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1/7/2005
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KLB - Deja-Dinner
This PC bang near my home is actually pretty nice. I guess it should be considering it's name: Luxury PC Bang. It has lightening fast computers with LCD screens, Windows XP (which means I can upload pictures by simply plugging in my card reader) a smoke free section (though it's still smoky) and free coffee. There's also a time-out lounge, which cracks me up. There's a sofa and a table where you can take a break and have food delivered (there's a guy eating Kimchi Chigae there now) while you watch movies on the giant flatscreen TV. Not only is the place that nice, it's also only 1,000 won (95 cents) an hour. All the other places around here stink, literally, and they're charging more. Anyway, I'll try to take a few pictures the next time I come. I remembered to bring the memory card and reader this time, but not the camera.
So, here are some pictures. I call them deja-dinner photos because I've eaten these meals recently and also posted pictures of them too. Why am I posting them again? Because there's just not a lot of new stuff going on these days. Also, I want to make people feel hungry.
I made spaghetti for Julie again. That's the usual bottle of wine that I cook with and like to put in the photos to romaticize them...3,000 won ($2.85) at Walmart.
Shh, don't tell Julie. She doesn't get home from work until 10PM nowadays and I have to eat without her. I hadn't been able to stop thinking about that dinner we had on Christmas Eve, so I cooked it up again (minus the shrimp at least.)
Julie really missed out. I felt guilty stuffing my face with all of this wonderful food without her. Also, in order to hide the evidence I had to eat everything including all that broccoli. In case you don't know it, broccoli is a famous fart food. So is milk, and I had a tall glass of it. Poor Julie...not only did she miss out on this great dinner, but she also had to endure an agonizing night of endless, unpleasant flatulence.
One of the great parts about living in Korea is that I rarely eat fast food anymore. When I lived in America, I ate burgers and fries and tacos and everything else on a daily basis. In Korea, you can still eat like that if you want. But there is an ever-abundant availability of cheap and healthy food. This is tuna kimbap. I bought this at the little bun shik jeom that opened in our building. The ajumma there loves me and Julie and she always loads up our food. It's hard to tell in the photo just how big and thick she made this for me but I was stuffed after I ate it. Price: 2,500 won ($2.25). Where else can you eat something that good, healthy and filling so cheap?
To be honest, I was shocked after watching Super Size Me, the documentary about the guy who eats at McDonald's three meals a day for a month. Julie was even more shocked. You should have seen her face when she saw how big some Americans are and how big all the food is (though I heard that McDonald's stopped super sizing food shortly after this documentary). And living here so long, I sometimes forget myself about those things until I go home for a visit and find myself stupified by all the fat people. Thanks in part to westernization, Asian people are also getting bigger. But thankfully the staple meal is rice and vegetables and the percentage of obesity is still very low. It makes me sad to see the endless McDonald's commercials on TV here and how they market to children. My advice (and I know you're dying for advice from me) is to stop eating fast food period. Especially for those of you in Korea - there's just no need for it. It really is just like eating garbage.
In other news, I received 5 more orders for my book yesterday and am about to go to the post office again. Whoo hoo! Thanks everyone.
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written by shawn matthews
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1/6/2005
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KLB - Asian Blog Awards
Well, according to the host, voting has closed in the Asian Blog Awards. You can still vote, but the polls ended along with the last second of 2004 (HK time).
The system seemed more fair this year than in 2003 when non-English blogs were on the lists (I came in second to one) and when votes were only tracked using cookies, not IP address and could easily be manipulated. Though it appears I crushed the competition into rubble this year for Best Korean Blog, I will hold off on the celebration party (free beer and hot women for everyone - losers not included) until the official results are posted, but I would like to say thanks to everyone who voted for me.
I should point out that the main point of the awards isn't just to rub winning in the faces of all the pathetic losers (as much as it should be) as it is to give recognition to interesting blogs from this part of the world. I've found a few new ones myself because of it.
You can check Simon's World for the official results which should be posted within the next few days. In the meantime, I would like to personally thank Simon himself for taking the time to host the awards and congratulate him for taking the much deserved top spot for Best Designed Blog.
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written by shawn matthews
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1/5/2005
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KLB - Stefan
John and I caught up over a pitcher of beer and anjou (different kinds of food you order with beer). He kept telling me not to worry about the subway train. "My friend left here at 12:30 last week and got home no problem." I left at a little after 11 and sure enough, when I got to Sindorim Station to transfer to line 1, I had missed the last train. Thanks, John!
As I was standing there on the platform scratching my head and cursing under my breath, a Korean guy, perhaps in his late 30s, told me in English, "The train is finished. No more train. We're out of luck." Then he asked me where I was going. It turns out he was also going to Songnae and that he even lives not too far from me.
This is one of the things I hate about having been raised in America. When this man suggested we'd get a cab together, my gut reaction was that he was either a homicidal maniac or a desperately lonely gay man yearning for tenderness, or both. Fortunately, after having lived in Korea for so long, I knew this was not entirely impossible but very unlikely. That he was wearing a suit and lugging a laptop helped too.
Knowing that taking a cab would be expensive, and that the last-train taxi vultures would swarm me as easy prey the second I walked outside, I agreed. Having a Korean man to negotiate would be helpful.
Well, the relentless vultures tried to swindle him too, saying that it would be 20,000 won (almost $20) for us both - a ripoff. As it turned out, the man (OK - later I found out his name was Stefan, so I can stop calling him "the man" now) was able to track down information about a bus that was still operating to our area. We got to the bus stop just in time to catch the last one, too. There was only one seat left and Stefan insisted I'd sit there.
Along the way to Songnae, I found out Stefan travels overseas often for his business. He studied Africanistics in Germany for two years (why? - I have no clue and even he himself didn't know for sure) and he can speak German. He listed off a bunch of countries he's visited and some memories of each one. My favorite was when he was in Greece and kept getting confused by yes and no head gestures which are the opposite of ours (shaking the head up and down means no in Greece) and he ended up in an argument with a waiter. I related the story of how I had to rewrite all the grduation awards yesterday because I wrote the kids names in red. Ho ho haha hee!
So, we finally arrived at Songnae Station and he hailed us a taxi for the rest of the trip. He had the driver drop me off at Walmart and refused to accept money before I departed. He gave me his business card, which has the name Stefan Park on it, Stefan being the name a friend of his gave him in Germany, and suggested we go out and get drunk soon.
This is one of the many things I like about living in Korea. Instead of fearing for my safety when approached by a stranger at night, (Americans usually don't trust anyone beyond small talk - and for good reason) I let down my guard and I made a friendl, interesting acquaintance. It's amazing how friendly and helpful Koreans can be at times. This man helped out a complete stranger for no other reason than to be kind and perhaps practice his English a bit. And he refused to take any money, of course - they never will let you pay, at least after a first meeting. All in all it was one of those very nice experiences that happen every once in awhile. Unfortunately, when I got out of the taxi, a different Korean guy was staggering drunk on the pavement ans hawking goobers.
Well, my hour online is up. I'm going outside to meet Julie at the bus stop. Last night I bought a copy of Supersize Me on DVD, the documentary about the guy who eats all his meals at McDonald's for 30 days. We'll probably watch that.
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written by shawn matthews
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1/4/2005
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KLB - #$%@
I just wrote a long post about how nice it is not to waste my time using the computer at home anymore and about my day at work and how I ended up at this PC bang in Gangnam waiting for John to finish work. The post was great - and lenghthy. I was proud that I got everything done so quickly. Then, when I clicked on the "publish" button, Internet Explorer crashed and I lost it all.
I'll try to see how much I can retype before John shows up here.
Basically I was back to complaining about Cathy again. I'll just skip that, even though it was kind of funny, and go right to the part about the little girl who has a crush on me. Actually, my entire Class B, which is 90% girls, has a thing for me...maybe even the boys too. That class is full of the cutest kids. I wish every class could be like that. They are dead quiet but always raise their hands eagerly and speak very well. They seem to really love the class. I can't remember if I mentioned this before - how when Julie came to work with me one day, the girls were standoffish to her and downright rude - they refused to even say hi to her when I asked them to. It was sweet.
Today, another mother came in and told Cathy how much Maria likes me. That she always runs home after school and keeps talking about how funny I am and kind and handsome (she's the smartest kid in the class). Anyway, what I was saying was it surprised me how much that made me feel good. I know it's silly, but when I hear these things I feel warm and mushy. Looking back, all the teachers I had a crush on were the ones I really enjoyed learning from...and also the ones that had big boobs (that doesn't count Mr. B, my 8th grade Biology teacher).
Well, John's here. I guess I won't have time to get into how Cathy made me re-write all these stupid, corny, photocopied b/w "graduation awards" because I used a red pen to write the kids names (in Korea this is a no-no, something I totally forgot about. If you write a name in red, it means the person is marked to die). I pretty much forgave her for everything she's ever annoyed me about when she was telling me what Maria's mom said.
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written by shawn matthews
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1/3/2005
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KLB - PC Bang
Well, I'm back in a PC room for the first time in about a year. Upon walking into the place I realized why I hate this. Dark, dreary, smoky, noisy. It's like using a computer at a bar but without the drinks. At least the internet is lightening quick.
As I said, I sold the computer. We met the buyer in Yongsan yesterday. He came by train from another city. It was kind fo an ironic meeting point, because right after I sold it to him, Julie and went looking at computers in the massive new electronics building connected to the station. I don't know how to describe that place to people who have never been in Korea. Just imagine the biggest electronics store you know of, say Best Buy, and then multiply that by 25. It's about the size of a Walmart, ewxcept it has 8 floors and is jam packed with the latest electronic goodies, specifically large flat screen TVs, cameras, mp3 players and 3 floors full of computers. And that's just the new building. Then there's the even larger older building next door, and several other smaller ones nearby and all the small shops around town.
It sounds great, but I don't enjoy shopping there. That's because all the sales people, especially if it's a slow day, surround you the moment you stop to look at anything. They do that pretty much everywhere in Korea, but especially in Yongsan. You'll be looking at notebook computers and a guy selling cameras will yell for your attention. Also, does anyone else find it strange that so many of those shops are selling the exact same things? There must be 100 places to buy the same Samsung LCD screens or notebook computers. That seems to be par for the course in Korea though. You will walk down the street and see 10 street vendors selling the exact same food right next to each other.
Anyway, I've decided to hold off on getting a new computer for the time being. I kind of like the idea of not being able to use the computer/internet at whim. Basically, I am a computer addict. I wake up and turn on the computer. I sometimes am late leaving for work because I lose track of time online. As soon as I come home from work, I get back on the computer. I sing songs in the shower about surfing the net.
We'll see how long this lasts but today I came home and simply relaxed. I watched the news (awful stories about that Tsunami) for awhile, made dinner for myself (Julie works until 9:30 these days) then studied Japanese and exercised (push-ups). Then I went for a walk and now I'm stopping here for an hour to do my computer things. I'll meet Julie when I leave here and we'll do a bit of shopping then I plan to read a book before going to bed. Then it's up again at dawn to meditate and write poetry and paint happy pictures of trees and birds. You know, maybe I should buy a computer again.
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written by shawn matthews
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