Korea Life Blog - Boiled Bugs and Phony Fries


A bundaegi ajuma hard at work. Bundaegi is boiled silkworm larvae. Yuck! This is one snack I never have and never will try. Ajuma, just what kind of scam are you pulling here anyway? How about cooking up some hotdogs and hamburgers for chrissakes. And you won't fool me again with those phony french fries in the background. Those are bland sweet potatos sticks that have been sitting there all day...huk!

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written by shawn matthews   -|link

Korea Life Blog - Food Translations (1)

I always get a kick out of the translation of Korean foods into English. Somehow, the translation usually falls short of describing the food in any sort of appetizing way. Check out some of the foods on this list: click me click me.


Now let's have a look at the choices on this menu. What should I eat? The Yellow Pollack Soup W/Soy Bean Sprout sounds wonderful, yet I can't think of a better combination than OX-blood soup W/Winter-grown Cabbage. Mmmm. Seriously, one of my favorites is the third one, Hae Mul Dwen Jang Chigae. The translation, Soy Bean Paste Pot Stew W/Sea Food just doesn't do it justice. You just have to try it for yourself, if you haven't already. Yum!


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written by shawn matthews   -|link

Korea Life Blog - Kimchi Chigae


A wonderful photo of my dinner, kimchi chigae (Kimchi soup), and pan chan (Korean side dishes). All this food used to seem disgusting to me when I first came to Korea, now I can't live without it. Some people instantly like the food here, but usually not everything. As in my case, a lot of it is an acquired taste. Before long, if you don't already, you too will find yourself craving what you used to cringe at. I ate everything here, including that delicious fish, peculiar colored eggs, and, believe it or not, all of those anchovies, not to mention the bright red, spicy hot, mouth watering kimchi chigae. I have definitely lived here too long, I think. (As a matter of fact, it took me 2 years to try the anchovie side dishes, and now I love them all.) I even eat this kind of food for breakfast. What the hell has happened to me?


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written by shawn matthews   -|link

Korea Life Blog - Don't be Stupid


I may head to the clubs in Hongdae this weekend as we have Friday off for Korean Constitution Day. Hmm, let me review the rules. I've seen people wasted beyond belief almost everywhere in Korea on any given night, so I'm not too sure about that rule. But actually the laws are really serious about drugs here, as anywhere in Asia. If you take extacy or smoke pot or hash, it's not a petty crime like back home. Here you can get arrested and thrown in jail even if you don't actually have drugs on you. All it takes is for one person to get caught and give away names of other users, or even just the names on his/her cell phone will do. If they even suspect you, if they get your name, they'll show up where you work, test you, and haul you away if you test positive, throw you in a dirty Korean jail where you share a cell with hardcore Korean prisoners for a month or more and then deport you. That's right, even if you don't actually have the drugs on you, you will get in that much trouble. If drugs are in your system, you're guilty. I have gotten tested myself sometime ago when they did a major bust in Pusan and Ulsan. Suddenly two officers came to my school and made me pee in a cup. Someone supposedly reported seeing me in a bar where someone was smoking pot. That was it. It was nerve racking, but I had done nothing wrong. Feel free to get drunk out of your mind, but if you do drugs, leave them behind in your home country.


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written by shawn matthews   -|link