Taking shoes off before entering the main part of a house (or in this case, moving from the entryway to the main part of the deluxo-dorm I'm staying in) is a big deal here. No one doesn't do it. I think I'm beginning to get into the spirit of it. I'm sorely disappointed in myself when I forget and am traipsing around on the beautiful, clean wood floor with my dirty outside shoes on.
Speaking of this custom, on Friday night we went to a Korean barbeque restaurant where you remove your shoes and step up onto this raised platform and sit on the floor around a low table. Then you cook your own meat and veggies on a round grill plate set into the middle of the table. Oh so delicious marinated pork and beef, and I finally tried kimchi for the first time, which is essentially fermented spicy cabbage. I really quite like it. But I don't think I could handle eating it for breakfast as many people do.
Sunday was an interesting day. An American teacher named Rachel who has been in Korea for 4 years took me on a short hike on one of the hills near the campus. Then we stopped at the tennis courts on campus, where they were playing a tournament of a game I can't find out the name of, where essentially teams of 6 men face off on either side of the tennis court with a soccer ball going back and forth. Soccer rules, so no hands, but the objective seems more like volleyball, and the court is for tennis. Very interesting. After a few minutes, one of the officials came over and requested that we eat with them. They had us sit with the players and coaches and served us tons of Korean food. It was very suprising but quite the experience. We were a bit of a novelty for them, being the only foreigners at the tournament. They also gave us a common Korean gift: embroidered hand towels. Everyone wanted to meet us, so we stayed for a while before politely excusing ourselves because we could not possibly eat any more food. This is definitely the Korean hospitality and generosity I have heard about.
After this, Rachel took me to the saunas in the building with her gym. There are about 8 or so rooms of different temperatures, made from different materials in each (rock, tile, clay, etc). There is even a cold room, which is basically like a walk-in freezer. People spend hours here. Even the really little children are in the hottest rooms. We also went to the female bathhouse (yes, a communal nude experience for the women), which has different pools of different temperatures. I guess I got all my "Look, it's a foreigner!" done with in one swoop. So next time you are being stared at in a foreign country, imagine also being nude... Just walking down the street fully clothed can't possibly bother me now.
Coming next: teaching experiences! Which have been a little too wonderful for me to exactly articulate, but I will try.
Speaking of this custom, on Friday night we went to a Korean barbeque restaurant where you remove your shoes and step up onto this raised platform and sit on the floor around a low table. Then you cook your own meat and veggies on a round grill plate set into the middle of the table. Oh so delicious marinated pork and beef, and I finally tried kimchi for the first time, which is essentially fermented spicy cabbage. I really quite like it. But I don't think I could handle eating it for breakfast as many people do.
Sunday was an interesting day. An American teacher named Rachel who has been in Korea for 4 years took me on a short hike on one of the hills near the campus. Then we stopped at the tennis courts on campus, where they were playing a tournament of a game I can't find out the name of, where essentially teams of 6 men face off on either side of the tennis court with a soccer ball going back and forth. Soccer rules, so no hands, but the objective seems more like volleyball, and the court is for tennis. Very interesting. After a few minutes, one of the officials came over and requested that we eat with them. They had us sit with the players and coaches and served us tons of Korean food. It was very suprising but quite the experience. We were a bit of a novelty for them, being the only foreigners at the tournament. They also gave us a common Korean gift: embroidered hand towels. Everyone wanted to meet us, so we stayed for a while before politely excusing ourselves because we could not possibly eat any more food. This is definitely the Korean hospitality and generosity I have heard about.
After this, Rachel took me to the saunas in the building with her gym. There are about 8 or so rooms of different temperatures, made from different materials in each (rock, tile, clay, etc). There is even a cold room, which is basically like a walk-in freezer. People spend hours here. Even the really little children are in the hottest rooms. We also went to the female bathhouse (yes, a communal nude experience for the women), which has different pools of different temperatures. I guess I got all my "Look, it's a foreigner!" done with in one swoop. So next time you are being stared at in a foreign country, imagine also being nude... Just walking down the street fully clothed can't possibly bother me now.
Coming next: teaching experiences! Which have been a little too wonderful for me to exactly articulate, but I will try.
3 comments:
So, just this morning I was thinking about how cool it would be to be in Korea right now. However, reading about having to be naked in front of people in a foreign country definitely gave me a taste of reality. I guess being fully clothed in Minnesota isn't that bad ;)
don't forget that your mommy may read these :)
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