Choo-Choo-Chuseok Pt. I

Alright scrotes!

I'm gonna split this entry into a couple of parts cos I've dramatised our journey to Busan to such a degree that the post is rather long. I don't know about yous but personally I like my internet reading to be nice short and snappy so I don't want to be providing you guys with posts that are a size I wouldn't read myself. So, on with the show.

Last time I introduced you to the wonders of Soju. So appetising was my description of this nectar of the gods (buddha's?) that one of our faithful followers actually splashed out 9 blips on a bottle back home. The Hop House saw you coming Crybn, its under a euro for a bottle here. So this time I'm going to enlighten you about a little Korean holiday we enjoyed called Chuseok. Pronounce it Chew-sock, but don't try to pronounce it while chewing a sock.

Anyway, bad jokes aside, Chuseok is kind of like a Korean thanksgiving. It's a harvest/pay respects to the dead type of holiday. This year it fell on September 12th. What this meant was that only 2 weeks into working over here we had a 3 day holiday which amounted to 5 days off in a row including the weekend. On Chuseok most Koreans go back to their family home. They eat, drink and be merry as do all on a national holiday. However, apparently its not a nice time for the majority of women as they have to do all the cooking etc., not too dissimilar from many Irish homes at Christmas I'd wager. Chuseok is also a time for remembering the dead. Ancestors tombs are visited, respects are paid, the area surrounding the tomb is given a nice once over. Now most Koreans do the whole visiting the tomb, having the big feast etc. BUT when I asked my sixth graders what they did for Chuseok there were those among them who simply replied 'I played computer games.' So ya never know, maybe the old traditions are giving way to the smothering embrace of technology- which they are absolutely nuts about actually-smartphones abound everywhere ya go and I see kids as young as 5 or 6 with Iphones. Craziness.

Back to Chuseok however and our experience of it here.

We went to a place called Busan.

We drank for 5 days.

That is all.

Ah no, only pulling ye by the short and curlies. That is what we did pretty much but I'll fill in some of the gory details.

So, myself and Mairead's journey began one fine Friday evening as we met up at approximately 5 p.m. after school. Quite foolishly we had booked a train for 5.50 p.m leaving Daegu and headed for Busan. We had never travelled to the station before and we may have been slightly optimistic with our hopes of how close it was.

We boarded the subway at approximately 5.15/5.20 or so and instantly began doubting our abilities of making the train on time. The journey was a tense one. Doubts were expressed. Blame was silently attributed to the other party by both parties, no accusations made but accusations felt in the piercing stares that we alternately exchanged with each other. Nerves began to get the better of me and when I realised my passport was in my luggage and that I needed it to prove my ticket reservation I began to despair. On a crowded, stuffy subway I made a rather fumbling, vain and embarrassing attempt to extract the passport from the inner regions of my mini suit case. But alas to no avail. Like a true strong Irish woman however, when I had lost all hope and was just about ready to leave the case behind and head for home, Mairead stepped in and calmly retrieved my passport. The old korean women beside us gave me a look that said 'he is not a man', rather astute of them if I do say so myself. Crisis averted for now.

We arrived at Dongdaegu subway station and began to run. It was only at this point that we observed that neither of us actually knew the location of Dongdaegu train station. We desperately hoped it would just appear in front of us whatever direction we galloped towards. An attempt to get the information out of some locals turned into a meeting with a couple of slack jawed gawkers, so we kept on truckin along. We began to follow a sign for the train station, it happened to point to the right where there was a road and an elevator. For some reason we believed the elevator to be the gateway to the station. It promptly landed us right back down in the subway station we had emerged from moments earlier. It began to feel like someone didn't want us in Busan. Nerves and relations were certainly frayed by this point. I know I considered packing it in and not bothering but Mairead was insistent that we do our darndest to make the 5.50 train we had already shelled out 15,000 won each for. We started to really leg it, and began to sweat like a couple of pigs on a roasting spit. As we entered the station I clocked us at 5.46.

Now, we had made it but there was still one minor concern. We had only a ticket reservation sheet with us but no tickets. As we stumbled into the main area of the station our hearts sank, our heads wildly turned this way and that in the hope of seeing a ticket booth. All we could see were electronic machines to get tickets from. My last ounce of hope of making the train evaporated so Mairead once again took the lead and tried to get tickets from the machine. To no avail. We decided on just jumping on the train with the reservation. We made it down to our platform feeling very uncomfortable and tired. It musta been 5.48 maybe even 5.49 now. I don't know what possessed me at this point but I had the sudden impulse to give printing the tickets from the machine one last try. I dumped the bags with a flabbergasted Mairead and set off into the distance up the escalator. I pelted towards the e-machine for tickets and entered my reservation number with a flourish; 'By George I've got it' I exclaimed (*editors note: some phrases/dialogue may have been exaggerated for dramatic purposes). But today of course was not a day when things went right. After successfully entering the reservation number, it asked for a password. A fucking password? What fucking password? The website never gave me a fucking password for fuck sake!!?!?!? That is how I felt right there. I gave the machine a light punch and ran back to the platform, the train had arrived and people were embarking. I couldn't see Mairead. I looked along the platform in a panic and eventually heard the light cry of 'Mark! Mark!' Ah, there she was. So I took my luggage from the poor struggling maiden and we entered an economy class carriage. Like any true Irish folk abroad we were using their public transport with no tickets to show.

We stood in between carriages sheepishly, dripping sweat, just hoping no one would ask for tickets.

10 minutes in a Korean woman in KTX uniform (KTX is the train we got- Korean speed train- makes journeys incredibly short around the country- its whopper!) asked us for tickets. I promptly produced my reservation, my passport and explained our harrowing tale as best I could to her. "That's ok" she said and off she went. Travelling back we were never asked to show tickets and my friend told me there are signs in the station that say 'we trust you', so there ya go. Halfway through the journey we got seats and it was finally plain sailing to Busan. We arrived within 45 minutes.

Well thats it for now, stay tuned for 'Chuseok pt. II: What Happened in Busan', also entitled 'What Ned did'.

Peace scrotes!

"Allow me to introduce myself"

This is Soju.

It is an alcoholic beverage.

This will be the first thing I inform people of back home about Korea.

Maybe its an Irish thing or maybe its because this is about as close as I've come to being exposed to something thats actually uniquely Korean. Since the start of orientation, the pleasures of Soju have been sampled many many times and so I thought it appropriate to let the folks back home find out what they're missing. So without further ado; a brief introduction to Soju.


Since I'm a lazy bastard and I really couldn't have put it better or more succintly myself, I'll let the wonderful wisdom of Wikipedia take the lead here. According to wikipedia:

"Soju is a distilled beverage native to Korea. Its taste is comparable to vodka, though often slightly sweeter due to sugars added in the manufacturing process, and more commonly consumed neat.
Most brands of soju are made in South Korea. Though it is traditionally made from rice, most modern producers of soju use supplements or even replace rice with other starches, such as potatoes, wheat, barley, sweet potatoes, or tapioca.

Soju is clear in colour and typically varies in alcohol content from about 18.5% to about 45% alcohol by volume (ABV), with 20% ABV being most common. It is widely consumed, in part, because of its relatively low price in Korea. A typical 300mL bottle of soju costs the consumer 1,000 to 3,000 South Korean Won in South Korea (roughly $1 to $3 United States Dollars). In the USA, it tends to cost substantially more – $6 or more."

That pretty much sums it up folks. Its a lighter, sweeter vodka. Myself and anyone else I've drank it with have been sticking to the 20% stuff, it seems to be the most common and its dirt cheap- less than a euro for a 300ml bottle. In fact, Myself and Mairead usually split at least a bottle between us every night. An increasingly necessary habit due to the stress of teaching elementary school kids. But shop talk is for another time! On with the Soju!

Here are some photos of our wonderful model Mairead with the Soju in her apartment:

Aw, isn't she lovely!!

But beware, because over indulgence can easily cause a night that began as above to end as below:

(Photo courtesy of Emilio Bryer II)
......it doesn't take a genius to see that too much Soju is bad mojo. Ya see, because of the sweetness and lower alcohol level, you can really knock back the stuff. Its easy enough to knock back straight but add even a dash of coke, Hot 6 (red bull substitute) or tropicana and you'll really start to fly through em. As if that wasn't bad enough, a lotta bars sell reasonably priced pitchers of flavoured Soju which look a little like these

and which really go down a treat. One definite positive thats come from the whole Soju experience so far is not a trace of a hangover to be seen and fingers crossed it'll stay that way for the next 11 months!

Now, I haven't drank with any Koreans really since my very first night here but Mairead and other people have with workmates etc. and there is a bit of an etiquette with Soju so ya gotta be careful if you're swinging with the natives. Firstly, you never NEVER pour your own drink. This I found intensely annoying as many people at orientation wanted it enforced even when there were no Koreans but the bar staff around. I guess some people saw it as respectful, I stomached it for a short while then usually said fuck it and poured me own. But with Koreans, it ain't done. The upside to this is, they constantly fill up your glass once its empty, its considered rude not to and much of the time they will bear the brunt of the bill, particularly workmates, or so I've heard tell! So if you're looking to get shitfaced and not pay a cent, hope to stumble upon some natives. In fact I do have vague recollections of having full bottles of beer and Soju shoved into my hand at a karaoke bar in Jeonju where we had orientation by this very friendly young Korean man....perhaps a little TOO friendly, but c'est la vie.

Now as well as not pouring your own, when someone else pours for you (particularly an elder) you should hold the glass up with both your hands. When pouring for someone (especially an elder- Koreans have mad respect for elders or so we're told-although I never see them offered seats on the subway when its full except for me and my mate Emilio however, so you'd wonder), anyway I digress....what was I saying. Ah, Koreans two hands, they're mad for it, especially when giving/receiving drinks and gifts and who knows what else eh? So apparently you rest it in your left palm and hold it with your right hand....but I dunno, I think they forgive foreigners generally if they get it wrong. Oh and although some of us quite like the mixers and the fruity sojus, Koreans rarely mix it, just drinking straight shots. Me and Mairead got a bit of a dirty look when we mixed coke with our Soju at a restaurant- drinking shots of it with meals is the done thing ya see, but Maireads a fiend for an auld mixer and sure I won't say no either! What was worse was they'd brought the Soju out in this mad fancy bottle with a giant Ice cube embedded into it to keep the Soju cool. Then us ignant waygooks (korean for foreigner) come in dunking it into our glasses of coke. Fuck it, tasted scrumptious!

So yeah, I think thats pretty much it. Just had to keep the lads informed on the booze situ over here. Oh yeah, a bit of history on it- The Mongols (thats Bills lot) brought it here in the 13th century so its as old as Davy and then some.

Hope y'all enjoyed and that some of yis might someday be visiting for a Soju or two.

Gom Be!

......thats 'Chee-urs' in Korean.

Peace.