One-Armed Living Advice

You never know when you might find yourself without an arm. Especially when there are icy sidewalks in your neighborhood. So as a public service, I've compiled a list of tips for living with one arm.

Don't remove your socks. You'll never get them back on.

If you eat bagels, arrange someone to slice them at the store.

On the good-armed side of your body, don't sweat. You won't be able to wash it in the shower.

Have the cashier open any bottles or jars that you purchase before you leave the store.

Before becoming one-armed, prepare all your meals in individual dishes and store them in the refrigerator or freezer. Bite sized foods are essential. Soups and stews, good. T-bone steaks, not good.

Wear only pajamas. If you must wear clothes, hire a tailor to sew clothes on you in the morning, and cut them off at night. Better yet, become a nudist.

Store your butter on the counter, not in the refrigerator

Small Businesses in Korea

In the news this week, President-elect Madam (Mademoiselle?) Park announced improvements to how small businesses are categorized. Previously, all small businesses were lumped into one group, SME: Small and Medium-sized Enterprises.


In order to better reflect the diverse nature of small businesses in Korea, companies will now be grouped into the following categories, beginning March 1st:

FSC Front Seat of Car
KTE Kitchen Table Enterprise
BFB Business from Briefcase
CTBW Can Touch Both Walls
STNC Shout to Next Cubicle
BBVB Big Black Van Business
GBP Gucci Bag Proprietorship
BAE Back Alley Enterprise
BCE Burberry Coat Enterprise

The new system will allow the government and financial sectors to better meet the needs of small businesses, targeting services tailored to each style of small business.

New Costco

I received news by mail (real mail) that a new Costco was opening up next to the KTX Gwangmyeong railway station. It sounded far away, but turns out to be very close to our new office building.







I knew this was going to be fun immediately on arrival. Look at the happy faces on my fellow shoppers!

Well, this Costco is designed almost exactly like the ones I've visited in the USA. Big, huge warehouse on one floor (unlike the other crowded, two-story Costco I had previously visited in Korea). I assume land must be quite cheaper there in Gwangmyeong.

Since I arrive at dinner time, I decided to begin with a trip to the cafeteria. It was a little hard to get to the cafeteria after you entered the store - in fact I think you're not supposed to, due to the fact I had to cut through an unused checkout lane to get there.

The menu was almost the same as I've been used to, but they added a new Hot Turkey and Pastrami with Cheese sandwich to the menu. I decided to order this with a cup if clam chowder. Alas, the clerk explained the chowder wasn't hot. Not sure if this is normal or a temporary problem. Puzzled, I just ordered the sandwich. As I walked to the table area, a lady was giving out free samples of this new sandwich to everyone. I ended up with 1-1/3 sandwiches for the price of one.

Even though the store is bigger than others, the dining area is much smaller. Fortunately I to had to wait a few minutes to get a table, though I had to share with some other folks. Other than that, it was relaxing and pleasant dinner.

On to shopping, no surprises. I found my few usual essential Costco items. I did note this 84 inch television they had on sale for only $24,000!!! I could carry it home, so I had to pass.



Bottom line - the store is well laid out. I didn't find it particularly crowded, even on a Friday night. Hopefully they'll add more tables and buy a stove to heat the chowder, but from now on this is my "local" Costco. Highly recommended.

Teas

I'm not a coffee drinker, but I do enjoy tea. Usually that would be black tea, although I've expanded my tastes to include green tea and the occasional flowery teas you find at a Chinese restaurant. I buy my tea at any of the large "marts" here in Seoul, but yesterday I happened to notice a large selection of tea at the very back of a local Mom-and-Pop grocery store. Since I had just run out of tea, I searched for some on the shelves.

Now, I've noticed before that the black teas are less available (popular?) than others - usually green tea, barley and corn tea being the most available. But what I found at this local shop was incredible. So surprising in fact, I took the one to record the myriad choices which were available at this tiny corner grocer.

1. 마차 sweet potato tea
2. 쑥차 mugwort tea
3. 대추차 jujube tea
4. 칡차 arrowroot
5. 호두율무차 walnut & job's tears tea
6. 호두아몬드율무차 ditto, +almonds
7. 단호박차 pumpkin tea
8. 쌍화차 herb tea
9. 생강차 ginger tea (x2)
10. 천마차 gastrodia elata tea
11. 둥굴래차 Solomon's seal tea (x3)
12. 보리차 barley tea (x4)
13. 옥수수차 corn (silk?) tea (x4)
14. 녹차 green tea (x4)
15. 현미 녹차 green tea w/brown rice (x3)
16. 메밀차 buckwheat tea
17. 마테처 roast Yerba mate tea (x2)

That's a total 32 brands of teas, of which 17 different varieties are available. And not a single black tea in the whole lot!

Many of these I've never heard of. For example, I didn't know they made tea from aquatic mammals. But seafood is so popular here in Korea, I'm not surprised to find they use seals to make tea. I won't even guess what a Yerba mate is.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, as I can easily get black tea. To the contrary, I think this is wonderful. I remember The Stumbling Mother, a tea connoisseur whose own cupboards were home to 762 varieties of tea, was quite impressed with the variety of teas here in Korea during her visit here in 2007. She would have been delighted to find 17 teas at a tiny local shop.

Speaking of black tea, red tea as it's known in Asia, I've recently been drinking this tea from Antarctic adventurer Captain Robert Scott's ill-fated 1910 Terra Nova expedition. I believe it has been re-blended to match the original, although they say remains of the original blend still exist in tea chests at Hut Point and Cape Evans in the Antarctica.




I do wonder about this scarcity of black teas in Korea. While no tea expert, I associate teas with Asia. Curious why it seems uncommon here in Korea. But whether you like your walnut and job's tears tea with or without almonds, Korea is the place to find a wide selection of tea.

Coffee Shop Konglish

I have often complained about the many restaurants here that have excellent menus for breakfast (be they Korean or Western fare), but they don't open for breakfast. Hold that thought...

In my office building, there is the smallest store I have ever seen (they are a florist). It looks like it was added as an after-thought, perhaps converting a storage closet into a store. It was just amazing that the owner could operate her store from this tiny space. Well, a few weeks ago, there was a buzz of activity at the flower shop. Construction supplies and a work crew were there for several days, feverishly sprucing up the interior. "Improving the interior of a storage closet", I would chuckle to myself whenever I walked by. Well, then the dust settled, I couldn't belive what they had done. They split the store into TWO STORES!!!!

So now we have two extra-tiny stores, the original florist, and a new coffee/sandwich shop. I just shake my head when I see this place. It's just amazing how they can squeeze two shops in this small space.

Ok, back to my first point... one day I arrived at the office about 7am, and noticed that this new shop was open, and selling breakfast sandwiches. I was shocked - I have NEVER seen a breakfast shop open for breakfast before here in Korea. Alas, that morning, I had already eaten breakfast at home. And since then, the owner has been closed for summer vacation. Eventually I will try their breakfast, and give a report.
On to the Konglish portion of this post. The new interior remodeling included the obligatory "let's display some English words, and maybe they will make sentences, and further they might actually have meaning". I just couldn't resist taking a photo:

I'm not a coffee drinker, but I'm not sure this descripion would entice me to buy their coffee...

Things Old

I recently took a stroll around the rooftop garden on the 14th floor of the Shindorim Technomart. On this day, there happened to be a display of Bonsai trees on display. Some trees were over 120 years old! Talk about a hobby requiring patience.
















They also had a complimentary display of old men as well




After strolling around for awhile, I managed to score a free arial tour of the Technomart and Shindorim station area. Very interesting.












On this final pass around the complex, I saw the uniquely curved Posville building where I recently lived. And you can also see I didn't throw stones.

Location:Shindorim Technomart

On Kepler and Calories

A report made the news this week from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), concluded that "people's weight, and not just population size, should be taken into account when planning how to deal with increasing pressure on the planet's dwindling resources."

In a little-reported footnote, we also learn that orbital computer algorithms and GPS receiver firmware worldwide have required updating over the past six months.  This has happened because the mass of the earth, once considered a universal constant, is now a variable.  And, one that's proving quite difficult to calculate.

Various organizations are taking different approaches to calculating the new mass of the earth.  One obvious way is to factor in the population of the earth, and account for the increasing average body weight.  The problem is this data lags the "true mass" by years, due to the time it takes to collect and tabulate the data.  Others are using more indirect factors, such as customized "fast food" stock market indices or proprietary production data from worldwide belt manufacturers.  Dr. Oliver Heaviside commented "we had heard about this effect, but didn't appreciate it fully until our calculations of the recent Transit of Venus were off by 8-1/2 seconds". 

NASA has been sending algorithm updates to it's various probes and satellites currently in space. Tracking stations worldwide are modifying their software accordingly. Individual owners of GPS navigation systems worldwide should contact the manufacturer and request a firmware upgrade.