Bent Backing

Today began the moving process. We officially began occupancy of the new office, which is located on the NORTH side of a train station (that's important later on in the story). We spent a few hours packing and preparing, and while CH had to attend a meeting elsewhere, I worked with two other Korean men packing up and moving some delicate electronics items that we don't want the movers to handle. To my surprise, we loaded up three SUV's full of stuff! I was even more surprised when these men told me (in body language and Konglish) that I was to lead the convoy of vehicles to the new office! I've been there by taxi a few times, but I have NEVER driven there. The car I was driving has a GPS navigation unit, so I proudly used my limited Korean skills to enter in my destination - the train station.

Well, we arrived at the train station okay, but the navigation unit took us to the SOUTH side of the station. Minor problem you might think. You would be wrong. It is true that this is a SUBWAY train station, but unfortunately for me this is one of the occassional stations where the tracks near the station are above ground. Thus, it is nearly impossible to get from one side of the station to the other. I realized this, and cautiously began searching for a way to drive around the station. I saw a promising road, and turned onto it.

At first, this road was wide and looked normal. But as we went further and further on the road, it narrowed to 1 lane and it was clearly a private driveway serving an apartment complex. A guarded and gated apartment complex! At a dead end. By the time this was obvious, I had no idea how we were going to turn around all three cars. I decided to turn around first, and backed up into the entrance where the automatic gate was located. I was about to turn around, when suddenly 2 other cars and a BUS came along blocking us all in. The plan seemed to be for us to pull forward into the dead end area, while the other cars (who belonged there) drove into the apartment complex.

It took some time for me to realize it, but that wasn't happening. Apparently when I was backing up, I slightly bent the crossbar of the gate (no damage to the car thankfully)! It wouldn't work! We waited around about 15 minutes, during which time my Korean colleagues told me over and over again... "you don't speak any Korean - ONLY english, you can't understand anything the guard tries to say to you". Finally a maintenance man came out, opeded the hatch of the gate machine, and did something really quickly. Suddenly the gate started working again. We let the other vehicles through, then we followed. I was nervous because this guard had been previously making motions like he wanted to detain me. When I was driving through the gate, he shouted something at me... I thought I was heading to the police for sure. But instead I think he was telling me I should have the proper device put on my car so I can automatically enter the parking lot (maybe he thought I just moved there?)

After this, one of the Korean men took the lead driving position. In my defense it took him about 10 more minutes to find the way there, and in the process HE led us down a blind dead end street, too. We finally arrived at the new place and unloaded all three cars and took the gear up to the new office (which is basically a big empty room). Some shelves are being delivered tomorrow, and after the real moving day on Saturday everything should be relocated. Being ORGANIZED is another matter...

Goodbye Aircon

[These photos below are of my air conditioner leaving the building...]
There was a glitch in the moving process a couple weeks ago. When we went to inquire about the installation of my air conditioner (that's aircon in Konglish), we were told that this apartment did not allow installation of your own aircon. Each home comes with one aircon installed, and that's all you're allowed to have! No amount of haggling would change their minds.



I've convinced myself that the pre-installed aircon is a big, strong one, and should probably be adequate. Even though it is located in the living room, it points directly to the bedroom door, so I should probably be okay. At worst I would need to put my fan in the bedroom doorway.



So that brought up the question, what should I do with the old aircon? CH did some checking around, and it was going to be difficult to sell. It is a "triple-headed" unit. That is, there is one outdoor compressor, and three wall mounted indoor units. When I bought it last spring, we really were not looking to air condition three rooms. But we found this triple-headed unit that was the same price as most of the two-headed (more common) styles. But most Koreans don't want that many indoor units, so it was going to be difficult to sell. Finally CH himself decided that HE would buy it, because he has postponed installing an aircon at his house. And he said that after paying me a fair price, and paying the removal and installation fee, he is saving a lot of money over the luxurious style unit that HS was considering!

Fusion Rice

My friend Trevor told me an odd way of cooking the frozen vegetables that I bought from Costco recently. He said to start off making a pot of rice in the rice cooker, then just before you start the cooker, throw in some frozen vegetables and then press start. I've done that a few times, and it works well. There is only one bad point about this. I think the "rule" my Korean friends have given me in the past must be changed when dealing with "vegetable rice". That is, usually I've been told the rice can stay edible and tasty up to 48 hours in the rice cooker (once it cooks the rice, it constantly keeps the rice warm). After 48 hours, you should throw out the rice or use it to make fried rice. My observation is when you have the vegetables mixed in, it lasts an even shorter time - I would guess 24 hours at the most.



I've tried to make a cream of chicken-like sauce to pour over the rice. I've made it a few times, and I'm still not quite happy with it. I think I need to add some spices, but I don't know which ones. I put chicken cubes into cream of mushroom soup, and pour over the vegetable rice and eat it.





While the cream of chicken sauce is definitely NOT Korean, putting "things" in the rice cooker with the rice actually IS a common thing in Korea. Sometimes they put some other, colorful grains in the rice. I've seen different kinds of beans added to the rice, too. My cookbook that came with the rice cooker shows all sorts of variations, if only I could read enough Korean to understand it.

Korean Air Water

I have proof that at least one person besides my mother reads my blog - a non-family member commented on my Korean Air playing card post. I want to point out that you can get at least one other free thing - The Jeju Island Water Spray bottle. They pass these out in the business class cabin, but I'm sure you could request on in economy class. Just tell the stewardess that you have a severe skin condition and need to frequently moisturize, and I'm sure she'll bring it:



By the way, this is an older style bottle, about 5 or 6 inches tall. I've noticed on recent flights they've switched to a shorter, miniature version.

Remaining Anamnesis

There are a couple interesting looking bars around the area I live, that I have not had the chance to visit. Since I'll be moving next weekend, I decided to go visit a couple of these this week. The first one is named the "C U Bar". I thought it was a silly way of spelling "see you", but I found out it is instead pronounced "Kyoo-Bah", almost like Cuba would be pronounced by a Korean. Met a nice guy who was the manager and only employee, except for a waiter who would appear from time to time. When I asked for 1 more bottle of beer, I said, "One more bottle, please". He repeated this command to the waiter, "One more bottle, please", and the waiter said, "yes, one more bottle". I felt like the captain of a submarine!

The other place I visited, in hindsight, we had visited maybe 3 years ago with John and CH. I don't know why I forgot about it, because in better weather they have a roof-top patio where you can sit outside. This place is called the "Z1BAR", and has a slogan that I honestly couldn't understand until I got home and looked it up in my dictionary:



Zone for Beautiful Anamnesis to Remain... just rolls off the tongue like a perfect slogan should, right?

KFC Copycat

When I sometimes break down and eat at an American fast food restaurant, I sometimes eat this thing called a spicy chicken wrap from KFC. The last time I ate it, I was staring at it, and thought to myself, there really is no secret to making this. It is just chicken, lettuce, tomato, mayonaise wrapped in a tortilla. So this week I bought a head of lettuce, some pathetic greenhouse tomatoes, and thawed some chicken breasts. Instead of frying the chicken (which was a failure last time I tried it), I simply grilled it with red pepper and black pepper. Wrapped it all up, and it was delicious. Highly recommended, simple to make. No photos - I was so hungry I ate it immediately before thinking to take a picture.

Card Auction

Most of my friends know that when I travel on Korean Air, I always request a couple decks of playing cards. I don't know why I do it, I guess it has just become a habit I can't break. With all my trips, I currently have quite a collection. Here are my 24 sealed decks, and that doesn't count the decks I've given away to friends or opened myself and used.



Well, I used to joke with my friends why Korean Air didn't pass out sets of Hwatu cards. After all, it IS Korean Air, used by Koreans, and the hwatu cards are by far the most common in Korea. (I wrote briefly about them in this blog entry). On my most recent flight in December, I happened to ask the stewardess why they don't have Hwatu cards. To my surprise, she told me that many years ago, Korean Air DID offer them, just like the do today with western-style playing cards.

Where do you find old, odd stuff? E-Bay, of course. One day I did a search on E-Bay, just out of curiosity. I wondered what these Korean Air hwatu cards looked like, and did anyone have them for sale. I didn't find any hwatu cards, but I did find this fellow selling a deck of regular playing cards for $25 minimum bid! He claimed they were a "hard to find" item, which I guess justified the price (it took me some time to realize that HTF is E-Bay jargon for "Hard To Find"). That was just amazing! I have 24 decks, and I was quickly doing the math (it would have been $600). I checked back on this auction a couple weeks later, and found out that it did not sell. In fact, he tried to sell them again for $16 and failed. I guess these cards are worthless afterall.



Have I lost $600 or not? If you lose money that you never had in the first place, is it really lost?

Tooth Trash

I almost forgot about this photo. Last month CH and I were walking down the street to lunch, and saw this pile of trash on the ground. As best I figure a dentist office must have closed down. Teeth and jaws everywhere.... yuck!

Veggies

You know you've been missing American cooking too long when you get excited about finding this in the store:



By the way, they tasted delicious. I'm not sure why they export frozen vegetables from Washington State all the way to Korea (that's not visible in the photo - it is printed on the back of the package). It's not like these are special vegetables that they don't have in Korea. Strange...

Belly Ache

Well, I've done it again - somehow I've ended up with another stomach ache. I believe it was something I ate on Saturday night. I was bored, so I headed out to the area where the new apartment will be, and went to a movie theater which was recently constructed. Even though it is usually hard to get tickets on a Saturday night, I had three things going for me. First, I was alone - I figured there might be an odd seat available. Secondly, this was a new theater and perhaps not as many people have discovered it yet. Also, I was flexible in which movie I wanted to see. There were two American movies I was interested in, "I Am Legend" with Will Smith and "National Treasure II" with Nicholas Cage. I got there, purchased a ticket, and within minutes I was seated in a theater which was about 1/3 empty to watch "National Treasure II". My plan worked. Conclusion, the movie was very good, but I think not quite as good as the first one. Not exactly a spoiler, but let me say the story very definitely left open the possibility we'll be seeing a "National Treasure III" in the next couple of years.

Next I went to have some chicken at KFC, but they were just closing. Across the hall their competitor McD's was still open, so I reluctantly ate a hamburger. Afterwards I went to Trevor's bar in the snow, to find there was only one guest. We sat and watched Hockey for a few hours and ate a hot dog. Even after watching some games for three hours, and having lots of rules explained to me, I still don't quite get this game. I told Trevor I found it very boring to watch, but perhaps it would be more interesting in person. He tells me, it is just colder to see in person.

After visiting Beer O'Clock, I was hungry again and found myself at a new place called "It's Miller Time". This is a brand new place only opened a couple months ago. I've been there a few times with my friends, and have also used this place as a "waiting spot" while waiting on my buddies to arrive. I ordered a plate of sausages and onion rings, and met the owner of the shop for the first time. She is a former airline stewardess of 15 years, and speaks English perfectly. I found out that she gives me and a few other foreigner customers a 10% discount, simply because we are foreigners! Wow, that's a first! At least she isn't giving me the Senior Citizen Discount like in Hawaii!

Well, the next day my stomach was killing me. It could have been the McD's burger, or the sausage, I don't know. I'm pretty sure it was not the hot dog, since Trevor told me he didn't have any stomach pains the next day. Anyway, I've been either sleeping or lying on the sofa watching TV for 3 days straight. Finally on New Years Day I felt brave enough to try eating again. I made some chicken with rice soup. Over the past 24 hours I've eaten more and more, and now (Wednesday AM) I'm almost back to normal.

Well, since I haven't been out much, I don't have any good photos to share. Instead I stole two from the internet showing the New Years celebration here in Seoul and in New York City. We drop the electric light ball at Times Square in America, here in Korea they ring a huge bell 33 times to usher in the new year. I kind of like the bell, especially the log / clapper. But this year the Times Square electric ball has been completely re-designed, and is kind of cool, too. I got to enjoy both celebrations on TV, lying on my sofa clutching my stomach...





While I was laid up with a belly ache, The Stumbling Family was enjoying New Years celebrations with our friends in Sunny Florida! I received a report that the first day in Florida they grilled burgers, went boating, and soaked in the hot tub! Reportely the second day of their visit (New Year's Eve party) they were going to be enjoying grilled oysters, crab cakes, chicken, and swimming. I'm jealous.

Korean Bedding

Korean bedding is a little different from that in America. The sheets are thick and textured, no blanket, and the bedspread is thick and quilt-like. Also, my bed is quite firm. Softer beds may be available, and I KNOW that harder beds are available. I have been sleeping like this all my time here in Korea since Nov 2004. I have been reasonably happy with this, and I think the firm matress helps my back.

Well, I recently made two small changes to my bedding. First, I got a Korean electric blanket. Unlike in America, where the electric blanket goes OVER you, in Korea they are placed UNDER you like a matress pad. My plan with this was to not use the built-in floor heating. However, I've had it almost a week now and it has only been cold enough to use it one night!





But the biggest change I did almost as an afterthought. When we bought this bedding, the bedspread came with a plain white quilt-like insert to be used in the winter. As the bedspread itself is so thick, I don't remember ever using this insert. Well, the other day I decided to try it out. It was quite an ordeal - I had to turn the bedspread inside-out, and the quilt-like insert was tied in place using short strings provided. The big challenge was to then turn it back outside-in. Once I wrestled it back to normal, it was an amazingly heavy thing. When I sleep now, I am reminded of the lead aprons you wear when having an X-ray taken! I can't explain it, but I really enjoy the weight of this heavy bedspread on my as I sleep.



Here's a glimpse of the inner quilt:

Chrismas Turkey

Trevor and Mi-young at Beer O'Clock prepared a Christmas dinner for 25 of their customers last night. I don't know all the details, but apparently most if not all of the meal was procured from Costco. They baked two turkeys at their home, and I think cooked all the other food at the small kitchen in the bar. The result was most satisfying. Note to self - check out the frozen vegetable section at Costco - I think I missed that section during my previous visits.

Here is an example of the place settings:


Santa and Rudolf were in attendance:


Proof that there IS turkey in Korea:

Stumbling Senior?

Something terrible happened to me for the first time ever in my life yesterday. I went to the store, and received a SENIOR CITIZEN DISCOUNT!!!!! I feel just terrible.

Trip Wrapup

We had an excellent dinner the other night at CH's home. CH and HS prepared a delicious meal for The Stumbling Girls, and took great care to not serve anything spicy. Their effort was much appreciated. We really enjoyed their 11-month old girl ES, who is just about to learn to walk. I think within 1 month she will be running all over the place.







Here is YS#4 eating kimchee!!! She really gave it a try:


Me and Mrs. Stumbler eating duck:


Here are the girls as the prepare to head home:


And YS#4 on the plane:

Twilight Zone

The other night we had some weird things happening here at the officetel. Mrs. Stumbler and I were watching one of the DVD's from my movie collection, and Young Stumbler #4 was sound asleep (this is important to the story). First, I should say this movie was titled "Object or Beauty", which neither of us had heard of before. We looked up a review online. Some people hated it, some people loved it. But one reviewer said "this movie will never be shown on TV, so you can only see it on DVD".



Well, we began to watch the movie. During the movie, one of my two printers suddenly came to life, and printed out a piece of paper all by itself. We checked YS#4, who was sleeping and could not have printed it. We picked up the paper, and all it said was "2007/12/10". Shaken up, we ignored this and resumed watching the movie. A few minutes later, the OTHER printer suddenly printed out a piece of paper, this time a blank one! I think there is a ghost in my computer system somewhere.

Then finally the movie was over, and I switched to the TV and was flipping though the channels. I changed to one of the movie channels, and was surprised to see that the same movie, "Object of Beauty" was just ending on the movie channel! It had been showing on the movie channel AT THE SAME TIME as we were watching it on DVD! That's too weird for me...

As for the movie, it was okay, but not great. Let's just say that I won't be saving this DVD to watch again.

Curry Rice

I made some Curry Rice the other day, and took some photos along the way. This post is meant to encourage my friend John to cook up some of the Curry Rice packages that I mailed to him from Hawaii earlier in the year. If anyone wants the recipe please request in the comments and I'll email to you.

Carrots and Potatoes:


Onions and Peppers (my recipe calls for green peppers, but I didn't have one)


Cubed chicken - you can also use beef, shrimp, or even omit meat entirely.


Cook it


Boil the Curry Sauce


Add the meat and vegetables


Sorry, no final photo of the food. Too busy eating it to take a picture.

Pottery Arrived

The Stumbling Mother reports that her Korean Pottery finally arrived after a long journey across the Pacific Ocean. I must admit it looks really nice:

TSG in Seoul

The Stumbling Girls came to Seoul this week for a short visit. We haven't really done anything especially adventurous. We spent a whirlwind day shopping the day after they arrived, visiting Costco and E-Mart. Now the kitchen is fully stocked. Here are a few random shots of Young Stumbler #4...

Here she is struggling with her tennis shoes after eating dinner Tuesday night. These shoe laces continue to be a problem...


Making breakfast!!!


Waiting for our food at the Pancho's Mexican Restaurant in Itaewon (I hear there's a better place to try next time...)


We stumbled to the Korean National Museum after eating Mexican. Big mistake. Never visit this museum after eating a large lunch and on a weekend.

SPAM Received

The Stumbling Brother finally received his SPAM gift set all the way from Korea. It was quite a long haul for this case of SPAM. First of all, I decided it would be easy to carry it home from the store instead of taking a taxi. My arm was about 2 inches longer by the time I arrived home that night. Next, I tried to convince The Stumbling Parents to bring "some SPAM" back home for their son. They agreed until they saw the size of the gift set - it was bigger than their suitcase! Finally I took it with me on my business trip last month to Hawaii. But not before I spent several hours on the internet and telephone with various Government agencies trying to learn if it was legal to bring SPAM into the country. Finally a kind doctor at the Department of Agriculture (or was it Food and Drug Adminstration?) told me that canned pork was okay, but canned beef would be a problem.

So, for the first time ever, I checked the "I am carrying meat into the country" box on the customs form when I arrived in Honolulu. The clerk asked me to show them the meat, which I did. He got a good laugh at all that SPAM. He opened up a file cabinet with over a hundred books of regulations, but when I explained my various phone calls with the USDA, he agreed that SPAM should be no problem and let me go. Whew... I was sweating for awhile there.





The last leg of the journey was by UPS Ground (from Hawaii????), where it encountered a train delay somewhere en-route from Canada to Tennessee. CANADA??? Why was my package in Canada in the first place? I am so confused. So this SPAM gift set has gone from Seoul South Korea to the Hawaiian Islands to Ontario Canada and finally to Alabama. To The Stumbling Brother... Bon Appetite!

Q-Turn?

I see occasionally very unusual road diagram signs here in Seoul. For example, some interchanges (IC in Konglish) are notoriously complicated. The diagram of one of these ICs looks like something from an advanced organic chemistry book. And I've never have my camera handy. But the other day CH and I were driving to a meeting, and we came to this stop light. I was able to whip out the camera in time to snap this photo. It's not one of the complicated IC diagrams, but it is interesting. You've heard of "U" turns of course, and probably you know "P" turns. What on earth is this one? I named it a "Q" turn (fortunately we were only turning left and didn't have to follow this crazy path):



Briefly, U turns of course turn you around so you're going in the opposite direction. In Seoul, sometimes at a busy intersection that has cloverleafs, and you can't turn left directly. Instead you cross through the intersection in the right-hand lane, then turn right immediately on the cloverleaf. With this manoeuver, called the "P" turn, you end up effectively making a left turn.