Musings on Korea

Time for a few musings on Korea...

I know that these are things that many non-Koreans have already thought so I am not being at all original.  However after a long, hard week of teaching 9.5 (one kid went home mid-week sick) 11 and 12-year-old Korean children, this is what's on my mind right now.

Knives
Can I ever be fully comfortable with an eating style that doesn't grasp the necessity of the knife as an utensil in everyday life?  There have many times while eating in Korea that I have thought to myself, "gee, I really wish I had a knife to use right now."  The only time that I have ever seen the existence of knives in regular usage is when steak is being served.  At least Koreans realize that it is then darn right essential.

There are also quite a few occasions in your average meal when chopsticks can't replace the functionality of a good ole' fork.  I have elaborated on my challenges with using chopsticks at length in the past so I won't bore you with it all again.  To be fair, I at least recognize the chopstick's place in the Asian cultural and historical landscape enough to respect it as a proper eating utensil.

At least Koreans know better than to mess with the spoon as an essential utensil.  How else could you possibly eat soup? (Well, I guess you could sip it, but you see my point.)

Korean Age

I had a student who celebrated her 13th birthday yesterday at camp.  She actually turned 12.  On Tuesday, I turn 31, but in Korean minds I will already be 32.  That's because--in case you don't know--they start counting age on the date of conception in Korea.  It doesn't seem to much matter that the gestational period for human beings is nine months instead of twelve.  Why anyone older than 18 would want to age themselves an extra year I will never know.  In any case, on Tuesday, I will be celebrating my 31st and 9 month birthday.

Kimchi
Do Koreans really believe that this is the magical life-sustaining substance that they make it out to be?  Eating kimchi is seen as the epitome of healthy living.  It has (apparently) been known to keep Koreans from growing fat, aging, getting cancer and even contracting AIDS.  In their journal entries on the topic of "How I Stay Healthy," all my kids made sure to stress how they eat kimchi in order to stay fit and ward off illness.  One kid even admitted that he doesn't much like kimchi but that his mom makes him eat it presumably for its health and medicinal purposes.  I say this as someone who actually likes kimchi when it's done right.  There truly is a difference between good kimchi and bad kimchi and the camp dining hall hall kimchi definitely falls into the latter category.  Regardless of its purported health benefits, I have one other kimchi-related complaint (aside from the fact that it's served at at every single meal.)  When I ask my students their favorite vegetable, many of them will respond "kimchi."  Kimchi is not a vegetable in and of itself.  Cabbage is a vegetable and kimchi is a pickled version of it.  So when I ask them their favorite vegetable, the students' proper response (in English) should be "cabbage" and not "kimchi."

Squid/Octopus
Why must squid and octopus be in absolutely everything?  I am generally rather seafood-averse so I might be a bit biased when it comes to this issue.  However, it seems like they always manage to somehow sneak it in there and I don't discover it until it's alright way too late. Squid is vile.  My position was further strengthened after reading an article about how even after they're killed, squid's muscles can contract and twitch (even in your month) if your food comes in contact with soy sauce.  This article was accompanied by a video of a recently-killed squid jumping off a plate right as a diner in a restaurant was about to dig in and eat it.  I couldn't bring myself to watch the actual video because I was certain it would give me nightmares, but if you want to check it out, here's the link: http://gawker.com/5828154/horrifying-squid-comes-to-life-and-jumps-off-plate.  Truly horrifying.

I realize 90% (or to be accurate 75%) of these observations were based completely around food, but that's probably because I just came from eating an epically unremarkable dinner in the campus dining hall.  It may not be good, but at least it's free and backpackers' budget friendly!  I won't be able to take advantage of that perk pretty soon.