Coffee withdrawals

For around thirty two months I had a coffee almost daily whilst at work. There was a lucky break for the people at my academy a few months after starting at my workplace when a coffee shop opened up directly underneath my office. I've liked coffee for a long time but became a regular drinker after this place opened up.


For over two and a half years I supported the shop. I sometimes had two drinks a day and it was not uncommon for myself to go on a weekend with my wife. But the place was never full, despite the owners best efforts people didn't go in too often probably due to it's location and the fact you don't walk past it because it's on the second floor. That was one of it's charms, the fact you could go in and and drink in peace and quiet.


Other co-workers would go in too but I was probably her best customer over the period the shop was open based on what I saw when I was in. The coffee was good too and remarkable cheap at 2,800won (£1.50) for a take out latte. I find it hard going to Starbucks now and a few of the other famous chains here because I really enjoyed the way I was having my coffee.


Also, the owner was great, friendly, helpful and always wanted to make the best coffee for the customer. She even let us use her wi-fi when we were in the office at work. But about two weeks ago it closed. You could tell it was going to happen as two women were being trained by the owner during the daytime. It seemed a bit odd at first but I guessed they were going to run things in the future.


Starting a new business must be a stressful thing whatever your business is. With so many variables that can dictate how well things go I'm not inclined to give it a go. From an outsider, starting a business here in Korea could be very stressful indeed. Live here long enough and you will see hundreds of places open only for them to be replaced (seemingly) almost overnight sometimes..


Do shop and restaurant owners quit if they fail? Do they give it another go in another location or do they try a totally different venture altogether? Where do they get their money from? Do banks continue to lend money even though we live in difficult times? Are the risks worth taking? Certainly Koreans are very industrious and hard working and also from my eyes somewhat entrepreneurial. But starting a business here is fraught with danger. It's a competitive country these days.


There is another coffee shop down the road from work, just two or three minutes walk. I went in last week and walked out an unhappy customer. As I drank my overpriced foam I pined for the old shop. Today my wife went into the place directly below the old coffee shop and bought some food. She found out what the ex-coffee shop owner was doing now and what would become of the place. It turns out they are planning to sell coffee, tea, and pasta - sounds like a restaurant or possibly what they call res-cafes here. Hopefully I can get one more cup of coffee for the road.

Korean food delights: Part 3 삼 계탕

It's been a long time since I wrote about trying out some new food here. The other week, after talking about having some for over a year I finally got to try out some samgyetang. For those of you who don't know, samgyetang is essentially a chicken based soup containing ginseng, rice and other ingredients. It's mostly a full chicken without the insides, boiled in broth with some vegetables and of course, ginseng.

Samgyetang is a popular dish in Korea and can be eaten all year round but is famous for being eaten by many in Summer. It is said to boost stamina during those very hot months by replacing lost nutrients that you may be sweating out. Many Koreans eat this dish at Chobok, Jungbok, and Malbok. Chobok traditionally represents what is thought to be the first really hot day of the year, Junbok the peak and Malbok the ending of the intense Korean Summer.


I can't say for sure if it did boost my stamina but the first thing I noticed when I walked into one famous place in down town Daegu was the smell. The aroma of ginseng was striking but not overbearing. It took some time to get used to it but it was never unpleasant.


The price of the meal was ₩10,000, roughly £9 and the portion was quite large, indeed I didn't manage to finish all of mine. My wife happily wolfed down all of hers though. My initial impression was that it was a little bland but after adding some much needed salt it tasted surprisingly refreshing. Of course it is always nice to have chicken soup, wherever it's from.


For me there was a little too much rice in my portion to really enjoy it fully. I like rice but this took on a consistency similar to the Korean dish juk, which is a porridge like meal. When I was ill here in 2006 I had to eat that for about five days and the memory is not so pleasant and I think this prevented me from enjoying my meal to the fullest.

Overall I would really recommend anyone here trying samgyetang. It's tasty, cheap and refreshing on a Summer day. I know I will try it again. You can learn more about samgyetang by checking out Wikipedia.

South Korea's low birthrate solution?

During my last trip to Seoul I found the bathrooms in the train station littered with these cards. An answer to the low birth rate here?

Being Korean for a day

On Saturday I did the most Korean thing I've ever done or probably ever will do. I had some wedding pictures taken with my wife. To explain, my wife and I have been married for seven months but had no actual wedding due to circumstances. I thought it would be a good idea for my wife to have some kind of memento to remember our 'wedding time' and she thought it was a good idea too. Yes, this was my idea.

As the time came nearer I wasn't so sure if it was a great idea mainly because of some of these kind of photos I'd seen before but on the actual day of the shoot I ended up having some fun and the most important thing was my wife who seems to be very happy with the way things went. By the way it took four and a half hours which was a relief as I was told it might take seven.

The big worry for me was that I didn't know if a) the clothes we'd be using would fit me, b) the clothes would be ridiculous and c) the pictures would be too cheesy. Well the clothes did fit me (I had to wear four outfits) and they were a bit ridiculous - let's just say that Western fashion and Korean fashion differ SIGNIFICANTLY when it comes to men - and some photos were cheesy but looking at the photos afterwards things ended up OK.

It was an experience I will never go through again but it was painless and I did it for my wife. During the day I was told I look like Mel Gibson and later on in a store, Ironman - the things people will say when they are trying to get you to buy something. Some of the photos taken that we like will be turned into a wedding picture book and also a kind of collage picture. Two days after the event I still have some hairspray in my hair but it was worth it. I'm guessing like most Korean photographs our will be Photoshopped a great deal.

2010 Korean Herb Medicine Festival

Today I made my way down to the annual Daegu Yangnyeong-si Herbal Medicine Festival. It was the third year in a row I'd visited and this being the last day of this years event I made the most of my free time to check it out even though I knew it would be exactly the same as previous ones.

I'm still sceptical of the benefits of Oriental medicine but living in Asia has opened my eyes a little and I'm more willing to try things I would have dismissed pre-Korea. My wife hated the smell of the street we walked down but I loved the aromas which stimulate the sinus and make you curious as to what the products can actually do. The language barrier still exists so basically I couldn't figure out what most of the stuff does so I decided to save my money for some other time.

During the walk round we saw various stalls selling their wears and. Bizarrely, to me, there are various things on offer that have no relation to herbs or medicine. I saw various outdoor restaurants, a Nintendo Wii stall, a Korean version of Punch and Judy, people selling replica swords, a sketch stall and a place where you could make a wooden bow and arrow. All part of the fun of taking in the Festival especially getting some delicious Korean food. For more information here is the official website.

A small difference in culture

A simple, random observation from the past week of life being different here in Korea from back home. Surely this is constitutes as some kind of fail? Shopkeepers doing this would be cutting their throats in the UK but it is not so uncommon out here. However there is an alarming rate of small companies and shops that go out of business quickly.

Korea and the Winter Olympics

Watching the Winter Olympics has been quite fun. I always enjoy watching top class sport and this competition has been pretty good, what I have had time to see that is. My access to some previous sporting events have been limited here in Korea. At times it has felt that unless it was football then Korean TV only seemed to show sports with Korean athletes - The Beijing Olympics being a case in point where events like archery dominated TV schedules.

This year though things have been different. I've been able to watch ski jumping, hockey, figure skating and even yesterday I watched curling. I'm very happy with this years coverage (SBS has three channels that show events, live or recorded). One dampener is Britain's perennially poor performance, or should it really be regarded as poor? At the time of writing Britain has 1 medal, a gold. That doesn't seem like a lot when you consider over sixty million live there. However Britain has only won nine gold medals in the history of the Winter Olympics, success shouldn't be expected.

I am comparing Britain with Korea, but lets be honest, Britain is cold but it is not a snowy place (normally). We have no big mountains and the Winter Olympics are a mere fascination. Winter events like skiing and skating are viewed as middle class pass times, not even real sports. The preserve of the rich - this is perhaps not so in Korea. As of today, Korea has nine medals including four golds and are almost certain to add to that. What a great achievement. Certainly Korea feels like it's punching above it's weight. It's good to see Korea doing well.

Watching some short track speed skating over the weekend Korea got a gold and a silver in one race. My wife was so happy to see her country doing well. Despite all this, my students still continue to show little interest in things unless Korea wins and rather than enjoying their wins took more satisfaction when Apollo Ohno didn't win something (Korea hates the skater Ohno). I hope one day they begin to appreciate it's the taking part that counts and enjoy watching the competition without rabid nationalism and enjoy the excellence, wherever it comes from.

I ♥ Piano

Koreans love to send their kids to academies. There is a need to study,to compete with others and not to be left behind. It is also a means of showing off for mothers who can brag about how much they spend on their child's education. It can help teach some children respect for adults. It gets them out of the homes and gives the mother some peace and quiet too I guess. Right now it's the Winter vacation for all school kids and this is when they spend even more time in academies. I make my living from one such academy so I'm not complaining.

Last month I moved into a bigger apartment and now I live above a piano academy, wonderfully named I ♥ Piano. You can find many of these types of places without much searching and there are three just thirty seconds away from my apartment. Every week day from about 10am to 4pm (when I go to work) I hear an assortment of familiar tunes. The quality of the playing ranges from OK to beginner as they bash out the notes, but most are in the middle of that range.


One former co-worker used to bitterly complain about the noises coming from I ♥ Piano, especially during the Summer months but I don't know why. The sound in my living room is not so bad, in fact if I watch TV or listen to music I can't hear it at all. I don't mind the noise though. it's always nice to hear some live music. I find it relaxing. Right now someone is butchering Scott Joplin's The Entertainer (made famous by the film The Sting) and it reminds me of my youth and this classic sketch from Morecambe and Wise - skip to 8:40 for the best bits.

Random Korean car picture

Obama in Korea(n popular culture)

Chuseok: Korean Thanksgiving

Over the weekend here in Korea we had one of the major holiday periods, Chuseok (추석). Chuseok is a traditional Autumn festival where people celebrate over three days. This is a time where a great majority of the population go to their home town to visit their relatives or to the place where their oldest relatives live. It is a very important time of the year and people make great effort to navigate their way across the country to go back home. I spent the holiday time out of the country with my wife in Hong Kong and Macau.

The holiday can be viewed as an equivalent to the North American holiday Thanksgiving. . During this holiday, families celebrate by eating a large meal consisting of lots of traditional Korean food. During this time people also visit tombs of their ancestors to pay their respects to older generations. Traditional costumes such as the hanbok are also worn at this time and the family sometimes gathers around to play games.

People also give gifts to their families which can be purchased in most shops during the run up to Chuseok. Examples of gifts, which are in gift boxes, would be expensive fruit, alcohol, toiletries and food such as (bizarrely to me) spam. These gifts can range from the easily affordable to being very expensive, depending on what the gift is. Often bosses of companies give employees such gifts as a token of appreciation. At my previous academy I don't recall ever getting one but where I currently work everyone seems to receive one. My girlfriend got some expensive seaweed and I got what you can see below. I won't need to buy toothpaste for a while.

Bound for Hong Kong

Just one day left at work before a five day vacation. Starting tomorrow, Korea begins to celebrate Chuseok which is their Harvest festival and one of the biggest holidays of the year. I have managed to get extra time off work and am heading off to Seoul tomorrow morning to do something very important and special before flying to Hong Kong. Last years trip their was a great experience and one I can't wait to repeat and do the things I couldn't last time. Today I will be on autopilot, like most Wednesdays. I need a holiday so badly its not true.


The forecast for Hong Kong is pretty grim though. Looks like its scattered thunder storms during my entire stay. Hopefully they will be scattered while I am sleeping. Regardless a wet holiday is still a holiday. I will be spending a fair bit of cash if I see something which takes my eye and cannot wait to sample some decent quality food. Daegu lacks good Western restaurants and that's not something you can accuse Hong Kong of lacking.


And on top of my trip to Hong Kong I am going to squeeze a day trip to Macau. That's Macau - where the casinos take in more money than on the Las Vegas strip. Macau is just one hours travel from Hong Kong so time is no issue. I have never been inside a casino before and don't exactly know what to expect other than to come away a poorer man, money-wise. I think inside the buildings photography is prohibited but overall I hope to take some pictures on my holiday that have some essence of the time I spend there. The rain cannot dampen my enthusiasm for this trip out of Korea. Time to relax and enjoy myself.

Hapkido AND Taekwondo

As my 2nd degree black test edges closer and closer I find that my mind is not just focused on this but on what I might do next. I'm ready for Saturdays test and feel I could pass it today if need be but there is something else. After getting this belt there will be a relative ceiling on how far I can progress rank-wise so I'm thinking of looking into taking up something new. I find hapkido both enjoyable and challenging but to some extent there has been a lot of repetition over the past two years and I continue to wonder how far I can go with it past getting my 2nd dan. I do not want to stop hapkido this year but I have been thinking that some time around March or May I may stop going. I certainly doubt that I will be training at night when the summertime comes around again in 2010.

Over the past few months I have had the thought running through my mind that perhaps it could be time to take up taekwondo. There are a few hapkido gyms (dojangs, 도장) around where I live but there are lots of taekwondo dojangs within a twenty minute walk from my apartment. With nearly two years of hapkido training I believe I could pick up the basics without too much hassle. I have been told by a few people that it is mainly kicking but I find this hard to believe. Reading up on taekwondo over the internet, several sites claim that many of hapkidos kicks are derived from taekwondo so I would have a nice head start if this is true. It would be very interesting to find out more on the sport as so many people grow up studying it in Korea. Many of my past and present students have learned it for years. It is far more popular than hapkido and it is rare on a week day to not see some kid on the street wearing a taekwondo uniform.

Is it possible to train in both martial arts at the same time? Time-wise, yes. I train at hapkido at night, after work. I start work at around 4pm so after then it is not possible, but before then I would have plenty of time. Money-wise there is no problem. I pay 80,00won a month at hapkido and would imagine something similar for taekwondo so that's easily manageable. One potential problem would be that IF I trained early (I can't define early other than being before 4pm) then I would probably train with a bunch very young students and that would not be ideal for both me and the instructor. Perhaps there are some very early am classes where only adults train. The big problem of course would be finding someone who speaks decent enough English to train me. I believe it to be possible as somebody I knew when she was in Korea studied at a place very near where I live and told me that her instructor spoke English. I think I will pop in one day and ask a few questions.

Let's think about the up-side of doing both together. Surely learning taekwondo would compliment my hapkido, leaving me more flexible and maybe stronger. Fitness-wise it would help. I need to lose a few kilograms and hapkido alone isn't always an intensive workout. Studying taekwondo would help be exercise more and perhaps be a little more self-disciplined. A wonderful bonus may be that I would actually be tired before 3am and get more sleep. Of course one of the factors running around my brain is the prospect of picking up another black belt but this time in another martial art. Back home, picking up a black belt would take a lot longer than here where I would be getting expert guidance. My feeling is that it could be an unmissable opportunity. At the very least I would be learning something new and meeting new people which can only be a good thing. I ask myself, is it possible to study and train in both hapkido AND taekwondo at the same time? Much to think about.

Ernesto "Che" Guevara Korea loves you

During the bus ride back from shopping at Costco over the weekend I was left standing for the duration of the journey back home. Glancing around the bus I noticed something which has probably been on there for many a week or month.


The poster is advertising Daegu bus/subway cards. Nothing out of the ordinary, these are essential for anyone who isn't super rich or people who must use taxis. Using the city bus card means you can travel cheaply. Apparently these bus cards now come in a variety of guises. Mine is just the simple ordinary card but for those who like a more colourful card then take your pick. And for those revolutionary Korean bus riding folk there is this.


A "Che" Guevara bus card. Another example of Korea borrowing popular culture and KoreaFying it. I just made up a word there. I ask myself, who would buy such an item? I doubt very much that the average potential consumer of such a product here would know the differences between Marxism, Communism or Socialism. Regardless, South Korea loves you Ernesto "Che" Guevara. If I see a David Beckham bus card I will probably be involuntarily sick or spontaneously combust.

Bumping into Ricky Martin in Korea

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery right? Well in Korea imitation is sometimes seen in many places. On signs, posters, logos, shops etc etc. There are certain things Korea likes to 'use' in order to aid a business - for example, fried chicken stores are pretty good at copying other peoples ideas for logos or even company names with a slight spelling change. When I go to Costco I sometimes get their pizza, and the other day another pizza company posted a flier on my apartment door. Their name was CostCut and the packaging/logo design was indistinguishable from Costco. For many a foreigner there is some kind of pleasure to be drawn out of seeing the latest example of 'replication'. Here's what I found whilst stumbling around Homeplus one evening last week.


The picture is not fantastic but a closer look (clicking on it) shows you that the name of the company is Ricky Martin, well RickEy Martin. Unless said Mr. Martin has joined the fast food business I firmly doubt that this has his legal endorsement. Regardless, being associated with a 'star' is seemingly essential to the success of many a company out here. So many fast food chains send out fliers to apartments with semi famous people plastered all over the cover in some fake excitable pose. Turn on the TV and you can sometimes struggle to see a commercial with someone who isn't famous. They love to use pop stars to promote many goods. Of course this is not necessarily a trend unique to Korea. It's true that every country uses it's famous people to sell products and it's always funny to see Woody Allen or Sean Connery totter of to Japan to collect their millions for selling whiskey. But in Korea it just sometimes seems like they go the extra mile with 'celebrities'. I wonder what these celebrities actually make from the endorsements.


So what is RickEy Martin selling? It's squid - a Korean favourite of many a native here. If you can read the Korean alphabet (Hangul) you can see that you can order a Ricky (3,000 ₩) a Martin (3,000 ₩) or a Ricky Martin (5,000 ₩). Tempting prices even for this squid hating Englishman. God bless you Korea and your very relaxed/non-existent copyright laws! A likely explanation for Rickey Martin is it's some kind of cartoon character being used to peddle the food but it's a bit cheeky eh.

Koreas forbidden fruit

It is Sunday night and as usual there is nothing on TV and I don't really feel like leaving my apartment to go out either. I toy with the idea of getting some beer (there is none in my house) but I'm trying to cut down and also to lose weight but still the idea of having a beer interests me. I can either go to a shop to buy some or go to a bar. As I consider my next move I find an article on the BBC website - a commercial for North Korean beer. Wikipedia considers to be 'resembling a British ale' - can it be true? Whilst I admit to drinking South Korean beer from time to time it is vile, tasteless, impure and not really beer. Taedonggang beer on the other hand is reported to be stronger and significantly better than it's peninsula partners. At the time of writing, my findings lead me to believe that it is very hard to get hold of and is perhaps now not even imported to South Korea - god damn Korean instability. Perhaps if I lived in Seoul I could come across it. I truly wonder what this tastes like and whether or not I will ever get my hands on it here in the ROK.

Guns in American church. Bang bang

I read with some surprise and disgust this article from the BBC where a pastor in the US state of Kentucky has encouraged his parishioners to come to church with handguns. One particular quote sprung to my attention: "If it were not for a deep-seated belief in the right to bear arms, this country would not be here today". The article is very interesting and enlightening for someone who does not live in or has never been to America. The rationale of the pastors actions are to encourage safe gun ownership. If everyone in your neighbourhood has a gun then you probably will have to end up buying one too just to defend yourself but if nobody has one, then why would you ever need one?

I am glad to live in a country right now where crime is not overt and in your face. Even as a victim of crime in Korea I still feel a hell of a lot safer than I did back in England. I walk the streets here oblivious to the worries of the world and I hope that is the way it stays. I still find the sight of a gun shocking. You do see some people in Korea with guns, but they are usually bank workers, postal office workers or police officers. I don't really agree with regular police officers having guns anyway, but at least they may need one at some stage. I find it hard to comprehend why you would bring a gun to church, surely the last place you would need one. Well intentioned the pastor of the church may be, this is plain wrong. Violence begets more violence, does it not?

Snapshot of Seoul

Back from a weekend spent in Seoul, capital of South Korea. Again we both enjoyed our time there despite not venturing out from most of the places we usually we go when in Seoul - we stayed in the Myeongdong area. The short trip also again reinforced the belief that I am right in not choosing to live and work in Seoul. It's a nice place to go to with infinitely more things to do in Daegu but if I lived there I am sure most of my money would be spent on entertainment, going drinking and buying unnecessary things. That's not to say I like living in Daegu, but right now I'm here to work and make money, not to drink all my money away in bars. Here are a few pictures of what we saw.