Kakao and Somaek
Hello all! Please be patient with me on these posts, life in Korea is a 14 hour job and it's hard for me to find time to sit down and write. In Korea they call this "bali bali" culture, bali (바리), means to hurry in Korean. Essentially Korean culture is fast paced where ever you go. Not just walking quickly but pushing past people, almost like everyone is an hour late to their next schedule. This, on top of the millions of people living in Seoul, leads to somewhat organized chaos.
ARMY STEW (부대찌개)
For lunch I went out with friends to Hongdae(홍대) a famous neighborhood for shopping and night life only one subway stop from my apartment. We had army stew, which is a stew that, you guessed it, was created in the army. Korea didn't have a lot of money during the Korean war and as such were often given hot dogs and spam from the American military. Thus the creation of the army stew began. It seems weird I know(just wait until I tell you about blood sausage), but it was surprisingly delicious. We were given a pot with all the ingredients inside and our server then poured boiling water to cook everything together. It is typical for restaurants to have food that is literally made right in front of you and boiling hot. If you ever come to Korea prepare to lose a layer off your tongue.
LOTTE TOWER
Lotte tower is the tallest building in Korea and the 8th tallest in the world. The elevator takes you up 120 floors in under 60 seconds, it is so fast that I could feel my ears popping several times on the way up. Although the sky was a little foggy(it was a polluted day), the view was incredible.
KAKAO FRIENDS
For those of you who are unfamiliar with kakao friends, I'll give a quick explanation. Kakao is the messaging app that 99% of Koreans use and it has emojis unique to the app with special characters and names for each. These emojis have become so big that Kakao friends stores have popped up everywhere. We visited one yesterday, don't worry I restrained myself to just a key chain, and my god the cuteness is unreal. Anything you could want, luggage, pillows, hats, paintings, mugs, literally EVERYTHING KAKAO. One of my friends has an obsession with Ryan, the most popular character, who is a lion dressed up as a bear. I know, but just open your imagination a bit ok? This is Korea
SOMAEK
Now for the part you have all been waiting for: drinking. Yesterday I tried lots of new drinks, including makoli, somaek, and mango beer. Now before any of y'all say anything, yes I am of legal drinking age in Korea. Moving on. The first drink I tried was makoli, a Korean rice wine that looks like it could be mistaken for milk. I honestly had no idea what to expect. We tried a few makoli's, one of them chestnut, well it didn't taste like chestnut so I don't know where they get that. Makoli tastes like some weird version of beer, it's pretty good, but if you're not a fan of beer it can be an acquired taste. While we drank makoli we had blood sausage, I know this is the moment you were waiting for, "what the hell is blood sausage??". Well let's just say after you read this you might not want to try it. I made the mistake of having my Korean friend explain its contents before consuming. So the second I put it in my mouth I was just thinking "blood, blood, blood,". Blood sausage is a sausage that back in the day was made from pig organ skin stuffed with glass noodles and pigs blood. I KNOW. You're probably thinking why the hell did I try it. Honestly I'm up for anything at this point lol. However, nowadays instead of pig organ skin they use an edible vinyl, sounds appetizing right? .... I'm too hungover to relive this food, lets move on. Somaek, somaek is a mixture of soju and beer(maekju). Soju is the most popular Korean alcohol, think of it like a weaker vodka that can come in lots of flavors and only costs 1.50 per bottle. Now behold, the somaek tower! As you can imagine it tastes like a stronger beer which means it can get you drunk faster so be careful!
MORE FOOD
We ended the night with more food. Koreans love meat, and this contraption allows you to place the raw meat over hot coals and it automatically rotates the skewers for you. Not much more to say about it, except it was delicious.
BLOOPERS
Here is a section for funny experiences I've had so far, let's begin!
1. I know they say Koreans can drink anyone under the table, but after a few drinks my little Korean friend was TRASHED, that girl is something else I tell ya. Like I said before, beware of the somaek.
2. Foreigners everywhere? I saw at least 25 foreigners yesterday, they're everywhere! Times have changed, now Koreans don't really blink an eye at foreginers(in the case of Seoul, if you go an hour out I'm sure you'd be one of the only foreigners there).
3. But still, I got a couple up down looks from some Korean boys, mainly my chest, as I am.. lets say.. larger than the average Korean woman in that zone.
4. While walking home last night around 1am I had a random Korean man say hi to me while passing on the street. You will have people come up to you and speak English, just be careful because their interest can be one of two things(ok not really but most of the time); to practice English or ride the white horse, that's all I'm saying. With saying that don't worry, you are never alone in Korea, even walking home at 1am there were people walking around everywhere still shopping and eating, this city never sleeps.
5: Probably my favorite part of the day was when an older Korean woman made space for me to sit down next to her on the subway. I had noticed her looking at me and my other friend(who is black and also american) which is not uncommon. The staring I get on the subway is few and mostly comes from older Koreans. She then began talking to us, asking where we were from, what we did, and complimenting us. I got to practice with what Korean I have and even poked fun at my friend, telling the woman that my friend had a Korean girlfriend. Which she replied with "awesome" in Korean. Being able to communicate to someone in another language and be understood is so cool!!
That's all for today, talk to you soon!
ARMY STEW (부대찌개)
For lunch I went out with friends to Hongdae(홍대) a famous neighborhood for shopping and night life only one subway stop from my apartment. We had army stew, which is a stew that, you guessed it, was created in the army. Korea didn't have a lot of money during the Korean war and as such were often given hot dogs and spam from the American military. Thus the creation of the army stew began. It seems weird I know(just wait until I tell you about blood sausage), but it was surprisingly delicious. We were given a pot with all the ingredients inside and our server then poured boiling water to cook everything together. It is typical for restaurants to have food that is literally made right in front of you and boiling hot. If you ever come to Korea prepare to lose a layer off your tongue.
Lotte tower is the tallest building in Korea and the 8th tallest in the world. The elevator takes you up 120 floors in under 60 seconds, it is so fast that I could feel my ears popping several times on the way up. Although the sky was a little foggy(it was a polluted day), the view was incredible.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with kakao friends, I'll give a quick explanation. Kakao is the messaging app that 99% of Koreans use and it has emojis unique to the app with special characters and names for each. These emojis have become so big that Kakao friends stores have popped up everywhere. We visited one yesterday, don't worry I restrained myself to just a key chain, and my god the cuteness is unreal. Anything you could want, luggage, pillows, hats, paintings, mugs, literally EVERYTHING KAKAO. One of my friends has an obsession with Ryan, the most popular character, who is a lion dressed up as a bear. I know, but just open your imagination a bit ok? This is Korea
Now for the part you have all been waiting for: drinking. Yesterday I tried lots of new drinks, including makoli, somaek, and mango beer. Now before any of y'all say anything, yes I am of legal drinking age in Korea. Moving on. The first drink I tried was makoli, a Korean rice wine that looks like it could be mistaken for milk. I honestly had no idea what to expect. We tried a few makoli's, one of them chestnut, well it didn't taste like chestnut so I don't know where they get that. Makoli tastes like some weird version of beer, it's pretty good, but if you're not a fan of beer it can be an acquired taste. While we drank makoli we had blood sausage, I know this is the moment you were waiting for, "what the hell is blood sausage??". Well let's just say after you read this you might not want to try it. I made the mistake of having my Korean friend explain its contents before consuming. So the second I put it in my mouth I was just thinking "blood, blood, blood,". Blood sausage is a sausage that back in the day was made from pig organ skin stuffed with glass noodles and pigs blood. I KNOW. You're probably thinking why the hell did I try it. Honestly I'm up for anything at this point lol. However, nowadays instead of pig organ skin they use an edible vinyl, sounds appetizing right? .... I'm too hungover to relive this food, lets move on. Somaek, somaek is a mixture of soju and beer(maekju). Soju is the most popular Korean alcohol, think of it like a weaker vodka that can come in lots of flavors and only costs 1.50 per bottle. Now behold, the somaek tower! As you can imagine it tastes like a stronger beer which means it can get you drunk faster so be careful!
MORE FOOD
We ended the night with more food. Koreans love meat, and this contraption allows you to place the raw meat over hot coals and it automatically rotates the skewers for you. Not much more to say about it, except it was delicious.
BLOOPERS
Here is a section for funny experiences I've had so far, let's begin!
1. I know they say Koreans can drink anyone under the table, but after a few drinks my little Korean friend was TRASHED, that girl is something else I tell ya. Like I said before, beware of the somaek.
2. Foreigners everywhere? I saw at least 25 foreigners yesterday, they're everywhere! Times have changed, now Koreans don't really blink an eye at foreginers(in the case of Seoul, if you go an hour out I'm sure you'd be one of the only foreigners there).
3. But still, I got a couple up down looks from some Korean boys, mainly my chest, as I am.. lets say.. larger than the average Korean woman in that zone.
4. While walking home last night around 1am I had a random Korean man say hi to me while passing on the street. You will have people come up to you and speak English, just be careful because their interest can be one of two things(ok not really but most of the time); to practice English or ride the white horse, that's all I'm saying. With saying that don't worry, you are never alone in Korea, even walking home at 1am there were people walking around everywhere still shopping and eating, this city never sleeps.
5: Probably my favorite part of the day was when an older Korean woman made space for me to sit down next to her on the subway. I had noticed her looking at me and my other friend(who is black and also american) which is not uncommon. The staring I get on the subway is few and mostly comes from older Koreans. She then began talking to us, asking where we were from, what we did, and complimenting us. I got to practice with what Korean I have and even poked fun at my friend, telling the woman that my friend had a Korean girlfriend. Which she replied with "awesome" in Korean. Being able to communicate to someone in another language and be understood is so cool!!
That's all for today, talk to you soon!
I'm hoping you won't be saddling up soon unless by some remote chance you happen to run into Ji Chang-wook.
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