American Foreigner: Experiencing South Korea

Preface:

New Normals

Growing up in Northeast Ohio, I had never imagined finding myself on the other side of this planet. Yet, that is exactly where I found myself as I followed where my career would lead me. Prior to taking a job in South Korea, I had almost no knowledge about this country whatsoever. Truthfully, I didn't even know where it was located on the world map. I was unaware about many of the famous Korean brands which most other people recognize as Korean. I was probably more ignorant about the country than most average Americans. And yet this destination would end up being my home for about four and a half years.

I learned and gained an appreciation of many things about South Korea by living and working there and by additional research. I was also very blessed to marry a fantastic Korean lady to share life who helped me to understand many of the cultural nuances. However, I do not purport to know everything about Korean culture, or even American culture for that matter.

My time experiencing South Korea has given me a scrapbook full of cherished memories. As I ventured beyond my comfort zone, I discovered that there was much to be learned and appreciated. I encountered foods that were so very different and yet so delightfully yummy. I was amazed by a level of arts, modern architecture and technology that was on par with and sometimes surpassed my own culture. I found that daily life there was pretty much the same, yet I also learned the finer details of how it is much different. And I saw many unexpectedly beautiful places, remarkably gorgeous sights that I never even knew existed.

The one takeaway I want to share is that our normal way of life may not be the same normal for others. The ways we live are often just thought to be the standard. Yet in reality, other cultures may do things very differently. And that's okay. Often we may find that different is perhaps even better.

It has been a great adventure learning new normals and exploring a land of surprisingly wonderful differences.

American Foreigner

Experiencing South Korea

Table of Contents

Preface:  New Normals

Chapter 1  Soon Come Monsoon

Chapter 2  From the Beginning

Chapter 3  Driving a Car

Chapter 4  Different World, Different Language

Sentence Structure

Lost in translation

Different World

Language Lament

Chapter 5  Some Things To Do

Recreation & Shopping

Arts & Entertainment

Relaxation & Beauty

Chapter 6  Daily Life

Home

Around Town

Insurance & Medical

Education & Religion

Holidays & Customs

Elderly & Retirement

Chapter 7  Let's Go Eat

Chapter 8  A Whole New Menu

Soups

Noodles

Meats & Seafood

Vegetables & Rice

Fruit & Sweets

Adventurous

Drinks

Chapter 9  Once in a Lifetime

Appendix 1  Hangeul 한글

Appendix 2  Holidays휴일

Index:  Chapter Contents

End Remarks:  Don't know what we don't know

Acknowledgment:  Thank you so much

Chapter 1

Soon Come Monsoon

The rain continued to pound the streets relentlessly. Every artery was flanked by fast flowing streams of water rushing alongside the pavement. I began to wonder where in the world all this water could be going to. It had to end up somewhere. Right? Maybe somehow it all ends up back in the ocean I suppose. Anyway, there just didn't seem to be an end to the constant downpour. I had never been here before, so I didn't know exactly what to expect in this different part of the world. At first the rains were quaint. I thought the steady falling of rain was kind of cute, a sort of uniquely peculiar environment. But after a few weeks, it had begun to get rather annoying. I had not packed enough clothes to sustain this level of constant drenching and changing all the time. I had run out of dry socks, and I had totally soaked the three pairs of shoes I brought with me to wear. I resorted to simply buying some comfortable beach Crocs with the open air holes and basically just going without the socks. I gave up the fight, and I just let my feet and lower trousers get totally soaked by the rains and street puddles.

With no car, I was walking everywhere at this point, so I carried my dry socks and shoes with me in a plastic bag stuffed down inside my backpack. After I arrived at work I would put on the dry shoes and socks. And then after several minutes of air drying, I would jam the Crocs into the plastic bag and stuff it down into my backpack so that they were all ready for the evening excursion to walk back home. This way, I was able to at least have dry feet while I was working all day. It was the best plan that I could come up with in order to deal with this monstrous moisture problem.

I was now on my third umbrella. My first umbrella was a small portable one that I had brought with me packed away snuggly into my suitcase. I found it to be only good for a short burst or small sprinkle of rain. It was not much good for anything else. A simple hat would have provided the same amount of protection. The second umbrella was one that I had purchased after arriving here, and it was a little bit bigger. But I had tried to be too cheap; I should have spent more money for a better one. The strong winds basically turned that dainty cheap umbrella inside out and bent up the frame too badly to be able to continue using it. So I had to get something else. After seeing which umbrella many other people were using, I finally broke down and bought myself one of those jumbo size umbrellas. At first, I thought it looked ridiculous because it was nearly the size of a beach umbrella. However, it only took me a few minutes of using this large contraption to feel absolutely at home with it. I loved it. This very huge umbrella was now my best buddy. It was rather large, but it was fairly easy to handle. The best part is that it was big enough to keep the rain off of my backside and pretty much all of my clothing. Even my shoes stayed dry if the winds were not very strong that day and I avoided the puddles.

I had learned to use the subway, train and bus systems. South Korea has a great infrastructure of public transportation, and you can go practically everywhere in the country fairly easily. Also, public transportation there is really cheap. It almost makes no sense to even own a car, especially since the price of gas there is about double what it is in the states. So, I was able to easily get around quite a bit despite the annoying rains. I loved wandering about and seeing what's out there. I had a new destination planned for most every weekend. I was kind of enjoying being a tourist. I had never really done much sight seeing before. But this place was exciting. There was so much to see and experience. Seoul was always bustling with activity. And so many other cities were just as lively. Monsoon rain was not a show stopper. Life in the wet cities was very much alive and thriving.

I found that most of the shops I visited had provided these little plastic bags to cover your soaked umbrella. I had never before even heard of an umbrella cover. It's just a skinny clear plastic bag that you slip over your wet umbrella. It was a simple idea, yet it was very effective at containing your dripping wet accessory while you wandered around inside shopping. Nearly every place that I visited had some kind of umbrella cover dispensers at their front entrance. Some of these dispensers were fancier than others where you just slip your umbrella down inside the bag opening and then pull toward you to get your cover. Then, the next bag cover popped out into position, all opened up and ready to be used by the next customer. At a minimum, every shop had some kind of umbrella stand placed just inside the front doors. Even if it was nothing more than just a fancy bucket, every shop had made some way to conveniently accommodate their customer's drenched umbrellas. This impressed me.

It was obvious to me that this area of the world was very well prepared for this sort of thing. Even though it was a huge amount of rain falling, apparently the streets had drainage systems that were well equipped to handle such heavy down pours. The constant rushing waters flowing by me never seemed to flood the streets, and it was never an impediment to the automobile traffic or the pedestrians. Life raged on valiantly despite Mother Nature's pressing efforts to subdue civilization. The rains were largely ignored.

I had read about the weather in this country before I came over here. There were many articles that talked about yellow dust and monsoons. So I just thought: okay this must be the monsoon season. But I never expected that it would be this much rain. Still, I just figured that this is how things go here. I was assuming that this incessant monsoon rain was all just a part of what life is normally like in South Korea.

Even so, I was bewildered by all of this. I began to question this rainy state of normality. How could people live here if it rains all the time? There were lots of nice buildings, and grand modern architecture and sculptures. But still, there is this constant rain thing going on. Does it never stop? I wondered how you could ever construct a building if it constantly rains like this. Or how could you ever enjoy doing anything outdoors if it is always raining? That just blew my mind. I didn't really understand anything at this point, and I was just literally in awe. How could such a place even exist under this kind of extreme weather condition? Yet, here it is. It was both fascinating and strange to me.

And so here I was in this very different part of the world. And I thought perhaps this was all very normal for the people of this area. Everyone seems to have adapted to the weather just fine. People come and go with their umbrellas. Taxi cabs slosh by with little effort navigating the shiny wet streets. Coffee shops, restaurants, and retail businesses appear to have no problem attracting a full compliment of customers despite the horrendously wet outdoor environment. But on the other side of the planet where I come from, this kind of non-stop raining was just not a normal thing to behold. I mean we had the occasional floods, but not this seemingly forty days and forty nights kind of rain situation. Yet here in South Korea, the nonstop pouring of rain just didn't seem to bother anyone. As I gazed around and observed this fascinatingly foreign world, I saw no great issues in dealing with this dark cloudy atmosphere. Daily life did not appear to be problematic despite the heavy rains. From what I could tell, it all seemed very normal.

Thus, from the very beginning of my journey I would discover little by little that what is accepted as normal to the people of one culture may be construed quite differently by others. I would find that even though we shared much of what is labeled as Western culture; our ideas about normal would diverge on many facets and ideas. I felt that the monsoon rains were very irritating and unusual, but to the locals it was perhaps just par for the course.

Though the monsoon rains help to make my point of different normals for different people, I have to say that I later learned about how the rains of that particular year were in fact not the normal occurrence. This was my first time being here to experience life in South Korea. So, I didn't know that the summer of 2011 was an odd display of seasonal wetness. That year's monsoon rain was much more than the local Koreans usually expected to see. I suppose it was just my bad luck that I happened to be there for my first time during that crazy drenching. Still, my point is valid. No place back in the states seems to be this well prepared for such constant heavy rains. I've never seen that kind of wet weather readiness before. Not only do the monsoons sometimes happen this way, but they are also expected and well prepared for.

So the normal expectation of this culture is that, hey, sometimes you get a monsoon. That's life, and that's normal. There's no sense worrying about those kinds of seasonal things. That always happens. It's all part of the routine. When you expect things like that, it just becomes a normal part of life. So it's no big deal. You just gotta roll with it.

Well, that crazy abnormal monsoon eventually did relinquish. The constant down pouring of rain finally did cease. And life was delighted to continue on without having to endure all of that annoying precipitation. A huge sigh of relief was felt across the nation. Sunny days and blue skies were back in fashion. And everyone now hoped that the next year's monsoon would soon come back to the expected normal, without quite so much rain.

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Chapter 2

From the Beginning

I came to South Korea to literally begin another chapter in my life. I had no job at the time; I had just been through a divorce; and I pretty much had almost nothing, just a couple suitcases of clothes and a few personal belongings along with a tool box full of tools. I had been somehow persuaded to take the job as a civilian contracted Aircraft Electrician at a US Army base. So, reluctantly I went forth, knowing very little about the country or what may lie ahead for me.

I had already been briefed ahead of time on how to best proceed with my travel to the base. For about fifteen bucks I could catch a bus at the Incheon Airport after I landed to get me to a nearby city named Pyeongtaek. And then, for just a couple more dollars, I could take a taxi to the town of Anjeong-Ri just outside the Humphreys base main gate. Armed with this knowledge, I found my first encounter with the Korean people after touching down on this foreign soil to be an annoying interaction with the local leeches at the airport.

First Contact

My first contact was with these taxi drivers who were eager to suck all of the money out of you that they possibly could. Immediately after I started walking through the Incheon International Airport terminal, I was greeted by three taxi drivers, one right after the other as I kept walking. I must have stuck out like a sore thumb having an American face in this crowded sea of Asian faces.

The first taxi driver actually surprised me. I didn't expect him to speak to me in English. I mean he was nice enough and everything, but he just kind of startled me because I didn't expect to hear any of my native language spoken directly to me. The nice man simply offered to give me a ride to my destination for the modest price of $200. I politely said No thank you. I am looking for the bus stop. So he walked away. He disappeared rather quickly. Apparently he was not interested in helping me to find the bus stop; he just wanted to make some money off of me.

So then I only walk about 50 more feet when another taxi guy comes up to me. And we have this same conversation. He offers to give me a ride to my destination, except his price was slightly lower at $180. Again, I was really just wanting to find the bus stop area where I could buy a bus ticket. So, I communicated this to the gentleman in English, but he also quickly walked away seeing that he didn't get his yes answer out of me.

So I walked a little bit more, and then yet another taxi driver comes up to me. He must have talked to that other fellow because now his offer was even lower, a mere $150. By this time I'm beginning to get a little annoyed. I already knew that I could get to where I'm going for less than $20 and these guys were just scammers. So this last guy says to me that he can help me. A little peeved, I say to the guy with my arrogant American attitude if you really want to help me then help me find where I can get a bus ticket. He said something in Korean, I don't know what, but it didn't really matter. Just up ahead I saw the bus ticketing office. I had somehow managed to stumble upon it despite the distractions of these so very helpful taxi drivers.

Getting off the bus

I bought a ticket for the bus to Pyeongtaek. As I think back now, my speech must have sounded weird to them. I had been briefed to pronounce it as Pee-on-teck. But that's not really correct. The P and the Y sounds go together, but yeah, we really don't have any English words similar, so I guess that was close enough. The bus ticket agent points me in the general direction and I find a sign with English on it that says Pyeongtaek. So I get in the line to wait for the bus, all the while I'm watching the time. Somehow I wasn't seeing a bus come to my line at that time on my ticket. So I go back up to the ticket office, and try to communicate this. They see that I missed my bus and tell me, I don't know, something, and they point to a different line. So I go get in the other line.

About a half an hour later the bus comes, but when it's my turn to get on the bus the driver doesn't like it because the time on my ticket is past. I'm sure what he said was a lot of complaining, but fortunately for me I didn't understand a word of what he was saying, so all of his chatter had absolutely no affect on me. Anyway, somehow he does let me get on the bus after the last person gets on, probably because there was room enough I guess.

So, finally I'm on the bus. However, still I cannot relax. Why?  Because it is only now that I realize I cannot read anything. I cannot read Korean. I was petrified. How will I know when to get off the bus?  What if I get off at the wrong city and end up lost and wandering around South Korea? I showed my ticket to the lady sitting next to me and said with a questioning tone of voice Pyeongtaek? She nodded her head, so I took that as an affirmative that she was also going to the same place.

So, we are on our way and then the bus makes a stop. But the lady sitting next to me doesn't get off, so I stay put also. I am still assuming she is also going to Pyeongtaek. Then at the next stop she gets off, so I jump out also. I look around, and I don't know, just my gut is telling me this is not the right place. So I ask the bus driver by showing him my ticket just to make sure, but he motions me to get back on the bus, so I do. A few minutes later I see the bus driver talking to that same lady and apparently she didn't know where to get off the bus either, and she also gets back on the bus. Great! The lady sitting next to me appeared to be just as clueless as I was. So now I still have no idea when to get off of this stupid bus. Worry starts to set in, but I try to remain cool.

So nervously I keep trying to look around out the window at road signs, billboards, and advertisements. I'm looking for any English at all to help me out. Aha! Finally we do arrive in Pyeongtaek. I saw it on a sign in written in English as we were just driving into town. I was so relieved. Ok finally I can get off the bus with confidence.

And I was in luck; there were plenty of taxis waiting at the bus stop. Taking a cab to the hotel destination which I had picked out ahead of my travel was a breeze. Finally I could relax and get some much needed rest after fourteen hours on a long plane flight and about three hours nervously biting my nails on a bus. By this time it was late in the evening and I was pretty exhausted from my long fun filled day of travel, so a good night's sleep was my top priority. I practically fell asleep before my head even hit the pillow.

Jet Lag

To my surprise, after only sleeping about four hours I found myself wide awake, not really feeling refreshed but not feeling sleepy at all. What the heck? Why was I awake? About a week later I realized that this was jet lag. I had never experienced jet lag before. I heard about it, but I didn't really know anything about it. So at first I had no idea why I couldn't sleep for very long. I would only sleep for a few hours and then suddenly awaken for no reason. In the end, I counted ten days total after my arrival before I was actually able to get a solid eight hours of sleep at night.

I had never really considered this difference in time zones. South Korea and the Eastern United States are about 14 hours apart on the clock. South Korea was quite literally on the opposite side of our planet. I hadn't really thought about that before. It means that the days and nights are flip-flopped around. Night time here was actually daytime back in the states. This little fun fact which I had overlooked had now become kind of an important factor to consider.

Before I was able to get adjusted to this new time zone, I only slept about four, maybe five hours tops, and then I would just wake up. And during the day, although I was awake, I felt really exhausted and drained of energy. It was like I had finished a marathon and craved for replenishment even though I hadn't really done much of anything at all. Apparently, our body has this internal clock thing that we just take for granted. And it does actually take some time for the body to adapt and reset our internal clock to something different, and make a new default setting. I had heard about jet lag before, but I just thought it was only whiny people complaining about being tired. So anyway, this is how I learned that jet lag is actually a real thing. It's not just people being annoying and complaining about feeling tired.

So, it was my first morning in South Korea. I woke up after just a few hours of dozing in my hotel room. I showered up and decided to venture out around the hotel. It was about 7 am and I was feeling pretty hungry. A