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By Marty, July 30, 2010 6:12 pm

Nothing like playing in the mud. I haven’t done that since I was knee high to a grasshopper.  Or something like that…

Anyway, there’s an annual festival on the west coast of Korea – the Mud Festival!   The city is just a small thing tucked into a bay that has some serious mud flats. They decided a few years back to capitalize on their geology by making the festival around the mud – some of which is used in making makeup and skins creams.

A group of my friends here all decided to make it a group trip so 22 of us crowded into a small bus for a five hours trip to the west coast. We left at 6:45am and spent the ride drinking and telling off-color jokes.  It rained the whole way there and was still raining when we got to the beach. Not that rain was going to matter – we were planning on playing in the mud, so what’s a little rain? By the time we got settled in our resort, unpacked and headed out to the beach the rain was just a slight drizzle but the air was warm.

Although there were quite a few Koreans there, this is probably a 70% foreigner attended affair. Lots of young people – teachers, engineers and more than few military.  The event had lots of activities including colored mud body painting, mud slides, mud mosh-pits, mud slinging areas and mud slathering areas. We liked the slathering area as it was more of a love-fest, rubbing gooey sticky mud all over each other. It turned into a mud slinging area when the army boys got there and got rowdy.

I had my camera in a ziplock baggie to keep out the rain and the mud – it worked pretty well, but it was cumbersome and a couple of the pictures didn’t turn out well.   I thought about posting them here, but it’s just too easy to post to facebook. I hope this link to my facebook album works for those of you who don’t facebook.

My facebook MudFest photos

Our resort was really nice. It was about a 30 minute walk from the beach but that was fine – everything near the beach is a 24 hour party and those of us who aren’t into that were happy while the others could make a short trip to party ’til they puked. They did and they puked. A lot.  The resort was less than a  year old and still had that new building smell.  We had a hot tub that got some serious use, too.  Although my pictures of the hot tub are fuzzy (probably a good thing) there was a significant amount of nudity.

Across the parking lot, there was a pool for the whole place. Lots of little kids and families. When we got in to play on Sunday morning, the Koreans all moved to one end and left of us to our end. We did a couple of experiments and slowly eased our group off the center and into “their” side, each time crowding them further and further into the shallow end. Whether it was fear or loathing, we weren’t sure. But the Koreans in general could be herded into a rather small area by subtly expanding our little circle. Fun stuff – someone should write a paper on non-verbal communication about it someday.

We headed back around noon on Sunday and by then the rain had finished and Sunday was bright and sunny and humid. Just in time for a hot bus ride home.

It was a much needed getaway from Ulsan. This week, I started a short, two week course at Ulsan University. They have a group of students who are going to spend a semester in Canada so they’re prepping them for living in an English-speaking city with a 4-hour/day intensive speakign and writing class. I’m working 4 hours in the morning and then  another 7.5 in the afternoon/evening at my normal school. For two weeks, I’ll feel like I’m back in the real world again working long hours and having to wake up with an alarm clock. It’s been a few years since I used one – other than vacation buses or planes.   I’d actually like to turn this short time gig into a full time job – and I might have a good shot at it. The head of the English department at Ulsan Univ, a Korean man, studied in the US – at the University of North Texas – same as me. We traded some stories of bars and restaurants in Denton that we’d both been to.  He’s a nice guy and I’m hoping our shared past might help me get into the University. We’ll see.

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By Marty, April 11, 2010 1:58 pm

I’ve been here for over 3 years this stint – since January 2007. I spent another year year here in 2004/05. In all that time, I’ve had only two visitors from America – Kim and Mark.  I had hopes of some of my family members coming to visit so I could show off my little private Shangra-La.  But I’ve given up on that. That’s ok. Going overseas is not for everyone.  Perhaps I can instead bring a little Korea to you, the reader.

Today, MyeongHee and I went to Busan to go to Costco for some American food like cheese, cheerios and sour cream (I could use a few packets of Ranch Dip sent by the way.)  We went with two of her hair shop friends who stocked up on things themselves. All along the way, all three of them would Ooo, Ahh and Ypuda (Korean for pretty) as we drove through the mountains and passed cherry trees, pear orchards or wild red-buds in bloom. It was kind of funny – a musical accompaniment to the iPod I had playing on the stereo.

On our way back, we stopped at a galbi restaurant. That’s a typical Korean tradition – when friends go out together as the 3 girls did, dinner is on the agenda. I love galbi. Knowing nothing of  Korean cuisine back in 2004, it was the first meal I had as the school director took us all out to welcome me and say farewell to the teacher I was replacing. I fell in love with Korean food that night.  Today as we ate, I thought of just how different galbi is from the western diet I still crave (and spent large amount of money on today to sustain my habit of .)  It’s not just the ingredients themselves that are different, but the manner in which it is cooked and eaten.

Traditional Korean galbi is marinated, fatty pork strips grilled right at the table. A few of my close friends in Dallas as well as my two daughters have had it from a restaurant in K-town in Dallas. Only slightly different due to availability of the same types of lettuce and garlic, the Chosun Korean BBQ on Royal Lane just east of Harry Hines in Dallas is pretty close.  The beauty of galbi is the interactivity of the meal. One doesn’t simply consume a plate of meat, veggies and rice, but must actively participate in its creation. As the strips of pork are cooked, they are cut with a kitchen shears into bite-size pieces. Once cooked, a piece of meat is placed on a single leaf of lettuce (anything but iceberg will do.)  Most Koreans put a slice of raw garlic on it next, but some, like me, like their garlic singed a little on the grill. Then a red paste mixture of beans and red pepper is added to it. Depending on the side dishes served, and Koreans usually have numerous to choose from, one can add those to the lettuce as well. I like the marinated onions. Once you have all the meat, garlic, paste and veggies you want in your lettuce, wrap it all up and stuff it – it should be a large wad – into your mouth.   This shit rocks!  It’s a little spendy in Dallas, but here in Korea we can feast for cheap – four of us left full-bellied for less than $40, including beer.

So, for those of you who perhaps one day will come to visit me here, you’ll get your own royal treatment and be shown all the intricacies and niceties of Korean dining. We’ll feast on all that is well and good in Korean kitchens. For those of you who will likely never come visit (I’m not naming names), go eat some galbi and toast me while you eat. In Dallas, Chosun BBQ is best.  Chicago has it’s own K-town and there are likely numerous spots there to try it. South Dakota?  Not likely but there may be something.

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By Marty, March 17, 2010 2:56 am

Although I still ride my bicycle nearly everyday the weather is nice, I wanted something else for those times when I want to just get there. Tonight is a good example. It’s St. Patrick’s Day and a number of the expats here will drink a green beer or two. Previously, I would either have to wait for MyeongHee to come home first so I can take the car, or I’d have to take a taxi.

Scooters are very popular here and no one looks silly riding one. In the US, we made fun of people on little scooters, or “mopeds” as we called them. But then, we also made fun of the middle-aged men riding Harleys who tried oh-so-hard to look like mean bikers boys in leather chaps and vests only to get up on Monday morning and wear the suit and tie to work.

And a close up for those wondering if that fuzz on my face is dirt. I keep telling my students it’s blond hair in my beard, but they don’t buy it any more than my daughters did years ago.

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By Marty, February 15, 2010 11:18 am

This weekend was the worst. I can’t remember being more uncomfortable on the floor. I’ve never liked it. Nearly 50 years in chairs and this boy has gotten used to the things. That stuff doesn’t go away being in Korea for a couple of years. The last day we were in Pohang I refused to sit other than to eat. I almost refused that, but I was hungry. I stood, walked, or sat on the garden wall and when that didn’t work, I sat in the car and listened to music. I just can’t handle sitting on hard floors all day and then sleeping on them at night. I’m a pussy for cushions, I admit. But it’s too late to do anything about it now.

While in Pohang with the family, I really enjoyed the cooking. Not the food so much, but the actual cooking. Last year, I introduced MyeongHee’s family to Texas-style meat grilling – letting the fat drip down into the fire so that resulting smoke flavors the meat. They liked it. They have restaurants here that do that as well, but its a rare thing to properly have the grease drip into the fire and flavor the meat with the smoke. They call it “soot bul gogi” (숱불고기) soot being the name they call charcoal, bul meaning fire and gogi is meat – “charcoal fire meat” literally. Most places cover up the coals and you cook the meat on a slotted domed surface at your table – the fat  just drips into a side trough. The meat is always marinated and then wrapped in lettuce with sliced garlic and bean paste, so it’s not like missing the smoke makes it terrible – it’s still good. The ones with a real grill screen is the best, but they’re rare as hens’ teeth.

But anyway, back to the grilled meat at home story. I was told to bring our little table-top grill to Pohang. I cautioned that those things don’t work well in freezing temperatures as the cold air prevents the fat from liquefying and dripping down into the fire. My grill doesn’t have a lid to help hold in the heat and it was well below freezing this weekend. No matter. One of MyeongHee’s brothers found a good deal on New Zealand beef and bought a few kilos to grill. They wanted grilled meat, dammit, and they were gonna get it no matter what.

I like her brothers. They’re nice guys. Especially the younger one. He’s always been very kind to me. But common sense ain’t their strong point. When I made Texas-style grilled meat last year, both boys wanted to help get the fire going, despite the fact that it was my grill, my charcoalsoot, I was the one showing them how to make it and I had years of experience in grilling and preparing grills for cooking.  They made a mess of things last year and were unable to get the fire going. It should have been easy – Korean soot comes in one of two varieties – a ring of napalm soaked charcoal-like-substance or real wood charcoal with a single napalm soaked piece included as the starter. Briquettes and lighter fluid are just not done here.  I had the later variety. After they jacked up the napalm starter chunk by burning it first without surrounding and topping  it with charcoal, I went to the store to buy some regular lighter fluid – the kind one uses in Zippo lighters – and properly got my fire going. So, despite the false start, we were able to enjoy some grilled dead animal. It was great.

This year, since I’d already told them my grill wouldn’t work in subzero temperatures and they were unable to grasp the concept of fire building I let them alone to do the cooking. What a show. I can’t remember being so entertained so cheaply ever before.

They are incapable of listening, however. Since I said cold weather kills the fat liquefaction process, they decided to be real smart and put the grill in the house. A charcoal grill. Fortunately, the kitchen had a door. I closed it while they cooked so the rest of the house wouldn’t become soot infested. But since it’s Korean style to cook from a grill at the table, the rest of the family piled in the kitchen and began eating as pieces of meat became ready. Oh, the meat was fine – the first batch, that is. The fat liquefied nicely, dripped down and smoked the meat wonderfully. And the kitchen was very nicely smoked, as well. I stayed in the livingroom while the occasional family member would come running out of the kitchen, eyes streaming tears from a face full of smoke. MyeongHee called me into eat but upon opening the kitchen door and being confronted with a wall of smoke I declined, laughing. Restaurants that have grills at the table also have extensive exhaust systems at each table; the boys hadn’t considered that small fact.

The boys conceded defeat. The grill in the kitchen, while making lovely meat, was also poisoning everyone with smoke and carbon monoxide. They moved the grill back out on to the patio (where I showed them how last year – and also where we ate since the weather was nice then.)   The kitchen cleared of smoke and everyone’s eyes lost that just-came-from-the-funeral redness. But there was still a lot of meat to be cooked and it was cold.  Sure enough, just as I predicted, the cold, windy weather kept the meat chilly and the fat nice and white. None of it dripped down into the coals and smoked the meat. Moreover, the fat would barely melt enough to seep onto the grill and the meat stuck horribly.  They ended up cooking all the meat, but it was far from grilled. Most of it was simply heated. Large gobs of fat and marbling that should have melted and smoked nicely were still clinging to the meat on the plate, now back inside the house.  No grilled flavor. So smoky taste. Just meat.

No matter. I piled on the sliced garlic, smothered it with red bean paste, wrapped it in lettuce and ate my fill. I did a damn good job of not saying “I told you so” and an even better job the rest of the day not smirking or wrinkling my nose whenever any of the family walked by smelling like a Bonanza steak house.

Oh – and I found my suit pants. They were buried on a hangar under a shirt  that doesn’t match the suit.

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By Marty, February 13, 2010 8:26 am

This weekend is Lunar New Year, otherwise known as Chinese New Year in the west. We’re heading out to Pohang to MyeongHee’s mom’s house for the weekend. Another weekend on the floor. I hate it. Last time I brought my bicycle so I could at least sit on something even if it was just a small saddle crammed up my rear. No chance this time, as we got a nice layer of snow last night. No bicycling this time.

This wouldn’t be any different from any other holiday weekend on the floor except that we’ve got a house-full of pups to bring with us. Too little to stay alone, we’re bringing the whole crib with us. It should be fun since they’re at the playful stage now – in between sleeping, that is. They still sleep about 80% of the time.

I have to wear a suit when we go for holidays. I wear it for the ancestor ceremony at dawn and for the visit to MyeongHee’s father’s grave. I only wear it for 4 hours. I can’t find the pants that go with my suit this time. I only have one suit.

Last time, I was out riding the bike while MyeongHee packed up everything. I’m blaming the missing pants on her, but that won’t bring them back. She’s angry that I won’t be wearing the suit. The clothes I have aren’t sloppy, but I won’t look as sharp as usual. It’ll have to do since it’s now too late to buy anything else. Oh well.