After class on Friday one of the Korean students, Kim, invited the
SSU students to go down to Jeju City with her and her roommate. We gladly
accepted their invitation; it would be nice to know what we were looking at
rather than just stumbling around the city guessing what and where things are. Also it would be the first time that we would
be able to interact and get to know our Korean classmates outside of the
classroom.
When we met up the rain was coming down hard. I didn’t bring an umbrella because I didn’t properly
research what the weather was like here so I sort of just walked out of the
dorm with my hood flipped on my head hoping for the rain to stop. I was
prepared to just walk through the downpour without an umbrella, but luckily
Holly had nice purple spare umbrella for me to use. The purple really spiced up
my usual color choices for clothes which typically include shades rather than
colors. It was probably 73 degrees out
as we walked down to the bus stop. I have never really been in a place that is
humid and the way that everyone who I asked described humidity as being sticky
and hard to breathe. This is completely accurate. On the bus ride I especially
noticed it, I felt as though each breath I was taken in was taking in more
water than air. It kind of gave me a rush of anxiety to be aware of how thick
the air was. It is suffocating.
As we rode the bus Kim
asked us what we thought was most different about Korea compared to the United
States of America. I thought for a moment, it was hard to narrow it down to a
single difference. Everything is different here. From the food you eat, the cell phones used,
the language spoken, the clothing style, the rules of etiquette, the chaos of
the roads, the architecture, the people, everything is different. I tried to express the vastness of the
difference but I sort of just mumbled something about the number of difference.
I finally responded with cup sizes. It seems odd but in my everyday life here
that is the biggest difference that has affected me. All the cup sizes are like
8oz rather than 32oz or whatever insane vessels us Americans use to store our sugar
water in. I really liked the question and it got my mind thinking about the
vastness of the simple differences between Korea and the United States.
Our first stop was Samseonghyeol (삼성혈) which is in
the center of Jeju City and is a cultural site surrounding three holes where according
to legend the three Gods of Jeju Island emerged from. The entire complex is walled
in with a very beautiful traditional style. When we walked through the gates we were immediately
greeted by a peaceful forest like park which had monuments and buildings
scattered throughout with marauding paths cutting through the park. It is a
very serene and peaceful place. The simple act of listening to the rain drip
down onto the branches of the trees patter downwards towards the next leaf is
incredibly peaceful. It was easy to forget that we were right next to a bustling
city. The walls dampened any sound from the street. We walked around the museum and soaked up the
scenery. Kim’s roommate Mini also brought this delicious bean cake dessert
thing which had this gooey center of sugar and deliciousness.
Sign explaining Samseonghyeol
The wandering wet paths through the forest of discovery. I am going overboard now.
Puuuuurdy
I loved the root systems of these trees. They looked like they were ancient hands grabbing the ground. Very cool up close as well.
Area to pay homage to the gods
We ate those delicious gooballs under this neat gazebo type thing. This is the roof.
Me, Holly and Erica. The purple umbrella fits my swag.
We moved on to the Folklore and Natural History Museum in Jeju
City. This museum was pretty neat; it basically gave an overview of the older
cultural history of Jeju Island while also showing the natural history of the
island which is incredibly diverse. They have a lot of animals that grow to
smaller sizes because of the lack of any need to grow bigger; I think the term
is the island effect or something like that. There was this bear that was the
size of a large dog so that was awesome.
After the museum Kim and Mini took us to this street which was
known for the noodle restaurants on the street. As we walked down the street
Kim would point out different areas that she would visit when she was younger as
she has lived on Jeju her entire life. She told us that it was common for
people to go to university where they had grown up and that usually they will
continue to live at home during their years at university. I got the impression
that there is a much stronger tie to geographic location in Korea then there is
in America. It is routine for families to live on opposite sides of the country
and to move all across the country while growing up. There is much less of a
generational tie to a geographic location.
We got to the noodle restaurant and I ordered some sort of
delicious noodle dish. Most of my food descriptions are basically going to come
down to “some tasty ass dish” I don’t know what I am eating and when I get told
the name of the dish I forget it instantly because Korean is incredibly hard
for me to remember. Kim and Mini kept trying to help us with how to properly
use chopsticks and then laughing at our awkward inability to master the method.
I thought I had it down pretty well but then I kept thinking about it and kept
doing this weird grip that had my fingers contorted in a bizarre and mangled
fashion. But we all stuck through it and nobody folded and used a fork. It
becomes a matter of pride for me when I go to a restaurant and they ask me if I
want a fork I am like “nah I got this” then I struggle for the entire meal.
Once we had our bellies filled with noodles and soup we made our
way to the next stop, a traditional Korean Pub.
Erica and Kim, probably discussing chopstick technique
This is me staring at other food on the table even though I already have food.
Holly and Mini posing it up
This cute little kid kept trying to make a run for the park but his Mom wasn't having none of that.
We headed back down to the City
Hall area and made a quick left at another narrow ally which was framed by bright
vertical neon signs that were just beginning to turn on as the sun began to
set. When we walked inside the first thing I noticed was the sweet smell of
cedar and real wood. The lay out of the pub was a serious of long wooden tables
and accompanied by matching wooden benches.
It was incredibly pleasant and peaceful. Mini went and ordered this side
dish which is like a pancake but its stuffed with vegetables and made with
crushed beans and is amazingly delicious. I will edit in the name of it when I
figure it out. Mini also ordered a bottle of makgeolli which
is this carbonated rice wine that is weaker than regular rice wine and very
sweet and dry. It was served in a teapot like vessel which is poured into shallow
bowls. It is served cold and it is so nice and refreshing, especially after
walking around in the hot and humid air for a couple of hours. The rain outside made the pub that much more
cozy and it was a perfect place to finish the tour of the city.
The inside of the traditional bar. Cozy as a sheepskin jacket.
Bowls of
makgeolli I didn't get a dish of that awesome fried bean sprout pancake thing, I guess I will just have to go and get some more.
It was 73 degrees when I took this. I can't get over hot rain.
Frinight
When I got back to the dorm I saw that Ethan had gone out. I
figured he and Professor McCuan had gone out exploring the city. I got ready
for a quieter Friday night; I was exhausted anyways so I didn’t really mind.
But then I got a knock on my door, it was the Deleware State guys next door who were on the phone
with Ko trying to get some details for the events the following day. After we
hammered out the details I asked them what they were doing tonight, they told
me they wanted to explore the nightlife and asked me if I wanted to go. I happily
agreed even though we all had to get up at 8AM the next morning to hike around.
You are only in Korea once I thought to myself, YOIKO.
We went down to the City Hall region of Jeju City, one of the guys
Chrishod had spent a year in Korea and knew enough Korean to give
instructions to the taxi driver. We get to City Hall and we don’t really know
where to go. We know of one club in the area so we try to navigate the crooked streets
to try and find the club. It was fun to watch the droves of drunken people
wander around the streets. Koreans were much more eager to practice their English
with us when they were drunk, but this creates a Catch-22 because their ability
to speak English also decreases when they get drunk. It was truly a different
place at night. There was an electricity of excitement generated by all of the different
things happening, it was truly mesmerizing just people watching.
When we finally found the club that we were looking for and
Chrishod goes and asks the bouncer how much it will cost. The bouncer says
8,000 WON which is about 8 USD. Chrishod then asks him how many people are in
the club and the bouncer tells us very few. Then the bouncer gives us an
address of another club which is about a 10 minute cab ride away and guaranteed
to have a large crowd. I am completely baffled by having a bouncer tell the
truth about the mediocrity of the crowd at his own club and then recommending
another club to go to. We are all still
very excited about discovering a new area of the city so we flag down and pile
into a cab and we were on our way.
We get to the club and is clearly more fun than the dingy expat
club downtown. The building is massive with a giant flashing LED sign playing
visualizations of the clubs name. We get in line to get our IDs checked but are
quickly escorted to the side, Mini had told me earlier that they don’t card
foreigners often because they can’t tell our age and often don’t feel like the hassle
of trying to get someone to show their ID without using a common language. We
get taken upstairs and into this massive auditorium with hundreds of tables with
red lamps matched with puffy red chairs. The auditorium is easily four stories
tall with a ceiling that clearly can open up to the sky. All of the tables were
facing the stage which was backlit with a series of complicated LEDs and
clearly was movable. As we are sitting down loud music starts to play and a
band is slowly lowered from the ceiling down to the stage. They are not
actually playing anything rather miming playing instruments to LMFAO’s “I am
sexy and I know it” while the singer sings the lyrics he knows and also shouts
out random Korean phrases. It was just very surreal. After the band finished “performing”
very somber piano music played and everybody who was on the dance floor slowly
walked back to their tables to rest and wait for the next set.
We stayed for almost the whole night it was terrific fun. The DJs
would often not actually mix and just pump up the crowd sing certain lyrics and
yell things in Korean. The mixing style of the DJs was insane they would jump
from playing hip-hop to suddenly shifting and playing happy hardcore it was
very jarring but the Koreans didn’t seem to mind. I, Elijah and Chrishod were
literally the only foreigners in the place. This gave us a lot of attention especially
from people who had overindulged. This older drunk Korean guy kept coming up to
us and giving us hugs and trying to get us in farther into the dance floor,
encouraging us to dance with the biggest grin on his face.
I felt like I experienced a
very genuine example of Korean nightlife and it is very interesting to watch
people and compare how their interactions are different from American
nightclubs. One stark difference is that the people at the Korean club were
actually dancing. In American nightclubs
people tend to just grind on strangers pelvises on a dance floor so crowded it
is hard to stand straight. In Korea everyone danced and everyone was good at
it. On the dance floor there was a dance team performing complex organized
sets. During certain songs everyone would start doing a step pattern, kind of
like line dancing and it was incredibly difficult to try and follow along. The
social interaction was very group oriented, this was a place where you would go
with your friends, and there was not that much intermingling. There is an
interesting service that this club and many other Korean clubs offer where groups
of males will rent a private room upstairs and servers will go and find women
so that the guys can buy the girls a drink and get to know them. It was a
common site to see a club server holding a giggle girls hand to walk her to
meet upstairs to do a blind meet and greet. It was an interesting cultural practice to
watch and I honestly think going to a nightclub gives a really snapshot of what
the younger generation is like of a different culture. Everyone is drunk and
disinhibited and you can really watch how people interact in a very tribal
group setting. Despite having a blast
dancing and watching the insane theatrics I truly think it added to my
knowledge of contemporary Korean culture. And that’s not just some bullshit I am spewing
to try and skew my night of going into the clubs as some sort of quest for
understanding aspects of culture, it just happened to be a side effect of a fun
night out.
When we finally made it back to the dorms we realized we needed to
get up in about three hours to go on a day long excursion throughout Jeju so we
quickly tried to grab the precious few hours we could get. Saturday was just as
long and fun as Friday.
Chrishod navigating, WiFi access here is great.
Inside of the arcade that I went in to use the restroom
Koreans playing this arcade game that measure the force of your kick. Looks fun I think I would end up kicking the rusting metal case and breaking every bone in my foot though.
The lightening made it hard to take good photos, here are some long exposure shots taken from our table.
On top of one of the balconies looking at the stage
We had so much fun exploring the city on Wednesday we
decided to take the 500 down even farther on Thursday. We really wanted to see
the actual ocean; we had been on Jeju Island for 3 days without ever seeing the
ocean. Again we really only knew the
general direction of the ocean and we had no idea of any of the districts or
landmarks of Jeju City. We took the 500 down the main drag going past the bus
stop where we had gotten off the day before. Once the bus turned off the main
drag we figured it was time to get off. We walked down the waterfront and just
admired the view of the vast emptiness of the ocean. We reached the end of the
path and were greeted by a variety of different seafood restaurants and stores which
had aquariums filled with living seafood. We all gathered around the different
tanks marveling at the freakish looking creatures from the depths of the ocean.
We found some outdoor tables outside of a 7/11 right next to the strip of
seafood stores and decided to hang out and have a few snacks while enjoying in
the sun that we had not seen since getting to Jeju.
The path along the waterway
There was this creepy abandoned carnival right on the water front
Statues on the waterfront
Buffer of cement before the shops on the waterfront
Rusted up punch o meter. These machines remind me of Final Fantasy VII.
The SSU Crew inspect the local maritime food
Shops along the pier-like end of the waterfront.
SNAILS!
7-11, our familiar convenience store. No Slurpee's though...
Our view from the 7-11
These souvenirs are everywhere, they look like they have licked a few too many toads.
The "white trash" selection at the local thrift store
After we got our fill of trail mix and vitamin D we moseyed back
to where we had gotten off the bus. We walked through an outdoor mall like alley
there were a few dingy little shops with shop keepers in them watching small
tube TVs or just napping. When we emerged back onto the bustling street where
we had gotten off Professor McCuan noticed stairs leading underneath the
street, just like stairs leading to a subway. He suggested that it might be the
underground mall which he had heard about a few days before. Of course we were
all excited about going to a mall that was literally underneath the street so
we hopped on down the less than glamorous staircase. When we walked onto the
landing we were instantly mesmerized by what we saw. The mall is not like an
American mall where you have a number of large stores which carry a wide
variety of things; rather this mall had a hundreds of small stores that could barely
fit any merchandise at all. Most of the stores were about the size of a
standard dorm room, and the mall was designed so that you would walk down this hall
and look into these tiny stores. When we
were standing in the center of the mall looking down to the other end I
originally thought there had to be mirrors somewhere to explain the depth of
the mall. It was very interesting walking through the mall, although we had to
be very careful to stick together as a group as to not get lost. The vast
majority of the stores were for women’s clothes probably at a 5:1 ratio, so I
rarely explored any of the stores further then a casual glance.
Our grand entrance to the underground mall
This picture does the mall no justice, you could look as and as far as you could see would be more mall. It was insane.
Each sign is a new store
ICE BURGER! Probably going to be one of my life's regrets that I did not buy this.
Once we arrived at the opposite end of the mall we decided
it was time to leave the cave of consumerism and to return to the surface. Right as we exited the mall we saw another
alley filled with small storefronts, however this market was selling various types
of fresh seafood, a stark change from the underground mall. The crowd at the
fish market was much older as were the storekeepers. It was immediately clear that
the style of the underground mall was taken from the style of the traditional
market, small storefronts with small selections. The street was littered with
different types of fish, squids, mushrooms, oranges, and a variety of cooked
food that was sitting in open containers on the street. All of the shop keepers
were elderly women and would smile as they caught me staring at their exotic foods;
a few were catching a quick nap while waiting for customers. We didn’t linger
over any one store for too long slightly fearful of the samples that the
storekeeper would hand us. I am an adventurous eater but I wasn’t feeling
eating raw fish from street vendors.
The beginning the fish market
Open bowls of deliciousness
Waiting for customers
Decapitating fish
The market was expansive this is just one side of the market
Shoppers looking for the best deal on seafood
Buying the specialty dish
Shrimp?
Outside of the fish market, citrus is huge here.
Outside of the main fish market, I get the impression that these women could not make rent and were forced to have a unsanctioned market on a side street.
Moped drivers will kill you. They ride on the side walks and rev up when they want you to move over. Often times they are doing it just to decrease delivery time for hot burgers.
Another side alley thrift store. I want to go back to get a Korean T-Shirt or a T-Shirt with horribly mistranslated English phrases on it, those seem to be popular.
The market was a prime example of the amount of different
sensory stimuli that I have felt as I have traveled around Jeju. The blended smell
of the different fishes, various foods and the cars passing by was truly unique
and is something that cannot be easily replicated. The smells on top of the
sounds of mopeds whizzing through the alley at unsafe speeds, horns honking,
the sound of knives cutting through fish and the chatter of hundreds of people
chattering in a foreign language paired with the visual scenery of brightly lit
signs, crooked buildings on crooked streets, tiny markets with storekeepers preparing
the fish right in front of the storefront, and the people who grew up and lived
in a different culture going about their daily business. Everything is
different. It is an amazing feeling; it feels to me like I am a child again
rediscovering the world around me. It is the fun “honeymoon” period of staying in
a foreign country, and I am enjoying it immensely
After the fish market we headed back to the same restaurant
that Ethan and I had gone to on Tuesday, lucky for us the same ROTC student who
spoke English was there and acted as our defacto waiter. I asked him about the
kimchee soup, the same style as the boiling magma soup from Monday, he warned
that it may be too spicy for me so of course I took that as a challenge. Everyone
else got the delicious grilled pork and we all stuffed our faces with
deliciousness and went to bed with our stomachs happy.
