When you ask a Korean their age...

When you ask a Korean their age, you will often times be a bit puzzled when I girl who (to you) appears to be 6 tells you that she is 7 or 8. 

In Korean culture, ages are determined a bit differently than in western cultures.  First, when a Korean child is born they are considered to be a year old.  This reasoning for this is that Koreans count the time that the child spent in the womb as one year of life.  The second thing that Koreans do that is different in regard to age is that everyone has the same birthday, New Year's Day (as of right now I do not know if this is on the New Year's Day of the sun calendar or New Year's Day of the lunar calendar- I will have to check that).  The reason for this is because Koreans want their people to have a good sense of community.  In order to prevent a more closeness among its society, everyone has the same birthday.

So, for example, if a Korean child was born on New Years Eve they would be 2 years old by New Years day because they are considered one year at birth and then one additional year at the start of the new year.

Gyeongju World Culture Expo

During my long 4-day weekend for the Chuseok holiday, I went with my friend Steph to the Gyeongju World Culture Expo since my director gave me two free tickets.

The expo is the first cultural fair in the world and there are many artistic events that went on throughout the day.  For a little overview of attractions at the expo, I wrote an article here: Gyeongju World Culture Expo

I posted pictures from the expo here: Gyeongju World Expo Slideshow

Weather

I've had several people ask me about how the weather is here so I thought I'd make a post to explain.

The weather would probably be comparable to maybe Kentucky and other "upper" southern state in the US.  It mostly just feels either hot or cold because of the humidity.  It felt very stuffy to me when I first got here (it has just finally cooled down to 60s this week).  You'll often have little drizzles of rain.  We do get snow here, but it is light and only lasts a couple days.  One trend is that Korean kids will only make snowmen from two snowballs rather than the typical 3 that you'll do in northern state of US and Canada.

You'll hear on the news of Japan and India having earthquakes, typhoons, and tsunamis.  None of those things occur here.  We may get some rain from a typhoon that goes through Japan or India but that's it -- no high winds or anything.

If you don't really know what a typhoon is, here's an article I wrote explaining: Hurricane or Typhoon: A Look at the Difference.

My New Favorite Treats: Kimbop and Shabu Shabu

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In the last week or so, I now have a new favorite treat: Kimbop.  To explain it simply, its like the Korean version of Japanese sushi because if you order it in a restaurant or buy one at the market that's what it looks like.  The picture of one I have here is one of the 80 cent ones from 7-Eleven.  And no -- it is not raw fish.  Actually, in Korea anything wrapped in seaweed like this is called kimbap (or gimbap, in some spellings), while anything wrapped in seaweed in Japan is called sushi.  You can have it filled with just about anything - veggies, beef, tuna, chicken, cheese, etc. All have rice and seaweed at least but there is always something else added.  And no, it is not by any means a "specialty" meal as it is in western cultures (in fact, they find it amusing that we look to it as being fancy - but wouldn't you if China thought cheeseburgers were "fancy"?).  It's what you eat here instead of sandwiches.  Yes, there are some sandwiches here (had a dollar burger from 7-Eleven the other day) but this is more common.

My next few favorite treat is Shabu Shabu.  I think it was originated in Japan, but there are many different variations of it now in all countries in Asia.  They place a big bowl in front of you and fill it with water and broth.  You can choose from beef or seafood as the main dish to add (we had beef) and then they give you a variety of lettuces, mushrooms, carrots, sprouts, etc. to cook in the mix with it.  To eat, you just grab the cooked pieces with chop sticks, dip it in some sauce if you wish, and enjoy!  In Korea, of course the sauces are more spicy and they give you a side of coleslaw and kimchi.  Many restaurants here have the Vietnamese version where you take the meat, veggies, etc. out of the pot and wrap it in a clear rice paper. Once you've eaten most all of the beef and veggies, the server will then come by and fill the bowl with a little more broth and then add rice, seaweed, and an egg to finish up the meal.

Cost of Living

After living here for a month now, I have now received my first paycheck.  Along with this, I also got my bills for the month.  To give an idea what the cost of living is here (and to further explain why so many foreigners teach ESL here) here are my monthly costs in Korean won:

Gas = 4,700 KRW
Electric = 8,930 KRW
Garbage = 27,000 KRW
Pension = 67,500 KRW (which I will get back once contract is completed)
Health insurance = 45,070 KRW (the country has a public plan)
Cell phone = 13,220 KRW (with a phone given to me by the school)
Internet = 9,900 KRW

I know you're asking "But what is the conversion rate of KRW to USD?"  This is probably the easiest currency to convert.  Wherever you see a coma just replace it with a decimal point and that's the cost in USD.  So, my electric for the month was $8.93.

What about rent?  Well, the school pays for that.

Chuseok - Korea's Thanksgiving

This past weekend was Korea's Thanksgiving, also known as Chuseok.  The holiday follows the lunar calendar, so the date (according to the sun calendar) is variable each year.  Most Koreans travel throughout the peninsula to visit family, so many businesses are closed and cities are not as "busy" as they normally are.  I certainly knew it was Thanksgiving in this country when I went to HomePlus (the British version of Walmart) and you could barely move.

Here's an article I wrote about the customs and origin of Chuseok:

Celebrating Korea's Thanksgiving

Pictures from Chuseok Weekend Round 2

Ice Box

Rice Fields