June is the month all Koreans refer to as, “the rainy season”. Americans would call it the monsoon and typhoon season. Up until this past Wednesday June was just like May, humid and warm. The sky is now filled with dark clouds and the sidewalks are transforming into small ponds. Eight inches of rain are still on the way. It has rained all day Saturday off and on which ruined my original plans of going clay shooting with the guys from work. Hopefully in two weeks it won’t still be raining so we can still embark on that adventure. As a resident of Los Angeles where it only rains a few days each year, seeing the monsoons here in Korea reminds me of New England weather and how relaxing it is to hear Mother Nature washing your windows. The idea popped into my head that this would be a great chance to go watch a movie at the local theater in the neighboring mall.
A night shot of my hotel when walking to the City 7 mall.
Before watching anything I had to feed my carbohydrate deprived stomach and settled on pizza, also in the local mall. The pizza in Korea is far different than in America but some restaurants still sell American style pizza, including my destination, Mr. Pizza. Most of the menu is Korean pizzas with exotic toppings such as ribs, prawns, lettuce, and sweet potatoes. I went with a classic cheese pizza with a few extra toppings of pepperoni, mushroom, onion, and green peppers. Fifteen minutes later my pizza arrived without the mushrooms but with corn instead. The mix-up wasn’t too bad but I must point out that the pepperoni was placed under the cheese while the vegetables were all on top. This doesn’t let the pepperoni crisp up and it reminded me of eating the pepperoni inside a pizza lunch-able.
Mr. Pizza and many other restaurants in Korea have two distinct ways of operating compared to the U.S. First, they leave your bill at the table as soon as you order. If you ask the waitresses for anything extra they just print out a new check and leave it on the table. This isn’t a bad way of doing business because you always pay for your food up at the front counter. There is no waiting for your waitress for 15 minutes like in American restaurants just to get a bill and leave disgruntled that the final leg of service took too long. The second difference in Korean dining is that each table has a buzzer to call over the waitress. No one comes around to check up on you and ask how your food is or if you want a refill. When your glass is empty just hit the button and they come right over. Some will literately sprint to your table as soon as they hear the ding of the button at the front of the restaurant. One fancy steakhouse actually had a bell shaped like an apple and colored gold that served the same purpose as the button. In the five or so weeks of living in Korea not once have I had a bad dining experience because of a waiter or waitress. If only these techniques were adopted in American restaurants.
After dinner I walked to the movie theater to see what was playing. The only American movies with billboards were Kung Fu Panda 2, X-Men, and Super 8. I chose Super 8 not because that’s what I wanted to see, but because I really had no desire to see the others and my mind was set on watching a movie. There were no lines to wait in to buy tickets; everyone takes a number just like at the Deli in the supermarket. Within a minute or two I was at the counter looking at a map of the theater and picking my seat. This was a very cool feature that didn’t cost extra like some American theaters. The cashier asked for W 9,000 and in exchange gave me my ticket. Near the ticket counter were a jewelry stand and a snack bar. Movies are a very popular date place in Korea so there was little surprise to see a large arrangement of necklaces, bracelets, and hair ties to “woo” ones date even more. The snack bar had the typical popcorn and nachos as well as beer. The prices were very fair with a large popcorn costing W 5,500 and two beers with nachos were only W 8,500. Sorry, no Slushies at this theater – only water, soda, beer, and vitamin water.
The ticket counter
The sucker bet, A.K.A. the jewelery stand, for teenage boys and the loves of their life.
One of two snack bars
Temptations
The movie theater experience was very similar to the American way except for the Korean subtitles. There were other small differences like exiting through the bottom of the theater and entering at the top but it felt like home while I was there. For anyone who has seen Super 8, it is rated PG-13 but is almost borderline rated R. They must be more liberal about age restrictions in Korea because the film had a few children in grade school as well one little girl who couldn’t have been more than five years old. She didn’t scream or cry through the film so I’m guessing she was asleep. Next week Transformers 3-D comes out, that will be a must see in the theater.
Last Thursday night before the East Hartford crew went back to America, Samsung had another team dinner. Samsung met us in Sangnam, downtown Changwon, at a popular restaurant pronounced yay-coh-toe-son. It was another Korean BBQ joint but more upscale than any BBQ place I’d been to yet. The main courses included duck, pork, sausage, duck hamburger patties, and some kind of cheese-less pizza. You pick the pieces of meat off the grill, dip them in a secret soy sauce, put them on a slice of pickled cabbage or radish, and shove the whole thing in your mouth. It was all very delicious and it was the most full I have been in Korea to date. After a few hours of dinner, beer, and soju, the Samsung manager suggested we continue our night elsewhere. Exhausted from the work week half us ended our night at the restaurant and the rest continued on to a karaoke bar. Although it was an early night for me it was still a great experience to eat with all my coworkers at such a unique restaurant.
"Gumbae" (Cheers in Korean)
A plate of duck and pork
One of the three grills
Delicious
Around 9am on Saturday morning I set off with Ed to hike a local mountain called Mt.Jangbok. There are many mountains in Korea but Samsung employees recommended this nearby mountain for its views of the ocean. The 582m tall mountain is sandwiched between Changwon and Jinhae. Jinhae is about the size of Changwon and resides along the SouthSea. After stopping several times and asking for directions a Korean couple pointed up the road and said we were only 4km away. After parking there were no noticeable hiking maps but it was clear where the tallest peak was and where the trail started.
I haven’t hiked too much recently in America aside from the dusty GriffithPark trails so it was fun to be surrounded by trees, grass, and tall plants. The hike was a pretty challenging incline that really got my heart rate pumping at times. The trails were mostly larger, loose rocks so planning your next step was often challenging. There must have been about 30 Koreans on the trail and they all had some serious hiking gear compared to my plaid shorts and cotton t-shirt. Almost everyone wore long pants, long-sleeved shirts, serious hiking boots, and about 50% of people had on big hats, face masks, and gloves. I am still unsure if they were so well covered to avoid the sun, to avoid poisonous plants, or just to get into the spirit of hiking.
About an hour after departure I was gulping my hotel water bottle atop a rock at Deokjubong Samgeori peak. From the starting point my current location looked like the top but it wasn’t. Mt.Jangbok summit was lost in the clouds and hidden behind the peak I was at. The weather during the hike was great because there was a constant ocean breeze coming from Jinhae. Unfortunately the clouds never went away so there was little motivation to hike further into the blurry skyline. On the hike back to the car the Korean couple who we originally asked for directions caught up with us on the trail and we started talking. They were doing a much longer hike that included walking down a wooden path along the road back to their car about 4km away. Once we started talking they asked us to drive them back to their car so they didn’t have to hike down any further.
At the bottom of the mountain I noticed a trail map that was initially missed because we started up on a different trail. Round trip the hike was about four of five kilometers. The two Koreans bought us drinks from a street vendor and we snapped a few photos together before packing into the car and heading home.
The mountain according to the Changwon City website
Enjoying nature
An abundance of loose rocks
A very healthy forest
The trail map that was found after the hike
Jinhae and the ocean
The eastern half of Changwon (Samsung Techwin is on the far right across from the apartment complex)
Another angle of Jinhae
Deokjubong Samgeori (the peak we made it to)
Enjoying our Korean juices with the mountain behind us
Nam-Young, Jeong (정남영) and his wife Jeong-Hae, Lee (이혜정).
You can barely see the starting point (the tiny road a little left of center)
The Summit of Mt. Jangbok
Back at the hotel I quickly showered to try and take a nap but a lot of commotion was coming from outside my window at the pool area. After opening the dojo style windows it was a no-brainer that there was a wedding ceremony taking place. The ceremony was fairly short and most of the time was spent taking photos at the altar. There was no reception at the pool deck only an exchange of vows, which seemed odd because there were so many people there. Perhaps the party continued elsewhere. As the photographer was getting pictures of the family in front of the altar I noticed another large group of Koreans standing outside the wedding area and soon realized there was another wedding ceremony to take place about 20 minutes after this one. Each ceremony took under an hour and had the exact same setup. The flowers were the same, the tablecloths were the same, and no food or beverages were provided. The weirdest thing about both weddings is that both sets of parents got a front row seat in special chairs about 10 feet away from the bride and groom. They had their own tables and were clearly separated from the other witnesses. The ceremonies were cool to watch and for the most part were quite similar to an American wedding. Hopefully both weddings had fun celebrations at another venue or inside the hotel.
The first wedding
The second wedding was practically identical to this
Those large flower displays were only present at the first wedding
The past week in Korea has not been as touristy as others because of the current demands at work. This posting is more of a collection of thoughts about the housing differences between South Korea from the U.S. Many lunches are eaten at the Samsung cafeteria with the other manufacturing engineers and it has been a great opportunity to learn more about their culture.
When you drive along the roads in Korea you see 30-story condos (called apartments in Korea) all around you. According to a Samsung engineer, it is more preferable to live in an apartment than a house mainly because they go up in value faster. There doesn’t appear to be much of a housing slump here because just in the next town over, Busan, there are dozens of these buildings going up. Supposedly they don’t even build them until the majority of the units are sold. In a previous bike ride through some local towers there appeared to be the typical underground parking structures but very little amenities. The only pools I’ve seen in Korea to date are the ones at the hotel and the only amenities at these apartment buildings are playgrounds and a few more pieces of exercise equipment. Hopefully one day I can go see the inside of a Korean apartment. The average home and apartment price is around $400,000.
Short and tall apartments
A large apartment complex down the road from the hotel
Another view of the same complex above
A street of smaller homes. Notice there are no driveways
A fancier residential street
Apartments in the neighboring town of Masan
The apartments across the street from Samsung
Koreans are a very debt-free culture, often only buying things if they have the cash on hand. This includes condos and automobiles. Min Gu, an engineer at Samsung, just bought a brand new Hyundai Elantra for all cash. Many young Samsung engineers like Min Gu do not have the bankroll yet to buy their own apartment and they live in Samsung owned dorms within walking distance of the office. This is a great way for them to save money as rent is only $20/month. This is also a great way for their bosses to get them to work longer hours. Although I haven’t seen one of these rooms yet they have been described as college dorms with two people per room and the only cooking area is a common room down the hall. Instead of renting my apartment in LA for one month I could live in the Samsung dorms for over 8 years.
Korean rent in apartments is much different than that in America. When they move in the building company will give them some options. They can pay a monthly rent, they can pay upfront, or do a down payment with a smaller monthly rent. When they move out they get their initial deposit back but I'm not sure about monthly rent. So if a Korean fronts $400K for a $400K condo, he gets $400K when he moves out and only pays HOA fees monthly. The property managers make money by investing your down payment while you are occupying your unit. Also, when asked about leaving the Samsung dorms, the common answer was, "When I marry". Traditionally the Korean men purchase a house for them and their wife when they get married. This contributes to the divorce rate being low because the wife often has few large posessions and the judges don't just give the wife half of her husbands house.
Every day except the first day of work I have eaten lunch at the Samsung cafeteria with the Samsung engineers. It has been a great way to get the true Korean eating experience. According to Newton’s third law of motion every reaction has an opposite and equal reaction and this applies with the cafeteria food. Some foods have been rather exotic to me including “Acorn Jello”, seaweed soup, and whole fish. Other days I clear my plate faster than the Koreans with foods such as fried chicken cutlets, tuna fish bibimbap (salad with rice, tuna, lettuce, and seasonings), and chicken noodle soup. Although the cafeteria is a fun daily adventure, I wanted to share an American lunch with my coworkers.
Eating in the cafeteria with Ms. Kim
Acorn Jello and seaweed
What to make for lunch was a tricky decision:
1 – Lunch had to be made without refrigeration (the offices at work don’t have refrigerators. My best guess is that “left-overs” are rare in Korea. It is very common to leave a restaurant after only eating ¾ of the dinner without bringing home a doggie bag.)
2 – The meal had to be used with pure American ingredients. (Everything and I mean everything in Korea has its own distinct flavor. It takes about two weeks to get used to it and I am no longer bothered by it. Steaks, pork chops, donuts, coffee, eggs, milk, and much more have their own Korean kick to them that sets them apart from the U.S. Think of it as pizza in NY vs. Chicago vs. LA. They all are the same concept but the local ingredients make them taste a little different.
As the title of this post states, we had PB&J. The menu consisted of crunchy and creamy peanut butter, strawberry and grape jelly, bananas, white bread, Ritz crackers, Pepsi, and fun size Snickers bars. Three engineers joined for lunch and I showed them how to make the classic PB&J. It was interesting to watch them try to make it because they were taking the peanut butter in small ¼ tsp bits and spreading it very slowly. They were on pace to finish applying the PB in about an hour. Eventually I took the knife from them and just put a large glob of PB on their bread and explained that in America this is a common food because it can be made in a few seconds. I told them how you can make it with bananas too and soon after Changsoo Lee was making a double-decker PB&J with bananas. His style sandwich was quickly referred to as “animal style” and it was fun explaining to them what real “animal style” meant when you order a burger at the world famous In-N-Out. Everyone really liked the PB&J and Ms. Kim was quick to point out that she could tell the peanut butter was very high in calories. It was too bad I couldn’t find any Fluff; getting them to understand what it was never quite crossed the white board sketches and sign language translations that have been working for other tough American concepts.
In Korea it is very polite to always serve others, mostly when drinking Soju. You never pour your own drink and you always use two hands when pouring for others and getting your glass filled. Ed was making himself a few PB and Ritz crackers and it was really funny to watch Changsoo Lee stare at him expecting him to offer an American amuse-bouche. After a few minutes he asked Ed to make him one and then Jongil chimed in asking for one too. The lunch was a lot of fun and it felt great to be able to share part of America with our coworkers. Ms. Kim and Jongil have never been to America so we brought America to them.
The spread
If you look closely you can see Changsoo Lee's animal style PB&J.
On Thursday evening three Pratt engineers arrived at the hotel and they will be staying here for at least a week to help with some critical processes on the development hardware. So far they have handled the time change well. We worked together all day Friday and a half day on Saturday at Samsung before going to another virtual golf facility. I shot worse than before but we all did so it was OK. On the last hole I was tied with a Samsung manager for the lead and I put the ball right into the pond in front of the green. He went on to win by one stroke. Saturday evening we all went downtown and ended up finding a live American band at one of the bars. Being able to share my knowledge of the area and Korean culture has been a lot of fun. My only wish is that my friends and family in the U.S. could come out here to see what it is I’ve been experiencing.
FYI - For the older people reading this post, the title comes from a viral youtube video, attached below for your viewing pleasure. It has over 20,000,000 views and has been referenced all over American pop culture including the popular show Family Guy. No baseball bats were used in the Samsung PB&J.
Every Friday I seem to adventure over to the only purely American/Irish pub in town, O’Brien’s. They have great American classics ranging from bacon cheeseburgers to Taco Tuesday’s to Fish ‘n Chips, my favorite. Even better than the food is the atmosphere: a great selection of American rock to listen to over a game of pool or darts. This week I wanted to show the Samsung engineers an American Friday night so they were all invited. Three of them met us at the bar around 7:30 p.m. for some burgers and good conversation. We played some pool, which they were very good at, and then we played darts, which they promised they are going to practice. It was a fun night and at around 11:30 p.m. I left O’Brien’s with every intention of going home to bed. They insisted we go to a Korean bar a few blocks over in an even more congested downtown area.
In the new downtown there were easily two to three times more lights and neon signs than on the street where O’Brien’s is located. There were buildings with Soju bars, Whiskey Bars, Wine Bars, Karaoke Bars, Virtual Golf, and Pool halls. It felt college with so many people out past late at night. Now I understand why in Korea you can’t get a coffee earlier than 7:00 a.m. and why people sit down to eat dinner at 11:00 p.m., they are a very late rising and late partying culture. We strolled into a large Korean restaurant that had a very open atmosphere and along with the menus came some bottles of Soju. They ordered one giant steamed seafood platter. It took some time for it to arrive but when it did it blew me away. The server brought a giant pot to the side of table and spent a few minutes clipping whatever was inside it. As he lowered the pot onto the table it was easy to see there was stuffed squid, an assortment of different sized clams, hard boiled eggs, shrimp, and yes, an octopus. Before it hit me that I was looking at a bowl of octopus, I was already chewing a piece of it. It was one of the chewiest foods I’ve ever eaten with a flavor much like lobster. About ten pieces of octopus entered my stomach before the Samsung crew insisted visiting another bar. It was about 2:00 a.m. at this time and we were walking to yet another party spot.
Side Note: Two days later I walked back to this restaurant and saw live octopus and squid swimming in a fish tank outside. I still can’t believe what I ate.
At the third location they ordered a bunch more food. There was a large Korean-style scallion and hot pepper pizza and a big tray of mini-omelets. Along with the food came more Soju and some Korean wine. The wine was more of a dessert wine, much like Moscato, and they combined it 50/50 into a pitcher with Soju. It had a very delicious taste and if I didn’t accidentally mistake so many super hot peppers for scallions in the pizza, this place would easily have been my favorite dining experience in Korea thus far. It was somewhere around 3:30 a.m. when the cab finally arrived back at the hotel and the only two things I did before going to bed was made sure my alarm clock was off and my room was set to “Do Not Disturb”.
The real downtown Changwon
Dinner #2
Cutting the tentacles
2:00 a.m. Octopus is served
Too shocked to look up
Eric preparing a concoction of wine and Soju
Very tasty
Spicy Korean pizza and omelets
Later in the weekend on Sunday, Min Gu was parked outside the hotel and we drove about 35 minutes east into Busan to Changsoo Lee’s apartment. We were going to spend the day a few hours northeast in the area of Gyeongju, a very historic part of Korea. Outside of Changsoo Lee’s apartment was his wife and two kids who were also joining us for the journey. It was awesome to meet his family and I expect we will do more activities together in the weeks to come. Changsoo Lee mentioned that he lived on the 23rd floor of the 24 story building. These super tall apartment buildings are in every city and they are more popular in Korea than owning a house. We snapped a few photos outside of his apartment complex and then drove 100km to our first stop of the day.
The first stop was an ancient Buddhist temple called Bulguksa (bull-gook-sah). Bulguksa started construction in 751 A.D. and was completed in 774 during the Unified Silla Period (668-935). The Japanese burned the site down in 1593 because it was being used as a militia base. In the early 1970’s the site was restored after a lot of research and excavation. Bulguksa is home to six national treasures including some pagodas and two gilt-Bronze Buddha’s that are just less than six feet tall.
Prior to entering the sacred temple grounds, everyone has to pass under a sacred guard tower that has large creatures guarding the entrance who stop all devils form entering. Inside was a large courtyard with two pagodas and a very large temple one could actually take their shoes off and pray inside. There were two more smaller Buddhist temples on the property as well. Unfortunately we didn’t see any monks but they do still practice in the area to this day. Before leaving, Changsoo Lee’s wife and daughter wanted to buy me a gift to remember the journey. I chose a small package that included a stone Buddha and stone replicas of the two Pagodas at Bulguksa. These will go great on my desk at work back in the states or on a bookshelf in my apartment.
There are many temples all over Korea and it is easy to point them out two ways: 1) they all end in “sa” and 2) on maps they all have a mirrored image of a Swastika. Changsoo Lee explained that some claim Hitler was heavily influenced by Buddhism, hence the similarity. In doing some research on my own, Buddhism and Hinduism are strong users of this symbol.
Changsoo Lee's family
Changsoo Lee's apartment area
Gyeongju
Bulguksa
Buddhist Guards
Bulguksa Entrance
The inner sanctuary
The main temple
The main Buddha
Outside the main temple
Stone Pagoda Garden
My stone tower
The Buddhist alarm clock
The painted ceilings felt very Mexican
After Bulguksa and a Korean lunch eaten while sitting on the floor, our final destination was the GyeongjuNationalMuseum. The museum was much like the Smithsonian with so many interesting displays of art, jewelry, pottery, weaponry, and much more. One of the most famous parts of the museum was the Divine Bell of King Seongdeok, known for its age, beauty, and distinct tone. This bell was about 10 feet tall and extremely detailed given that it was created in 771 A.D. Supposedly to this day scientist have tried to recreate the bell but can not come close to getting the same, elegant sound. I’ll let the pictures do the talking from here on out.
