Chili!

That is NOT dog.

In fact, right now, the air in my apartment is pungent with the smell of chili, and not having tasted any even resembling Mexican food in the past 4 months, this is a real treat.

Before I go any further (and frankly, there isn't much further to go), I have to add that this was all made possible because of a wonderful care package that my Mom sent and which arrived today.


In short, she sent me, a big ol' bag of chili powder (not the super spicy Cayen type, but the more mild and sweet Ancho chili type that's used when making a big pot of chili), some taco seasoning, and Tumeric. And Mom, you should know, you just expanded my culinary horizons over here to the point that I don't think I'm ever coming home ;-) But really, with only these few key ingredients, I'm now going to go hog wild cooking.

Until moving here, I've always loved to cook, but I didn't realize how much I loved to cook. Today, as I excitedly tore open the box that arrived and had my nose filled by all the wonderful scents that had seeped out of the spice packages, I realized just how much I love to cook.

Well, that's about all. I can't wait another minute to eat! It smells sooooo good.

Thanks Mom, you hit a grand slam with this one :-)

Woof Woof

So, I ate dog soup (boshingtang).

It looks like this:




This is what they look like pre-soup. The breed is similar to Chow. It's called Nuerongi or Hwangu.
















In any case, the meat was quite gamey/musky, and frankly, I think it was a first-time/last-time experience all wrapped up in one. But you know what they say, "When in South Korea...."

And what else...

Nothing too interesting going on these days.

Oh, well, aside from my attempt to watch a movie in a theater. In brief, my friends Mark, Zach, Brian and I traveled about and hour to see a movie, and then we ended up at the wrong theater. So, we had to travel about another twenty minutes to get to the correct theater, which we arrived at with five minutes to spare, only to find out that they canceled the movie (due to under attendance) but neglected to update the English version of their website.

In sum, thank you SoKo for the delicious dog, but you can just keep your unreliable movie listings!

:-)

Thoughts...

The first step is ALWAYS the hardest.


Also...what do you do when you see someone not fulfilling their potential?
I think the answer is, do nothing. Yeah, DO nothing, but say something. Express to that person how you see her/him. Express to that person how you see her/him and how it's different from where they are now.

For example, you could tell the person..."I see you as successful, able to be happy, able to be comfortable..." etc.

I think helping someone to actualize their potential is similar to helping someone quit cigarettes. You can't MAKE someone quit smoking, just like you can't MAKE someone actualize their potential. The person has to quit because they want to quit. They have to actualize because they want to....And this applies in all regards. From the person in the dead end job to the person in the dead end relationship, you can't MAKE anyone DO anything. You help people gain the confidence they need to act on their own. MAKING someone do something is hollow, and regardless what that person DOES, their achievement will be built on a foundation upon which YOU have built, and thus once you get tired of maintaining that foundation, the persons achievement will crumble and fall.

For example, if you MAKE someone quite smoking, that person will go right back to smoking as soon as you stop positively supporting them. In fact, it is unlikely you could make her/him do it in the first place.

Sometimes, a person needs you to help the start to build their foundation of change, but if you comprise too much of that persons foundation, as soon as you pull away, again, they'll crumble.

In fact, maybe it's best to simply help a person build their own foundation, a foundation comprised 100% of their desire to change/achieve/whatever...yeah, that's the most sure bet for lasting change.

So, the question becomes, how do you get someone to desire that process? Well, I think you just have to tell that person your vision of how they will look post change/achievement/transformation. If someone is jobless, you'd tell them that you can see them gainfully employed. If you know someone who is depressed, you tell them that you can see them happy. If you know someone who is without direction, you tell them that you can imagine them driving forth with laser like focus. If you know someone who is in a dead end relationship, you tell them you can see them in a relationship w/ the potential to grow into something beautiful and fulfilling.


And all these ends...I think it's most important to remember the following.

NEVER GIVE UP...Especially, never give up on yourself, never give up on family, and never give up on friends.


Random stuff...I know...I hope you could bear w/ all that.


Distilled: Tell people what you believe they CAN BE and what they CAN DO and let them use that positivity as the activation energy for them defining and then actualizing their own personal growth.

Boo yah!

Skiing (T minus one month)

So, I'm surely not going to be getting in as many days on the slopes this year as I did last year, but frankly, I'm not worried. I think the days I do get in will be all that much more enjoyable. In any case, I'll be hitting the slopes on January 7th and 8th and then again on the 21st, and frankly, I can't wait.

In other news, I visited a goat farm last weekend, and it was pretty darn interesting. Wage Farm (a play on the word "waygook" which mans foreigner) is owned and operated by Doug Huffer and his wife Bonghwa. I never found out her last name, and since most Korean women don't surrender their maiden name, I'm assuming it's not Bonghwa Huffer, but frankly, that's completely tangential to this entire account. Moving on...Erik, Marc, and I, on a bitterly cold Saturday, all made the 2 hour journey to Sa-Ra (a small town outside of Gyongju) and got to see the farm. More specifically, we got to see the two goats (Stella and Rosa...blue and red collars respectively) that that Bonghwa and Doug own. In any case, I was under the impression that we'd show up, chat for a bit tour the "farm," buy some delicious goat cheese (which Doug makes by hand) and then head back to Eonyong. Suffice to say, due to Doug and Bonghwa's overwhelming hospitality, I think we spent nearly 3 hours in their house, drinking coffee, talking about Doug's job as a professor at Gyongju University and Bonghwa's past job of being a professor of sculpture at some school in Italy. We discovered that Bonghwa speaks fluent Italian, and that Doug is originally from Kansas. And if they sound eccentric from those two details alone, you've gotten the correct vibe.

To back up a little bit...

Doug has been living in SoKo for about 6 years. He married Bonghwa in the past year (I think). They live in a very traditional Korean home made of unprocessed logs and some old-school building techniques. Check out the picture.

















In any case, the place was super cozy, and seemed quite perfect for them. To briefly describe Doug (and I know this post is ALLL over the place), he is a very quiet but deeply intelligent and witty guy. He took a little while to warm up to us, but regardless of that fact, he puts off a very friendly vibe right away.

I don't know what else to say. Doug and Bonghwa are living that type of life that the New York Times would like to write some "Person of Interest" blerb all about.

And as romantic as their artsy/goat-cheese-cottage-industry/cross-cultural life seems, Doug did add that he'd like to move back to the states somewhere in the near future.

I guess only time will tell if that turns out to be true.

4:38:05

Season End Marathon in Seoul (42195 Race)

Fueled by granola bars, glucose tablets and the desire to make my three and a half months of training pay off, this past weekend, in fact, on Sunday the 27th, I completed my first marathon.

With a time of 4:38:05 I was by no means breaking any records, but I completed the entire 26.2 miles or 42.195 km, and that was exactly what I intended to do.

The course paralleled the Han River in Seoul. After running for 13.1 miles in one direction, the course simply turned right back around and retraced itself for another 13.1. From the entire course I remember seeing the North Seoul Tower, many bridge pylons (the course crossed under a bunch of bridges) and some canola flowers that were in full yellow bloom due to the uncharacteristically warm weather that we've been experiencing. The weather on the race day was a bit chilly and overcast. For running it was perfect.

The entire run was pretty uneventful. The hardest part of the course was the last 10km stretch. I could feel pre-cramp "twitches" in my left quad and my right hamstring, so it took all my mental energy to will my legs to keep from cramping, but all said and done, it worked, and I finished the race.

In the last few km I could feel my body running out of energy, so I was popping glucose tablets (the ones diabetics take) and I could feel my blood sugar rising. Specifically, I could feel the tiredness and tingling feeling disappear from my body w/ each of the tablets. It was very strange, but I was very glad I had them with me.

I finally crossed the finish line. I felt like I was in a bit of a daze, and it was almost hard to stand up. I also was having a bit of trouble balancing.

In any case, I did it and I feel really proud of myself.

I just re-read this and realized the post is somewhat hazy in the way it recounts the details of the race, but that's exactly how the race is in my mind. It's a bit hazy.

Well, that's all for now.

There's another marathon in March. I'm thinking about that one too!

Thanksgiving

In the picture to the left you can see 8 people. Behind the corner there is actually a 9th. About 15 minutes after this picture was taken a 10th person showed up, and about another 15 minutes after that an 11th and 12th and 13th person showed up. So just to make this crystal clear, in my one bedroom apartment I had the joy of very very cozily sharing Thanksgiving with 13 of my friends. Two of the the people, Jon and Rathi are from England, and five of the people, James, Esther, Won-Me, Hee-Jin, and Ashley are Korean, so more than half of our little "family" was celebrating their first Thanksgiving EVER.

Though we would have loved to have all the traditional foods (i.e. turkey, mashed potatoes, green beans, etc.) they are 1) very hard to come by and 2) EXTREMELY expensive. Regarding the turkey, since no one we know owns an oven, had we wanted to buy a turkey, we would have had to fork over about $90 for a fully cooked 8-9 pound turkey. So, we decided to simply fill our feast w/ as many "American" foods as possible. The resulting feast consisted of, pizza, donuts, ice cream and potato chips. I ended up adding some Kimchi to the mix (most for our Korean guests) and my friend who is Korean, James, brought some Sundae (blood sausage) and pig liver. So, all told, we had quite the multicultural Thanksgiving feast.

We even went around the "table," or rather, we went around the circle and talked about the things for which we were thankful. Interestingly enough, I think my friends who are Korean were the most shy about the experience. My theory is that there were a couple of things at play. First, my friends who are Korean don't hang out w/ us expats as much as we all hang out w/ each other, so they shyness could be due to that. Second, though all of them are COMPLETELY fluent in English, maybe when put on the spot it made them a little shy, and third, I've noticed that in Korea many people do not show/express too much emotion in public. Talking about the things in life for which you are thankful is a pretty emotional thing to do. Regardless, everyone shared their thoughts, and it was really wonderful.

We finished the night w/ a game of catch phrase, and then around 11PM everyone headed home.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Friends, food, "family" (real and fictive) and the joy of community are all blessings, and I for one and extremely thankful to have them all in my life!

Farming and Kimchi

Farming and Kimchi

And Mr. Park does it again! Every time I hang out w/ this 69 year old man, I end up having a really enjoyable and culturally rich time.

In the picture on the left, starting from the left there is Mr. Park, Mrs. Kumi (Korean women traditionally do NOT take their husbands name), Me and my friend Amy. Behind us is a pile of just about 100 Korean cabbages, a.k.a. Napa cabbage. Regardless of what you call them, I cannot deny the fact that picking them and then wheeling them the approximately 500m to Mr. Park's house was sweat inducing work. But let me start from the beginning.

I have been enjoying copious amounts of chigae, and as you know from the recipe I included a couple posts ago, Kimchi is the key ingredient. In fact, the better quality Kimchi you use the more tasty chiagae you can make. So, in my never ending attempt to learn how to cook various different world cuisines, and just recently realizing that the Kimchi back in the states is not nearly as tasty as the stuff we have here, I figured I need to learn how to make the stuff. And that's where this all started.

Earlier this week Mr. Park told me that he and his wife had begun to make their annual batch of Kimchi. Keep in mind, their annual batch includes enough for them to sell to some distributors and to stock their shelves. This roughly translates to about 2000 cabbages. Again, the pile you can see in the picture above is just about 100 cabbages, so we're talking about a TON of Kimchi. In any case, as making Kimchi is something only married women (and older married women) typically know about, I was very excited to hear about Mr. Park's wife making her annual batch because none of my younger co-workers know the process. In any case, I asked Mr. Park if I could come watch his wife in action, and he was thrilled at my interest.

Yesterday afternoon we left Samnam, header over to Pangi Elementary to pick up Amy, and headed to Mr. Parks house. Mrs. Kumi greeted us and gave us a snack of sweet potatoes (also grown on their farm) as well as some sort of peanut tea. Mr. Park then showed us the approximately 4 trashcan sized bins FILLED w/ cabbage that would soon be turned into Kimchi. And keep in mind, these four bins will be filled dozens more times as they process a few tons of cabbage into Kimchi...all by hand.

In any case, I was excited to learn the Kimchi making process when Mr. Park suddenly asked Amy if we were ready to go pick some cabbage. Not wanting to be rude, we both obliged him and after gearing up w/ work gloves, as well as a couple borrowed coats and hats, we headed towards the cabbage field. Mr. Park lead the way since he had a big wheel barrow type device for transporting the cabbage and since he also knew the way. Seemingly effortlessly, Mr. Park dragged the wheel barrow at a very brisk pace and we finally arrived at the patch.

In less than 20 seconds, Mr. Park had begun slicing the cabbages right at their tap-root. Amy and I assumed we were supposed to fill the wheel barrow, so we did just that. A few minutes later we had filled the wheel barrow to capacity (about 20 cabbages) and then Mr. Park instructed Amy to "stay there" while he walked with me back to his home. This time, Mr. Park briskly pulled the filled wheel barrow.

We dumped the load near his front steps, and this time I got to drag the empty wheel barrow back to the field. I'm a bit embarrassed to say this, but I don't think I was able to pull it as fast as the 69 year old man. Regardless, we arrived back to the field and now it was completely dark.

Amy and I then continued to fill the wheel barrow and tote it back and forth until we had picked (and wheeled back to Mr. Park's home) about 100 cabbages.

Then, quite sweaty and surprisingly tired (we only worked for about 30 minutes) we washed our hands, headed inside, and enjoyed a super delicious dinner of dumpling soup and side dishes. To Amy's credit: She's a vegetarian and they served us meat dumplings. In the most subtle and thus polite way possible, Amy at everything except for the meat. She even at the dumpling rapper, and she didn't mention anything otherwise. (And to quickly rant about vegetarians, one of which I used to be...to be quite frank, sometimes they get preachy and expect everyone to cater to their needs. Amy's not like that at all. She rolls w/ the punches and makes the best of what ever meat is thrown her way. Mad respect.)

Finally after play farmer and eating dinner, we got to learning how to make Kimchi. It went something like this.

Mrs. Kumi dragged out two large round tubs. One was filled w/ cabbage and one was filled w/ the Kimchi chilli paste. She also got out a square container which we would use to store the finished product. In the middle of their living room Ms. Kumi, Amy and I put on rubber gloves and aprons and began the process of spreading the chili paste on the cabbage and then packing the cabbage into the square storage container. We worked for about 30 minutes and then were done.

Here's the whole process (only the last part of which we experienced)


How to Make Kimchi:
1. Take a Korean/Napa cabbage, remove and dispose of the outer leaves until you are only left w/ the whiter inner "heart" of the cabbage.

2. Cut the cabbage heart into quarters the long way.

3. Create a bucket of salt water. (I don't know how much salt to use in the mixture, but do it to taste...it shouldn't be CRAZY salty, but it also should not be too weak).

4. Dip the quartered cabbages into the salt water. Shake off the excess water and then put the "brined" cabbage into a storage container.

5. Sprinkle additional salt onto the brined cabbage.

6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 until you have used all the cabbage.

7. Let the brined/salted cabbage sit for 24-48 hours (the cabbage should look pretty wilted when it is ready. ) Make sure the cabbage is sitting in such a way that the water which is drawn out can drain off or at least not touch the cabbage. Ideally, put the cabbage into some sort of strainer and put the strainer over a bucket

8. Take the cabbage and rinse off the excess salt.

9. Rub the chili paste(yang-yome-jang)* all over the cabbage and pack the cabbage into an airtight container.

10. Let the cabbage sit in the refrigerator until it ferments to taste, or if you are in a hurry to get it fermenting, leave it out on the kitchen counter for 3-5 days (again, really judge when it is done by taste...the longer you leave it out, the tangier it'll get.)

11. Voila, you have Kimchi...this stuff can be eaten (provided it's been refrigerated) for up to a year after it's been put in the container. (In fact, I have some year old Kimchi that Mrs. Kumi gave me, and it's DELICIOUS!)

*Here's how to make the chili paste...and since Mrs. Kumi didn't give me an exact recipe, I'll approximate it here. The finished product is a semi-viscous dark red paste/soup. She said that all she uses is garlic paste and Korean chilli paste. The mixture was thin enough to spread all over the cabbage, but it was not drippy or runny. It was able to amply coat the cabbage. It was also just mildly spicy. In fact, it was not that spicy at all. If I were to make my own, I might try to use a stronger pepper. Regardless, it seemed like the mixture was about 1:1 chilli pepper paste to garlic paste w/ maybe a little extra water thrown in. I could imagine a Cuisinart would be perfect for making the paste.


Okay...That's all for now. To recap, Amy and I got WAY more than we bargained for, but I' super happy we got to experience this part of Korean culture. Everyone here gobbles up TONS of this stuff, and now, I have the secret to make it!