Korea: first impressions

The people-

Given my few days here I have been blown away by the sheer generosity and kindness of the people I've met. My co-teacher (native Korean speaker who studied English who does complicated translations students may not understand), Lee Seung Mi, has basically become my Korean Mom. She has been bending over backwards to make sure I am adjusting well to my new life. Very, very helpful and I would be completely lost without her help.

All of the teachers eat together in the cafeteria during lunch. After lunch I was approached by a PE teacher, about my age, and instructed to go back behind a storage area for coffee. There were about 5 other teachers back there, all men, standing around smoking and just chewing the fat. They offered me a cigarette and then told me that in Korean culture, sharing a cigarette means you are now friends. I asked one of them where a bike shop was and after saying a bunch of stuff I didn't understand one of them left our little party. 10 minutes later he comes back and hands me a bicycle and keys to the lock. Mine for the year.

The Koreans I've met have been awesome.

The food-



How can you talk about Korean food without mentioning kimchi. It is their staple dish and is served at every single meal. I had a chance to try it a few times before I left and really took a liking to it. Everyone who I've eaten with so far has been pretty impressed with my chopstick ability and my love of spicy food. I think the people here believe that Americans have no tolerance for anything spicy and cannot use chopsticks, I am changing that belief one meal at a time.

Korean cuisine is typically very spicy (a lot of chili sauces with their dishes) so I'm in love with the food here. Rice is a huge staple of all the dishes here and so are vegetables. I think I've eaten more vegetables in the past 4 days than I have in the last 6 months in America. If you want to diet or to lose weight eat Korean food. I haven't seen an overweight person in my city yet and I think a huge part is the diet. No wonder they are the second slimmest nation in the world (America is in the 30s), their diet is super healthy and delicious to boot.

The drink-



Soju, soju, soju, soju. Soju is served at almost all meals outside of work and is pretty damn strong. It's about 40 proof and kind of tastes like watered down vodka but not as bad. It actually compliments a meal quite nicely in my opinion. It is a big no-no to EVER have an empty glass at the table and upon finishing your shot or sip it is immediately refilled by somebody else, never yourself. Korean dinners last a very long time so you can imagine where hours of pounding Soju will get you.

I don't want to sound elitist but the beer here is terrible. Living in Oregon or more specifically Portland will do that to you. I'm starting to think I won't get my hands on a good IPA for quite some time and that scares me. Cass and Hite are the two big ones everyone drinks. I've had warm Olde English or Milwaukee's Beast Ice that tasted better. I'm sticking to Soju.

I had a huge Soju night last night after the welcome party the school threw for me, post coming soon.