Justin Drinks Weird Stuff for Your Entertainment: Australian Beer Edition

Now, Korea isn't exactly known for its beer. A few of the local brews are decent--"the Hite" comes to mind--but few breweries stray very far from light, malty lager, and when they do, the results tend to be pretty mediocre. What's worse, there are few foreign beers available, and even fewer at a reasonable price. As a result, I rely pretty heavily on Asahi and Heineken, which are generally available in most small stores.

However, there is one bright spot on the beer horizon in the ROK: many supermarkets stock a handful of Australian beers that are still relatively rare in the US. Thanks to Fosters, Aussie beer has an undeservedly poor reputation in the States. Most Aussie beers, though, fit squarely into the British Empire mold. You can find two examples below.

The first is Victoria Bitter, which is actually a mildly hopped lager. The fact that this is the top-selling Australian beer bodes well for Aussie tastes: it's full-bodied, flavorful, and very refreshing.
The XXXX Export Lager is the overseas version of XXXX's popular Queensland brew. XXXX is both hoppier and fruitier than VB--similarly refreshing, but it would be harder to drink more than one or two in a row.

Long story short: if you get a chance to drink either of these fine beers on a hot day, or alongside a nice burger or some spicy grilled meats, do.

CHICKEN AND BEER . . .

. . . is awesome. Just in case you forgot.

Yeah, seriously--after a late evening at the school yesterday, Nana and I went with our friend/coworker Paul (the guy who speaks Korean) to a chicken shop a few blocks from the school. (A chicken shop named "Hoo-la-la," no less.) Paul had seen the place hopping a few nights before and decided so many people couldn't all be wrong.

And let me assure you, they weren't.

I had read before coming to Korea that the Koreans really knew how to do fried chicken and beer, but I was determined to withhold judgement--I've had some pretty good experiences with fried chicken and beer in the states. (Mmm. . . chicken, okra, and bock under a tree outside the Spoetzle Brewery in Shiner, Texas . . . yes, that Shiner . . .)

After the other night, though, I have to say you can believe what you read. The beer wasn't the world's greatest (they had Cass on tap, far inferior to Hite, which is itself only a decent/unspectacular beer), but the chicken was superb. It was fried super-crispy, but still tender, in some kind of soy-batter, so it was salty and sweet and a little bit zingy all at once. The price tag was a bit high, but like KBBQ, it's meant to be shared, and three people can dine heartily without anyone spending more than ten bucks.

So, yes, Korean fried chicken--certainly an experience everyone should have once in their lives!

Oh! The Japan!

Oh! The Japan!

Land of giant ice-cream filled pancake crepes!



Land of beer corporate headquarters designed to look like beer glasses!
And of less successful next-door beer corporate headquarters designed to represent the "spirit of the workers" in a "Flame d'Or" ("Flame of Gold,"), which has unfortunately instead earned the nickname "The Golden Poo")

Land of juice-box alcohol...

and Rainbow Brite packing tape!


I loved you so much, Japan, that I could not face writing this post three weeks ago and admitting that my too-short time as 8th Grade Japan Trip chaperone was over. Even now, it is more than I can handle to write about our glorious, glorious day at Tokyo Disney Sea, which will have to wait for another day. Instead I leave you with...




... government-sponsored Safety Center earthquake and hurricane simulations, respectively.

Oh! The Japan!

First Korean Dinner, First Korean Beer!

I assume you're all dying to hear more about the school and the apartment, but I'm going to hold off until we've got our internet access up and running so I can post some pics. Rest assured that the apartment is very large, very nice, and very Korean (we needed the dictionary just to unlock the door), and the neighborhood is great--lots of food, and no fewer than two giant "marts" (kind of a cross between a market, a small mall, and a Wal-Mart) a five-minute walk away.

So last night, after work, Nana and I had our first solo (if that's the right word) Korean dinner experience, with a colleague/neighbor named Josh. (By "solo," I mean without an interpreter--so far we've been leaning heavily on the indefatigable Paul, who's lived here for five years.) Paul picked the restaurant for us ahead of time--by the time honored method of leaning out the bus window and taking a whiff--but after that, we were on our own.

The restaurant was a Korean BBQ (on the first floor of our building, no less), similar to KBBQs we'd been to in DC, and therefore a pretty safe bet. With the aid of a picture menu, 22,000 won (convienently, about $22) got us a big plate of five different meats, lettuce for wrapping, onions, two kimchis (spicy pickled cabbage side dishes), and a cole slaw salad. The meat was excellent, and the table grill was especially good, with the gas burner augmented by some aromatic woods.

3,000 won more got us two big domestic beers (each about 22oz), one of which (Hite) was a very good, fairly sweet kolsch-style lager, and one of which (Cass) was pretty bland. But finding the Koreans capable of decent, cheap beer has certainly raised my spirits, so to speak. Can't wait to do the Korean fried chicken and beer!

In any event, the proximity of at least one very good, very cheap restaurant (Nana and I could have easily split one of the 5,000-8,000 won single-meat plates) doesn't bode well for our kitchen . . . given the grocery prices I've seen so far, there's no way we could spend much less than 5,000-8,000 won cooking on our own!

Muckin' About Malaysia: Part One

(For those of you who haven't been following along, this is part of a series on our trip to the EARCOS 2008 Teacher Conference in Kuala Lumpur.)

During our five plus days at the EARCOS Teacher Conference in Kuala Lumpur, we scrounged enough free time together to see much of the city and a bit of the countryside as well. Here are just a few episodes from the shenanigans.

1. Chinatown

The Chinese ethnic community in Malaysia makes up a huge minority of the population (nearly 25%, according to Wikipedia) with a long and complicated history in the region. Malaysian Chinese people run the gamut from long-settled, assimilated Malay speakers, to Anglophone colonial-era traders, to more-recent, Mandarin-speaking arrivals. (In fact, Wikipedia's got some fascinating stuff on Malaysian Chinese people--that appears to be the PC term--including the fact that they rarely intermarry with Malays because Malaysian law requires that Malaysian Muslims can only marry Muslims. Neat.)
Anyway: None of this history whatsoever is evident at Petaling Street, Kuala Lumpur's bustling Chinatown, a raucous emporium of cheap junk, knockoffs, and counterfeits interspersed with a few decent places to eat. We found one--sketchy, cheap, and delicious--walked about the market for a little bit, then promptly found another for spring rolls and some Tiger, the local beer. For the first time in my life, I felt like a real Expat (with a capital "E"), swigging lager at a plastic table after sunset under neon lights in the lazy tropical heat.
(Cool Tiger Beer factoid, fliched from Wikipedia: The advertising slogan "Time for a Tiger" gave author Anthony Burgess, probably most famous for A Clockwork Orange, the title of the first novel in his trilogy on the decline of British rule in Malaysia, The Long Day Wanes.)

2. The Hotel Shangri-LaOf course, going back to the hotel quickly disabused me of these expat delusions. There, I felt like some kind of high-powered globetrotting executive, sweating in the sauna after a long morning workout, or sipping tea over my complimentary breakfast as I looked down on the streets of Kuala Lumpur below. Only in the morning did reality set in: I was but a lowly rookie teacher, with much to learn and even more to do. But hey! At least we'd be living in luxury for the rest of the week. Swanky pad with a view of the Petronas Towers? Complimentary breakfast? Free evening munchies and cocktails? Man, Dr. Kim really knows how to treat employees right!Bonus: the room even had a Gideon Bible AND a "Gideon" Koran.




P.S. Apparently, McDonalds delivers in Malaysia. Who knew?

Singapore: The Beer

(This is one of a series of posts about our recent trip to Singapore. You can find other posts by clicking the "Singapore" tag below.)

Singapore isn't exactly known for its booze--import duties, vice taxes, Muslim culture and cuisine, and the sheer cost of bringing liquids in from overseas make alcohol relatively unpopular.

However, like most former outposts of the British Empire, Singapore does have a small local brewing tradition, represented mostly by the Asia Pacific Brewing Company (who now also brew the Malaysian beer Tiger under contract).
I tried two Asia Pacific beers while in Singapore. The first was a "strong brew," more German bock than anything British, and not a terribly good example of the form. Simply much too sweet, with too strong an alcohol taste. The second I tried was the ABC Extra Stout, a British-style stout (sweet rather than dry), and really quite good. Like cool, alcoholic coffee.

I Love the Japan: Vending Machine Beer

Yes, that's right. Vending machine beer.

One Day More!

<

One day more!
Another afternoon, a final night,
A never ending trans-Pacific flight
(And now I have to face again

those meals they serve us on the plane)

One day more!

I did not pack until today.
How can I fit this in my suitcase?
One day more.
Our worldly goods are worlds away…
Oh, shipping turns us into fruitcakes.

Nana:
One more day before we go.

Justin:
Will we come back here again?

Nana:
Should we pack the peanut butter?

Justin
I will miss our little dog…

Nana:
I don't remember buying this.

Justin:
And our kids, we'll miss them too

Nana:

Put the heavy stuff in his!

Justin:
I just know it's going to storm

Nana:
It's been raining here for days.

Justin:
We'll be schlepping in the thunder.

Nana:

What a great name for a band!

Justin:

But alas, it's the monsoon,

Nana:
I hear ducks out on the road.

Justin:
We may have to take a cab.

Nana:

I think I packed my contact lens!

Together:
One day more!
One more day until we're leaving,
On our way to MScs
Off to Scotland for some schooling
Hope my teacher's not like me!

One day more!

BBQ and tteok
Noraebangs and beer
My Korean sucks
in spite of living here

Tuck in all your shirts!
Obey the EOP!
Weren't always fair
but always tried to be.

Chaperoned the student field trips
(In the US, that's DC)
To Shanghai and to Japan
(Lucky weasel, yes I am!)
Went to S'pore and Malaysia
(And to Xi'an, and Beijing)
And Japan again to ski!

APIS, we will miss you!

One day more!

Justin:
How I loved to sample food
And Asian beers that I was drinking

Now I'm heading for the 'Burgh
But not the 'Burgh you may be thinking

Nana

Public transit rocks
Hardly any crime
If you cannot talk

you live in pantomime!

Tomorrow we'll be far away,
Tomorrow is the travel day
Oh, soon we'll leave Korea
For another zany foreign shore….
Goodbye, Seoul,
Bye, Wolgye,
One day more!

School of ROK's Top 5 "Insights" about Korea

Well, Nana and I have been back in the States for a little more than a week now, which means three things: 1) Jet lag is wearing off, 2) We've delivered our Korea schtick about 35 times now, and 3) We've found out more people were reading School of ROK than we ever imagined. All of this adds up to a sudden desire to post something coupled with an utter lack of excuses. Hence, this post, and my out-on-a-limb promise to have our Yeoju pictures posted within a few days.

So, without further ado, here are the top five most-popular numbers in our already-getting-old act (in no particular order):

What are Korean schools like? Everyone we've talked to has been fascinated (read: horrified) by the Korean education system, or even moreso by how little sleep our students get. You see, in Korea, the chances of your daytime school grades ever mattering are slightly less than the chances of a Korean student staying awake through an entire class. Which is to say, appallingly low. (Don't worry, though, we've gotten our kids to stay conscious through the entire day.) In the Korean system, all that matters is your score on the next standardized test, which you study for at your nightly cram schools, called "hagwon," six days a week. What's worse is that families have started using the hagwon as a means of conspicuous consumption: Whereas in the States you're apt to hear yuppie dads beaming about their Beamers, in Korea they're bragging about how many cram schools they send their kids to in a day. All of which results in the high and rising cost of raising a child. That's why so many children are still adopted from South Korea, even though it's a very safe, politically and economically stable country: in a situation where dual-income professionals have trouble affording children, young couples and single mothers don't stand a chance.

What does Seoul LOOK like? I've had a few requests to compare Seoul to various other East Asian cities. Does it look like Tokyo? Shanghai? Beijing? Of course, never having been to any of these other places, I'm in no position to compare (though Nana assures me Seoul does not look like Beijing). The pictures don't like: Seoul looks a lot like this, with bits of this and this sprinkled in. In our part of Seoul, everything's new, and most of it is made of concrete. High-rise apartments everywhere. The defining features of Seoul, though, are the Han River and the surrounding mountains: the first cuts a wide swath right through the middle of the city and the second slice deep into the city from its edges. It's a clean town, pretty safe, with many unexpected great views.

Can you speak Korean? Sadly, the answer is no--we start our official Korean lessons in a couple weeks--though we have learned some Hangeul to trot out as a party trick, plus a few key magic words that can get us food, beer, bathrooms, and transportation home.

What's Korean food like? Ahh, Korean food--a bit of a touchy subject. If you want my advice as to whether or not you should go to that Korean bbq across town this weekend, I'd tell you heck yes. But if you wanted to know whether you should eat nowhere but the Korean buffet for three months straight, you'd get a very different answer. There is some really delicious Korean food and some REALLY gross Korean food. In other words, we've had to supplement the local fare with a lot of our own cooking and with pretty frequent trips to the little foreign enclaves downtown. I will say that there are two things you don't realize about American food until you live outside the US: we have an amazing variety of ethnic food to choose from and almost all of it comes with cheese.

This leads us to our final question:

Do Koreans really all look alike? No, though since it's a fairly homogeneous country as far as ethnicity goes, there are fewer general categories of appearance (ie, you've only got "fat guy" instead of "fat white guy"), fewer hair colors, really only one eye color, and almost no facial hair. But Koreans ARE shorter (possibly because they sleep four hours a night when they're kids). I mean, I feel like a circus midget back here! Though all these growth-spurting cousins certainly don't help.

Anyway, time to go help with our very American Christmas Eve: pickup football followed by piles of food either shot through with sugar or smothered with cheese. Yum!

All my t'ings about me

THE SHIPMENT CAME!!!

I feel like Maureen O'Hara, in The Quiet Man. I don't remember the exact scene, or if it's before or after the items in her dowry finally arrive at her new home. But in any case, she says something to the effect of how all a bride wants is to have "her own t'ings about her," with a hard "h" from her Irish accent.

I was so happy to see all our wedding presents and books and cooler-weather clothes and realize that nobody was fencing them on a street corner someplace. Having some of the nonperishable food we sent (Kraft Mac'n'cheese, Quaker Oats S'mores-flavor granola bars) has already made a huge morale difference and, I hope, may help my stomach out. Wedding dishes. Linens. Comfy chairs. Bookshelves. Dog hair that stuck to things while we were packing. It's all here.

I'll be honest and admit that when I opened some pillows and they smelled so much like home that I lost it and cried for a bit (although not as much, I suspect, as Thoreau would have cried over the fact that things could make me cry at all). I am enjoying teaching and I do like Korea, but yes, I get homesick. And for some reason, when nothing here was familiar, it didn't make quite so much of a difference, but when I was opening box after box of home things, I wanted to know where the rest of it was. Where's the box with comfy sofas from Justin's house in Pittsburgh? Where's the box that puts our friends on this continent and lets us go grab a beer with them? Where's the box with my mom in it? (Yeah, that image is unintentionally hilarious... but the sentiment is there).

Anyway, I'm glad it's here, even if it did make me homesick.

Off to revel in my squishy comforter and firm pillow!

Hiking, Take 2

As you may have heard (from us, probably), this week is Chusok in Korea--it's a combination harvest-festival Confucian-ancestor-worship shindig, a time when everyone heads back to their hometown and daughters-in-law freak out preparing meals for their families. Of course, since precisely no one is from Seoul, this means the city pretty much empties out for the week. Perfect time to go hiking! Especially if your last attempt at a hike was crushed under the feet of the North-Face-clad multitudes (get the full story here).

Anyway. This attempt started at about 10:00 AM with Nana's decision to stay home to rest, nurse a stomach ache, and prepare to host some friends for an afternoon of football, fried chicken, and beer. (Our giant new $420 flatscreen monitor helped make this totally sweet, by the way.) Then, a few minutes later, my hiking party showed up--minus one more, a colleague who mysteriously disappeared in the course of several Skype calls yesterday morning. However, undeterred by this appallingly high rate of attrition, we two remaining hikers set off through the streets of Nowon, navigating by sight to the foot of a small mountain nearby.




Now, you need to understand that we chose this hike because it was supposed to be relatively easy--the guidebook talks about a wide, sandy trail meandering its way up from street level, with some nice views and some rocks at the top. Well, apparently we took a wrong turn somewhere, because the trail we took was steep, narrow, deserted, and barely-marked at all! But after about an hour of hard climbing, we were finally rewarded with a nice view across Nowon, a short rest--and, of course, a glimpse of the aforementioned wide, sandy trail. A tiny helipad--yes, helipad--signaled that we were at the summit. We continued on, deciding to press forward to the Danggogae Metro stop rather than retrace our steps to the foot of the hill.



But at the summit we were not! After about 15 minutes on the sandy, windy footpath, we reached a rocky clearing and found ourselves looking straight up. (We also found the well-marked trail down to Danggogae, but seriously, how could you pass views like these up?) The last 20 minutes to the real summit were pretty wild--much more climbing than hiking, with long lines of ropes to help you up the rock face and some harrowing drops at the side of the trail.














But, hey! The views were well worth it. I could see my house from here!


And just to add a little more thigh-burning goodness to the day, the descent up at the top here was even tricker than the climb: we eventually figured out it was best to go down backwards, belay-style, but on more than one occasion we had to rely on the tried-and-true buttslide, plus a little help from our Korean guardian angel (some guy who adopted us for the day and made it his business to make sure we got to the bottom of the hill in one piece).

We did, of course, make it to the bottom in one piece, downed a few bottles of Pocari Sweat, and then geared up for an afternoon of sloth and gluttony--fried chicken and two NFL games. Sweet!

Everland, Take Two

For the second year in a row, APIS dodged the whole Halloween question by packing the students off to Everland--you can read our general impressions of the place here.

And you can see our general impression of the food in the images below.


Mmmm, buttered chewy corn on a stick.
Tastes like home!

Anyway--Everland. The overall feeling one gets from a visit to Everland is something like, "I'm trying to be Disneyland and failing miserably, but in the process coming up with something quirky and fun."

Take, for instance, the Hurricaine, a combination rotor-pirate-ship that's the first ride you see upon entering the park (after a good kilometer of gift shops, that is--they got that part of the Disney experience right!).
Yes, that's the Epcot Center in the middle. The Chrysler Building and the Empire State Building are on the left, naturally, with the Statue of Liberty nearby.
What's more, in the middle of a hurricaine so powerful that it blew the Epcot globe all the way to Manhattan, while cloning the Empite State Building through sheer force of awesome (yes, that's the Empire State Building behind Lady Liberty), we happy-go-lucky Americans are all dressed up like 80s Eurotrash and/or colorful turn-of-the-last-century circus clowns, dancing in the streets.

I'm especially fond of the androgynous fellow in the yellow sailor-suit-raincoat, who is apparently holding onto his hat and his leg, just in case either should start to blow away.Also, this guy. I think I knew him in college. And wish I hadn't. I'm also impressed by the fact that you can see he hasn't shaved for days. This is the worst storm in history, people. He may have time to don his best turqouise suit and flail around on the docks like a fish, but shave? Please.

Just around the corner from the Hurricaine is a charming little 1950s-nostalgia street. (American 1950s, that is--the 1950s in Korea didn't offer a lot to get nostalgic about . . .) The street is lined with old magazine covers and ads, most of them benign, like this one:
Others, I suspect, would not quite make the Disney cut.Finally, in another Disneyesque move, Everland as a whole tries to project a vaguely European feel. This is evident from the moment you set foot in the parking lot, at the edge of which the park has erected a giant wooden block clumsily painted with what, I think, is supposed to be an Italian hill town.

The theme continues in Alpine Village, ironically located at the lowest elevation in the park.


Yes, Herr Kessler, I can read the sign below. My German hasn't vanished yet!
Of course, they don't seem to care where it is in Europe, as long as it's European, and in this case, vaguely Alpine.
Here, for example, it seems the same monster storm that blew Epcot to Manhattan deposited the Jungfrau at Chamonix. Impressive.


The Alpine Village also included a halfhearted Korean attempt at German food, which was slightly troubling.
Though if I hadn't been on the clock, I might have been tempted to try the beer.

Stay tuned for a glimpse of Everland's wacky little zoo . . .

Nana Drinks Weird Stuff For Your Entertainment: McCol

It's McDonald's! It's Coca-Cola! If they sold it in Starbucks, it would be every imperialist's dream beverage!


Except not.

It is very hard to describe this taste, except to say that it is not good. After taking my obligatory swig, I poured the rest of it down the sink. Justin thinks it smells like tuna and tastes like barbecue sauce. I can be a bit more specific.

In Korea, they have a barley tea (pictured at left). If you mixed it with Pepsi/Coke, that's what McCol would taste like.


In fact, that's probably what it is. "Maek," in Korean, means barley - "Maek-ju," or "barley alcohol," is the Korean word for "beer." So "McCol" is actually "Maek-Col," or "Barley Cola." Hence, in retrospect, the picture of the stalk of barley on the can.

Mediocre Korean skills FTW!