Category Archives: Korean Differences

You Know What They Say…

2011_12_10 Afternoon Kintex Expo and 2nd Work Party Korea House, SeoulDec 10, 2011Photos: 83

We Bee’s woke up and had plans to go to the Korea International Exhibition Center, also known as the KINTEX Convention Center, to check out our friends Scuba Diving booth along with some others at the 9th Annual Gyeonggi Tourism Expo. Not quite knowing what to expect from the Expo, we still were excited for a new adventure!

The drive was a little under an hour from our place in Dongducheon. The time really just flew by and the next thing we knew, we were already coming up the Ilsan exit.

Driving into Ilsan we could see this massive building structure. We could make out the letter on the building pretty easily and were fairly positive that this was the place we were looking for. WOW! This place is just ginormous and has a really crazy wave-like shape to it.

The KINTEX Center opened in 2005 and spans 224,795 m. There are five exhibition halls that span 53.975 m. plus just this year they expanded into a second exhibition center that provides the building with 54.508 m of extra exhibition space! The KINTEX website says, “that with the combined exhibition areas of 100,000 m from the first and second Centers, KINTEX is Asia’s 5th largest and world’s 34th largest exhibition and convention center. Go big or go home, huh?

When entered into the building we were still just amazing at the size of the Center. There were tons of booths set up as far as the eye could see. The first booth that we saw was a facial stand. Surrounding booths were make-up, hair, skin care, etc. Pretty cool!

We walked around the expo with Mr. B’s friend and checked out different countries like Egypt, India, Japan, etc. Each booth had something different to offer, whether it was informational or free gifts, all geared towards getting you to go visit and travel their country.

We were handed all sorts of materials. We looked at a bunch of different booths on Scuba diving, drank various teas, mashed soybeans, Facebook LIKED Korea tourism’s site, ate rice cakes, sipped Gyeonggi Rice Makgolli, bought Yakgwa (Korean Fried Honey Cookies), and snapped some fun pictures. We had a blast!

The Center is located at Daehwa-dong Ilsan-seoug, Goyang-si, Gyeonggi-do, Korea. For more information on upcoming events at the KINTEX Convention Center visit www.kintex.com, plus there is an English site too!

The fun had to end. We were on a time crunch to get back to our place to get changed and catch the train to Seoul. Tonight was Mrs. B’s second work party just with the ladies that she works directly with. The reservations were at the Korea House for a traditional Korean dinner and show.

Well, we missed the first train by minutes because of a wardrobe malfunction. We caught the second train twenty minutes later and were off. We transferred from line one to line four. We got off at Chungmuro Station Exit 3. The restaurant was incredibly easy to find! As soon as you come up the steps from exit 3 look to your right and you will see a gas station and the Korea House sign right behind it up on a building. Bam! You are there!

We had a wonderful time at the Restaurant with all of the dinner guests. We learned some new Korean foods and how to serve and prepare them as well. We also really enjoyed the show afterwards. The music was beautiful and the cast had incredible singing voices. (We included some photos of the cast in the attached album).

The address for the Korea House is, Seoul-si Jung-gu Pildong 2(i)-ga 80-2. To make reservations or find out more information about the restaurant or shows you can check out the website here.

Korea House Show Guide

Korea House Tickets

After the show we decided to grab some drinks at place nearby in the Myeong-Dong area at Bier Halle. We had so much fun just laughing, drinking, and eating. We thought it was very comical that Mrs. B’s co-workers were using chopsticks to eat nachos. You know what they say… only in Korea! Ha-ha!

It was getting late and we still had to take the train back to Dongducheon. We all left and ventured back home.

What did you do on your Saturday?

Namdaemun Market

2011_11_26 Namdaemun Market

Today was a bit overcast and gloomy, however that wasn’t going to stop me from getting out and about. It’s Saturday! Our weekends have been pretty jam-packed lately. I only have a few more days to get my act together before needing to ship out family and friends Christmas gifts.

I woke up, met my friend, and we headed to Namdaemun. This was the first time that either of us had the opportunity to check the place out, so we were both really excited for a new adventure!

For those of you who may not know what Namdaemun is, it’s Korea’s largest and oldest wholesale marketplace that spans over 10 acres. It’s located near downtown Seoul and is filled with over 1,000 vendors, stalls, and retailers. This place has everything! You can find adult/children clothing, shoes, material, cook-ware, fruits, vegetables, flowers, toys, jewelry, purses, cosmetic items, the list is just endless.

Namdaemun is a great place to work your bargaining techniques! After moving to Korean we learned very quickly that Koreans want and expect you to bargain for a good price. We scored some pretty awesomely priced items after working our skills. Word to the wise, don’t give up.. if you find something you like and the price just isn’t right after trying to bargain, walk away. We were really lucky in finding exactly what we were after at various places for better prices.

There are plenty of places to eat within the marketplace. We actually stumbled into an alley-way that had many options. We opted for soup to warm us up. Many of the restaurant owners would try to get us to come in and eat what they were serving by saying, “We have English and picture menu”. HA-HA! What a riot! We both settled on 육개장 yook-gae-jang, Korean spicy beef soup. Yum! Major emphasis on the spice part as well. Of course the meal was served with a few traditional sides and bop (rice).

We wondered our way around the marketplace for hours. It was starting to get dark so we both decided to call it a day and catch the train back home. We had a blast! I think you will too if you get a chance to check the marketplace out.

Happy shopping!

Directions to Namdaemun by Subway: We took line 1 to Chang-dong where we transfered to line 4 and got off at Hoehyeon Station. Follow the signs to exit 5 – Namdaemun Market it will bring you out right at an entrance into the market area. Simple!

Don’t Knock It Until You Try It – Sunday

Last night we went to dinner with Mr. B’s Scuba instructor and his wife. We wanted to take them out to eat because we couldn’t say thank you enough for helping to find Mr. B’s scuba-cam. They are such a fun couple! I also have to tell you that they introduced us to a Thai restaurant called Sawatdee. Ooooh man, we may have a new favorite!

Sawatdee is a pretty tiny place, but don’t let the size of the restaurant fool you! This place packs some really large portioned flavorful dishes. We all ended up getting drunken noodles. Mr. B had opted for beef while I opted for tofu. It was outstanding! We really liked that you could adjust the spice factor of your dish when you ordered. If you learn anything about us when it comes to food, it’s that we LOVE spice! We both ordered a level (2) it was perfect-o! So yes, you can say we were in food heaven, I swear this dish was laced with crack because we couldn’t stop eating it. Bonus, we got to wash it all down with a Thai-tea. Of all the times I had eaten Thai food, I never had a Thai-tea. Again, I can’t think of any other word to use but outstanding!

After dinner we were all pretty beat. HA-HA! You know I had a hard day walking around eating and shopping all day. The temperature took a major dip so we were ready to get back to the hotel and get cozy for the night.

Sunday morning came bright and early for Mr. B., 6AM to be exact! What a ~~crazy~~ dedicated man! I however slept until 8AM. I was so happy to see that the sun was out and shining this early.

I got up, went down to the coffee shop in the hotel, grabbed a bowl of special K with berries and a banana and rushed back to our room. I had a date! A Skype date with one of my best friends from childhood. I always look forward to being able to Skype with my family and friends. It really makes me feel that we are only a few states away instead of 6798 or so miles.

(Hope she doesn’t kill me!)

After Skyping I headed back to the Songtan Marketplace area. Brrrr!!! When did South Korea get so cold?! I feel like we went from summer straight into winter! My teeth were a bit chattery! Okay, okay, I may be doing a bit of over-exaggerating… but it was still COLD!

Just looking at this picture makes me feel cold! Brrr!

At this point you should already know that I had totally mapped out where I was going to be grabbing lunch. MmmmHmmmm… Mexican at a restaurant called La Casa Del Mexicano.

Plus I heard it was actually authentic Mexican! WOOT-WOOT! No Korean fusion. Killing time walking around, Mr. B called me and let me know that his testing was over for the day. He asked me if I had grabbed lunch yet. I hadn’t, however Mr. B really is not a fan of Mexican. I have to let it be known that he wanted to join me and was going to actually eat Mexican! This was a monumental moment, of course I snapped some pictures of our lunch as proof. Lets hope that they hold the cilantro in their dishes.

We just love us some good salsa and chips!

Final verdict – We BOTH enjoyed our lunch at La Casa Del Mexicano! Add it to the list of places we would return back to in the area.

After lunch we walked around a bit, stumbled upon a new coffee shop called Camel Expresso. Of course Mr. B couldn’t pass up a nice hot caramel macchiato. I am glad we went in because it gave me an excuse to check the place out. The interior was pretty modern and sleek. The staff was very serious about the product they were selling and offered a nice variety of hot tea and coffee drinks.

BA-HA-HA! Caught an addict in the act

Snapped a menu shot for you, sorry about the post being all iphone picture quality.

We finished the rest of our Sunday purchasing some Christmas toys for a local orphanage in Dongducheon. Eventually we got on the road and headed back home for the upcoming work week.

Snapped a picture of us cheese-doodles on our way home! Mr. B with his driving game face : )

Remember November = Kimchi making month for most Korean families. We were behind this trunk hauling a heaping mound of the record breaking cabbage. Entertainment for at least 5 seconds.

YEY! Almost home again!!

Ugh! I jinks us! We hit the typical traffic in Uijeongbu. Although it wasn’t terrible and we were still getting home close to dinner time. Dinner?! Eeek! We didn’t even stop to think about what to make for dinner.

Dinner…yes, hmmm… What to make? What to eat? Well, we decided that we would get home unpack, visit with Miss Bean cat and walk to the new pizza shop that opened up near our place. Secretly this was an item on my Korean list that I wanted to do while living in Korea. I know what you are thinking! Don’t judge me. Take a look at these pictures below! Who wouldn’t be curious about the Korean take on a pizza. Hey, don’t knock it until you try it!

See the little twisty bread bite crust? It totally fooled us! We thought it was cheese! Wrong, it was filled with sweet potato. Note the yellow specks? Not yellow peppers, it’s corn! Now you know what we mean when we say Korean fusion.

We have to admit, even with the odd choices of toppings, we really liked the pizza and will order there again. We took our pizza to go because the shop is fairly small and only has two tables inside. The atmosphere reminded us of Papa-Johns or something like that located Stateside. They even wrap the pizza package up with red ribbon for easier carryout back to your place, gosh they are ever so thoughtful here. They tape sprinkle Parmesan cheese and a garlic sauce on top of the box. Oh, and it gets better! They serve little containers with sweet pickles! Who knew pickles went with pizza? Whatever, it works and we loved it!

Pictures from inside 59 Pizza located in Dongducheon

Kimchi Kickoff

November kicks off Korea’s kimchi making (kimjang) season. Families stock pile heaping amounts of cabbage to make a large supply of kimchi to get through the winter months.

These cabbage heads are HUGE! I’m not sure if Korean soil is pumped full of super-duper growing nutrients? They seriously could break some world records here!

Tonight I came home and the elevator doors opened on our floor to this…

🙂 Our Korean neighbors are certainly not wasting anytime getting their kimchi making on!

Luckily, we Bees are recipients of three different types of Kimchi today from some friends! Thank you, thank you! We are so spoiled with amazing friendships we have made along the way of our Korean adventures.

And yes, we triple ziplock bagged each…(if you have any familiarity with Kimchi there is no need for us to explain)

Have you ever tried kimchi? Do you prefer a “new” kimchi or a more fermented kimchi?

Pepero Day

First, Happy Veterans Day to all of our heroes out there! In the US today, we celebrate you and the freedom that have given us each and every day. We cannot express our thanks enough to you.

On the other side of the world 11-11 is a South Korean holiday known as Pepero Day!

The company Lotte manufactures these sweet thin biscuit stick that are dipped in chocolate. As years continue on other game players tap into the consumer market with flavors such as, almond chocolate, strawberry, blueberry, nude, lemon, cheese, and then the ginormous Pepero that is the literally the length of one of our arms!!

What exactly does the Pepero stand for? Great question! After asking a few close Korean friends we are told that the Pepero symbolizes friendship. They said that children come home from school with 30 or more boxes sometimes on Pepero day. They give them to their friends and teachers too.

What’s the cost of these sweet treats? Well, this really depends on the type of Pepero that sparks your interest. The original Pepero runs about 800 to 1000 won that’s about 75 cents to 1 US Dollar.

Of course the one that really grabs our American attention is the gigantic Pepero! Sadly, based on feedback, we are told these LOOK very exciting but taste like a cardboard covered in chocolate… Hmmm… I guess we could always do some research. Of course research based purely for all of our followers

Final verdicts in…Mr. B loves the almond chocolate Pepero while Mrs. B is not a fan of chocolate…I know! WEIRD, right?!

Would you try Pepero sticks? If you have, what is your favorite?

Happy Chuseok!

2011_09_10 Chuseok Weekend

Not sure what Chuseok is? That’s okay we Bee’s were culturally unaware ourselves until we moved and were quickly immersed in South Korea. Isn’t that funny how culturally unaware we are as Americans? Typically we take on the attitude of well this is America and anyone moving here should immediately embrace everything American because that is just the way it is. Sad, but we all know it is very true. We are rude sometimes and believe that if you don’t speak fluent English there is something wrong with you.

Living in a different country really opens your eyes and makes you step outside of your teeny tiny American bubble. We talk about this almost daily. We talk about how where we have come from in our small hometown people are so close minded and afraid of anything out of the norm. Culturally Asia really offers things to us that we would love to instill in our children one day. The importance of trust, acceptance, kindness, and just how important family really is.

Unfortunately, if and when we do move back to the states we will also have to teach our children the importance of not being able to trust to much because people will take advantage of you, that you cannot always accept kindness as a real kind act like taking a piece of candy from a stranger, and that family can sometimes turn ugly and be ruled by a fickle jealous bone due to money.

So back to our statement of what Chuseok is. Chuseok is known as one of the biggest holidays celebrated in Korea. Often Chuseok is known as the Korean Thanksgiving and get this, it last THREE DAYS! This year Chuseok falls on September 11th through the 13th. Yes, another thing the Korean’s know how to do! Chuseok is a time when Koreans travel back to their hometowns and celebrate together, share family stories, give thanks to their ancestors, and of course eat a delicious spread of food!

Yes Chuseok is known as the Korean Thanksgiving but there isn’t a turkey or pumpkin pie like the Americanized version. Koreans celebrate this holiday with Songpyeon. Songpyeon is a half-moon shaped rice cake that are filled with various things like sweet bean, chestnuts, even sesame seeds. Something really treasured and valued is when the Korean families are together making these treats. I guess very similar to when Americans get together and prepare the turkey and such.

You can totally forget trying to travel anywhere in Korea during this holiday! The roads are very chaotic…even more so! ha-ha! If you are trying to go somewhere, it is best to call in advance and make sure that the place is even open. Much of Korea is basically closed down on Chuseok (Including Mrs.B’s work). Well let it be said.. we warned you!

During Chuseok families will visit the tombs of their ancestors. We have tombs right behind our apartment. We catch ourselves almost daily looking outside at the beauty of the green mountain side. Today and the next few days we will see Korean families on the mountainside removing weeds and trimming plans that may have grown around the site. korean’s also drink or offer food to their ancestors while they visit.

We snapped a few pictures of our very own Italian version of Chuseok. Just kidding, we had a dinner with friends that have become our Korean family and celebrated each others company. What a great night!

Holiday Weekend Getaway, Dr. Fish, Custom Tailored Suits, and Amazing Coffee!

2011_07_04 Osan 4th of July Trip

“You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism”. Erma Bombeck

We are truly thankful that we are free to enjoy family and close friends picnics, watch our children do flips in the pool, take time to spend a day at the park and conclude the day of festivity by watching the dark night sky light up with a beautiful display of fireworks. This is all because of brave men and women who believe in in and love America so much that they are willing to make the ultimate sacrifice in the name of our individual FREEDOM. While we are enjoying our freedom these individuals are protecting us all in the name of FREEDOM. We hope you take a few moments to reflect on the meaning of the 4^th of July and what it means to you…

With that being said, we hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend this 4th of July. We sure did! We ended up heading down to Songtan where the Air-force base located. Mr. B had his mind made up that he wanted to purchase a custom tailored sport coat from a place called V.I.P Tailor that we had heard and seen amazing suits from.

Mr. B ended up picking out a beige linen material that looked really sharp! The quality was really impressive! HA-HA! I even ended up breaking out of my non-spending money shell and got measured for a suit jacket with matching skirt and pants.

We highly recommend the V.I.P Tailor to anyone looking for a suit or business attire. Due to the weather our photos and video are a bit grainy because we decided to only carry our iPhones. We did capture a short video of the owner Song Ji Yun showing customers the difference in spotting quality hand stitched and pressed clothing from that of bad quality and glued and pressed ones (will post and share later). Once we learned we were pretty impressed and now are always looking to see what the tailors are selling.

Now we must tell you that Miss Yuns personality is a bit much at times but she does know her stuff and her customers are always repeating and referring others.

After we accomplished ordering the suit, we had the entire weekend to do whatever without a set schedule or plan and that really felt nice!

As we said the weather wasn’t the most ideal but we made the most of it. The rain showers went and came all weekend so at times we didn’t need to carry around an umbrella and we did get lucky enough to go check out Asan Bay. The bay is located about 20 minutes away and has a nice little boardwalk that runs parallel with the water. When we say boardwalk we don’t mean the boardwalk like at the beach loaded with all sorts of vendors and eateries. There are some vendors and there are plenty of seafood eateries to pick from but it’s on a much sporadic level. We decided after snapping some pictures and walking around that we would like to come back and eat at the one restaurant.

So next we have to tell you about our Dr. Fish experience! We have reviewed a few blogs that suggested restaurants and things to see and do while in Songtan and a few talked about Dr. Fish. Dr. Fish is the

Garra Rufa fish. The fish is a small species of freshwater fish that was originally found in the North and Central Middle East (we were told most commonly, Turkey).

Dr. Fish is commonly used for treatment of skin patients with problems such as psoriasis and eczema. What the Doctor Fish does is gentle nibbles and sucks on dead skin leaving soft skin underneath (these fish only nibble on the dead skin). As the fish nibble away at your dead skin it releases an enzyme secretion and Dithranol which helps skin regenerate faster. So basically it’s like a natural exfoliate.

Once we found the place and got there we all had thoughts of, “What do you mean the fish eat your skin? Are you serious? Does it hurt?!” soon enough our questions would all be answered.

First you scrub and rinse your little toesies off, roll up your pant legs and find a spot to sit around a hot tub shaped soaking pool (that is filled with cool water and the little fishies)…That’s it!!!

Next put your feet in the water and relax…You might giggle, scream, tense up, it all depends on how you react.

Mr. B laughed at first and said it felt like teeny bubbles, I thought it was a little weird for the first minute and sort of didn’t know what to think, but then it was quite relaxing (after getting past the fish sucking fast to my feet). Doris didn’t like the fish on the bottom of her feet and would say “get out of there!” and move her feet slightly. Hector was the same as me and didn’t quite know how to react.

We took some video with pictures to share our crazy experience. Again, we apologize for the quality.

The Nail Shop is called Escape Spa; the phone number is 031 – 665 – 9751. The staff members speak excellent English and are extremely helpful and professional. We only paid 6,000 Won per person for the Dr. Fish treatment (typically lasting 10-15 minutes) however our toesies were in the tub for a good half hour.

We ended up trying out the Meat House restaurant. Another suggested restaurant on numerous bloggers places to try. We all really enjoyed it! Priced at 12,000 won per person, all you could grill and eat meat, Korean foods, and choices of beer, wine, cider, and soda. What wasn’t to like?! We all agreed we would go back. However next time we found an authentic German restaurant that we will give a shot.

We want to end this blog post on a sweeter note. We found a quaint coffee cafe located in the tucked away streets of the Ville area in Songtan. The cafe is called From in. The space boast a rugged and cool feel with unfinished cement floors, walls, and celling.

The menu is hung high on a chalk-board with tons of drink choices that could appeal to anyone stopping in. Plus From in features delectable mini dessert pies, mini cheesecakes, and tiramisu.

Seating is a hodgepodge of cute wooden and wicker tables and chairs with pillows for extra comfort. When we were there for the first time at night the sliding glass doors were propped open to let in the cooled summer night air. The music that filled the air was a perfect fit with cafe mixed songs like unchained melody, fly me to the moon, and Ricky don’t lose that number.

Mr. B the coffee aficionado ordered a shot of espresso, and a caramel macchiato. He said that they were done perfectly and would go back. Of course we did end up going back the very next day. We much rather would give business to this little mom and pop shop than Starbucks any day. I ordered a hot vanilla Chai tea and I’d rank it the best one I have ever had.

We got to know the owners daughter after chatting with her a bit. She spoke fluent English and Korean. She told us that she is an American citizen but was only born there and lived there until the age of two. Her father is American and her mother is Korean.

She was so accommodating! She even told us how she made the Chai taste so good! We got a card and told her we wanted to give her a shout out on our blog. Please see below. (We will have to snap better pictures next time because the ones we have on our phones doesn’t give it justice)

Costco in South Korea

2011_06_16 Costco

Woo-hoo! Yes, Costco is actually in South Korea as well! The address of the Costco that we went to is located at: 1312 Eaekseok-dong, Ilsan dong-gu, goyang city, gyeonggi-do Korea.

Of course there are definitely some differences when it comes down to product and prices. The membership price in the states is $100.00 but here it is only 30,000 won each or 35,000 won for the “gold household” membership. Once again Korea hands down has the better set-up!

Overall we felt like we were back at home taking our normal trip down the road to buy goodies at Costco. The experience was the same with the employees giving out free samples, large carts, huge warehouse feel, bulk sized products, and tons of cars in the parking decks.

We took a few pictures with our mini cam so the picture quality isn’t as nice but you will get the gist from what we have. We also took some video clips and hope to get that put together when we have some time and uploaded to the blog.

We had to laugh because every corner we took Korean’s were looking to see what the two American’s were purchasing. On the other hand, we were looking to see what all the Korean’s bought when going to Costco as well. Surprisingly it was candies like Hershey’s chocolates, frozen food items, skin care items, clothing, etc.

We bought some items we were used to from back home but mostly things that we have come to love from Korea. Our bill totaled 190,000 Won. We really did not buy much as you can see from our cart picture and they didn’t take our US Costco membership American Express Card. We found out that they will only take the Samsung Credit Card. So if you are planning a trip within Korea make sure that you have plenty of Won for your purchases.

We ended the trip with a tasty supreme pizza exactly like the ones that Costco serves back in the states. Yum-O!

Rubbish, Suregi, Trash…Whatever You Choose To Call It

2011_06_11 Recycling System

We have learned a great deal while living in South Korea on the customs and culture. Most of the things we have learned continually have us posing the question “why do we not do that in the US?” Waste management and the recycling initiative here is yet another subject that blows our minds. We are told by numerous friends when first arriving to the country that the waste management system was puzzling (so we don’t feel as bad).

Unlike the US, South Korea is required to recycle by law. I think that most people really want to recycle in the US but they make it rather difficult to do so. Here you can recycle just about anything! Plastic, paper, glass, metal, they take it all!

We snapped some pictures to show you just how rigorous the system is here. There are different containers where you have to sort out your stuff. These containers consist on plastics where you can dispose bottles, containers, wrappers, etc. Glass, where you can dispose of green, brown, clear, and other colors. Aluminum, where you can dispose canned goods, canned drinks, spray cans, butane glass bottles, stainless steel, iron wires or tools. Paper cartons where you dispose milk, juice, boxed liquor cartons. Yogurt plastic bottles (YES, they are huge here! sold everywhere). There is a place for your general food waste and styrofoam. Another area is cardboard boxes and paper such as newspapers, flyers, magazines, books, notebooks. They even include areas where you dispose of fluorescent light bulbs that are unbroken, batteries, clothing, or plastic bags. So what do you do if you have a large item such as old furniture or toys or appliances no longer wanted or working… you put it in the bulk items section. Bulk items are anything that is larger than the general container waste bags. However, we are told that if you want to dispose of such items you need to obtain a bulk waste sticker from the local city office with the description of the item and put the sticker on that item. We are aware that each city as well as even down to the apartment complex you live in have different set up but still similar in overall concept.

You cannot use a hefty garbage bag, set your bag outside, and call it a day. No, you must purchase the specially colored garbage bags at supermarkets or convenience stores in your neighborhood. There are about six or seven different sizes of bags; 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, and 100 liters and the price per bag will vary according to the size.

While traveling around various parts of Korea we have now even started to see signs that specifically say “Garbage Watchers”. These people watch others taking out the garbage to ensure that there is efficiency and respect of the system being followed. Trust us when we say they will not hesitate to grumble at you if you are doing things incorrectly.

Recycling is taken so seriously by Koreans that even the restaurants and businesses recycle. Well, there isn’t much of a choice. If you are found breaking the law you will be slapped with a huge fine. The food waste goes to farmers for feed and fertilizer.

So why is there such seriousness around the waste management and recycling in Korea? Well, think about it… this place is incredibly mass populated and the landfills are filling up rather quick. We were told that the system really started to become inforced around the year 1990.

We would love to hear comments or others views on this.

Fools in the rain

2011_04_26 Our backyard in Korea

Today is a very overcast, rainy day in Dongducheon. Staring out the living room window I had a thought, we recently Skyped with a 3rd /4th grade class located in North Carolina that has been learning about Korea and following our blog site. They requested that we take them on a tour of the inside of our place and also wanted to ask us different questions about our experiences so far. There is a major time difference so we had to Skype at night allowing us to catch them during their regular class-time. We were not able to show the class what our “backyard” looks like due to the time of night.

We snapped some pictures of our “backyard” and learned a bit of more of traditional Korean culture. As you can see in the pictures we have three Korean burial mound sites and a large garden.

In Korea, it is very common to bury people above the ground, cover the body with rocks/dirt, and then grow grass over the body in a semi-circle mound shape (as captured in the pictures). It is said that in traditional Korean burial culture, the size of a grave mound increases proportionately to the social status of its owner. The ones that are located on the hillside in our “backyard” are a nice size but in doing research we came across what royalty mounds look like… HUGE!

The graves in Korean cemeteries are curved to reflect the belief in reincarnation. Basically, it’s like the Earth is pregnant with those entombed and is almost ready to give birth to them once more.

We learned that there is a bit of a difference in comparing graves to that of the US. Koreans traditionally buried the dead under mounds standing upright in coffins made from six planks of wood. These wooden planks represent the four cardinal points on the compass plus a plank for heaven and the other for earth. The corpses either face south or toward some important spiritual part of the landscape such as mountains because these are said to be homes of the spirits of the land and sky.

We also snapped a picture of part of the garden that is off to the right side when we look out our windows. We have been watching this garden get bigger and bigger every day. The Korean family that is planting is working at it daily and continues to expand into new earth. We can’t wait to see what grows in it!

Another major difference in Korea we recently discussed on a walk is just how many gardens there are. We love the fact that Koreans really utilize and take advantage of any grassy area, field, or strip of dirt that can be used for growing something. We are not kidding when we say they are everywhere!