I spent my Korean New Year with a Korean family.  While it was wholly interesting to see the customs and rituals, the best part was being able to be with a big family enjoying a big holiday.  It reminded me of how much I miss my own.

Korean New Year, or Seolnal (설날), is probably the biggest holiday here.  I booked my ticket a month ago and left right after work.  Due to the massive amount of traffic of people leaving Seoul for their hometowns, the typically 4 hour bus ride took over 6 hours.

It is a three day holiday.  The first day we prepared food.  We started at about 3:30pm, and when I went to bed at 1am I could still hear the women cooking.  I had heard about how hard women work during Korean holidays, but this surpassed all of my expectations.  I was incredibly tired the whole visit, but I only did about 1/20 of the work of the women while also sleeping a lot more…

The second day, we woke up and set up the table for the charye ceremony for the ancestors who have passed away (see photo above).  During the ceremony, my friend and his father bowed and paid their respects to the father’s parents.  During the break, my friend’s sisters came in and bowed.  They also asked if I would like to bow, which I was hesitant to do, but was glad I did.

After the ceremony, we cleared the table and ate and ate and ate.  It was pretty much heaven.

The following day we visited the mother’s parents who are still alive.  It is custom to bow and say happy new year, after which they offer words of wisdom and give you money.

This was an experience I will never forget.  Not too many foreigners are invited into a Korean home to see this, so I feel very honored and lucky.  Also, my friend’s family is incredibly generous.  They gave me a bed and more food than any one person should ever eat.

Here are some photos of the preparation.  You can see the full set here.

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As a child (and adult) my favorite cereal was (is) Cinnamon Toast Crunch.

Therefore, I do not need to explain why Starbuck’s-like coffee shops in Korea are inherently better than Starbuck’s-like coffee shops in America (see photo above).

That is all.

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I have never known what MSG was.  I knew through osmosis that it was supposed to be really bad for you, and I just assumed that the trial lawyers had taken care of the “problem.”

I never imagined that it would be sold in the grocery store by my house and I never imagined that it’s orange packaging would be eerily similar to its next door neighbor, the salt.

So yes, I’ve been eating MSG everyday thinking it was salt.  Everyday putting in more and more because my food never tasted salty enough!

I did notice that it didn’t really look like salt… but I just lumped that into the Things Are Just Just A Little Different In Korea category — a category, by the way, in which one can place almost anything.

However, after doing a bit of research, it appears that MSG does nothing too horrible to our bodies except make us hungry… and then fat (see here,  here, and here)… unless you read Yahoo Answers, in which you will find that MSG can do everything from causing brain damage to killing you.

Mostly, I just feel dumb.  I can read Korean and I know the word for salt in Korean (not to mention that the word “salt” is actually written in English on the salt package), but when I’m tired and in the grocery store, I’m usually on autopilot.  This, paired with my most recent lapse in food knowledge, is not boding well for me.

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After seeing Naksansa, I took the bus back to Sokcho.  I wanted to see Abai Village/아바이마을 (Korea’s tourism info).

Abai Village is a small enclave of Sokcho, officially named Cheongho-dong.  Evidently, many North Koreans from the Hamgyeong province (wikipedia) moved here during the Korean War (1950-1953) and since many of them were older, the village was named Abai, which seems to mean either “an aged person” or “grandfather” in the Hamgyeong-do dialect.  Abai Village still retains a majority of ethnic Koreans from the North.

I felt rather lost walking around because I was unable to pick up on the cultural nuances that would make a place like this unique.  The main thing I noticed was that it was very, very poor.  It is probably the poorest area I’ve seen in Korea.

I felt guilty taking pictures because I kept hearing my friend scold me for taking advantage of poverty porn.

Abai Village does seem to get a lot of culinary tourists though.  They specialize in Abai soondae, which is supposed to be a North Korean specialty different from the soondae you can find in the South.  But, due to the fact that I was about to faint from gastritis (and having not eaten in 1.5 days) and due to the fact that soondae is basically cow (or pig) intestines filled with hardened blood and other ingredients… I did not get the pleasure of tasting it.

I wish I could speak more authoritatively on Abai Village.  So, if you have any insight, please post your comments.  They will be greatly appreciated.

You can see all the photos here.

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UPDATE: Because I am idiot, I just realized that these are NOT cucumbers… they are zucchinis.

One reason I love Korea is that they have somehow managed to make me love (make me love so much that I buy them now) my most hated and despised vegetable… the cucumber.

But, it’s not just the cucumber, it’s all vegetables.  I’ll never forget the day last year when I got visibly excited when finding out that bean sprouts would be served for dinner.  Now, bean sprouts are a staple in my apartment.

Americans just don’t cook like this, but they should.  These vegetables are lightly seasoned with some peppers, sesame oil, sesame seeds, and some things I don’t know the names of… but the point is… it’s not fried, it’s not covered in mayonnaise or cheese, it’s not cooked in butter… they’re just fresh vegetables with seasoning.

To make it even better, I can buy these small servings in stores all over the place by my apartment.  And, I need them in small portions because they are not pumped full of preservatives and they go bad very quickly.  Obviously impossible in America (well, most places).

I feel like I’m in the Albert Brooks movie Defending Your Life when they go to the restaurant in “Heaven” and order 3lbs of pasta and 9 pies because you can’t gain weight… in Korea, you can eat and eat and eat… and never gain weight.  It’s fabulous.

This is how I’ve lost an insane amount of weight without hardly trying.

[simage=2995,max,n,center,][simage=2996,max,n,center,]

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I came back to Korea 3 weeks ago — since then I’ve lost 10 lbs.

Last year in Korea I lost 59 lbs, and I expected to lose more weight when I came back to Korea, but this rate has surprised me.

Last year everyone asked what I was doing to lose so much weight…

So… here’s what I do.  I eat lots & lots & LOTS of Korean food, and I walk everywhere that’s under 1 km.

Basically: no processed foods + a lot of walking.

I have not turned into a starving deprived maniac.  I still eat a lot, I still drink alcohol.  In the last three weeks I’ve only been to the gym 3 times, and I’m not sure those would have actually counted as workouts.  I still eat massive amounts of carbs (at least 3 servings of rice per day).  I still eat meat (albeit not in American super-sized portions).

It’s food and cars.  The American food industry is seriously screwed up… everything is processed, everything is fatty.  And cars… Americans have to drive everywhere because everything is spread out, so we don’t walk anymore.

The best part of all of this is that my new students do not call me “Fat Teacher.”  The worst they have said is that I look like Mr. Incredible.

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It’s almost been one year in Korea, and throughout that year there has been one recurring theme… I am the fat American.

I hate being the fat American.  I stand out in a crowd  It’s impossible to find clothes (although I did save a lot of money).  And my students lovingly (and sometimes not so lovingly) call me Fat Teacher.

But in my year in Korea, I’ve lost 59 lbs.  I am proud of myself.  Not so much for losing the weight (although I am proud of that), but of the way I did it.  For the first time in life I lost weight without severely restricting foods, without taking pills, and without books or videos telling me what to do every minute of every day.

I am not saying I didn’t try (I am at the gym quite often); but I didn’t give up carbs, cookies, incredibly fatty pork, alcohol, or anything else that makes me really happy.  I just ate better.

Of course, I’m still considered fat in Korea.  It’s still hard to buy clothes (I have to buy them online in the Plus Sizes and Seniors section), and when I do buy clothes it’s slightly depressing to find out the XXL’s barely (and I mean barely) fit.

So… I’m really, really excited to return to America where I can bask in the fatness that will surround me everywhere.

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When I walked in to eat lunch today, I saw a “pretty” girl across the restaurant, but I didn’t pay much attention.  There are a lot of “pretty” people in Korea (in my opinion) and I never talk to any of them.

But as I was eating I noticed her talking to the owners of the restaurant… and then my chopsticks stopped midway between the rice and my mouth as I saw them all staring at me.

One of the owners comes over to my table, opens the menu, and points to another dish and then points to me — clearly wanting me to eat it.  I say “No, no, no” because I did not want (or need) any more food.  Owner walks away and Pretty Girl leaves.

Then, Girl #2 comes over to my table to tell me what just went down.  Evidently, Pretty Girl bought me take out.  For the record, we never spoke.  She did not ask if I wanted take out, and I did not send body language signals telling her that I was unable to feed myself.  Nevertheless, I left lunch with an extra pork cutlet.

To make things even better, Girl #2 comes over again and tells me that if I ever need anything, I should just give her a call.  Then she slid me her number.

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My kitchen isn’t fully stocked yet, but I was still able to cook my first Korean meal.  It’s a Korean fusion dish combining the classic beef bulgogi with Pringles and Diet Coke.

Yum!

I hope you’re laughing with me and not at me.

Korean fusion cooking

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