Will I Starve to Death in Korea?

If you know me and what I eat, you know that I can be a picky eater. Don't get me wrong when I go to a restaurant I can always find something to eat off of the menu. There are many things I just don't like and I choose to avoid eating them. These are things like cake, ice cream, salad dressing (I know you are all scratching you heads because you didn't know there were people like me), seaweed and fish. I know what you are thinking, how can somebody survive in an Asian country and not like fish? This is something I worry about as well.

So I have decided I am going to teach myself to like seaweed and fish. There are many reasons behind this, first off so I don't offend people in Korea by telling them they are crazy that they like fish in the first place (it's like telling someone from Utah that you don't have to eat ice cream to survive). The second reason is, according to my roommate Catherine fish is very healthy and is good for your skin. Who would not want to be healthier and have better skin?

To understand why I don't like fish I have had to think back over my life and see where this all started. I think it was the first time I went to the ocean and a wave caught me off guard and I ended up swallowing a lot of gross, salty sea water. It was the worst taste I have ever remember tasting in my life. At this point I had never had any sea food in my life, but I had heard how good it was, so for my birthday I asked my parents if we could get sea food for my birthday. My dad was so excited so he found a good place for us to go and he helped me order some fish and shrimp. I remember being so excited about eating it I couldn't wait for the food to come out. When I took the bite of the fish (I don't remember what type it was) I wanted to throw up because all I could think of was the taste the ocean water left from when I was younger. I tried the shrimp as well and had the same reaction. That was when I decided I couldn't eat sea food.

Now don't get me wrong I have tried sea food since then, and Stacey has had me try many pieces of seaweed with different things to try and get me use to it, and yet I still can not eat it. I think if I keep trying there will come a day when my taste buds will get over the bad taste from the ocean and I will be able to eat fish and seaweed.

I know that fish is not the only thing they eat in Korea, I have tried some of their other dishes and I love them. I will have to write more about those in another post.

I guess if all else fails I can just say that I am part of the sharks club in Finding Nemo, I will tell them that "Fish are friends, not food." That should work, right?

Korean Dramas

I guess the theme this week is television. The first time I heard Stacey talk about a Korean drama I thought pass, because I am not a fan of dramas. If I watch TV it is a comedy (Psych, The Office, etc.) It wasn't until Stacey explained that they use the word drama in place of show, and that in fact the dramas she watched were funny.

The first drama Stacey had us watch was called You're Beautiful. To get us to watch it this is what Stacey said "So this girl who is trying to become a nun has a twin brother who wants to become a pop singer. One day his manager finds her and tells her that her brother had surgery on his eyes and they messed up and he can't close them anymore so they need her to pretend to be him until he comes back. The other 3 members don't know that she is pretending to be her brothers so it puts her in some funny positions."

When you hear a description like that how can you not want to watch it. It tuned into a nightly event to watch this drama. Jenny, Catherine, Stacey and I watched this drama every night for 16 nights. It was so much fun, and it was nice to know that most dramas only have about 16 episodes. It is amazing how much they can put in one episode. The other thing I like about them is they are clean and you don't have to worry about what you will see.

My favorite place to watch Kdramas are at http://www.dramafever.com/ If you decide to watch one here are a few that you might enjoy.

Boys Over Flowers - It is about 4 of the richest boys in Korea and how they rule their school until a new transfer student comes and isn't afraid of them. In the end she makes them all better men.

Coffee Prince - A rich boy who lives off his family money is forced to turn a run down coffee shop into a successful one in 3 months or he will be cut off from the family money. He also hires a girl, he thinks is a boy, to pretend to be his boyfriend to scare off the girls his mom sets him up with. It is very funny.

Iljame - This is a historical drama, Iljame is the Korean Robin Hood. This one is filled with amazing fighting scenes, and a lot of great acting. This one is a little more serious but it is also funny.

I hope that you give one of these dramas a chance. I do have to warn you though, once you start watching dramas you get hooked.

Korean Variety Shows

One of my guilty pleasures is watching Korean Variety Shows. I don't know what a good American show comparison would be to explain the KV shows. They are kind of a mix of our late night shows with reality shows, with a little bit of influence from the Japanese Game shows. The biggest difference is that you don't have to worry about any smut happening...at least in the ones I've seen. And, I hate to admit it, but I've seen quite a few.

Some of my favorites can be found on youtube. (Ah! The joy of youtube! It's almost up there with Google itself.)
Thanks For Waking Us Up -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCk-nWp_QDQ
Strong Heart -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DWZjoV_ztw
We Got Married -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AL65Qdb5UPo

Of course, it doesn't hurt that members of SS501 have participated in each of these shows. (Fangirl moment over now) Watching these shows has taught me a lot about Korean pop culture and Korean humor. You also get to know the famous celebrity hosts (people like Jay Leno).

Korean Variety shows are super entertaining and do things that I wouldn't see on American TV. For example, where would you see a group of celebrities getting interviewed in a sauna and randomly getting shot with water depending upon their answers (Happy Together)? On Thanks For Waking Us Up, the participants have to put up with being woken up in crazy ways and never knowing when it would happen. Somehow, I think that would be a lawsuit waiting to happen here, but it is entirely amusing to me.

So if you need a break from American reality, take a quick trip to youtube and enjoy the Korean variety...show that is.