I went to the Korean Doctor's yesterday, a weekend of eating nothing and coughing my guts up had not made a dent in my cold/flu/soon to be apocylptic virus. My boss, Kyle held my hand for me. I went into the doctor's examining room and he had this immense many tiered shelf thing in a sort of pryamidal shape. Starting small at the top with various steel implements glinting then getting larger to the base where various tubes and bowls sunken into the shelf and steel objects, all pointy and sharp and plier like. To examine me he put on a massive proper mad scientist in the old hollywood movies magnifying glass complete with large steel supporting strap for round his head and large shiny steel disc.
It was about this time that I found out what some of the implements were for. With one, he held my tongue so he could examine my throat and he used two tiny pliers to hold open each nostril so he could get a good old look. Then he sprayed some mystery foam up each nostril and down my throat, ha ha, the point of the hoses I thought and also Aargh what did you do? What was that? After that I got an injection from the nurse and had a session of breathing therapy. They take you to this booth with various machines on the wall, one which looks like a hairdryer but with a massive red light on the end, some other tubey contraption and the gas mask section where you breathe in and out through a mask and they pump you full of some extra good air or treatment. Kyle got my drugs for me from the pharmacy, the prescription packet has teddy bears on it, playing piano and having a picnic, the Koreans it seems are a nation in love with cute. He also bought me a couple of bottles of some ginseng extract drink which is really strong tasting but very good for you and later the Korean equivalent of chicken noodle soup which is like a beef rice pudding and it was magic and comforting.
Sunday, 19 December 2010
Blog 7 12-12
ill, ill, ill...
I have been ill since thursday with some horrible cold thing. It is now sunday and I haven't eaten properly since friday night. Have actually managed to get dressed today which is a first.
Went out in search of headache tablets as I have a splitting headache but couldn't spot them in the supermarket. There's probably a pharmacy section on something but I couldn't spot it and the crowds were jostling and I was getting a bit frantic. Still I think the walk did me a little good, bought some grape juice from a vendingmachine, seems to be staying down. Might go out later and mabe get some food. Not sure yet, just wish the damn headache would go.
I have been ill since thursday with some horrible cold thing. It is now sunday and I haven't eaten properly since friday night. Have actually managed to get dressed today which is a first.
Went out in search of headache tablets as I have a splitting headache but couldn't spot them in the supermarket. There's probably a pharmacy section on something but I couldn't spot it and the crowds were jostling and I was getting a bit frantic. Still I think the walk did me a little good, bought some grape juice from a vendingmachine, seems to be staying down. Might go out later and mabe get some food. Not sure yet, just wish the damn headache would go.
Blog 6 4-12
Ah the restorative power of food!
Just made my first dinner, crab stock, fresh noodles, spring onions, ginger and chinese cabbage. It put a great big smile on my face and the flat smells of ginger and good food. Now sitting here with a coffee and listening to Paolo Nutini and blogging.
Today is going to be a domestic day, I think. Gonna put a wash on and rearrange the flat, looking forward to it, I suppose it's that settling down thing, making your surroundings yours and mundane.
Definitely just gonna chill.
Just made my first dinner, crab stock, fresh noodles, spring onions, ginger and chinese cabbage. It put a great big smile on my face and the flat smells of ginger and good food. Now sitting here with a coffee and listening to Paolo Nutini and blogging.
Today is going to be a domestic day, I think. Gonna put a wash on and rearrange the flat, looking forward to it, I suppose it's that settling down thing, making your surroundings yours and mundane.
Definitely just gonna chill.
Blog 5 1-12
Ok tonight's culinary delight comes from Bucheon Station market about 5 minutes from my house. When my boss and I were on the way to get tteokbokki, spicy rice cake in sauce, for his family, he had pointed out this stall as being in the japanese style. but the next time I went there, the queue was very long. A good sign I thought and decided to try again another night.
So tonight is that night,also I've decided I'm going to do a photo catalogue of my favourite food signs as they all involve acartoon pig, cow, squid, animal of some description going "yeah I'm in this, I'm dead tasty, Eat me EAT ME!"
So..
on the stall they have like waffle irons except that they have circular holes in them, the batter goes down and then the crispy batter balls are turned and plucked in a quick and exacting manner into your box, once snugly packed they are liberally seasoned with a coriander, smeared in mayonaise and barbeque sauce and coated in a mass of what looks like plastic shavings. These turn out to taste incredibly smoky and bacony, making me suspect that they are wafer thin slices of pig skin, cellophane crackling as it were..
So cellophane crackling, smoky, intense, cutting through it is the creamy mayonaise and the spice of the BBQ sauce, then onto the dumpling, creamy soft croquette like , filled with small pieces of vegetable and a big piece of squid, so firm and tasty, a great contrast to the soft croquette which is the last thing you taste.
So tonight is that night,also I've decided I'm going to do a photo catalogue of my favourite food signs as they all involve acartoon pig, cow, squid, animal of some description going "yeah I'm in this, I'm dead tasty, Eat me EAT ME!"
So..
on the stall they have like waffle irons except that they have circular holes in them, the batter goes down and then the crispy batter balls are turned and plucked in a quick and exacting manner into your box, once snugly packed they are liberally seasoned with a coriander, smeared in mayonaise and barbeque sauce and coated in a mass of what looks like plastic shavings. These turn out to taste incredibly smoky and bacony, making me suspect that they are wafer thin slices of pig skin, cellophane crackling as it were..
So cellophane crackling, smoky, intense, cutting through it is the creamy mayonaise and the spice of the BBQ sauce, then onto the dumpling, creamy soft croquette like , filled with small pieces of vegetable and a big piece of squid, so firm and tasty, a great contrast to the soft croquette which is the last thing you taste.
Blog 4 30-11
More general observations...
My bus stop is not outside the beckoning Flounder cafe . It is further down the street, opposite the tyre shop and next to the old men smoking.
Korean men smoke like the French, by god do they loathe that cigarette.
you can smoke indoors!
Gim bap is so good and watching someone make it is so much fun. It looks like a california roll, in that it is rice wrapped around fillings and coated in seaweed but it is so much better, which might in fairness only speak to the lacklustre sushi I've had.
I've learnt the words for terrapin, hedgehog and puppy. All the important ones obviously.
My bus stop is not outside the beckoning Flounder cafe . It is further down the street, opposite the tyre shop and next to the old men smoking.
Korean men smoke like the French, by god do they loathe that cigarette.
you can smoke indoors!
Gim bap is so good and watching someone make it is so much fun. It looks like a california roll, in that it is rice wrapped around fillings and coated in seaweed but it is so much better, which might in fairness only speak to the lacklustre sushi I've had.
I've learnt the words for terrapin, hedgehog and puppy. All the important ones obviously.
Blog 3 29-11
General observations so far:
My bathroom has been unlocked and I have hot water!
The bus stop for my school is opposite the Beckoning Flounder Cafe
The Vietnamese have a type of gumbo that is just magic, I love a bowl of food that when you stir it more tasty goodness appears
Seoul is really really big and the underground is a challenge
You can't get money out on your British bank card at any old ATM, you can however pay for most things in shops using your card but if you need cash you're a bit buggered. I have yet to determine if there are ATMS which will give you cash, I'll keep you posted.
Noone has heard of Doctor Who
Asian pears are dead tasty.
My bathroom has been unlocked and I have hot water!
The bus stop for my school is opposite the Beckoning Flounder Cafe
The Vietnamese have a type of gumbo that is just magic, I love a bowl of food that when you stir it more tasty goodness appears
Seoul is really really big and the underground is a challenge
You can't get money out on your British bank card at any old ATM, you can however pay for most things in shops using your card but if you need cash you're a bit buggered. I have yet to determine if there are ATMS which will give you cash, I'll keep you posted.
Noone has heard of Doctor Who
Asian pears are dead tasty.
Blog 2 26-11
I have found the second firefly disc...
Today I awoke full of hope that today I would speak actual full sentence Korean to someone, in particular about the hot water situation, that is the lack of hot water situation. I had a cold shower the second day I was here and I'm not doing that again! So I dutifully copied my sentences into my babelfish book and trotted off downstairs. I arrived in the office of my landlord to find two men smoking and warming their hands on the indoor heater, neither of them my landlord and I wasn't sure if they were waiting for him or actually worked in the office so unwilling to cause offence I sat about a bit until they turned on their computers.
My babbling korean was met with polite incomprehension until they took pity on me and made me a coffee.
Disheartened I returned to my room and leafed through my korean books, the book on culture shock was particularly helpful. It told me that getting upset or intimidated or dead angry cos you're so stupid you can't speak Korean is natural but honestly relax, things take time.
Christ I thought to myself, give yourself some credit, it is only friday morning of week one and you have already moved into an apartment, started work, met a whole load of new people including five year olds who want to be entetained, tried to comprehend your work schedule and lesson plans, eaten squid on a stick, walked to Bucheon station, caught buses, eaten sushi including squid in what we think was sea urchin stomach contents and the internet's coming saturday.
So with that in mind I toddled off to Bucheon station market and bought myself a kettle.
Later when Kyle arrived to pick me up, he came upstairs to try to sort out my hot water but was left scratching his head. Felt like less of a numty.
Classes where ok today, feel less out of my depth than before. It is nice that physical contact is permitted and it is joyful to see when Kyle drags himself along the corridor, kids hanging on for dear life and shrieking.
The kids are dead sweet, one actually cried because she'd forgotten her storybook, I mean, bless. They seem obsesssed by stickers and the girls love my phone; the smallness of it makes them positively coo with delight.I attempted to indoctrinate my last class into the wonders of rock music, as it is the free speaking class for the kids about to go on their exchange program to Vancouver, so I filled them in on Grunge as well.
Being so close to Seattle.
Went for dinner with Kyle, his deputy head teacher, (I think) and the office teacher.We went to this amazing restaurant. I want to open one in the UK, it was so good! Everyone sits around a table and in the middle of the table they put a charcoal brazier or a fire pit and then they bring you raw things to cook. It's like a BBQ fondue!
And the fire pit has an extra channel all around it in which they pour beaten eggs and chopped goodies so you have this omlette gently cooking while you barbeque your meat. Then you have salad stuff to go with and dipping sauces and other sides. We had pork skin and beef strips for the BBQ and kimchi,pickled cabbage, actually very good, starts off slightly spicy and then you get the sour of the vinegar and then a great kick of heat but I really liked it, as a side. We also had Soju, Korean wine but more a vodka at 25% proof but very very drinkable. We also had Lao Beef, raw beef strips seasoned and blended with egg and can also be with rice. Bloody lovely!
Now I am home writing this blog. I also had Mandu, a steamed dumpling, you know the ones Shane, the white fluffy cloud like ones but bigger, filled with minced pork and veg for breakfast this morning, it was so tasty. I fear this may become a food blog. One woman...one mission..to eat her way round Korea....
Til next time, must study some Korean!
Addendum:
Just tried to go to the bathroom. It is locked shut, obviously noone about, went downstirs anyway, I llive in hope but no luck, one chopstick desrtroyed and still no bathroom. Must remmember never to leave home without pliers! At least then I could have taken the door off its hinges!! Had a piss in a saucepan, went to bed.
Today I awoke full of hope that today I would speak actual full sentence Korean to someone, in particular about the hot water situation, that is the lack of hot water situation. I had a cold shower the second day I was here and I'm not doing that again! So I dutifully copied my sentences into my babelfish book and trotted off downstairs. I arrived in the office of my landlord to find two men smoking and warming their hands on the indoor heater, neither of them my landlord and I wasn't sure if they were waiting for him or actually worked in the office so unwilling to cause offence I sat about a bit until they turned on their computers.
My babbling korean was met with polite incomprehension until they took pity on me and made me a coffee.
Disheartened I returned to my room and leafed through my korean books, the book on culture shock was particularly helpful. It told me that getting upset or intimidated or dead angry cos you're so stupid you can't speak Korean is natural but honestly relax, things take time.
Christ I thought to myself, give yourself some credit, it is only friday morning of week one and you have already moved into an apartment, started work, met a whole load of new people including five year olds who want to be entetained, tried to comprehend your work schedule and lesson plans, eaten squid on a stick, walked to Bucheon station, caught buses, eaten sushi including squid in what we think was sea urchin stomach contents and the internet's coming saturday.
So with that in mind I toddled off to Bucheon station market and bought myself a kettle.
Later when Kyle arrived to pick me up, he came upstairs to try to sort out my hot water but was left scratching his head. Felt like less of a numty.
Classes where ok today, feel less out of my depth than before. It is nice that physical contact is permitted and it is joyful to see when Kyle drags himself along the corridor, kids hanging on for dear life and shrieking.
The kids are dead sweet, one actually cried because she'd forgotten her storybook, I mean, bless. They seem obsesssed by stickers and the girls love my phone; the smallness of it makes them positively coo with delight.I attempted to indoctrinate my last class into the wonders of rock music, as it is the free speaking class for the kids about to go on their exchange program to Vancouver, so I filled them in on Grunge as well.
Being so close to Seattle.
Went for dinner with Kyle, his deputy head teacher, (I think) and the office teacher.We went to this amazing restaurant. I want to open one in the UK, it was so good! Everyone sits around a table and in the middle of the table they put a charcoal brazier or a fire pit and then they bring you raw things to cook. It's like a BBQ fondue!
And the fire pit has an extra channel all around it in which they pour beaten eggs and chopped goodies so you have this omlette gently cooking while you barbeque your meat. Then you have salad stuff to go with and dipping sauces and other sides. We had pork skin and beef strips for the BBQ and kimchi,pickled cabbage, actually very good, starts off slightly spicy and then you get the sour of the vinegar and then a great kick of heat but I really liked it, as a side. We also had Soju, Korean wine but more a vodka at 25% proof but very very drinkable. We also had Lao Beef, raw beef strips seasoned and blended with egg and can also be with rice. Bloody lovely!
Now I am home writing this blog. I also had Mandu, a steamed dumpling, you know the ones Shane, the white fluffy cloud like ones but bigger, filled with minced pork and veg for breakfast this morning, it was so tasty. I fear this may become a food blog. One woman...one mission..to eat her way round Korea....
Til next time, must study some Korean!
Addendum:
Just tried to go to the bathroom. It is locked shut, obviously noone about, went downstirs anyway, I llive in hope but no luck, one chopstick desrtroyed and still no bathroom. Must remmember never to leave home without pliers! At least then I could have taken the door off its hinges!! Had a piss in a saucepan, went to bed.
Blog 1 21-11
I don't think I am in Kansas anymore....
I walked out of the exit gate into Incheon airport to meet hordes of people clutching flowers, cameras and wearing expressions of adoration.
Not my devoted fans but the Korean Althetes returning from the Pan Asian Games.
My boss SangSuk Lee speaks English with a Canadian accent, he says call him Kyle.
For my first night I appear to be staying on the Blade Runner set.
Bucheon is gritty, industrial and urban with an assault of strip light advertising, a graffiti tagger run riot with neon pens, every building a day glow scrawl, aflashing advert.
We pull into an underground garage, bleak concrete decked out in the obligatory neon, through a stone lined corridor and into a lift decked out in shiny mosaic and glittering mirror tiles. Up to the ninth floor, another corridor of exposed monumental brickwork and industrial metal furnishings.
The room door operates with a key card that once inside you lace in a slot by the door. When you leave the room, you leave the lights and the telly and the two computers on and removing the card, turns everything off! Returning to your room later and replacing the key turns everything back on again!
The main hotel doors have a sign labelled Push. So you push it and your weight moves the door outwards right?
Oh, no not for this hotel, no..no they slide open with the Star trek noise..
My goody bag from the hotel included toothpaste, two toothbrushes, a hairband, earbuds, shower gel, hand cream, "lady cream", shaving foam and a razor. There was also a basket of pyjamas. A massive shower and a huge bathtub with superjets and a toilet with three sets of dials on!!!
The second half of my evening was indeed spent knob turning and then leaping bravely out of the way. Easily pleased, me.
Having said that the bidet function still managed to spit in my eye. So that was my first evening in Korea, swallowing toilet water.
I walked out of the exit gate into Incheon airport to meet hordes of people clutching flowers, cameras and wearing expressions of adoration.
Not my devoted fans but the Korean Althetes returning from the Pan Asian Games.
My boss SangSuk Lee speaks English with a Canadian accent, he says call him Kyle.
For my first night I appear to be staying on the Blade Runner set.
Bucheon is gritty, industrial and urban with an assault of strip light advertising, a graffiti tagger run riot with neon pens, every building a day glow scrawl, aflashing advert.
We pull into an underground garage, bleak concrete decked out in the obligatory neon, through a stone lined corridor and into a lift decked out in shiny mosaic and glittering mirror tiles. Up to the ninth floor, another corridor of exposed monumental brickwork and industrial metal furnishings.
The room door operates with a key card that once inside you lace in a slot by the door. When you leave the room, you leave the lights and the telly and the two computers on and removing the card, turns everything off! Returning to your room later and replacing the key turns everything back on again!
The main hotel doors have a sign labelled Push. So you push it and your weight moves the door outwards right?
Oh, no not for this hotel, no..no they slide open with the Star trek noise..
My goody bag from the hotel included toothpaste, two toothbrushes, a hairband, earbuds, shower gel, hand cream, "lady cream", shaving foam and a razor. There was also a basket of pyjamas. A massive shower and a huge bathtub with superjets and a toilet with three sets of dials on!!!
The second half of my evening was indeed spent knob turning and then leaping bravely out of the way. Easily pleased, me.
Having said that the bidet function still managed to spit in my eye. So that was my first evening in Korea, swallowing toilet water.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)