man today!
"Today's battle is between two men of incredible caliber. I don't want to pull any cheap tricks to spoil the occasion," Kaga begins. "They will fight it out without giving up. Yes, persistence. Ah, could be 'sticky.' Japanese cuisine...sticky...yes, that's it."
And as Kaga leaves the American viewers scratching their heads, he rips the veil off the ingredient stand and reveals--of course! NATTO! And did I see Michiba crack a smile for once?
For those of you wondering...what the heck is natto, anyway? It's basically fermented soybeans, with silky, sticky threads that contain all the flavor and texture. And remember...stir it up 15 times.
Maestro vs. maestro showdown in one hour with natto...and Kaga calls out the famous battle cry, "ALLEZ CUISINE!" Small beans on the left of the stand, and large ones on the right today. Traditionally, it's used on top of rice and flavored with soy sauce.
Michiba, of course, starts out with his menu-writing--"Mini-Full Course Natto Dinner," Hattori says he's writing. And check this out, Ishikawa's doing it as well! Fukui notes that Ishikawa's planning on abalone steamed in sake, as well as Japanese beef with Japanese flavored-soy sauce. And here's another Michiba tradition: the Broth of Vigor!
Ishikawa is rinsing the natto to get rid of the sticky strings. Ohta's first report is that they're both planning on 5 dishes. And as Michiba fillets a flatfish, Ishikawa has a bonito broth of his own on his side! 15 minutes gone already...
Michiba is curing the flatfish with konbu, and word on the floor is that he's planning to use udon noodles! Ishikawa, meanwhile, is steaming sardines.
Michiba's food processor has natto, and his cutting board has lobster! We hear Ohta report on Michiba's comments on Challenger Ishikawa, and how he appears to be mirroring him...and in a rare twist, Michiba actually gets in a dig at him! "He didn't learn everything--I wish he learned how to smile more!"
Tilefish is being broken down on Ishikawa's side, and Michiba takes the natto (to which he's added the Broth of Vigor) for a spin in the food processor. And foie gras on the challenger's side? I'm as confused as Fukui, why is Ishikawa going for foie gras in Japanese cuisine?
Michiba's added kudzu starch to his food processor and taken it for another spin, saying that's to solidify the mixture. Meanwhile, Ishikawa has yuba out on his board, to wrap the tilefish in. The mixture from the food processor has hit some small hotel pans and the steamer, while we hear of trouble on the challenger's side--he gave instructions to one of his assistants to steam some clams, but the assistant steamed the sardines instead, which Ishikawa was going to use for meat fish balls! Uh-oh. He doesn't look happy at all.
And bad news on Michiba's side! He's cut his finger handling the lobsters, and he's bleeding a little...and the thing in the steamer on his side appears to be in limbo, if Fukui's comments are any indication.
In the meantime, Michiba has an omelette in the works. And as the halfway point is announced, he's added natto to that pan. Ishikawa is wrapping the tilefish in kelp in the yuba, and that's where the foie gras ends up! But no natto yet...Hattori speculates there will be a natto-flavored sauce to accompany that.
Omu-rice is on Michiba's side, and he's shaping it in a cup. And Ishikawa's broken out the beef! And Michiba's got uni right on top of the omu-rice...sparing no expense in Kitchen Stadium! A value-enhancer, they're saying...so THAT'S how he takes our money!
And there goes the beef on the challenger's side, on skewers and being cooked over an open flame! Not long after that, it hits the ice water for a very rare inside...he also has a sauce in the works, soy sauce and natto, it appears. The yuba wraps have hit the steamer, while on the other side, Michiba's whisking a mixture of shirotama rice flour and natto. Fukui thinks it'll be a dessert...perhaps in the vein of Chinese sesame seed balls?
20 minutes left, and Ishikawa has seaweed, yams, and ham in a wrap. He'll be deep-frying that, but maybe the oil's not hot enough?
Ishikawa isn't sure he's going to make it as he works with some clams. And there goes the natto right inside the holes he just cut inside of that.
Michiba also has a sesame seed cake in the fryer, and Ishikawa's already plating those stuffed clams!
Yuba also makes an appearance on Michiba's side, and he's wrapping natto inside of that. Speaking of yuba, Ishikawa's yuba is down on the plates, awaiting a potential sauce.
10 minutes left now, and Michiba is finishing up with his flatfish. He'll be wrapping the small yuba wraps from earlier into the fish.
Ishikawa has tataki-style beef on its own, but where's the natto?
Michiba's cutting up the kudzu starch mixture from the top of the battle, while Ishikawa is plating a sauce for the beef (natto soy sauce, Hattori says). And down goes the sauce on the yuba wraps! Michiba's flatfish wraps are plated as-is in small glasses, as are his sesame-coated natto confections.
3 minutes left now, and Michiba's adding more natto to a sauce for the udon noodles. Ishikawa is putting the finishing touches on some of his dishes as the one-minute call is announced, and Michiba's omu-rice has been garnished with lobster.
They're wondering where the sardines went...but Ishikawa had to give up on that one, try as he might. Final seconds ticking down...might be a battle of sauces in this maestro vs. maestro smackdown...
"And THAT'S IT! The cooking's done, the Natto Battle is OVAH!"
Challenger Ishikawa's 4 dishes:
--Steamed Clams Stuffed with Natto
--Japanese Beef with Natto Soy Sauce
-- Fried Natto in Beefsteak Leaves
--Tilefish and Foie Gras in Yuba with Sweet and Sour Sauce
Iron Chef Michiba's 5 dishes:
--Natto in Kudzu Starch
--Natto Rolled in Flatfish
--Natto Omelette
--Udon Noodles with Natto Miso
--Fried Sesame Seeds and Natto Biscuit
On the panel today for the Natto Battle are:
--Novelist Tamio Kageyama
--Actress Ritsuko Tanaka
--Rosanjin Scholar Masaaki Hirano
Ishikawa's up first, as always. He says he thought about the combination of natto with the other ingredients, then tried to use each one to their full potential. (Sound familiar yet?)
Kageyama thinks his first dish is very good for summer, despite thinking it would be overpowering. Hirano thinks it would've been perfect if it were chilled--Ishikawa said he had that in mind, but ran out of time..
The beef gets accolades from all the judges--Hirano describes his approach as delicate.
Of the fried wrap, Kageyama says the yam flavor appears first, then the natto comes out from the background. Hirano likes the texture.
Tanaka likes the aroma of the yuba wrap, but Hirano doesn't like the combination of tilefish and foie gras.
A bit of a sour note for Ishikawa as we move on to Iron Chef Michiba's dishes...
Kageyama's amused by the kudzu noodles' texture. "Fun to eat," he adds.
Of his second dish, Kageyama says, "Natto wins." Without the yuba, it would've been overpowering, he says. But Tanaka thinks there's too much natto...
Once again, Kageyama, ever the chatty one, says the omu-rice is very luxurious with the addition of the uni and lobster. An unusual use of natto...
Hirano comments on the use of foreign cooking techniques in the omu-rice, and says the only purely Japanese technique was the use of the lobster. Whatever that means.
Hirano would've liked to see some citrus juice to add a stimulating element. "Natto and miso is too boring," he said. I tend to agree, as it's two different things made from the same base ingredient...
The dessert gets many "mm"s from the judges, while Hirano goes on about so many different things that I can't even keep track of them all. Dubbing fail?
But as Fukui says, this verdict means more than just a hill of beans. For one Maestro, the verdict will be bitter. It's now time to know...who takes it? Is it the Iron Chef or the young Maestro? Whose cuisine reigns supreme?
"Tetsujin, Michiba Rokusaburo!"
He does it again! No surprise there, but Ishikawa--even in defeat, finally cracks a small smile! Victory for the viewers as well!
My take: Natto is tough. It's got a strong taste, but it's not an easy ingredient to make the centerpiece without overpowering everything else. Having said that, both chefs did an adequate job of controlling the natto flavor. I think it essentially came down to clock mismanagement on Ishikawa's side...but then again, what battle doesn't?
This is, however, an example of some of the hilariously bad dubbing, especially during the tasting segment. I guess now we know why Hirano disappeared from the show later on in the run...he never really said anything useful!
Watch this battle at the Iron Chef Collection here.
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Homeward Bound
Well, folks, this is it.
I'm writing you from Seoul Incheon International Airport on a laptop that's much too small for my giant hands, overlooking the terrible weather that's hammering the runway at the moment, and yet, despite all that, still a little over an hour away from boarding my plane home.
It's been a wonderful month here; while I wish I could say I met a whole bunch of Korean students who made this such a worthwhile experience, I guess I'll just have to settle for meeting some great people from 'SC and enjoying their company (and all the antics that came with it) for the last month. Not that that's a bad thing, mind you.
My Korean has, if my ailing grandfather is to be believed, improved considerably. To that I say 다행이아 (dahengida--thank God). Although I still have a long way to go before I'm fluent--maybe even another 8 years or so--it's a small victory for me.
I've certainly enjoyed seeing the sights, sampling the tastes, and living the culture for the last month, and I've certainly enjoyed writing about it. So for those of you who stuck around to the end, I hope you enjoyed reading. Thanks for sticking around.
But for now, I say 내일 봐 (neh-il bwa)...I have a plane to catch.
I'm writing you from Seoul Incheon International Airport on a laptop that's much too small for my giant hands, overlooking the terrible weather that's hammering the runway at the moment, and yet, despite all that, still a little over an hour away from boarding my plane home.
It's been a wonderful month here; while I wish I could say I met a whole bunch of Korean students who made this such a worthwhile experience, I guess I'll just have to settle for meeting some great people from 'SC and enjoying their company (and all the antics that came with it) for the last month. Not that that's a bad thing, mind you.
My Korean has, if my ailing grandfather is to be believed, improved considerably. To that I say 다행이아 (dahengida--thank God). Although I still have a long way to go before I'm fluent--maybe even another 8 years or so--it's a small victory for me.
I've certainly enjoyed seeing the sights, sampling the tastes, and living the culture for the last month, and I've certainly enjoyed writing about it. So for those of you who stuck around to the end, I hope you enjoyed reading. Thanks for sticking around.
But for now, I say 내일 봐 (neh-il bwa)...I have a plane to catch.
Friday, July 29, 2011
Korean Geek Culture
Instead of writing my final paper like I should, I have for you what might be one of the last blog entries from Korea I'll make.
Yesterday Hao-Hua's friend Travis came to visit--initially we were going to go to Namsan Tower, but Hao-Hua and Travis were both paranoid that the heavy rain would trigger a mudslide that would kill us all. So instead, we went all the way over to Sinjeong station (way the hell over west) to go see a live Starcraft match.
Yes, you're reading that right. Starcraft. And televised, to boot. We wound up going to the GOM TV studios in Sinjeong. While the outside of the building looks like a small, abandoned school, the studio itself looks a bit like this:
If I didn't know any better, I would think this looks like some kind of ESPN Sportscenter game show or something. It really does make an MMORPG look like a sporting event...and I'm told it gets even bigger for the finals. The audience seating area was only three rows of chairs here...apparently, for the finals, they get a stadium-like arena in which to compete.
As someone who's worked at a TV station before, it was really fascinating to watch the whole production aspect of the show come together. I could've cared less about how the games turned out (as I haven't played any iteration of Starcraft in many years), but it was interesting to see how each camera was preparing for each shot, how the jib camera nearly killed us with each swing, and how the commentators (who were to my immediate right) were reacting to each game. Granted, I couldn't understand a word they were saying, but it was funny whenever they started going, "Ohhhhh! OOOOHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" (The text really doesn't do that justice.)
There were also a pair of English-speaking commentators who were doing their own thing independent of the Korean commentators, though I couldn't hear a word they were saying--for all I know, they weren't mic'd up at all. Apparently they do an English edition of the same broadcast, but the Korean commentators were so loud that I don't think it mattered in the end.
And then, of course, there are the players themselves. They're all little boys (there were no girls playing the day I went), and can't be any older than 18 years old. They really do take this seriously, even if it would normally earn them who-knows-how-much ridicule at an American high school. (Don't pretend it isn't true...)
And despite all this, we were all geeking out to some degree, although I bet for different reasons...
Yesterday Hao-Hua's friend Travis came to visit--initially we were going to go to Namsan Tower, but Hao-Hua and Travis were both paranoid that the heavy rain would trigger a mudslide that would kill us all. So instead, we went all the way over to Sinjeong station (way the hell over west) to go see a live Starcraft match.
Yes, you're reading that right. Starcraft. And televised, to boot. We wound up going to the GOM TV studios in Sinjeong. While the outside of the building looks like a small, abandoned school, the studio itself looks a bit like this:
 |
| Trojan Vision, eat your heart out. |
As someone who's worked at a TV station before, it was really fascinating to watch the whole production aspect of the show come together. I could've cared less about how the games turned out (as I haven't played any iteration of Starcraft in many years), but it was interesting to see how each camera was preparing for each shot, how the jib camera nearly killed us with each swing, and how the commentators (who were to my immediate right) were reacting to each game. Granted, I couldn't understand a word they were saying, but it was funny whenever they started going, "Ohhhhh! OOOOHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" (The text really doesn't do that justice.)
There were also a pair of English-speaking commentators who were doing their own thing independent of the Korean commentators, though I couldn't hear a word they were saying--for all I know, they weren't mic'd up at all. Apparently they do an English edition of the same broadcast, but the Korean commentators were so loud that I don't think it mattered in the end.
And then, of course, there are the players themselves. They're all little boys (there were no girls playing the day I went), and can't be any older than 18 years old. They really do take this seriously, even if it would normally earn them who-knows-how-much ridicule at an American high school. (Don't pretend it isn't true...)
And despite all this, we were all geeking out to some degree, although I bet for different reasons...
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Catching up...big time
Apologies for being away for so long--class and day trips, combined with an abnormal amount of fatigue kept me away from the blogosphere for an extended period of time. Hopefully my memory serves me right when I recount this past weekend's journey...
Last weekend we went to Jeolla-do in the southwestern part of the country, where the city of Gwangju is. We were originally going to tour the site of the Gwangju uprisings in the '80s, although when we got there, all we saw was a huge construction site and a fountain with a tacky, bright orange inflatable flower on top of it. Apparently that fountain is all that's left of the artifacts of the uprising! (I didn't bother with a picture, because there really wasn't anything to see in that area...)
This thwarted our plans for much of the day on Friday, so a lot of that day felt like a lot of walking around aimlessly, hoping to find some history along the way. We did, however, make our way over to the 5-18 cemetery (5-18 referring to the date of the Gwangju uprising). People who died in the uprisings, as well as who we presumed to be family members of the victims who died much later, are buried here. And if this doesn't take the cake as the most peaceful place in the country, I don't know what does...
We in the States don't normally associate South Korea with dictatorships, but shortly after the partition (and even as early as the '80s) their government was also very chaotic, and even though a president was elected, it eventually turned into a dictatorship because the then-incumbent wanted to keep his position of power. Korea--or at least Gwangju--was even under martial law at one point, leading to this uprising. It was a little...sobering, for lack of a better term. Quite horrifying to learn the price people paid for democracy, even if their uprising paid off in the end.
From the cemetery, we went over to the nearby city of Namwon and into Chunhyang Park, named for the eponymous folk tale. It's also a peaceful place, complete with a bridge that's supposed to bless a couple with a happy relationship if they come and cross this bridge at least once a year. Apparently this is also the park where the events of the story supposedly take place, as the government pavilion where Yi Mongryong first spots Chunhyang is in plain sight on the other side of the bridge.
Saturday (after probably one of the best nights of sleep I had gotten in a long time), we went to Independence Hall (독립기념관). While an impressive sight from the outside, the museums inside (understandably) had a Korean slant to them, one exhibit going so far as to say how other cultures--namely the Chinese and the Japanese--are distorting Korean history. I wasn't terribly impressed, although I will say they do make quite the impression on tourists. I know they mean well by their wishes of reunification and whatnot, but the journalist in me couldn't help but wince at the blatant mud-slinging against Japan and China. Then again, maybe they have a point if they're saying the other two gloss over the occupation period (~1910-1945) completely...
Having exhausted our weekend trip agenda earlier than we expected, we returned to Seoul via bus around 4 pm. The next day was completely free, but I met up with my dad's friend's daughter, Hyunji, who will be attending Pitzer College in the fall. She and I, along with a friend of hers, went to a fortune-telling café in Gangnam. While it sounded like a load of hokey to me, I couldn't help but be intrigued by the different markings the fortune teller was making on the paper. Was it bad that I started wondering whether there really was a purpose to some of the markings he was making?
Scam or not, we met up with two of Hyunji's other friends at Coex Mall. The last time I was in Korea, I complained about the cave-like feel of the underground shopping center. Except this time, it didn't feel very cave-like at all (probably because there was more stuff open this time around) and, while still crowded, was considerably less so than I remember the last time. There's a movie theater in the complex as well, and I watched HP 7.2 yet again. This time, I enjoyed it a little better, although I still have my gripes about it. (I'll spare you the details...this is already getting quite long.)
This then brings us to Monday, where we took a tour of Incheon--about an hour and a half away by subway. Shortly after getting off at the Technopark Station (what a name for a station), we were treated to this view:
Never mind the fact that our plans to take a water taxi were thwarted when we realized the taxi is closed on Mondays. What startled us the most was the modern look of this part of town (called Songdo) but the relative lack of people. Even a stroll through what I think was called Songdo Park (pictured right) didn't help matters, as we were wondering why this modern-looking city--built on reclaimed land, no less--had virtually nobody around! We suspect it has something to do with the prestige of Seoul and what status living there grants its residents. You can't be just close to Seoul, you have to be in Seoul, I suppose. Kim Yu-na, the well-known figure skater, invested in some properties in that area, and even that apparently can't attract people to come to this area. Sad, really, as it looks like this city could have potential. Apparently at night it gets a little more lively, although with what few people they have there I don't really see how much more lively it could get.
So we spent about an hour and a half walking around before we got taxis to Incheon's Chinatown, which wasn't much to write home about either. Our plans were thwarted once again when we discovered the cultural center in Chinatown was also closed on Mondays! (Monday is Korea's Sunday, I suppose.) So with most of our agenda essentially shot down, we spent another hour or so--you guessed it--aimlessly walking around, although we did find a Chinese bakery out of the deal, so I guess it wasn't so bad. I did feel, though, that our professor was trying to legitimize the trip by explaining some stuff about a statue of Confucius we found in a small pavilion...most, if not all of us, saw right through it. I suppose the fact that we were all tired--one of us was borderline passed out--didn't help matters.
I was, quite understandably, wiped out from all these events--I think I was about to fall asleep in class for the last two days. I spent most of today taking it easy (to think I wanted to hike Dobongsan with Wendy today! I would've passed out!), although I did have a nice meal with some family. And yet tomorrow, we're supposed to go on a downtown bus tour of Seoul...although whether we'll be able to go at all is still up in the air, as the rain (sadly) has returned.
5 days until my return to the States. Time certainly has flown.
Last weekend we went to Jeolla-do in the southwestern part of the country, where the city of Gwangju is. We were originally going to tour the site of the Gwangju uprisings in the '80s, although when we got there, all we saw was a huge construction site and a fountain with a tacky, bright orange inflatable flower on top of it. Apparently that fountain is all that's left of the artifacts of the uprising! (I didn't bother with a picture, because there really wasn't anything to see in that area...)
This thwarted our plans for much of the day on Friday, so a lot of that day felt like a lot of walking around aimlessly, hoping to find some history along the way. We did, however, make our way over to the 5-18 cemetery (5-18 referring to the date of the Gwangju uprising). People who died in the uprisings, as well as who we presumed to be family members of the victims who died much later, are buried here. And if this doesn't take the cake as the most peaceful place in the country, I don't know what does...
 |
| Just past the main gate |
 |
| View of the tower from the back, where the graves are |
 |
| I apparently have a morbidly artsy side as well. |
From the cemetery, we went over to the nearby city of Namwon and into Chunhyang Park, named for the eponymous folk tale. It's also a peaceful place, complete with a bridge that's supposed to bless a couple with a happy relationship if they come and cross this bridge at least once a year. Apparently this is also the park where the events of the story supposedly take place, as the government pavilion where Yi Mongryong first spots Chunhyang is in plain sight on the other side of the bridge.
Saturday (after probably one of the best nights of sleep I had gotten in a long time), we went to Independence Hall (독립기념관). While an impressive sight from the outside, the museums inside (understandably) had a Korean slant to them, one exhibit going so far as to say how other cultures--namely the Chinese and the Japanese--are distorting Korean history. I wasn't terribly impressed, although I will say they do make quite the impression on tourists. I know they mean well by their wishes of reunification and whatnot, but the journalist in me couldn't help but wince at the blatant mud-slinging against Japan and China. Then again, maybe they have a point if they're saying the other two gloss over the occupation period (~1910-1945) completely...
Having exhausted our weekend trip agenda earlier than we expected, we returned to Seoul via bus around 4 pm. The next day was completely free, but I met up with my dad's friend's daughter, Hyunji, who will be attending Pitzer College in the fall. She and I, along with a friend of hers, went to a fortune-telling café in Gangnam. While it sounded like a load of hokey to me, I couldn't help but be intrigued by the different markings the fortune teller was making on the paper. Was it bad that I started wondering whether there really was a purpose to some of the markings he was making?
Scam or not, we met up with two of Hyunji's other friends at Coex Mall. The last time I was in Korea, I complained about the cave-like feel of the underground shopping center. Except this time, it didn't feel very cave-like at all (probably because there was more stuff open this time around) and, while still crowded, was considerably less so than I remember the last time. There's a movie theater in the complex as well, and I watched HP 7.2 yet again. This time, I enjoyed it a little better, although I still have my gripes about it. (I'll spare you the details...this is already getting quite long.)
This then brings us to Monday, where we took a tour of Incheon--about an hour and a half away by subway. Shortly after getting off at the Technopark Station (what a name for a station), we were treated to this view:
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| Notice something missing? Traffic, perhaps? |
So we spent about an hour and a half walking around before we got taxis to Incheon's Chinatown, which wasn't much to write home about either. Our plans were thwarted once again when we discovered the cultural center in Chinatown was also closed on Mondays! (Monday is Korea's Sunday, I suppose.) So with most of our agenda essentially shot down, we spent another hour or so--you guessed it--aimlessly walking around, although we did find a Chinese bakery out of the deal, so I guess it wasn't so bad. I did feel, though, that our professor was trying to legitimize the trip by explaining some stuff about a statue of Confucius we found in a small pavilion...most, if not all of us, saw right through it. I suppose the fact that we were all tired--one of us was borderline passed out--didn't help matters.
I was, quite understandably, wiped out from all these events--I think I was about to fall asleep in class for the last two days. I spent most of today taking it easy (to think I wanted to hike Dobongsan with Wendy today! I would've passed out!), although I did have a nice meal with some family. And yet tomorrow, we're supposed to go on a downtown bus tour of Seoul...although whether we'll be able to go at all is still up in the air, as the rain (sadly) has returned.
5 days until my return to the States. Time certainly has flown.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Artsy Adventures in Insa-Dong
Or, When Idiocy Strikes Again
Camera troubles seem to be a recurring problem for me. First the battery dies when I leave the charger in the dorms, then the battery dies on me in the middle of a day trip, then I remember to charge the battery, take the camera with me, but forget to put the battery back in the camera. So there we have it, I have no pictures for today...
But I'm definitely not short on adventures today! (A wonder I still had some today, given how wiped out I felt early this morning...) Class felt like a drag, and I simply conked out for an hour afterwards...then got up again, watched a clip montage of movies (that weren't synced properly, I might add), and then somehow mustered up enough energy to go to a tea house in 인사동 (Insa-dong). It did revitalize me, somewhat--the cold teas of Jeongtong Dawon Tea House actually did wonders for the soul, even if my cold powdered green tea did get a little bitter near the bottom of the cup. I should've gone with either the citron tea (which I'm convinced is made from yuzu) or the omija tea (literally "five tastes", essentially a fruit punch of sorts). We were all addicted to the yugwa (유과), though, which are essentially sweetened rice puffs. A shame that they ran out of the rice cakes when we got there, though...
From the tea house, we ventured the streets of Insa-dong and did a little souvenir shopping. I managed to get myself a rather interesting t-shirt (with the design of King Sejong's first Hangul script, or something along those lines), as well as a pale pink necktie for my dad (or, if it doesn't suit him, me). Jackie and Caroline, who were giving me that extra bit of reassurance as to whether or not to buy it, thought it was the "manly pink" (their words, not mine).
We had a little amusement with the street vendors, one in particular who sold Turkish ice cream. He kept tricking Julie out of her cone, then pretending to drop it as he handed it to her (only for it to stay perfectly frozen onto his scooper-stick-thing). I'm not sure what he was saying to her after he finally let up and gave it to her, but the crux of the matter: she didn't know what the heck he was harassing her about, and I chased him off by simply saying "She doesn't speak Korean!" That shut him up, even if he was a little cheesed off.
Some more ambling around before we finally made our way back to E-dae, replenished our wallets with our latest meal disbursement, and headed for--what else?--a round of Korean barbeque. We thought we were getting a lot of food (two orders of bulgogi, two orders of kalbi, and an order of samgyupsal), although Hao-Hua decided he hadn't had enough and got a Big Mac (with fries!) afterwards. To be honest, it was the perfect amount for me...the table was a little too small to accommodate our group of five, though. At least we didn't smell nearly as bad as we would've, given that there was a...vacuum, for lack of a better term, that sits right above the grill and sucks most of the smoke up through it.
Tomorrow, we head for Jeolla-do and Kwangju. I promise to bring my camera this time, battery and all.
Camera troubles seem to be a recurring problem for me. First the battery dies when I leave the charger in the dorms, then the battery dies on me in the middle of a day trip, then I remember to charge the battery, take the camera with me, but forget to put the battery back in the camera. So there we have it, I have no pictures for today...
But I'm definitely not short on adventures today! (A wonder I still had some today, given how wiped out I felt early this morning...) Class felt like a drag, and I simply conked out for an hour afterwards...then got up again, watched a clip montage of movies (that weren't synced properly, I might add), and then somehow mustered up enough energy to go to a tea house in 인사동 (Insa-dong). It did revitalize me, somewhat--the cold teas of Jeongtong Dawon Tea House actually did wonders for the soul, even if my cold powdered green tea did get a little bitter near the bottom of the cup. I should've gone with either the citron tea (which I'm convinced is made from yuzu) or the omija tea (literally "five tastes", essentially a fruit punch of sorts). We were all addicted to the yugwa (유과), though, which are essentially sweetened rice puffs. A shame that they ran out of the rice cakes when we got there, though...
From the tea house, we ventured the streets of Insa-dong and did a little souvenir shopping. I managed to get myself a rather interesting t-shirt (with the design of King Sejong's first Hangul script, or something along those lines), as well as a pale pink necktie for my dad (or, if it doesn't suit him, me). Jackie and Caroline, who were giving me that extra bit of reassurance as to whether or not to buy it, thought it was the "manly pink" (their words, not mine).
We had a little amusement with the street vendors, one in particular who sold Turkish ice cream. He kept tricking Julie out of her cone, then pretending to drop it as he handed it to her (only for it to stay perfectly frozen onto his scooper-stick-thing). I'm not sure what he was saying to her after he finally let up and gave it to her, but the crux of the matter: she didn't know what the heck he was harassing her about, and I chased him off by simply saying "She doesn't speak Korean!" That shut him up, even if he was a little cheesed off.
Some more ambling around before we finally made our way back to E-dae, replenished our wallets with our latest meal disbursement, and headed for--what else?--a round of Korean barbeque. We thought we were getting a lot of food (two orders of bulgogi, two orders of kalbi, and an order of samgyupsal), although Hao-Hua decided he hadn't had enough and got a Big Mac (with fries!) afterwards. To be honest, it was the perfect amount for me...the table was a little too small to accommodate our group of five, though. At least we didn't smell nearly as bad as we would've, given that there was a...vacuum, for lack of a better term, that sits right above the grill and sucks most of the smoke up through it.
Tomorrow, we head for Jeolla-do and Kwangju. I promise to bring my camera this time, battery and all.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Time Machine: Destination 1796
We took a little trip back in time today as we made our way to Suwon, a city that's just a 20-minute bus ride from Seoul (provided, of course, that there's no traffic--more on that later). Somehow I'm coherent enough to write this at 11 PM, seeing as I was probably about to pass out from heat exhaustion earlier in the day. I'm still a little delirious from that, so if I don't make sense at times, you have been warned.
One of the most impressive sights was Hwaseong Fortress (화성), the still-standing fortress protecting King Jeongjo's palace in the middle of Suwon. Quite an impressive feat; the wall by itself stands about 20 feet high and runs three-and-a-half miles long, enclosing about half a square mile of land. Though I tried to capture as much of a traditional view as I could, you can see an interesting side-by-side view of the fortress walls with the high-rises that line the horizon. Kind of an old-meets-new kinda thing, I guess. You can actually see it better in the picture below, though very faintly so. I could've spent the whole day just in this one spot, right under a small pavilion nearby, but there were other (read: more exciting) things to do.
If you notice in this picture to the right, you can see what looks like archery targets near the far right of the picture. In fact, that's exactly what they are; there is, in fact, an archery range right by the fortress walls. We got to use traditional bows and not-so-traditional-looking arrows for a short period of time. Considering 2,000 won (~$2) each got us 10 shots, it's definitely worth it, even if you end up embarrassing yourself when it comes to actually shooting the arrows. A quick tutorial later, and you're already firing away--I only wish I got more arrows, because I would love to learn how to do this in the long run.
The targets in the above picture were 140 meters away from where we took our positions. Obviously, since (I'd venture to guess) none of us had ever handled a bow and arrow before, we shot at much closer targets (about 30 meters away from our spot--see left). That's supposed to be a bear's head we're aiming at. The video game geek in me got excited at the prospect of shooting arrows just like in the Zelda games, although one thing was soon very clear--I'm just as bad of a shot live as I am in the video games. Although my accuracy leaves much to be desired, I hit the target maybe four or five times out of my 10 shots, which I guess isn't so bad for a first-timer (considering every one of us overshot the target at least once). Not to mention the bowstring hit me in the arm a couple of times...that left a mark.
The targets in the above picture were 140 meters away from where we took our positions. Obviously, since (I'd venture to guess) none of us had ever handled a bow and arrow before, we shot at much closer targets (about 30 meters away from our spot--see left). That's supposed to be a bear's head we're aiming at. The video game geek in me got excited at the prospect of shooting arrows just like in the Zelda games, although one thing was soon very clear--I'm just as bad of a shot live as I am in the video games. Although my accuracy leaves much to be desired, I hit the target maybe four or five times out of my 10 shots, which I guess isn't so bad for a first-timer (considering every one of us overshot the target at least once). Not to mention the bowstring hit me in the arm a couple of times...that left a mark. |
| Break the targets! (Or at least hit them.) |
Link, if he were real, would've been disappointed with most, if not all, of us--we had to go scoop up our 10 arrows after our quivers were empty, and discovered that a lot of them wound up well past the targets. I actually thought about shooting my last one at the far targets just to see how close I could get to them, but I guess I was too absorbed with trying to hit the close ones to worry about that! There's just something funny about seeing a bunch of arrows sticking out of the ground behind the target, though...
The next few stops after the archery range were a little fuzzy, due to the blazing hot heat interfering with my memory for a little while. I do remember taking a trolley around the fortress and near a huge statue of King Jeongjo (it had to have been at least 30 feet tall, probably more) and walking all the way down to the main palace grounds. This was also around lunchtime, so we stopped at a local restaurant to try the famous Suwon kalbi (수원 갈비). Because the BBQ would've burned holes in our wallets and made us smell like it afterwards, we opted for a much more inexpensive option: kalbitang (갈비탕) and naengmyeon (냉면); short rib stew and cold noodles, respectively. I went for the kalbitang, which was quite good (if a little labor-intensive to eat).
After lunch, we went inside the main palace, Hwaseong Haengung (화성 행궁), which is evidently the site where they filmed the classic Korean drama "Daejanggum" (대장금). The heat was starting to get to us, though; on the bus to the folk village (which was another 15-20 minutes away), most of us were completely knocked out!
Yet somehow, we were ambling through the folk village (read: staggering through in a dehydrated stupor...or maybe that was just me) without much of a problem. My camera battery died (again) about halfway through our visit there, which was another letdown, but by that point I was too tired to do anything about it. Another downer, too, was the fact that all the performances were finished by the time we got there.
I did, however, manage to snap some slice-of-life photos before the battery fizzled out on me...
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| In the courtyard of a nobleman's house (?) |
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| Garden view of a part of the village |
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| Traditional wedding procession. Ignore the person on the far left who managed to get into the shot. |
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| Exhausted on the steps of the local government building |
Monday, July 18, 2011
Two Updates for the Price of One
That's right, folks, you're getting TWO updates for the price of ONE! Chalk it up to me (gasp!) actually forgetting about the blog for a little while I had a little fun over the weekend (and today, now that I think about it). First, take the time machine all the way back to Friday...
We took a class day trip to Cheorwon (철원), a small town near the DMZ. It's mostly deserted except for some military outposts and cultural museums, which include an observatory.
Yes, we actually got to creep on North Korea from afar. You see, this observatory has a deck where you can look out over the DMZ itself and, just 2 km away, the North Korean border (right). What surprised me the most about the DMZ, though, was that it's not the barren wasteland a lot of people (who haven't been there) make it out to be. We found out that it "accidentally" (for lack of a better term) became a wildlife reserve, due to lack of human activity in the area for the last 60 years or so. It's a bizarre juxtaposition, the tranquil wildlife preserve with the observatory, telling of Korea's war-torn past. It's probably the biggest irony the world has.
We also got to see one of the tunnels (left) the North Koreans dug to invade the South. I couldn't take any pictures inside the tunnel itself, but it was quite the trek, never mind cold inside. I wasn't terribly happy about hitting my head on the low ceiling about 10 or 11 times (thank goodness for that helmet they gave us), nor was I too pleased with these Korean schoolkids (probably middle or high schoolers) who were going in as we were coming out...and wouldn't get out of our way. I mean, the tunnel's narrow enough already, and yet they insist on walking two-by-two anyway? I was just about ready to pop my huge umbrella open and charging through to the end of the tunnel, bowling over any poor saps that happened to be in my path.
Also of curious note was this sign (right) that was just outside the tunnel. That's 21,172 days since the cease-fire agreement that ended the Korean War all the way back on July 27, 1953. (Well, by the time I publish this post, that'd be 21,176 days...) It almost seemed--to me, anyway--that they're still waiting for something to happen. Reunification, a northern attack, a plan to invade the north, whatever--just something so that they can stop counting the days and start anew. I guess this is their way of saying the Korean War really isn't officially over, per se. Eerie, if you think about it. Just brought to light how tense the situation really is out there.
Anyway. A long Friday in Cheorwon led to a day or two of rest (and writing a paper that was due Sunday at noon). Saturday I got to meet up with my grandparents again for lunch, as well as some family friends who had moved back to Korea a few years prior for dinner. Though this didn't exactly do me any favors when it came to writing my paper that night, at least I didn't write on an empty stomach.
Sunday itself was rather uneventful, thanks to most of the group going to the Mud Festival in Boryeong. To Hao-Hua, Caroline, and I, rolling around in the mud all day didn't exactly sound like our idea of fun, so we decided to stroll around E-dae and the surrounding area instead. We decided to make the trek to Hongik University via subway for lunch--Hong-dae, as it's called, is known for being a more hip hangout for college students. It's certainly busier at nighttime, although we didn't feel like going at night (when it tends to get pretty crazy, in more ways than one). We managed to find a pretty good Chinese restaurant in Hong-dae for lunch--victory for Hao-Hua, who had been craving good Chinese food since we got to Korea. For dinner, we went back to E-dae and went to our reliable sullungtang restaurant--victory for Caroline, who was in the process of getting over a bad bowl of said soup from the day before. And both of them are hooked on my favorite Korean dish--victory for me, who will eat said dish any chance I get.
(pause to catch breath)
Class resumed today, although most of us spent a good part of the day today in Apgujeong (압구정), a busy shopping/dining district not terribly unlike Hong-dae. We met up with Esther's SAT tutoring student (who had been taking lessons from her in the States), who took us around. After much discussion about what to go eat--most of us didn't care, although Matt adamantly insisted we have K-BBQ for the 24,198,687th time this trip--we wound up finding a chicken BBQ place, which actually wasn't too bad--it reminded me a bit of Mom's homemade 춘천 닭갈비 (Chuncheon-style chicken, for the Hangul-challenged). Although I made the mistake of eating one of the raw Korean peppers; flesh, membrane, seeds and all. Even though it wasn't so big, needless to say, I was in a world of hurt for the rest of the meal. How can that puny little pepper be spicier than all the spices rubbed onto the chicken combined...?
The rest of the night consisted of a board game café that smelled vaguely of cigarettes, though I definitely had a lot of fun playing (and failing at) pool, as well as learning some card games from Janina (pictured above, left) and Julie. I'm pretty sure we were the loudest people in the room, as I was too busy laughing my head off at our ineptitude at some of the games, as well as our rather baffling explanations of the rules.
If there's one thing I can't stand about this trip, though, it's our consistent "what the hell are we going to do now?" meetings that we hold basically out in the open. Most of the time (after wasting about 30 minutes figuring out what the hell we're going to do) they result in half the group splitting off to go drinking/clubbing/something along those lines, while the other half hoofs it to the nearest subway station back to E-dae so as not to show up to class with a hangover the next morning (or at least not running on <4 hours of sleep). I'll leave you to figure out which group I went with, although one of the guards was, again, hell-bent on stopping me before I got through the gate, only to be foiled by my key card.
I swear, that guard must have it out for me or something.
We took a class day trip to Cheorwon (철원), a small town near the DMZ. It's mostly deserted except for some military outposts and cultural museums, which include an observatory.
 | |
| Yes, I know I got more sky than I meant to. |
We also got to see one of the tunnels (left) the North Koreans dug to invade the South. I couldn't take any pictures inside the tunnel itself, but it was quite the trek, never mind cold inside. I wasn't terribly happy about hitting my head on the low ceiling about 10 or 11 times (thank goodness for that helmet they gave us), nor was I too pleased with these Korean schoolkids (probably middle or high schoolers) who were going in as we were coming out...and wouldn't get out of our way. I mean, the tunnel's narrow enough already, and yet they insist on walking two-by-two anyway? I was just about ready to pop my huge umbrella open and charging through to the end of the tunnel, bowling over any poor saps that happened to be in my path.
Anyway. A long Friday in Cheorwon led to a day or two of rest (and writing a paper that was due Sunday at noon). Saturday I got to meet up with my grandparents again for lunch, as well as some family friends who had moved back to Korea a few years prior for dinner. Though this didn't exactly do me any favors when it came to writing my paper that night, at least I didn't write on an empty stomach.
Sunday itself was rather uneventful, thanks to most of the group going to the Mud Festival in Boryeong. To Hao-Hua, Caroline, and I, rolling around in the mud all day didn't exactly sound like our idea of fun, so we decided to stroll around E-dae and the surrounding area instead. We decided to make the trek to Hongik University via subway for lunch--Hong-dae, as it's called, is known for being a more hip hangout for college students. It's certainly busier at nighttime, although we didn't feel like going at night (when it tends to get pretty crazy, in more ways than one). We managed to find a pretty good Chinese restaurant in Hong-dae for lunch--victory for Hao-Hua, who had been craving good Chinese food since we got to Korea. For dinner, we went back to E-dae and went to our reliable sullungtang restaurant--victory for Caroline, who was in the process of getting over a bad bowl of said soup from the day before. And both of them are hooked on my favorite Korean dish--victory for me, who will eat said dish any chance I get.
(pause to catch breath)
Class resumed today, although most of us spent a good part of the day today in Apgujeong (압구정), a busy shopping/dining district not terribly unlike Hong-dae. We met up with Esther's SAT tutoring student (who had been taking lessons from her in the States), who took us around. After much discussion about what to go eat--most of us didn't care, although Matt adamantly insisted we have K-BBQ for the 24,198,687th time this trip--we wound up finding a chicken BBQ place, which actually wasn't too bad--it reminded me a bit of Mom's homemade 춘천 닭갈비 (Chuncheon-style chicken, for the Hangul-challenged). Although I made the mistake of eating one of the raw Korean peppers; flesh, membrane, seeds and all. Even though it wasn't so big, needless to say, I was in a world of hurt for the rest of the meal. How can that puny little pepper be spicier than all the spices rubbed onto the chicken combined...?
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| Fight on, Wendy. Doesn't it look good? |
If there's one thing I can't stand about this trip, though, it's our consistent "what the hell are we going to do now?" meetings that we hold basically out in the open. Most of the time (after wasting about 30 minutes figuring out what the hell we're going to do) they result in half the group splitting off to go drinking/clubbing/something along those lines, while the other half hoofs it to the nearest subway station back to E-dae so as not to show up to class with a hangover the next morning (or at least not running on <4 hours of sleep). I'll leave you to figure out which group I went with, although one of the guards was, again, hell-bent on stopping me before I got through the gate, only to be foiled by my key card.
I swear, that guard must have it out for me or something.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Time Zone Shake-up, Movie Night
Sounds like something I should've posted on the first day, except now I feel like we've gotten used to it by now. As evidenced by me waking up about 20 minutes before class and somehow still making it on time (despite not eating breakfast).
The real reason why I say this is a time zone shake-up: we caught the last Harry Potter movie here in Seoul two days before its scheduled American release. And while I love that I can brag about having seen it before my states-side friends can, I must say I was...well, I'll keep quiet until it comes out in the States before I say anything.
I will say this, though: the Korean subtitles were distracting, but if I don't learn another speck of Korean while I'm here, at least I've learned "시끄러워" (shi-keu-ruh-wuh) means "shut up," and "미쳤어" (mi-chyuhs-suh) means "Are you crazy?"
Now you can't say I didn't learn any Korean while I've been here. Nyaahhh.
Also, for our class, we watched "Taegukki," a Korean War-era film. Easily one of the saddest films I've ever seen. I nearly cried during this one. And that's saying a lot, considering I virtually don't cry at all during movies. There was a rather awkward silence after the film was actually over...our TA, Lucy, was bawling her eyes out. Some of us were wrecks.
And then Hao-Hua and I each had a bowl of sullungtang (설렁탕) and forgot about it completely. Korean soul food for the win.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Nothing Like a Day Off...
Much of yesterday was spent doing laundry, writing emails, catching up on sleep, and attempting to replenish the stash of spare change I mostly lost at poker over the weekend. (Wendy, if you're reading this, just remember...you had to shell out a 1,000w bill. Which I kept. So there.)
About money...carrying around Korean cash makes me feel rich, since the numbers are so big...
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| I'm rich! (What's that? Only worth about $100 total? Who cares, I'm rich!) |
So the aforementioned 1,000w bill is, in fact, worth only about a buck. And I'm still amused by the fact that we refer to them as "dollars" like we're in the US. But, rule of thumb when in Korea: chop off three zeroes and that's the price in dollars. So--going strictly by the numbers--I might be a quarter-millionaire at the moment in Korea...but when you consider that it converts to about $250, it's a little less impressive. So we were throwing around our spare change in poker the other night, and we gasped in horror when someone threw down a 100w coin or two (or three) and won the pot.
And then we realized we only lost about ten cents. Commence laughter.
We weren't betting with the 500w coins (or if we used them, we broke them down into 100w coins first), because we needed them for the laundry machines. This led to some amusement on my part, as Hao-Hua essentially wasted 500w on a dryer when he didn't realize he had to push the coin in, and then press another button to set the dryer in motion. (Needless to say, he was pretty pissed after that.) As for me, I'm trying to hoard all my 500w coins so I have them readily available for my next load of laundry. I had quite a few when I came over here, thanks to the subway deposit refund-thingies...guess spending them all early was a mistake...
At least laundry's much cheaper here than in the States! 1,000w (~$1) per load here vs. $2.00 at 'SC...I'll take the Korean price any day over the US price!
Which begs the question...since the 100w coins are the exact same size as the quarter, would they work in our laundry machines and register as quarters? Inquiring minds want to know...it'd save me a little money...
Oh, and by the way, while in the States we're accustomed to going to find food at 11 PM, there's virtually none of that around Ewha. Everything closes around 10 PM, and those places that are still open after 10 have a very limited menu. Hao-Hua was none too happy about that one either.
Now that I mention it, I have never seen the front of a college campus so dead past 10 PM. The streets are virtually completely empty. It's kinda scary.
Monday, July 11, 2011
Weekend Trips Are Fun!
Full disclaimer ahead of time: my camera battery died halfway through the weekend trip, and I left my charger in the dorms. So I'm stuck with only a few pictures of the first half of the Ulsan/Busan weekend trip, and without so much as a pixel of the second half. But nonetheless, I'm always one to make do with what I have...and also, due to fuzzy memory, I may have some events reversed in the timeline.
We took the KTX train from Seoul to Ulsan bright and early Friday morning (evident by the large percentage of sleepers on the train, myself included). I actually preferred the train to the plane we took back. I don't know what it is, but I can virtually never sleep on planes. Yet somehow, I slept like a baby on the train. Interesting.
You know you get off at a city known for car manufacturing when you get off the train and the first thing in the station you see is this:
We took the KTX train from Seoul to Ulsan bright and early Friday morning (evident by the large percentage of sleepers on the train, myself included). I actually preferred the train to the plane we took back. I don't know what it is, but I can virtually never sleep on planes. Yet somehow, I slept like a baby on the train. Interesting.
You know you get off at a city known for car manufacturing when you get off the train and the first thing in the station you see is this:
A new car! (Rich Fields would've been proud...maybe...)
Anyway. About that whole car manufacturing thing. We got to see the Hyundai Heavy Industries Shipyard and Auto Plant. Was a little funny to me, seeing as I was thinking about getting an Elantra earlier in the year. Didn't happen, although one of these days, Hyundai. One of these days. That Elantra will. Be. Mine. (If my TPIR check still is holding up by then and if I win big on Wheel, sure.)
After getting our fill of business propaganda (complete with scale model of a Hyundai Genesis), we rested up and made our way to Seokguram Grotto, a tiny Buddhist temple nestled in the mountains. Or was Seokguram first? I can't remember. Anyway. It was a bit of a hike, but eventually the view looked something like this:
Hey! Who told that guy he could get in the way of my picture?! Let's try this again...
Ah. That's better.
I don't care what anyone says: it's impossible to hate anything after being in or around a Buddhist temple. Especially one like this. We were also mesmerized by various paper lanterns hanging on some poles, with what appeared to be prayer tags hanging from those. Why, you ask? If you saw a bazillion colors all of a sudden, you would be too! See?
After feeling enlightened (slightly), we found our way to the Cheomsongdae Observatory...and then that's when it started raining cats and dogs. The pathway to Cheomsongdae isn't exactly paved, so getting back to the bus was a challenge as we were all sloshing around wet sand. Not to mention all the puddles we probably found...my tennis shoes were soaked for the next day or two.
I had to tough out sopping wet sneakers and socks when visiting the UN Cemetery, though...and really, I forgot about them when I was walking through there. Even though it was still raining, it was actually relatively fitting weather for visiting a cemetery. Of course, it's also fitting that my camera battery dies...in the cemetery.
This was before the downpour. Kinda eerie-looking, if you think about it.
The rest is a little fuzzy, due to not having a camera to document much. I do remember, though, making our way down to Busan after that, and finding the fish market later. It was rather hilarious watching some of the more squeamish members of our group try to stomach chopped-up octopus that's still squirming on the plate, or watch as the salesman butchers live fish. (Then it's really not live fish anymore, I guess.) I've been desensitized to the butchery a bit, having seen such things on the original Iron Chef, but the rest of the group wasn't exactly privy to watching it. I only wish I had a couple of pictures of this myself...
What was even more amusing at the fish market: Matt, our sole white guy in our group, was getting invites left and right from market regulars to come eat with them! And apparently they thought I was Japanese, Julie (who's actually part-Japanese) was Taiwanese, and God-knows-what-else...
Sunday we had all to ourselves to do whatever the heck we wanted. Naturally, we take a day at the beach--Haeundae, to be exact. Not exactly the prettiest beach I've been to, as all the high rises surrounding the area kinda killed the atmosphere. Not to mention the sand stuck to you, even if you tried washing it off. But in the end, it was good innocent fun...even if the water was insanely cold. I felt my feet going numb, for crying out loud!
The last notable bit from the weekend? Bath house trip. Quite amusing going in with a bunch of people who didn't know what exactly was going on (and frankly, neither did I until one of the attendants refreshed my memory). Although--and I'm going to keep teasing him about this--my roommate didn't want to go into the bath itself, just the sauna (where they gave us robes to wear into the sauna area). I guess he was a little weirded out at the prospect of completely disrobing to go in.
Wasn't going to stop me. Screw it, I thought, I'm going in there by myself. After the initial shock wore off, I found myself in a myriad of different baths...although whoever said a bath house was supposed to be relaxing was crazy. So many little kids running around shooting their water guns and splashing around...I mean, I know it's a little early for me to be acting like a crotchety old man, but I couldn't relax with all that going on. Maybe I was just cranky from a long day earlier on, but still...it wasn't exactly my idea of a relaxing end to the trip.
Oh heck, at least my camera's back in action.
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Weekend Update
To tide you folks over until my head is clear enough to write a decent entry...
Got back from Busan just a little while ago. Free day tomorrow, will blog then. A damn shame my camera died on me while there and I left my charger in the dorms. Not as many pictures this time around, though we'll see what we can do.
That is all.
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