New Features

Hey everyone,

I just added some new features to this blog. If you click on the picture called "Through My Eyes" it will take you to my online photo album, http://jenniferhughes.myphotoalbum.com.

I've also added some links to some Korean Newspapers, if you want to read articles from this side of the world. There is also a link to Skype for anyone interested in calling.

Jennifer

Korean Commercials

Korean commercials are pretty funny, partly because you can't understand what they are saying. Here is a small taste of the t.v. here.

Korean Idiosyncrasies

I wasn’t sure what to expect with Korean food. I had had some before I left. Korean food is incredibly spicy. They love to add to chilli spice to everything! Their most famous dish is called kimchi. It is pickled vegetables in chilli pepper. It can be cabbage, cucumber, or radish. They eat it at every meal, even breakfast.

Two of my favourite meals here are dol sot bibimbap (bee-bim-bap), and Korean barbeque. Bibimbap is rice, beans sprouts and many other vegetables with it. It is often served with a raw egg on top. It comes in a hot pot, and you mix it together. It cooks the egg and holds it all together. Then you can put a thick chilli sauce in it as well.

Bibimbap

Korean Barbeque

When you go to Korean barbeque there is a little barbeque in the middle of the table. You roast your meat and garlic in the middle. Every meal comes with sides like kimchi, radish and salad. The way that you eat this is that you take a salad leaf, put in a piece of meat dipped in sauce and anything else you want. Then you roll it up into bite size and eat it. It sounds strange, but it’s really good.

Little things that are different here are that:

* after you are finished eating at a restaurant it’s expected that you leave right away,
* you give and receive things with two hands,
* you touch your arm when giving and receiving money,
* you have to flag a bus down or it won’t stop,
* bowing
* everything is planned last minute
* people sell things on the subway
* you sometimes have to climb up a bridge to cross the street
* people triple park,
* sidewalks are for parking not for walking
* pedestrians do not have the right of way
* signs cover the business buildings

Samsung Plaza

* side streets have no street signs, so many times you see three cars heading towards each other, and trying to figure out how to get past each other
* their favourite snack is squid
* outside many restaurants there are fish tanks with all sort of sea animals (flounder, crustaceans, squid, eels, etc.) for dinner
* no street names
* there are markets everywhere
* Koreans are very patriotic!

Weekend in Japan

In the middle of September, Korea has a four day holiday called Chuseok, which is where they remember the members of their family who have died. It’s a huge deal here. Anyways, with four days off work, my friends and I decided to take a trip to Tokyo, Japan. We got discount airline tickets and planned to stay in a hostel.

So the day arrived, and we were so excited. Sarah and I because we are Canadians had to change our single-entry visa so that we could get back into the country. We found out that we could do this at the airport before we left.

We left our apartment at 8:00am leaving us 3 hours to catch our flight. What we didn’t know was that the whole day would be a comedy of errors. We took a bus to Samsung Plaza to catch the airport limousine. When we got off the bus we ran across the road because it wasn’t too busy. Normally, you have to walk up and over a pedestrian overpass. When we got there the Airport Limousines were there. After we got on they pulled out, so we just made it on. If we had missed it, we would have waited another 30 minutes.

It took us exactly an hour to get there. Once there then we had to find immigration. That took us a few minutes. Once there was what looked like a massive line. But we took our number. By the time we had filled out the paper, our numbers had been called (no more than 5 minutes). So we got another re-entry sticker to be allowed back into the country. So that was a relief to get that done!

Then we went to go check in, and that’s where all the fun began. We were taking a flight with North Western Airlines. We got to the counter and were told tha

t our flight was full, but they were transferring us to Korean Air, which was fine. So we went around to three different counters trying to find our flight. By the time that we actually

checked in, and found the gate it was 10:40 and our boarding time was 10:46. So that cut it pretty close!

So we got on the airplane and took off for Tokyo. One really funny thing was that they showed Just For Laughs and airplane exercises.

So when we arrived at Tokyo Airport – Narita we were trying to find the subway. We got a ticket for a train that cost $10, which we thought was weird. So, thinking we were buying luxury train tickets we got a refund. We finally asked for some help and were told that there was no subway from the airport. So, we bought the same ticket back again.

When we got on, it wasn’t a luxury train at all, it was basically a subway. It was hard to find where we were because not every stop was listed. At one point we had to switch trains, and again we had to change trains. And again not every stop was listed, so we thought we were going the wrong way. So we got off. Finally, there was a clearer map, and we determined that we were on the right train and heading the right way, so we waited for the next train. But the next train didn’t stop! That’s when we realized that many types of trains go through there and we had to pick the right one. We ended up sitting on the platform like goofs waiting when we were probably on the right train to beginwith. We finallydecided to get on a train. We got a little scared because at one point it said, “Express to Haneida Airport,” but it stopped at our stop and that’s all that mattered.

Once we got off the train we had to figure out where the hostel was. That was a whole other adventure. We stood looking at our little map and the info map with uncertainty. Finally, a really nice Japanese couple came by and asked us if we needed help. At first, they gave us the general direction. But they were uncertain too. They finally decided to walk with us until we found it. If it hadn’t been for them, we would probably still be wandering around Tokyo! At last our grand adventure in Tokyo could begin!

On our first full day in Tokyo we were meeting up with our friend Toshi who lived in Japan. We had worked with him at Starbucks. We always told him that we would see him in Japan, but he never believed us. We were glad to have him along because he knew Japanese. He didn’t necessarily know Tokyo very well because he didn’t live there. But it was nice to explore the city with him.

We went to the Tokyo/Edo Museum and then we headed to the area of Shibuya. This is a huge shopping area,probably similar to Times Square in New York. In

the middle of Shibuya is the world’s busiest intersection. It was like nothing you would ever see or imagine. There were literally thousands of people crossing at once. It’s amazing to stand in that sea of people.

We then headed to Tokyo Tower, which kind of looks like the Eifel Tower except orange. We went up and saw and amazing view of Tokyo at night.

The next day we walked around the Imperial Gardens, and went to the National Art Gallery of Modern Art. Finally, at the end of our trip, we went to a shopping centre and temple area near where our hostel was. I really like Asian architecture. It's very interesting and different.

It was interesting to see the differences between Korea and Japan. There are more

differences between people. Individuality is more accepted and encouraged. In Korea, no one wants to be different in any way. In Korea, if you look the least bit lost someone will ask you if you need help within a few seconds. People love speaking English to you in Korea. In fact, you could say Korea is obsessed with English. There are as many English schools as there are coffee shops and convenience stores, and those are on every corner. The opposite is true in Japan. You have to approach people. It’s not that they aren’t friendly. Once you approach them they are very friendly and helpful. It seems like many people do speak English, but they don’t volunteer it.

I really enjoyed visiting Tokyo. I would love to go back and see more of the country.

More pictures at: http://jenniferhughes.myphotoalbum.com/