Weekend jaunt to Idong, Gyeonggi-do

Idong's a town along the Seoul-Wasu bus route that I'd been through countless times, but had only visited once before this weekend. I wouldn't call it a visit so much as a pit stop, for it happened right after a co-teacher and I had completed getting my ARC card. We'd stopped to enjoy the famed Idong galbi, or marinated beef ribs. They were indeed quite good.

Since that one-off visit, I'd sometimes thought about coming back. This weekend R and I did just that: partly because I wanted to return to the town to savor the beef and partly because we wanted to compare the Idong galbi to the Suwon galbi we'd eaten over New Year's. The Suwon stuff had been good but pricey. No matter, it was a special occasion that we can hardly do every day since neither of us live in Suwon. The Idong proved to be slightly cheaper, but quite tasty. The beef was as tender and juicy as it was supposed to be.

As we didn't want to repeat the Suwon experience of paying for 1kg of beef, we went with one portion of galbi (300g) and ordered bibim naengmyeon, or cold buckwheat noodles with vegetables, to complement the meat. Doing so took some explaining, for the sajangnim tried to get us to us into order two portions, but we got what we wanted. Throwing in a bottle of Chung-ha wine probably helped our case a bit.

After our succulent barbecue, we found ourselves in need of coffee to cap off the meal.  We asked the parking guy/promoter of the restaurant and he directed us toward the establishment below, Galbi/Coffee 1987:

R and I knew we were looking at something grand: A combination barbecue joint and cafe? We couldn't believe it. The synergy of such an establishment overwhelmed us, for where do Koreans tend to go after they eat barbecue? Why, either the bar or the cafe! This place combined the two and thus allowed the customers more convenience and the owners more money. Morever, the cafe alone is one of the best we've been to in Korea. Here's why: The coffee's actually bitter and the lattes are mixed right. And not only that, but my iced Americano came in a pint glass. Iced coffee in pint glasses brings back many fond memories from Milwaukee, WI. One sip and I was seeing through walls. The coffee may have come at premium prices, but oh well. Coffee's hit or miss over here, as articles like this will attest to, so quality coffee's hard to find.

--
Pictures from Idong:

Along the Youngpyoung Cheon.


Notes:

Idong's also famous for its makgeolli, which we've also sampled plenty of times. It is indeed a fine drink.

Ground coffee has come to my town. Yes indeed, one of the grocery stores started selling ground hazelnut coffee a few months ago. The package is plain and it has no brand name, but it's the real stuff. I was skeptical at first, but one test cup erased any doubts: it has the bitterness and it has the hazelnut flavor. Even better is the price: Around 3 dollars for a 200g bag.

Krock 4: Chang Ki-ha and Faces

Another group I need to get some records from!

Chang Kiha & Faces (장기하와 얼굴들), "싸구려 커피" (Ssaguryeo Keopi/"Cheap Coffee")

From the Youtube post:

The song is about the "880000 Won generation", or the Korean people in their 20~30s right now who, thanks to some pretty terrible labor law practices, can only get part time jobs or internship that, if lucky, pays about 880000 won ($880) a month. So they live in terrible apartments (with damp flooring made out of vinyl) and can only afford to drink 'cheap coffee' while having nothing to do all day.

KPOP SUBCATEGORY
there are many other genres of music in korea, simply kpop may refer to the idol musics bands like snsd, bigbang, wondergirls etc,,, but these types of korean music is called korean indie or K-INDIE

I've heard the term "880,000won Generation" before. It refers to the amount of money that many twenty-something Koreans earn per month.

Jang's lyrics ring true in my experience. I haven't known too many Koreans who are in this spot, but his lyrics can apply to plenty of people I knew back home in Milwaukee. He's right to note the damn vinyl floor coverings in the apartments here. They can get sticky at times. Most apartments have vinyl flooring that's made to look like wood paneling. My place has it too. The song's about more than cheap coffee--it's about the loneliness and the frustration of having nothing to do but sit around. I've been there a few times in the past, especially in Milwaukee. I wasn't poor or anything, but there were times when there wasn't any money to spend that day because I needed to buy groceries or needed to pay the bills.

Also, I've written before about coffee in Korea. Cheap coffee does indeed taste cheap, and though I enjoy coffee every morning, I couldn't tell you too much about this blend or that blend. Most of it tastes similar, but the French roasts and the breakfast blends tend to go down quite well.

Note the excellent recurring descending guitar lick!

Chang Kiha & Faces, 별일 없이 산다 – 장("I live in peace"/Byeolil Eobsi Sanda)

A good driving rock song with some snaking bass lines. I bet it’d be even better live because the clean production saps away some of the song’s power. It sounds good and clear, but sometimes more grit is needed. Another one to look up the words for.

"그렇고 그런 사" / "A Twosome"

Awesome retro surf guitar here! Bouncy and fun to play. Call it a rock and roll cousin to Secret's "Move."

To end the post on a funny note, here's "I've Watched TV," a funny number about--you guessed it!--watching TV. It has a catchy piano melody and some slow ringing guitar in it. Enjoy!

Cover of 1st album. This is a good look at the clustered and compressed neighborhoods typical of Seoul.

Cover of 2nd album

More info here:

Taipei Times article about 880,000 won generation

D-voice's editorial

Dong-a Daily's "The lie of the 880,000 won generation"

HanCinema feature and interview

CNN: Three South Korean Indie Bands to Watch

Vacation Day 10-1: Cafe Bong

Another quality day here. The flight for the US leaves Friday night, so I'm eagerly awaiting seeing the family once again. 

Wasu's moving up in the world once again, for we now have a new coffee house in town, Cafe Bong. It opened on Christmas Eve in what was once a run-down bar on the roundabout. Apologies for delays in writing about it; I didn't notice it until last week and didn't remember to snap a picture until today. There would have been a picture of the interior, but for whatever reason they were closed tonight, so there went my plans to sip tea and write in there tonight.

Cafe Bong has what may be the best atmosphere of any cafe in Cheorwon. In the words of Rochelle, from the fancy and darker decor of the interior to the 2nd floor location,  it's going for a Seoul feel. Indeed, the inside feels classier than the local Tous Les Jours or Paris Baguette thanks to the lighting. The place would make a good hangout; indeed, the housewives of Wasu have already begun converging on it, for now they can sip their lattes in style. 

Rochelle and I stopped by and picked up after-dinner tea and hot chocolate on the weekend. Both drinks went down well. I'll be stopping by Cafe Bong again because the tea's good and they serve tasty-looking giant slices of bread with honey or chocolate topping. Bong doesn't appear to sell any other foods, so TLJ or PB have the edge for food yet..

Notes:

• I was happy to see that one of my incoming HS students is working there as a barista. She's not even a freshman and her working life's already begun.

• Wasu history 101: Kirsten's fond of noting that when she arrived in Wasu in February of 2010, Wasu didn't have any coffee shops at all.* Options for "real" coffee that wasn't instant or canned consisted of going to Seoul or Chuncheon. She often said she'd get a Starbucks coffee as soon as she arrived in Chuncheon because she craved regular coffee that badly.
• The Tous Les Jours and the Paris Baguette arrived between then and August 2011 when Pete, Gabe, and I arrived here, but as a point of information, Paris Baguette didn't upgrade itself from bakery to bakery-cafe until 2012.
• Wasu history 101 part II: A Lotteria got built last year as well. It's the Korean equivalent of McDonald's. The best thing about it is that it gives high school kids jobs.

Ode to the Mocha Gold

For those of us in Korea, the very combination of the words mocha and gold probably provoke any number of thoughts. Perhaps it's "can't live without it!" Maybe it's "ugh--get that out of my face!" Regardless, Mocha Gold--and many other sachet coffees--constitute a big part of school life. The boxes and sachets of the stuff sit on most every teachers office or classroom in this country it seems. It's called coffee mix, but it tastes more like sweetened milk with a few coffee grounds tossed in for appearances.

Teachers at my school drink these over sugared confections by the caseload. See that picture below? 3 of the 5 of us in my office go through a box like that every week and a half. I'm convinced that several teachers drink nothing but coffee mixes every day because they never seem to drink anything else or even talk about anything else. They drink it before the first class, after lunch, and one or more times at various intervals throughout the day.

The recent cold snap's brought about. a sharp increase in "coffee" consumption with teachers running for the stuff as soon as they come in from the cold hallways. They anxiously heat the water and pour another round of their paper cup confections before they clutch them like lifelines to their parched lips and scurry back to their desks.


To the readers: what are you thoughts on coffee mixes? How often do you drink it?

*I watch this ritual unfold every day and wonder how someone can ingest that much sugar. Then again, even if I don't think too much of the stuff, it makes one hell of a soju bomb. The sweetness perfectly offsets the alcohol.

**And if not in sachets, coffee mix dispensers sit in plenty of restaurants, shops, and banks across the land. They're everywhere.

The Latte King

It may be small, but it serves excellent coffee--it's second only to Terarosa for the best in Korea, but don't call that a criticism, for both places serve up excellent brews. Their iced soy latte tastes creamy and bitter, plus it's strong and comes in a tall glass. Normally I take my coffee as black as the abyss, but it's good to drink something else every now and then, especially when it involves soy milk. Besides, extra won's more than worth it when the coffee can remind you of home. This Latte King's in the Haebangchon neighborhood of Seoul and I make a point of going there every time I go to Rochelle's place. We'd both thought it was a one-off place, but it is, to our surprise, part of a chain.

For those who want some food with their coffee, Latte King does offer sandwiches, cookies, and muffins. I haven't tried any of the sandwiches yet, but plenty of customers have ordered them and they've all looked tasty. There's wifi for your iPad and stack of magazines to read too. Go there and enjoy some quality drinks and food.

Vacation Pt. 2: Rainy but fun days in Gangneung

Picture from Rochelle's iPhone.

We rode right into every traveler's nightmare: It was hot and sunny when we got in on Saturday and it's been raining off and on ever since. Nonetheless, we still have been enjoying our time here on the east coast and are making plans to return sometime within the next couple of months.

Highlights from the trip

Saturday night: Samgyeopsal barbecue

Samgyeopsal is grilled pork belly and it's similar to bacon, but it has one key difference: it's 10 times better than bacon.

Grilling samgyeopsal at one of the nearby restaurants.

Side dishes of kimchi, spinach, radishes, lettuce, sesame oil, red pepper paste, and more. The raw samgyeopsal's in the background.

Sunday:

Terarosa Coffee Factory, Charmsori Gramophone Museum, and Gyeongpo Beach

Terarosa's a famous place among Koreans and Westerners alike. Set outside the city, the place serves delicious coffee from around the world and has a tasty brunch/lunch menu. It is less a factory than a rustic house surrounded by lush green trees and plants. Most everything's made of wood; the place feels cozy and warm even in the air-conditioned indoors. You can sit outside in a couple of areas as well. We did this because it meant quicker service and a chance to take a closer look at the greenery.

At the entrance.

Me and a delicious cup of Honduran coffee, a circle of red bean bread, and Rochelle with a tasty cappucino. Our shrimp omelet had yet to arrive when the picture got taken. The food tasted good too. The coffee and food can be a bit expensive, but it's worth it because coming here isn't an every day activity. That 5,000won cup of coffee was worth every, er, 10won coin, too. I've written previously about coffee in Korea here and this cup tasted like the best stuff does back home. 

 We had lunch here to commorate 100 days together as a couple. Younger Koreans tend to count time in relationships in days instead of months, so celebrating 100 days together is a unique part of the culture and so thought we'd join in too. Photo taken by a nice Korean girl who happened to be sitting with her boyfriend at the next table over. She saw me taking a picture of the coffee and leaned over to ask about taking our pictures. We ended with a few shots. She spoke good English and we chatted about the iPhone and the Samsung Galaxy.

*The Terarosa website provides directions for taking the bus or taking a taxi. The taxi will cost more but it will get you there faster.

We took a cab from Terarosa and went straight to the Charmsori Gramophone Museum and Edison Science Museum. Rochelle thoroughly enjoyed this. It felt great to see the place again. The old ad for 78s that said "78rpm--A speed we can live with" cracked me up because 78s quickly lost favor once 33 1/3rpm vinyl LPs came in years ago. Numerous families had brought their kids here and I couldn't help but wonder what they thought of the old gramophones and music boxes. Those under 12 have no knowledge of a world without mp3s and file trading. How would they view putting on an LP and dropping the needle onto a favorite track? I know it felt wondrous when I did it years ago. Regardless, it's good that they got to see some history.

*Some good fortune occurred on the way out: a friendly staff member gave us 10 dollars worth of postcards once she saw that we could speak Korean. 

The museum sits next to the Gyeongpo lake and we walked down one side of it until we came to the famous Gyeongpo Beach. The rain had started picking up by this point, but no one seemed to notice or care until the downpour came 30 minutes later. We didn't think too much of the rain either. This trip marked my fourth time to the east coast and I was hell-bent on wading into the water. And I did. It felt to stand in the East Sea part off the Pacific Ocean. [Note: The East Sea is also known as the Sea of Japan. I grew up calling it the Sea of Japan, but the Koreans insist on calling it the East Sea]

Gyeongpo Beach on a rainy day. Note the people and the police tent in front.

 

The tents on the beach. Grab one while you can.

Monday: Again, more rain. We stayed in and watched movies while eating delicious barbecue chicken for takeout. Chicken joints are everywhere here and this was our first time getting takeout chicken. Got to start sometime, right?

Tuesday: The sun came out as we said our goodbyes to each other and to city. Rochelle went south to Ulsan to visit her cousin and I went west and then north to Wasu. It took took five hours to get from Gangneung to Seoul (via Dong Seoul) to Wasu counting stops and transfer time. The ride through Gangwon into Seoul was an endless wilderness of green forests, mountains, hills, and valleys. 

Wednesday: a national holiday. School begins again on Thursday.

*Gangneung to Dong Seoul Bus Terminal: 14,000won.

Dong Seoul to Wasu: 10,200won.

There'll be more coming soon...

9 Months This Week / Stuff Back Home

Standby for a series of posts for the page. I've been a bit slack on getting new stuff up on here and wouldn't want to let anyone down. This week marks 9 months in Korea and I can't wait for what the next 15 will bring. 1 year just isn't enough, not with a job that's beyond satisfying and a great group of people to share it with.

This time of the month's always a bit of a reflective time because I left the States on my birthday (23 August) and another month's passing brings the country back to mind. It seems time to note what I do and don't miss about the USA:

What's missing

Soy milk

Can't find Silk soymilk or anything comparable here. Soymilk is available, but it's not the same. There's more sugar in it and it doesn't satisfy the way soymilk does in the States. Korean soymilk somehow has more calories and more fat in it, yet it doesn't seem as filling as Silk does. Strange. Not cool. I've gone back to regular milk and somehow the regular stuff tastes better here.

Public Trash Cans

They may as well not exist here. Stores put out giant bags for trash and that's it. Most of the time people throw their can of ____ on the sidewalk and keep on walking. Kids get these little bowls of spicy rice cakes, eat them, and then throw them on the ground. I should be used to this by now, but I'm not. Seeing this stuff makes me wonder why people can't wait until they do find a trash can. Trash in the street isn't the greatest sight to see. But, on the other hand, this may not be such a bad thing for two reasons:

1. The trash does get picked up y retirement-age men and women come around every so often and pick up the random trash on roads and sidewalks. I don't know if they get paid to do this or not, but either way, it gives the older people something to do and keeps them active. 

2. People can't get busted for littering so easily--if they can get busted at all. 

Being Able to Drink Alone in Bars

This is trivial, but it's enough for me to write about because there've been a few times where I wanted to drink a beer or two and not stay in the apartment. It doesn't work over here because bars expect you to either order food with your drinks or come in a group of two or more people. Stopping by the local for a drink after work doesn't happen here. There is no such thing as stopping by. 

Every time I've tried this, I've gotten a puzzled expression and a bunch of Korean I couldn't understand from the barmaid or bartender. Apparently a guy can't go get one beer and go home here. I don't know. It isn't a big deal when you consider that beer's available 24/7, but sometimes a change of scenery is good. 

Record stores and Spinning Vinyl Records

I've been in a few shops so far, and the only one worth mentioning was this small joint in the Hongdae area of Seoul. Me and a lady friend had happened upon it by chance when we'd met for a date in the winter. I saw it from across the street. It sold nothing but blues and jazz CDs. It felt good to scour the racks in there; it took me back to those days at Bullseye Records in Milwaukee. She pointed out a few people here and there until I found The Essential Bo Diddley. That's an album I should've had since day 1. He's up there with Chuck Berry for archetypal rock and rollers. The New York Dolls covered his song "Pills." It felt good to hear his original version of it. 

As much as the apartment feels like home, it may not feel complete until a turntable and a proper stereo get acquired. I haven't had a proper stereo in years. It's strange to play everything through the computer, iPad, or MP3 player. Those speakers I bought in September aren't any good. A former co-teacher gave me his computer speakers in the winter. They make the music loud and clear. 

One side effect of the change in music listening is I've been steadily buying stuff on iTunes. And even though I miss the packaging of albums, it doesn't make any practical sense to accumulate album after album here. Buying the physical product gets saved for the (awesomely packaged) Kpop albums and Western stuff that burns at my soul. 

Coffee

I've never understood this. This whole country works itself to the bone every day of the week and prides itself on doing things quickly. Students study from 8:20am to 9pm (not counting private school) with a few breaks, businessmen work until 7 most nights and Saturdays, construction crews work on weekends, convenience stores are almost always open 24/7, and yet decent coffee's only for those who can afford the coffee shops every day. This country needs better coffee! Cans of coffee are ubiquitous, but they're overmilked and oversweetened to the point where it's not even coffee but some express ticket to Diabetes Land. You can find a couple brands of straight Americanos, but it lacks even a tinge of bitterness. It's smooth, but it's devoid of any character. The caffeine certainly does the job, but coffee shouldn't taste like caffeinated water with food coloring. The instant stuff's even worse. More than once already I've tossed out my cup because of the taste.

The local Tous Les Jours coffee shop does do a decent Americano. The Paris Baguette is okay as well. When Kirsten first moved here, she used to tell Gabe, Peter, and I about how Wasu didn't have any coffee shops and she'd stop at the Starbucks in Chuncheon every time she went there. Maybe we should count ourselves as lucky. Gabe, Peter, and I went to Tous Les Jour on our second day here and the Paris Baguette only started serving coffee when it renovated over the winter. Maybe this is what I get for living in a small town. Ground coffee's easier to find in the bigger cities. I'll have go online or go to Seoul or Chuncheon if I want to buy some. 

Another thing: instant coffee mix packets are huge here. The packets already have the coffee, creamer, and sugar mixed in them. You boil a pot of water on the regulation office electric kettle, pour the mix into a Dixie cup, and pour in the water. The teachers call this coffee, but I swear a better name is coffee shot. 2oz doesn't count as coffee unless it's straight espresso. Again, they're sweet. They do go well with soju though. My idea. A few of lady teachers as well as members of the Cheorwon crew like them. 

*Tous Les Jours and Paris Baguette charge 2,500won for an Americano. It's around 2 dollars.

=============

So that's five things and none of them carry much importance in the grand scheme of things. That's about all I've got for complaints against daily life here. Everything else is great. Everything necessary is in walking distance: the school, the restaurants, the grocery store, the walking paths, the coffee shops, and the bus terminal. Beer, makgeolli, whiskey and soju are available around the clock. 3 cool EPIK'ers plus a great co-teacher and a cool apartment manager live in the building. The townspeople are nice. The scenery's gorgeous. Spring's turning into summer and the weather's grown warm.

I do miss waking up to a big  mug of strong coffee and a bowl of granola, but oh well. Life was good then, but it's better now. Cheers!

From Seoul to Milwaukee and back

[Originally written on 29 Jan 2012 and edited on 2 Feb 2012]

From 19 to 29 Jan, I came back to the States on vacation to spend time with family and friends. My plane to Korea leaves tomorrow. It's been one hell of a good time here with seeing everybody. Some relatives from out of town even came up to visit us and we had a great time this weekend. I won't name names, but you know who you are, you who reveled in Wisconsin.

 

There'll be more posts about this in the future--coming back felt strange as hell. After 5 months of living in Korea, seeing jacked up 4x4s, sprawling parking lots, and abundant Mexican food seemed alien, as though I'd forgotten they existed. Here are a few other things that I ruminated about while I was here:

 

• The sheer diversity of food in restaurants.
• Friends and family haven't changed--and that's for the best. No one's gone and jumped the shark.
• The massive size of Pick 'n' Save. E-Mart and Lotte Mart may have big grocery sections, but they've nothing on American supermarkets for sheer size and selection. On the other hand, Pick 'n' Save can't match the food and drink samples that the Korean supermarkets offer every day.
• Wisconsin's liquor laws seemed unnecessarily restrictive. More than once, 9pm passed and I remembered that unlike Korea, no store will sell booze.
• I kept wondering where the soju and the 1.6l jugs of Cass were.
• On a similar note, getting ID'd was a change of pace.
• Metered parking doesn't exist in Seoul, but it certainly does in America. Seeing halfway ordinary parking jobs right away seemed strange. Someone did hit my parked car at a shopping mall when I was home though, so I guess normal parking jobs don't mean much after all.
• Parking lots take up too much space. Whatever happened to parking garages and building upward instead of outward? So much space gets wasted on parking lots.
• It felt good to see more recognizable street addresses and signs.
• Driving at night gets more monotonous than I remember.
• Coffee tastes better here. Korean coffee's on the weaker side, but the cafes can make a decent Americano.
• Though Korean energy drinks are cheap and they get the job done, they don't taste as good as Rock Star.
• The cigar I smoked at Lake Country Cigars tasted quited good.
• After decades of disliking spicy food, I've officially made the great leap into Spice Land. It took some time (and a whole lot of kimchi) to get used to it, but once I got back to WI I came to miss it.
• Jamming the blues with Jonny T-Bird and friends in Milwaukee rocked! They backed me up on a few numbers at an open jam at the Astor Hotel. The last time I saw any live music? The Seoul Record and CD Festival in November, where the band played blues and sang in Korean.
• Having to wait for the waiter/waitress to come around to the table in restaurants got to be a drag after being able to push a button on the table or call out "Yeo-gi-yo!" Also, many Korean diners and restaurants will let patrons get water themselves, to saving to wait for that got a bit annoying after a while too.
• I did remember to tip for stuff. I do have to wonder if it's necessary at coffee shops though. After all, it's not like I'm ordering an entire meal. All I'm asking the person to do is grab a biscotti and a coffee for me. Korea's not a tipping culture, so you pay what the receipt says and no more. This includes bars and cabs. Cab drivers will insist you made a mistake if you try to tip them.
• A childhood of long car rides to visit relatives in OH paid off with being able to do 12-13 hour plane rides easily.