A month in Seoul: reflecting on my time so far!

Okay, so I'm halfway through my summer in Seoul, and I figured it'd be the perfect time to take a breather and reflect on my experience so far! So, to that end, I've put together a little account summarising two of my favourite bits of being a Seoulite which I've yet to unashamedly babble about!

Seoul's best bits (Part I):

The food:

...when I came here, I thought I was a fussy eater. Turns out that England's food selection is just crap, which made me think that I was fussy. Seoul, however, has shown me that perhaps I'm not so fussy after all - there's just so much good food on offer that you can't help but try it all! ...and I haven't been disappointed! Word of warning though, Koreans like their food SPICY. My own narrowmindedness had made me think that Asia's share of spicy food would be reserved for India, etc. but Korea has proved this idiot wrong! Literally every meal comes with at least something lashed in red-pepper paste (gochujang), which is, quite simply, SPICY AS FUCK. Luckily for me, I'm a bit of a curry fiend at home, so haven't had too many problems, but I've literally seen other English teachers (not mentioning any names- *cough* Merv *cough*) look like death after a particularly spicy meal.

Anyway, now that we're on the topic of food, it's impossible not to mention kimchi: Korea's national dish. Whilst pickled and spiced cabbage and lettuce may not sound like much, kimchi is actually quite good. Like, really really quite good. If there's any banchan (side dish) which is the first to require a refill whilst I'm out eating, chances are it's kimchi. But, kimchi (gloriously photographed on your right >) is such a fittie on the Korean food scene, that most places have a self-service station where you can load yourself to the eyeballs with the red stuff, so you don't even need to wait the ten extra seconds to get your cabbage fix. Genius. ...and, of course, the kimchi lovin' doesn't stop there: being Korea's national dish, there are literally LOADS of other dishes which use kimchi as an ingredient. My favourite of the lot? Kimchi jigae - basically, kimchi stew. It may not sound like a lot, but man it's hot (*budom bum chhhh*).

(banchan in action <)

And that's another amazing thing about Korean food - the side dishes (banchan). You'll struggle to find a meal that comes without some form of banchan, and they're always free and unlimited - if you eat out your favourite, the waiter or waitress will be on hand to fill you up again, usually without asking... and like I said, some places even take it to the length of just having a free self-service counter to cut out the middle man and let you do it all yourself. That just sums up Korean food, really - amazing AND cheap. That picture on the left is from my first lunch over here back at the start of July... the whole schebang - because you're not charged for banchan - was just W7000 (or £3.50). You couldn't even get a decent Burger King meal for that back home! (...perhaps less magical is a study by KBS which suggests that 80% of Korean restaurants re-serve uneaten banchan to their next guests... EWW! I guess what we don't know doesn't hurt us, though...right? Riiiiight? o_O).

The people:

Yes, the people of Seoul take vanity to a whole new level - if there's a remotely reflective surface anywhere, expect to find some hip Seoulite grooming themselves in it (subway doors seem to be the favourite) - and while a lot of people waste a lot of energy getting frustrated about it, I can't say I feel the same! After all, it pays benefits... most of them are HOT! (I guess they say you are what you eat though, right? :P) ...but, seriously, I've yet to have a bad experience with a Seoulite. Sure, they've perfected the art of pushing on the subway to such a level that they'll probably be Olympic champions in it by 2020, but at least they're not passive about it! Oomph is a good thing, right?! ...but that's the nice thing - the Korean people can be assertive without being disrespectful: a line which many people in England struggle to draw! No matter what age people are, they're just so respectful - however much I may disagree with Confucian ideals otherwise (I don't really know enough about it, so I can't say either way at the moment), the respectful character which they seem to promote can hardly be a bad thing! ...what's more, all the friends I've made are just so generous! I've had more free meals/drinks from Seoul friends than I care to count! ...been treated to nights out, and even been invited on camping trips! Jeong Mi from work is just the epitomy of it - always ladelling me with free cakes, drinks and other goodies when I turn up to work! And even giving me an umbrella when I got caught out in the rain once! ...perhaps it's because they're so eager to learn about foreigners? Well, while that's definitely true - and while it makes for quite a refreshing change - I don't think it explains the Korean genorisity. No, it's definitely just built-in: there's no motive to it!

...so, there's a bit of an insight into the food and people of Seoul! As a final word of warning, I will just say this: please, don't make the mistake of getting the two confused. ...it's illegal.

p.s. I saw a Joe Hisaishi CD in a shop window today, so I thought I'd share some Hisaishi love with you. (Although I know it's very dangerous to delude myself that there actually is a "you", I can at least pretend!) Anyways, behold! Click. Listen. BE EDUCATED.