Eating Dogs and Drinking Cats

I want to start this blog by saying that I myself am an ovo-lacto-pesco vegetarian, which means I eat only fish,eggs and dairy products, no meat. I also want to mention that you should not research this topic any further if you don't want to see some pretty disturbing images of dogs being killed. I choose a friendly image for my picture because I didn't want to see any of the other ones ever again.

In Korea as in many parts of the world eating dogs is an accepted part of the culture. Generally the only two countries that have mainstream acceptance of this practice are Korea and China but in many countries there are cultural minorities who eat dog. This even happens in Canada to a limited extent.

One of the big differences about Korea is the way the dog is killed. It is believed that the more scared the dog is and the more it suffers before it's death the tastier and more "medicinal" the meat will be. In Korea dogs are beaten to death with clubs, hung slowly, burned and tortured in many other ways. The consumers of dog meat want to get the most adrenaline as possible into the meat and this is the way they go about achieving it. Dogs are also often made to watch as other dogs have this done to them.

It is believed that dog meat, called Gaegogi (gogi means meat and gae means dog) can give men extra sexual stamina. Since the dog meat industry is a billion dollar a year industry in Korea one must assume a lot of Korean men need this stamina.(I couldn't resist saying it) The meat is prepared in many different ways. Their are traditional stews,soups and barbecues. The meat is also made into fermented drinks that can include the penis of the dog for an extra "medicinal" energy supplement.

I have known many foreigners here who have tried eating dog for the experience and several who do it on a regular basis. I don't think I would eat dog even if I ate meat, but that is easy to say since I don't.

I also know that cats are eaten in Korea in a fermented drink too. They are also killed very inhumanly,usually they are stuffed in a sack and then beaten to death against a wall and then liquefied into a drink. I don't know much about this, just that it is done.

When you move to a foreign country you have to be willing to accept the cultural differences that arise but this is one I will not accept and will never just ignore. If Koreans want to eat dogs I have no more of an objection to it than to eating other animals. But they need to stop the extremely cruel way that these animals are killed and treated. On the other hand this is not much worse than the way chickens are treated in the US....

Yellow Dust

When I first arrived in Korea last May it was near the end of the yellow dust season. We have now entered the beginning of the season,which happens during spring. The yellow dust also known as the Asian dust comes from northern China and floats through the air all over Asia. It is worse over China, Korea and Japan. It is not all the time but periodically it happens in the spring and has been getting worse over the past decade due to the rapid desertification and increased pollution in China. The dust contains many chemicals and pollutants.

The main problems caused by the dust are increased respiratory problems, even people who normally don't suffer from these ailments can have problems. It also causes less visibility, at times it is like a light fog. This dust can also cover things and cause them to turn yellow. This is the most significant at airports where decreased visibility can cause canceled flights and also run ways and planes have to be cleaned when they are covered in the dust. It can also kill plants, harm coral, make animals sick and even kill smaller ones and it also effects the yield and quality of crops. I have asthma and it is slightly worse during these times but it hasn't been that bad but it is not as bad here in Korea as it is in China.

Many countries have tried to help solve this problem but it is still getting worse. Korea,Japan and the US among other nations have offered both financial support and materials to help combat the problem such as trees and sulfur filters. But China will only accept help if they can decide how to use the support which means the trees often get planted in areas where they won't help like next to highways in the wrong part of the country. The money can be used anywhere the government wants and the filters are stored and no factories are forced to use them. So the help has no effect on the dust due to China's mismanagement of the resources.

This dust can even reach as far as the U.S. and it effects global weather and air pollution. In certain parts of China the air can become so polluted it becomes deadly and fatality rates can rise almost 2% during these times. There is not much one can do except stay in doors during the bad times and wear a mask when they go outside. Many people including myself wear masks when the yellow dust gets bad.

Here is a link to wikipedia Asian Dust page if you want to learn more.
Asian Dust on Wikipedia

Konglish

In Korea there is a language that is a hybrid of Korean and English, it's called Konglish. Konglish originated during the Korean War. Koreans would adapt English words that sometimes had the same meaning and sometimes had similar or different ones but regardless they would pronounce these words incorrectly and Konglish was born. Generally these words end in E and they add an E sound to the end of the word were the sound is suppossed to be silent, like Orange. They will pronounce it Orange-gee.

Also many times words in Korean that sound similar to English words will be used and the meanings of the Korean word will change. An example of this is haen-deu-pon (핸드폰; "handphone"), we use cell phone but they have adapted one of their words and most Koreans call it a hand phone even if they speak English very well.

There are many other examples and I have included a wikipedia link if you want to learn more. But the last one I want to mention is the incorrect use of grammar on signs, stationary and clothing. In Korea most t-shirts have English words on them and 99% of these sentences are grammatically incorrect. This picture is one that a friend of mine found on the web, I just liked it so I am using it here and it shows how Koreans have no idea what they are wearing. They all wear English shirts regardless of there ability to understand what it means and this kids parents probably didn't know what this meant or they thought it was funny, who knows....

Wikipedia Konglish Link

Domestic Violence,Razor Knives and Assaulting the Cops

Earlier in the year I posted a friends essay about violence in Korea but I wanted to talk about the subject a little more myself. In many ways Korea is much less violent than the US or England. They have very few guns or weapons. The youth do not form many gangs, although they due exist. It is safe to say that serious life threatening violence is much lower here in Korea than in the US.


In Korea the students carry razor knifes around to cut paper and for art class. No one attacks anyone else with them.(I'm sure there are exceptions to that statement but they are rare.) In the US if you were to carry around one of these razor knifes you would be suspended or expelled and possibly charged with a crime and sent to jail. But no one seems to worry about it at all here. They also will sometimes bring air soft guns(plastic bb guns that sting when you are shot with them) to school sometimes. Sometimes the guns are taken away, sometimes they are just told to put them away and not bring them again. Even though these guns are relatively harmless they would also be just cause for suspension, expulsion or incarceration in the States.

Koreans view guns as if they were the black plague. They often ask how I can sleep at night in America without worrying about when I will get shot as if it was a certainty. They probably get this opinion from TV and movies because while we have more guns in the US than almost anywhere else in the world, I still don't have any friends or family that I know of that has been shot or even shot at. I have seen guns many times of course but never has anyone actually shot one except for in controlled recreational uses. But never the less Koreans assume we still live in the wild west were disputes are handled with guns in the streets.


That said there is a lot of domestic violence in Korea. I live in a relatively liberal, middle class part of the US, so maybe there is more domestic violence in other areas of the country. But in Korea it is not uncommon to view acts of domestic violence that in the US might happen less frequently but would be behind closed doors. Plus if I am seeing this amount just imagine how much must happen behind closed doors here. People just seem to accept it here. My second week here a buddy of mine and I got into a fight (it was more posturing and pushing than actual blows) with some douche bag because he pushed this girl to the ground outside a club and was about to kick her. My buddy yelled at him in Korean to stop and he also called him something to the effect of a dog fucker. After that the guy ignored the girl and rushed over to my friend,he picked up a sign and started waving it in the air. He didn't have the guts to actual hit my buddy, but he kept yelling and pushing him and eventually me for another 5 minutes, even as we walked away. Finally we got tired of it and pushed back and then he left. As a foreigner you can't actually hit a Korean regardless of who's fault it is you will be blamed. Luckily my friend had been here for 4 years and knew this otherwise my stay here might have been very short. Not that violence was needed because in several instances I have noticed that if you are aggressive here the people will back down quickly, its all show. Plus we just wanted him to stop attacking the woman which he did when he focused his intoxicated anger on us.

In Cleveland were I'm from if you did this it could get you shot, even in the suburbs were I grew up it would lead to a fight for sure. But here in Korea the men only seem to like to get in fights with there women or when the odds are stacked in there favor. Of course this isn't a theory that should be tested as there are people here who like to fight just as anywhere else. This is just a generalization. Plus men who hit women are usually cowards, this is true everywhere even in the States.

This wasn't the last time I saw domestic violence up close. There was a guy in my old apartment building who used to beat his girlfriend on a semi-regular basis. He almost always did it behind a steel door. We would call the cops but they didn't seem to care. One time he was beating here outside and the cops were called and he hit one of the officers. He was taken to the jail but was back home and hitting his girlfriend again within the hour. After that we stopped bothering with it, his girlfriend didn't seem to want us to stop it and the cops didn't care.

I have witnessed 5-6 acts of domestic violence in my 10 months here and heard what I thought were a few more. It seems that Korea is somewhat like America in the 50's where no one wants to get involved in other couples problems and they just ignore it. That seems to work for them but my friends and I can't seem to adopt this cultural trait.

With that said in general Korea is a less violent place than the US. I always feel safe here no matter where I am,that is unless I am sticking up for some women who is usually just upset that I intervened anyway. I have learned here that it is better to just walk away as the women here don't seem to mind being beaten or at least they have accepted the fact that it will happen to them. Each culture has it good and bad sides, in Korea violence is no exception.

Lunar Birthdays,Korean ages and turning 30 twice

In Korea and in a few other countries in Asia people calculate their age based on the Lunar System. Basically, they are 1 year old when they are born not 0. They also get a year older on January 1st,not on their birthday. So when someone here in Korea tells me their age they are actually one or two years younger by International Standards. So I was born on February 7th, 1979. This makes me 1 years old until 1/1/80, when I would have turned 2(which is before my 1st birthday by International Standards). So this year I turned 29 by International Standards but on 1/1/08 I turned 30 in Korea,which sucks. This is still very confusing to me but I felt it should be mentioned.

This brings me to my next point. I will have to turn 30 twice. This just doesn't seem fair. When people in Korea ask me my age I usually say 29, but sometimes I say 30 and it hurts....

The last difference in Korea is that many of them celebrate their Birthdays based on the Lunar Calender(actually its the Lunisolar calender but they all refer to it as the Lunar Calender). Which is completely different than the Roman one or to be more specific the Gregorian Calender that is widely used today. I have included a link to wikipedia below if you want to know more about this calender, but it is based on the cycles of the moon and the solar year. The only way we use this calender in western society is to calculate the time when Easter will be on our calender. That's why it always changes its date. So your lunar birthday is different than your International one too. My International birthday is February 7th and my Lunar one is May 15th or at least that's what one of my students told me,so I am assuming she is correct.

This is all very confusing to me, 2 birthdays,2 ages and multiple calenders. the picture is of me on my International birthday this year in Thailand.

Here is a link to wikipedia if you want to learn more
Lunisolar Calender on Wikipedia

Pasta in a Cone

There are many foods that I find strange and unique here in Korea. I am sure that this would be the case in any foreign country that ones visits. Some of my favorites are eating live octopus, well its dead put they cut it up right before they serve it to you and it squirms around on the plate for a good 15 minutes and you have to dip it in oil or it will suck on to your throat on the way down and it could possibly kill you. I didn't like this at all. One of my favorite foods is the egg sandwich. It's just 2 pieces of white bread, grilled without butter, a scrambled egg mixture the size of the bread and some veggies,cheese or meat depending on the kind you order. Then they top it off with both sweet and spicy sauces. It's delicious!!! There are many varieties, my favorite is the cheese or the Tuna. But they top it with all kinds of meats if thats your pleasure. The shop I get my sandwiches from is near my school about 400 feet away. It's called Sukbong. Yes it sounds just like its spelled, I have no idea what it means in Korean but the English meaning is obvious.

But now to my main reason for writing this blog. The most unique food I have come across is not Korean at all. It's a hybrid shop that combines Italian food with ice cream cones. It's called Balena. They serve pasta in a cone. The pasta is actually very tasty and the cone does make for a unique,cheap and practical to-go container. When I first heard about this place I didn't believe it,but I just went there and it really does exist. They serve all kinds of different pasta's in waffle cones. The cones are pretty tasty too. I have to say I might eat there again, it really was good. But Next time I am going to get a pasta without squid. Koreans put squid in everything....

The never ending cycles of newbies and going away parties

I have less than 2 months left in my contract, the past 10 months in Korea have been great and it sometimes feels like I have been here for a lot longer and then other times it seems shorter. I have met so many new people here. I didn't know anybody when
I moved here so everyone I have met is a new person. There have been some really great people and some that I could have lived without. One of the unique things about teaching English in Korea is that there is a never ending cycle of new teachers. There is also a never ending cycle of going away parties.

When you first arrive you feel like everyone has been here for ever and you are the only new person. Soon you realize that many of the people you thought were veterans may have only arrived a few weeks or even days before you. It's also very likely that you will attend a going away party within your first few weeks here. I went to my first going away party on my 3rd night in Korea. It was for a girl named Kat and some other guy who I don't remember. I went to several other going away parties within my first month in Korea. Sometimes it seems like every weekend there is someone celebrating there departure. In Gumi this is usually done at the Waegook Cook Bar (sometimes its planned by the bars owner without there knowledge...). Other people put a more personal touch to there departure parties. Kat's was at her favorite restaurant which was followed up by a trip to the Nori Bong(Singing Room). We sang and drank until the sun came up, it was a blast. Other friends have had there parties at there favorites bars and one friend had his at the local microbrewery/buffet,the Tomato Brau. One thing that is set in stone is that whenever there is a going away party this means that a few days or hours later we will get a new teacher in Gumi.

It's always fun to see who the newbies are. Usually they are here for a few weeks before you meet them but occasionally you get lucky enough to meet one on there first or second day. I stopped trying to meet new people a couple of months ago because I figured I already new enough people. This doesn't mean that I haven't met anyone new it just means I wasn't making any effort to do it. I have noticed that there are now a lot of people I don't know. I have seen several shifts in the atmosphere of the town I live in since I arrived. This is because most of the people who are here now were not here when I got here. It seems that this is a regular occurrence here and all the lifers (foreigners who actually live here permanently or for at least 3-4 years) don't even bother to meet people until they have been here at least 6 months as most of them don't stay. This is a unique place,everyone is in a constant state of transition and many people view there year in Korea as just a vacation after college or a year off before they start there next chapter in life.

I am not sure what I will do next but I do know that I have enjoyed my time here so far and I am looking forward to the rest of the going away parties and newbies I have yet to meet.

"and miles to go before I sleep and miles to go before I sleep."