Category Archives: South Korea

One year ago…

As the sun rises half a world away in the West (Eastern Daylight Time zone), Jennifer and I recall that one year ago we left the Cayman Islands.

It’s not lost on us that we were fortunate to leave somewhat on our own terms as I was three days away from being in violation of the Immigration Policy at the time, she landed a job, and that was that.

Given the ever-changing climate when it comes to expats in the territory, we were not confident that we would have been safe to stay much longer and at least we were getting out with an opportunity, albeit physically halfway around the world (and in almost every other way light years) from those things that make up the kind of life we enjoy.

We left our home, our friends and de facto family and almost none of the advice and things we were told about Korea applied to our situation. Even the information we received about life under the umbrella of working for an international school was complete. Maybe that’s just how it is.

But we continue to make the most of the situation; I did land an amazing job in my field that pays well and both of us are growing and adding to our lives and gaining valuable professional experience. We are challenged possibly more than others who have never tried to make a go of it this far from home, and if nothing else, the stories we can now tell will surely entertain.

Oh, and we added the sweetest little Korean dog in the world to our brood.

So we got that going for us…

Oh shut up and keep it to yourself…

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First of all, there’s no magical light at the end of this post. This doesn’t end with some flowery recipe for happiness or gem of appreciation and learning. It’s out-and-out bitching.

Whenever I feel like getting something that’s been bothering me off my chest, I always here this voice saying “Oh shut up and keep it to yourself.” Because who really cares what you’re feeling and what troubles you’re going through. Certainly nobody on Facebook. This even happens to some degree when there’s good news to share. It just feels like nobody really gives a damn and you ask yourself, “Why should they?”

I realize this could come from low self esteem and negative self image but even typing those words now seems like pandering and begging for pity.

So, again, “Oh shut up and keep it to yourself.”

I’m almost constantly in a state of envy and jealousy over what I perceive my Facebook friends have going on, and with whom they’re doing it. It always seems better than the life we have. I’ve contemplated dozens of times to get off the damn thing and can’t bring myself to do it. It’s one of the only things connecting me to my friends B.K. (Before Korea). Because most of the people that are my ‘friends’ here, clearly aren’t.

I think we thought Korea would be a fun, interesting, exciting adventure that would be great with new friends and wonderful moments and fond memories of doing exotic things. And wondering what fun stuff we’re going to do and where we are going to go next with a new group of similar-minded people.

So far the only thing we wonder is when is this place going to stop sucking so bad and when are we going to start liking it.

Coffeesurfing

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Y’all know what a big fan of illy coffee I am…

A few months ago, the illy Coffeesurfer, aka world renowned photographer Gabriele Galimberti, came to Seoul and I was excited to share my story with him & have him snap my picture in one of my oases of small pleasures.

Now you can read all about it here.

It was a pretty cool experience just to talk to someone who’s couchsurfed his way around the world multiple times and even made his way to Cayman as part of his ‘Delicatessen with love’ series. His work is impressive, but I was more impressed with his stories of how he’s married his love of travel with this love of photography. Check out his work here.

Safe travels, my friend. The next time we meet, the illy’s on me.

Airplanes

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Hayley Williams once asked “Can we pretend that airplanes in the night sky are like shooting stars? I could really use a wish right now, wish right now, wish right now…”

And then B.O.B. and Eminem chimed in with some stuff, but for this post I think I’ll just stick with the airplane thing.

For as long as I can remember, seeing airplanes take off has been a thing for me. It represents excitement, adventure… and for some reason that I’m trying to figure out, the greener grass.

No matter how good I feel I have it (and trust me, all things considered I have it really good right now) seeing an airplane flying over the Han River last night on the bus home from work got to me like it always does.

Even when we lived in the Caribbean, with the sun, warmth, and all that stuff, I felt that way.

I love the idea of travel, but in practice it’s not so glam. Probably like most people, I hate traveling on planes nowadays. It’s always a hassle more than an adventure, but I was still envious of those folks as they made their way to cruising altitude last night. And I wondered if the sun had set enough for me to mistake the jet for a shooting star…

Go To Your Happy Place

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What happens when someone says “Go to your happy place” and you don’t know what that is?

I no longer have that problem. I got it now.

Last night as I was falling asleep not only was I anxious as usual, but I heard myself saying that above the inner cacophony.

It was then that I figured it out, and it says something that I was able to remember it this morning.

My happy place is a Sunday morning sitting outside in the warmth, gazing over the Caribbean Sea while sipping an iced coffee out of a colored plastic floral pint glass as Jennifer reads a book on the lounge chair to my left and Rooney lies there under the chair eyeing the iguanas down below. I know that we’ll have to shower and get dressed for brunch with our friends in an hour and we’re both looking forward to this little weekly ritual of chuckles and cuisine. I breathe deeply and can taste the lingering flavor of Irish cream on my tongue before taking another swig of the drink, being careful so as not to chug it too fast and have an ice cube or three try to escape their fate.

That’s my happy place. At least for now.

Bring on the Benedicts.

Korea: Defined

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Friday I saw an older gentleman by the bus stop in Myeongdong finish a cigarette, flick it onto the street right next to the rubbish bin, hock up a loogie (also onto the street), and then put a surgical mask on. Obviously he didn’t want to breathe in any of that nasty ‘Yellow Dust’ from China.

Today whilst out with the dog, I saw a pair of boys walking on the path by our flat. Both of them were drinking from these little bottles of ‘vitamin drinks.’ One of them finished his up and threw it off to the side. It landed on where the grass will hopefully be in a few weeks. The bin was apparently too far away.

These are two examples of why I’ve perfected my balancing-the-plastic-coffee-cup-on-top-of-the-rubbish-heap move.

When in Rome…

So what do you like to do?

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Earlier today I was speaking to someone about the stresses of living in Korea and I mentioned that I was waking up in the middle of the night every night at around the same time.

In the course of the conversation, they asked “What do you like to do to relax?”

It’s funny because this question has come up a few times recently.

My answer was that although I like watching movies and tv (sometimes really bad sci-fi) I really enjoy relaxing with a cup of coffee or dinner or brunch with good friends. Just being social and chatting about random (and sometimes not so random) stuff.

The activities themselves are made (and made so much more meaningful) when shared with people you love and people who love you.

This is what it comes back to for me (and us) in Korea.

We haven’t had many of those experiences and because of that, I think we feel incomplete.

On a slightly related note, I searched the internet for the issue and ran across this item from Holistic By Nature that describes the Chinese Medicine ‘Meridian Clock,’ and what it allegedly means when you wake up at the same time every night.

Pretty accurate, no?

Changes In Longitude, Changes In Attitude or OMG, REALLY?!

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Yeah, so this apparently happened the other night:

Squat poppin…

That’s just not right, man. I don’t care where you live or what so-called ‘cultural differences’ exist… Taking a dump in public is absolutely unacceptable.

Especially, as it turns out, there is another adjuma trying to run interference by standing in front of you, trying to block peoples’ view..

I mean, seriously, I know it happens that one can’t control their bowels all the time, but really. You can’t be that far from home if you’re walking on a path surrounded by apartment buildings. And it’s freezing cold.

The scariest part of this entire thing is that upon further reflection, it’s not all that surprising.

Of Michelin Stars & Western Food In Korea

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This is fascinating… A post appeared recently on a Facebook group called Seoul Eats:

Start of a thread on the Seoul Eats Facebook group

The short answer:

Michelin stars quick answer

But a more complete answer eventually popped up:

The best answer to the original post.

And then this excellent observation appeared:

Accurate observation on the fine dining situation in Korea.

While we’re not typically in the market for Fine Dining experiences, this one comment is very rateable to almost every aspect of eating in South Korea.

The thread is continuing and is very interesting, not from a Western versus Korean food angle (which it may deteriorate into), but as Chris says, Western food Koreanized. And that’s a HUGE distinction.

There are oases of food done correctly, and we try to spend the most of our time at those places when we’ve got the craving. One place we went to recently was Brooklyn – The Burger Joint, where the burgers and chili cheese fries were not over sweetened and tasted just right.

Brooklyn Works Burger @ Brooklyn – The Burger Joint

There was also this phenomenal pizza place in Gangnam called Brick Oven New York Pizzeria that did a great job on a pesto chicken, feta, and spinach thin crust pie a few weeks ago.

Pesto chicken, feta, and spinach pizza from NYBOP

We also very much enjoy Korean BBQ, spending one or two nights a week at our ‘local’ down the street.

: Jenn says ‘No more’ at the BBQ

: At Sorrae. the Korean BBQ joint in Suji-gu.

And we really like some of the Korean street food, like hotteok, tteokbokki, and pretty much everything else on this page.

The problem is that there is Koreanized Western food masquerading as Western food and that, my friends, is quite the shock to more than just the palate; and that is the crux of the issue pointed out by my new friend Chris.

Back in the swing of things

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This post is very overdue in coming. Apologies. Between an active holiday season and slow jumping off into 2014, I’ve been neglecting my writings.

Not that this is really any kind of earth shattering stuff, but some of you have decided that it’s somewhat amusing and/or entertaining.

Quick catchup:

Went to Bali for Xmas and New Year’s. First time we’ve traveled to a ‘foreign country’ during fall/winter since Paris in 2005. Was in Cayman for six out of seven ‘festive seasons’ and I don’t count that as a foreign country. We had a good time that keeps getting better as time goes by.

Meaning that while we were there there were some challenges that made it tough for us to reconcile our expectations with the reality of what we were experiencing. It was like this:

Know what I mean?

In any event, we got back to Seoul in one piece and have had a kind of shaky start to the new year. A few funds have been delayed in getting to us, and hopefully all of that will be rectified in short order and we’ll be able to move forward in a few ways we’ve been counting on.

We went to a place in Pangyo this past weekend called Avenue France. For the record, it is completely (and not unexpectedly) inappropriately named as it is neither anything like an Avenue or anything like France.

At least the “Paradise Pie” a la mode at Tartine was good.

After we devoured half of it, we realized it should be warm and scraped the remaining ice cream off the top and had the gal nuke it for 90 seconds… Then it was great.

I finished off the weekend this morning with the Super Bowl. Quite a change from last year.

But whaddya gonna do?

In the meantime, time marches on and the continued quest for satisfaction is underway…

Ben Maxwell

Website of Ben Maxwell.

Category Archives: South Korea

One year ago…

Oh shut up and keep it to yourself…

Coffeesurfing

Airplanes

Go To Your Happy Place

Korea: Defined

So what do you like to do?

Changes In Longitude, Changes In Attitude or OMG, REALLY?!

Of Michelin Stars & Western Food In Korea

Back in the swing of things