Good morning heartache

A few years ago, I learned about Hobbes and instantly related to his quote that life in the state of nature is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short". My teacher translated this as man being a wolf for man.

My understanding was that human nature is basically bad and that we must fight natural urges in order to co-exist peacefully in society. We also need things to numb our mind – with things such as ridiculous TV shows, drugs or beer. I had heated existentialist debates over the subject and still thought I was right. Everyone is capable of hurting someone else - be it physical or emotional.

Looking at the world, this idea seemed to make a lot of sense – with corruption, war, ethnic cleansing, poverty, and child soldiers. Who in their right mind would witness this all and let it happen?

I was young and radical. To me, everything was either black or white. My Godfather told me nothing is either black or white; there’s a gray segment one must learn to find and accept. There’s good and bad in this world, and both co-exist in each one of us.

I know I’ve done bad things in the past. I’ve hurt people’s feelings while trying to spare mine, and I’ve said and done things that I regret. As it turns out, I hurt someone’s feelings last weekend, someone I really cared about. As the song goes, “blame it on my youth”…

It’s just daunting to keep seeing that not only am I capable of hurting others, but that I actually do it. It means there’s a dark side to me and no matter how hard I try, I obviously can’t control it all the time.

Why can’t I be one of these people who are always doing the right thing, always being nice and authentic, and never having a bad thought or even a mood swing?

This world is so beautiful. On Sunday we went to the beach, yongyeon lake and checked out a university. Then I hung out in the countryside by myself and had tea at a temple. It felt so great, away from the city… the serenity of knowing that I couldn’t do harm there.

Pictures: Me, me! Field passed Jeju National University, Iho beach, countryside, yongyeon and Halla mountain

Korean food, drinks and bars

Well i'm no expert, but I've received a few emails regarding food, drinking and going out in Jeju so I thought I would give some info here.

FOOD
First of all you must know that Gimchi is a traditional Korean kind of food: it’s spicy, fermented cabbage and it is always served as a side dish. It can be fried too, and it’s often integrated in many meals (fried rice, soups, etc.)

In Korea, eating out is cheaper than cooking at home.

On every corner, you'll find some snack shop that offers a decent meal for less than 5$ (usually a broth, meat, rice and vegetables). There's also gimbap for a dollar or more (it's Korean sushi but without fish; the typical one is rice, vegetables, eggs and ham rolled in seaweed, but there are many other kinds with, for instance, cheese, ground beef, tuna, and so on.) It’s good and it’s cheap.

There's also other great and nutritious meals such as bibimbap - a mix of vegetables, rice, red pepper sauce and ground beef. Also delicious and unexpensive.

Average restaurants, as well as hofs (where they serve beer) offer communal meals – meaning they bring a portable stove to your table, where the meal you chose cooks in a giant pot and people help themselves. That’s usually for kimchi jiggae (kimchi soup with beef and tofu), and every other meat (chicken, pork, etc.) in a stew (usually quite spicy). It’s cheap when there’s at least four people, like 3$ per person.

While table and chairs is getting more popular, most restaurants usually give you the option of either sitting on the (heated!) floor, or at a table with chairs. I prefer sitting on the floor… this way you feel it instantly when you’re full (even before starting to eat ;) Just know that there will be tons of side dishes and it's not unusual - sauces, marinated vegetables, all sorts of gimchi, eggs, fish, broth, garlic, etc.

The thing I find genius in Korea is the BBQ at your table. That’s awesome! Many restaurants have a big hole at the center of the table, where the grill is set. They bring you meat and vegetables on a plate, and cook it for you. It’s your own BBQ, and you have something to do while waiting for your food to be ready!

The way to eat meat is also very special here. Beef and pork are the most popular and they are often marinated (I personally love samgyeopsal (fat pork!). So you grill the meat, then with scissors cut it into small pieces. You pick one piece with your chopsticks, dip it in sauce (bean paste or whatever), put it in a salad leaf, top it with fried kimchi or marinated onions, and eat it! It’s delicious and healthy.

There are also street vendors, who offer Korean junk food for as cheap as 50 cents - deep fried sausage on a stick, deep fried noodles and seaweed, deep-fried fish crap on a stick (it's like a fish sausage... don't ask what's in it), fries in a cup, some boiled rice pasta in spicy sauce, etc.

Finally, Jeju is an island. It’s by the sea. So of course, seafood is a specialty. Take a walk along any beach and you will come across countless seafood restaurants. There are usually a few fish tanks at the front, where you chose one. They kill it and prepare it in front of you. It’s cruel and delicious. It’s called sashimi.

In Jeju in the summer you get to see many women sun drying squid.

DRINKS
Like everywhere, there’s beer and sodas. What’s specific to Korea, however, is how cheap alcoholic drinks (and cigarettes) are! You can get a big bottle of Macally (cold rice liquor) for 2 dollars, and for 3$ you get a bottle of Soju (sweet potatoe liquor about 20% alcohol).

Soju is to Korean culture what Sake is to the Japanese, or wine is to the French. Macally is more the countryside drink – it’s cheap and refreshing. Both give you the WORST hangover ever. Yet most Korean men get drunk on it at least once a week and they seem perfectly fine the next day (a mystery…) You can get a liter bottle of soju (looks like bottled water!) for 7 bucks…

That's Wookyung and Stacey when we had dinner before I left Seoul... we had over 7 bottles of soju and headed to a noreabong (singing room). Needless to say it was a rather fun night, especially since a friend was visiting from China too!

There’s wine in Korea but it’s sweet. The first time I’ve ever tasted it I really liked it – especially the raspberry one and the plum wine too. But with a heavy meal such as galbi (marinated BBQ meat), it just sickened me so bad that I can’t handle it anymore.

There’s Australian, French and African wine at most convenience stores but they’re either cheap and bad, or decent and incredibly expensive.

As for beer, the main choices are Hite and Cass – they are cheap and alright. Cafri is my favorite… I know it’s oriental but I’m not sure if it’s Korean.

That's Sion back in Seoul: a bottle of Hite and dried octopus! Beh!

SOME NICE SPOTS
Food is everywhere so there isn’t much to say. But if you look for ethnic food, there’s Baghdad Café (Indian food) and a Mexican restaurant in Gu-Jeju. Baghdad has a really nice atmosphere and a nice terrace.

Nicer restaurants include the buffet a KAL hotel and an Italian “log house” on the costal road (on the way to Hallim). But really, why pay for an expensive meal? Food is one of Korea’s specialty! Nonetheless, I would recommend going to Jungmun beach since there are plenty of 5 star hotels where you can enjoy ridiculously pricy fine cuisine

This is the Hyatt's swimming pool where we hung out this summer. The hotel restaurant has an impressive ocean view and fancy food. So do all the other hotels around, especially the Lotte Hotel!

If you’re in the mood for junk food, there’s of course McDonald’s and Lotteria (Korean version of McDicks). Baskin n Robins and Dunkin Donuts are also on the island, but you have to go to the mainland for Starbucks.

That's Misha (a Russian friend working in a Korean circus) making fun of those 2 Korean teenagers sleeping at McDonald's around 4am on a Friday (well, Saturday)...

As for going out, I know a few places that have a great ambiance. Of course there’s the Blue Agave in Gu-Jeju – a bar with a pool table, sofas and a DJ. It’s homey, and you can get food there too. A lot of foreigners hang out there.

I believe that shot was taken a few weeks ago... we were playing them and his friend missed a shot!

The Doors and Led Zepplin in Gu-Jeju are nice spots to hang out. The music collection is impressive at both places, and drinks are average price. Bands sometimes play at both places and it gets pretty packed. The DJs are cool and they always play my Hendrix/Joplin requests ;)

GP in Gu-Jeju is small and cramped, but also very popular. Last week a friend of mine almost fell in a coma at 4am after having had a few drinks. Drinks at GP are extremely STRONG… and cheap! They put an ounce of Coke and fill the rest of your glass with rhum. I always have a beer there, otherwise it gets to my head way too fast.

The first bar I ever went to in Gu-Jeju is Angel’s sin. You know, same as any other bar – pool table, tables and chairs. Mostly Koreans hang out there, but foreigners too. The name is cute and it’s close to where teachers live.

Modern Times is a brewery in Shin Jeju. It’s one of our favorite hangout spots because the beer is really good, the seats are comfy, and it’s not a loud place. They also serve food, but I wouldn’t really eat it…

La Vie is a nice bar too in Shin Jeju. Nothing special except its name is French ;)

I'm still exploring but that should get you started =)

Pictures: taken by me on Jejudo and Seoul, and a few taken by annabella when she visited me in Seoul in 2007

Drop the plastic bag!

In Korea (as in all over the world), plastic bags are everywhere. Buying fruit or vegetables? You need a plastic bag to stick the price on. Buying tofu? Put it in a plastic bag. Food to go? Plastic bag. Buying goods? Plastic bag.

Even when you’re buying a bag, they give you a plastic bag.

And in Korea, many cashiers INSIST that you take one. I remember saying “no, it’s ok” five times while a lady kept smiling and saying “service!” (it’s free) Me taking the plastic bag was part of being a satisfied costumer and she wouldn’t let me go without it.

While the plastic bag issue has been a serious concern in every single country for quite a while now, some nations have made a great effort at minimizing its use.

After all, it takes hundreds of years for one plastic bag to decompose.

In France, for instance, grocery stores don’t even have plastic bags. You forgot to bring a bag? You must buy one for a few cents. Back in Quebec, some grocery stores give you a discount when you bring your re-use your plastic bag. I've also seen bio-degradable ones, that still take a while to vanish though.

In Korea, they charge you for it. And while it’s a good initiative, 5 cents really doesn’t matter when you buy 200$ worth of food…

Meanwhile animals are choking on plastic bags. Plastic bags all everywhere you look, strewing the ground, stuck in trees, hiding in dark alleys and floating in the ocean. Yet plastic bags are still produced every single day.

The same could be said of plastic/glass bottles, ridiculously thick plastic packing, and everything else we consume for that matter. Dumps are overloaded with our trash, and the space is getting scarce.

Just a thought: drop the damn plastic bag!
10 cents for one of those? No way. How about 10$ for every plastic bag? Then we’ll think about it twice before taking it...

Pictures: Google images

Jazz me real nice!

Nina Simone improv on the piano with her musicians... totally made my day!

Pepero

In Korea, November 11 (11/11, like four Pepero sticks) is as important as February 14th in Western countries - it's what they call "Pepero Day"!

It's a day when you give to the one you love. But you don't just give any kind of chocolate. You don't give flowers. You don't give a heart-shaped gift. No.

You give Peperos!

Peperos are candy sticks from the oh so famous Korean/Japanese (conglomerate) brand LOTTE - from Lotte World (theme park) and Lotte hotels, to Lotteria (fast-food restaurant), Lotte mart, Lotte gum, Lotte candy and Lotte Giants baseball team.

Thus Pepero day is really Lotte day. It all started in 1983, the year I was born. A real commercial scam, but kids love it and Lotte gets wealthier. Everbody wins.

Picture: Google Images

Chunks of life

Halloween was last week and I had totally forgotten about it. Fortunately Mr. Lee gave me a bag full of crap, I put up a powerpoint with witches and ghosts, and it turned out to be quite fun!







Koreans don't celebrate Halloween like we do, but it's growing on them. And they know that this holiday means "candy! candy! candy!" So I gave them oranges :)

The next week-end I went to Dongmun market - a huge place where they sell everything, from cheap clothes to weird fish and pig heads.







The weather here is still warm (around 20 celcius) and, as you may know, it's now the oranges season in Jeju. They are all over the place... tasty and cheap.



On Sunday we went to Samsunghyeol- a freakish place near my place. It's like an outdoor museum with three giant holes in the ground. Koreans believe that three Gods emerged from those holes many many years ago, and they built Jeju. Each year a ceremony takes place at Samsunghyeol to give thanks to those Gods.



We also visited one of Jeju island's number one spot: Yongduam! It's a big rock shaped like a dragon's head and... you really have to want to see it because it's not that obvious! According to the legend, a dragon envoy of the Dragon King was sent to Mt. Halla to pick a herb which would give eternal youth. But a mountain god shut into the sea, and only the head protruded above the sea. And it became Yongduam.



As you can see, smart Korean women took over the area around the rock in order to do business. They mainly sell sashimi (raw fish).





On an unrelated topic, I'm finally moving out of my moldy apartment! Will post pictures soon, especially for those of you thinking about visiting. Looking forward to this week-end cauz i'll be hiking halla mountain and teaching my dentist some French (he asked me!)

I'm also about to book my flight for Bali en February!! Bali baby! :)

Oh and here's the building where I work out: can you see the door?!?! Looks suicidal...

More of my pics: http://www.bubbleshare.com/album/261498

Going under the knife for a better life?

As I walked down one of the main streets in Gu-Jeju, I started fearing for my own safety after 3 people passed by, one after the other, with a bandage on their left eye. It looked as if they had been victims of some physical assault and, worst of all, they were all coming from the direction I was heading to.

As I ran into my friend Amanda, I saw 4 more of them coming our way. “That’s 7 in not even 10 minutes,” I thought. Most of them looked relatively young (under 30) and seemed alright – no bruises, hair perfectly in place, no ripped off clothes… they appeared to be peaceful.

We turned around the corner and there it was, written in gigantic letters, in both Korean and English: PLASTIC SURGERY!

As it turns out, plastic surgery (especially nose and eyelid) is huge in Korea. If you haven’t noticed, Asian features differ from Occidental’s and that apparently isn’t something to be proud of.

Moreover, Koreans tend to be very superficial (i.e.: women go hiking in their high heels with make up on!) and a lot of them idealize American culture. So plastic surgery is just the way to go.

Most Koreans also undergo a very restrictive diet at least once a year in order to stay thin or skinny. There’s actually a skeletal Korean woman working out at my gym and she spends over an hour pedaling on the stationary. Most Korean women I know complain about their size.



And as if this wasn’t enough, they believe that men are judged more on their ability than women are. So even if a female student at a famous school has graduated at the top of her class, if she is considered unattractive, the chances of her finding a good job are slim. So instead of attending classes that might enhance her skills, she is busy improving her appearance with cosmetic surgery appointments and visits to the gym.

Believe me, I’ve seen it. Especially in Seoul.

A Korean friend of mine got her degree in English lit from a well-known University but she is a little overweight. She had problems finding a job and her entire family said it was because of her size. Indeed, what company would want an average woman to interact with its costumers when they can get miss skinny who just underwent surgery?

Well get this: her parents ordered her to come home in order to lose weight. They wanted her to stay with them, be on a diet and exercise every day. You probably all know that in Korea parents are always right.

Fortunately for my friend, she got hired in a company 2 days before she was supposed to go back home!

Koreans get perms, undergo nose and eyelid surgery, going as far as liposuction. They believe that if your face is beautiful, then your heart also becomes beautiful (!!)

The rate of the general public going under the knife is currently at about 13 percent in Korea, while that in the United States is less than 3 percent. Plastic surgery has become so popular that the government even introduced a "reasonable" bill last year to reissue national registration cards to those whose appearance has changed as a result of plastic surgery!

Koreans can now reshape their ears with an octoplasty; eliminate wrinkles, blemishes and unevenly pigmented or sun-damaged skin with a chemical peel, change the shape of their face with facial implants; or go for a rhytidectomy - the classic facelift - in which the sagging facial skin is tightened and redraped over retoned facial muscles.

Today the typical Korean face (small, slanted eyes, round face and high cheekbones) can be dramatically altered to achieve the preferred Western look: all you need is 1-1.5 million won for the eye job, and 4-5 million won for bone shaving.

What's scary is that younger teenagers are going under the knife - often a gift from their parents who want "the best" for their children.

Koreans can also smooth out forehead wrinkles for 4-5 million won, enhance lips for 1 million won, augment breasts for 5 million won or have liposuction done on the stomach, thighs and calves for 2-3 million won.

While more than half of the surgeries performed involve the eyes (57 percent) and removing wrinkles (30 percent), the most popular procedure in Korea is the double-eyelid operation - the creation of a fold on the eyelid!!

But plastic surgery can be addictive and a lot of Koreans now crave it like I used to crave Nutella back in college.

Plastic surgery also enhances one’s chances of becoming a celebrity. According to a recent survey of 200 entertainers by Seoul-based plastic surgeon Lee Kang-won, 38.5 percent acknowledged that their looks had been artificially changed at an average of 1.42 operations.

And to think that when we die, all that flesh just rots in the ground.

PS: you might want to check out the very lame Korean movie "200 pounds of beauty" - in which a fat girl undergoes surgery and subsequently becomes famous. In the end she tells everyone she used to be fat and they all love her and, you know, she cries. Classic. The actress is perfect for both roles haha

source: internet but mainly http://www2.law.columbia.edu
pics: google