A Dutchman in Korea

Even though I kind of don't feel like blogging right now, I think I should share the story of yesterday evening while it's still fresh in my memory.
So, kids, settle down and listen to your uncle 리차드.

Yesterday, I decided to go out looking for a post office to finally send a box of Sheet Masks to my friend Cleo that I had promised to send her like a month ago. Upon arrival though, it seemed like the post office was either closed because it was a saturday, or closed forever. Frustrated (as I'd have to run around all day (although it was already really late, I got out of bed at like 15:00 and didn't feel like going out until 16:30) with that heavy box in my backpack) I decided to make the best of it and just walk around a little, looking for places to take some decent pictures. I accidentally ended up walking into Book-Off, a Japanese discount store that sells Japanese manga, movies, cd's and books, where there happened to be an awesome -50% sale on artbooks, anime magazines and other manga/anime related stuff (but not DVDs, unfortunately). My mood quickly brightened as I browsed through all the awesome stuff for hours (Book-Off does that to me, for some reason. Even in Japan I always spent at least one full hour there) and ended up with a decent pile of stuff, which I then cut down to half because I couldn't possibly bring all that stuff with me in my suitcase, not even if I did leave behind all my clothes.
I ended up buying this:

It's a Hare Nochi Guu Fanbook, some crazy-ass book about the World Cup, a Limited Edition of Spawn #10 (IN JAPANESE!), X-Men: Extinction Agenda (IN JAPANESE!) and a DVD of Voices of a Distant Star (By Matoko Shinkai, IN JAPANESE! WITH ONLY KOREAN SUBTITLES!) Oh, and I bought another copy of Megami Magazine because it had some Ichigo Mashimaro posters and it was only 1,000 won.
Total Cost: ₩ 15,000 (about €10)

So anyway, by the time I came out of there I was kind of hungry, and I still had to walk all the way back to Hongdae because GaHui told me there was a restaurant there where I could eat MY NOW OFFICIALLY FAVORITE FOOD OF ALL FOODS: 제육덮밥! Buuuut halfway through my way to Hongdae I gave up; it was too cold and I'd have to walk at least 15 minutes away from my guesthouse and then back again if I wanted to eat at that restaurant. So I decided to save myself the frostbite and just eat in Sinchon. And I just so happened to be walking past a Chinese restaurant that had a giant banner with ₩5,500!!! on it. And seeing a "CHEAP FOOD!!" sign is pretty much all I need to step in somewhere.
Unfortunately, although the CHEAP FOOD!! banner had a bunch of pictures on it, the menu did not, so I was at a loss to order anything. Even though I could probably slowly make my way through the menu to find something that sounded vaguely familiar, I did what I usually do, which is go back to speaking nothing but English and waving my arms around like an idiot.

Luckily, there were some other guests in the restaurant, and one of them shot to my aid.
After he ordered from me, he asked if I'd like to sit with him and his colleagues, who were all from the Music Academy. Most of them were vocalists in indie bands, one guy was on the Korean Idol; KPop Star, and the guy who invited me turned out to be their producer, who had produced many other less-well-known bands before. I was really surprised by this weird-ass turn of events, of course, but decided to just go with the flow for once in my life, so when they asked if I wanted to drink with them, I didn't turn the offer down.
Now, you should know I am well known all over Korea for my awesome drinking ability, and that night was no exception. Koreans really respect people who can down a few bottles of soju, and they were surprised I knew about the Korean drinking etiquette (which was, coincidentally, one of the first things I read up on before I came to Korea because I was planning to do a lot of drinking).
The producer told me one of the bands would rerecord some vocals this evening, and asked if I wanted to come with them to the recording studio.
"Hell yes, sir!"

So that's how I ended up in a recording studio with someone who just got kicked out of Kpop star when there were only 15 contestants left and whose banners I've passed a few times on my way to Sinchon (Check him out here and here), a girl who'll be on TvN's Super Diva soon, three indie bands (some guys were already at the studio) and the record producer guy. The most awesome of the vocalists signed a cd for me, and I could watch him and another guy record the vocals for their new single. It was kind of surreal, really, that I ended up there just because I couldn't order Chinese food..
Anyway, on to the pictures, right?

And some videos:

After the recording, I had some more soju with the producer and singer Kang Joo Won (Some of his covers are on jewtube), before I headed home, very pleased about my day.

Hey guys,
I know it's been a while since I posted anything, and actually there's a bunch of stuff I want to post because some really cool stuff has happened recently, but as you might know, this is my last month in Korea, so I'm trying to enjoy everything as much as possible which leaves little time for sitting down to type here.

However, I've been wanting to post this, so I will :3
It's a compilation from various sources, with some of my own added in.

You know you've been in Korea for too long when...

You no longer come to a complete stop at the stop sign and you never yield the right-of-way. <Koreans drive like fucking madmen!>

You enjoy slurping your noodles as loudly as you can.

You walk down the street holding hands with your buddy. <Because when you hold hands with a girl, everyone stares at you, but when you're giving your buddy a soapy massage in jimjilbang no one bats an eye.>

You ask your wife to stand outside with a baseball bat to protect your public parking space in front of the house.

You look forward to winter in your off post housing so you can store beer and frozen foods in your bedroom or bathroom.

You can fall asleep on the city bus and wake up at your stop.

<Your favorite beverage is carbonated milk.> <FUCK YES MILKISS!>

You can shovel in an entire bowl of rice and half a course of bulgogi into your mouth before you swallow.

You can make a left turn looking only to the right.

You think that Korea's greatest natural resource is good looking young women. < >Implying it isn't >

You only lock your door if there are lots of "Mi-gooks" around. <I've seriously only started feeling conscious about my valuables around other foreigners..can't trust those fuckers, man.>

People ask if you want to go by car and you respond, "No, I'm in a hurry."

You realize that it is safer to jaywalk than use a pedestrian crosswalk.

You wear white socks with a dark suit.

<You start saying "Aigo, chuwa" when stepping outside, even before actually registering if it is indeed cold.>

You crawl back into your house to get your coat, rather than take your shoes back off or walk on the floor with shoes on. <Did this like 4 times. ONE MUST NOT DESECRATE THE LIVING ROOM FLOOR!>

Someone says breakfast, you think of "fish, soup and seaweed." <In my case, ramyun.>

You'd rather sit on the floor than in a chair.

You start believing that you can blend into a large crowd of Koreans. <Even though you stick out above them at least 10cm>

You let your eyes be drawn towards any female whose hair isn't black.

Someone says "mansion" and you think of a two bedroom flat in a 400-unit apartment building.

You mutter "Aigo" when lifting a heavy objects. <Or when sitting down, getting up, entering your house, and pretty much whenever. I will never stop doing this.>

You suck in air through your teeth before saying "no" to anything.

You start growling and spitting inside your mouth to add emphasis to what you are about to say.

<The first thing you think about after you've had a few glasses to drink is "I want to go to noreabang!">

You always wave your left hand to signal you are going to cut in front of another driver without looking first.

You select shoes based on how easily you can get them on and off. <I wish I had done this before coming here.>

You answer "Nhe" even when speaking English to non-Korean friends.

You carry chopsticks in your back pocket. <I carry them in my backpack.>

You don't freak out when the salad arrives with octopus legs still wiggling on top of it.

You are not embarrassed when old ladies are standing in a bus while you are sitting down.

You like OB or Cass better than <Bavaria or Franziskaner>.

It no longer bothers you when an Ajumma bumps you out of the way. <I still rage every time. Especially when they cut in front of me in line FFFF~>

You eat shrimp chips and seaweed with beer.

You know the mystery of the missing 4th floor. <Protip: it has to do with language and superstition.>

You know how to properly pronounce Hyundai. <Protip: when I get back to the Netherlands I will never say it wrong again and none of you will have any idea what I'm talking about.>

A motorbike drives up the sidewalk toward you, and instead of jumping aside, you refuse to move out of the way on principle.

<You wait in front of the red light even when it's the middle of the night and there is no traffic whatsoever, just because 'it feels right'.>

You go to a "Western" restaurant and can't seem to use a knife and fork.

The loudspeakers on the trucks driving in your neighborhood don't wake you up. <Y'ALL WANNA BUY SOME FLOWERS? NO? WHAT ABOUT VEGETABLES?>

You stop being surprised after huffing and puffing up a mountain and running into a young woman in lipstick and heels, or being passed by a 90-year old who isn't breathing nearly as heavily as you are. <Every fucking time.>

A roll of toilet paper at the dinner table no longer phases you. <I'll start doing this at my home. Shit's useful.>

You hate Japan for no apparent reason.

You move back to your home country and go through DVD bang withdrawal.

You start wearing a surgical mask in winter.

You make a midnight munchies run for shrimp chips and pre-packaged kimbap triangles. <God I will miss the kimbap ;_;>

You know which stall in Dongdaemun will give you the best deal on a Prada knock-off.

While standing in a crowded line at a government office, you ask yourself, "What would an ajumma do?" - and then you do it.

You don't mind paying more for coffee than dinner.

<You're not wondering what that pair of scissors is doing on your table in the barbecue restaurant.>

Every time you meet anyone who is older than you you shake their hand with two hands.

Your wife reaches her 40s and you expect her to be permed and wear unmatched clothes and anklets.

You think 10PM is the normal hour for kids any age, be it 8 or 18 to get home from school or tutoring.

<You're unfazed when you see 12 year old kids playing FIFA Online in a PC Bang at 5 AM.>

You start cursing when for some reason any shop is closed before midnight. <Lazy fuckers.>

You think it's odd that the bus driver doesn't play the radio out loud back in your country.

You are talking on the phone or on Skype with someone back home, and keep asking “Are you there???”, because they aren’t saying “mmmm” every five seconds. <YOBOSEYO? YOBOSEYO?>

You know now that “meeting up at 8pm” really means “8.30″. <Korean thirty minutes. Add another thirty when meeting a girl.>

You don't even react when you see an ahjusshi with his hand deep into his fly when he is still fifteen feet from the Men's Room door.

<You don't feel unsafe at all leaving your bag open, your wallet and expensive camera sticking out.>

You associate Itaewon with crime and danger and would never even think of going there alone.

You use so many Korean words in your regular conversation that your friends and family back home have to request a translation guide for your blog. <Sorry guys!>

The day before the Lunar Newyear, one of my front teeth suddenly started hurting like crazy. And I mean like motherfucking living-in-a-mental-hospital-and-eating-own-skin crazy, not Richard-is-overreacting-as-always crazy. Anything hurt, drinking, eating, even touching it slightly with my tongue. For 2 days I survived by downing a buttload of painkillers every day, mixing Korean ones and Dutch ones in the hopes that I'd discover which one of them could actually help me hurt less. Unfortunately, it was useless, the pain was so strong that I couldn't even eat on the third day. Then I still had to wait a day to see the dentist though, because everything was closed because of the Lunar Newyear.

Going to the dentist in Korea is pretty much the same as going to one in Europe, with some small differences.
The first thing to note is that most doctors and dentists in Seoul (and even Dr. Kim in Wando, so I suppose this is also true in the countryside) speak at least rudimentary English. So it wasn't really necessary for me to drag GaHui along every time something was wrong with me, but it made me feel a lot safer nonetheless.
Unlike Korean doctors, the dentists pretty much employ the same methods as in the Netherlands. Korean doctors tend to rely solely on (large amounts of) pills, whatever problem you have. Sore throat? Cough syrup is for little children, take these 6 pills three times a day for three days and feel better. Infection? Salves are for fags, take these 8 pills three times a day for three days and feel better. Rash? Well, you get the idea.
Anyway, the dentists luckily keep with the same horrible sounding drills and other implements, although I did notice they're not very heavy on the saliva suction, which kind of sucks (no paradox intended).
A second point is that the dentist assistants are FUCKING HOT. No exceptions. I don't know if they hire these girls solely based on looks, but goddayum.
Thirdly, treatment rooms are not separated. That's right, you can enjoy the horrifying gurgling of the patient next to you who's getting a tooth pulled while you're waiting for the dentist to get to you. To be honest, it's not THAT bad, but it certainly isn't very comforting.
Oh, also, unlike Dutch dentists, there's basically no waiting to go to a Korean dentist. Same with the doctors. Just walk in whenever you're in the neighborhood and they will find the time to help you. Which is pretty amazing, really, when you think about it.
One last interesting thing about dentistry in Korea (a sentence I certainly never thought I would ever write) is that Koreans do not have regular checkups. Like...at all. They only go to see the dentist when they have a problem (or to get their teeth bleached), which makes their dentists very problem-orientated, which in turn has made them work extremely efficiently, which is nice.
Ohyeah, and compared to the Netherlands THAT SHIT BE CHEAP, BRO!

So yeah, overall, the experience really wasn't all that bad. The dentist explained most things in English, and apart from the fact that he didn't know the word for root canal ( that's fucking right ;_; ) I was never confused about what was going on. During the procedure he would let me know what he was doing, and asked several times if I was feeling okay. But yeah, I was feeling okay because I was numbed to all hell.
When I heard I needed root canal surgery because my Dutch dentist fucked up and placed a filling up against my tooth's nerve, I was pretty scared. You keep hearing about how fucking horrible root canal treatment is, and that it's the most painful procedure there is.
Well, I can tell you it was probably the least painful dentist visit I've ever had. Even filling a tooth hurt more than this, especially compared to the pain I was having before the surgery. The only bad thing is that the dentist only told me my tooth would die, become brittle and turn fucking brown AFTER she performed the operation. That was not very cool, especially considering I asked her like 4 times before she started. Then again, I think she didn't quite understand my meaning, and GaHui in turn forgot to translate those things for me when the dentist explained the procedure to her.
Now it's 2 days after the main surgery, and I can hardly feel my tooth anymore. I'm not confident enough yet to eat normally with it, but the pain is pretty much gone. Tomorrow I go back for the last treatment which is filling the hole in my gums through which the nerve was pulled and fixing up my tooth.
Total cost: ₩185,000 (€125,-)

The day I had the main surgery was a bit confusing to me.
As I said, I had only heard on that day that my tooth would die and turn to shit, and I was pretty devastated about that. Mostly I was feeling angry that I had lost my tooth and also because this happened while I was in Korea.
On the other hand, we had a pretty awesome night planned. We were going to see 10cm and three other great Korean bands perform at my first concert in Korea and my first concert in...what...maybe 8 months?

While we were walking to the venue, we passed the GAP store, which had just opened that day. As an Opening Event, there was a lucky draw where you scratched a card and if your number matched a number on a list, you could get free clothes. GaHuis card came up empty, but I won a ₩50,000 sweater, which of course I told GaHui to pick for herself because I can't wear Korean sized clothes (plus GAP is not really my style). Surprisingly, it looks great on her. Then again, almost anything looks great on her. You could put that girl in a garbage bag an...I digress. Anyway, when we walked out, GaHui said "Wow, you're so lucky!"
Yeah...so lucky...I'd rather have a tooth than a free sweater, hotel in a place where I will never visit and a ₩30,000 card...
That's what I was thinking at that moment, but by now I've gotten drunk as fuck the past 3 days and I'm feeling much more at ease about it. Sure, it sucks hard, but at least the pain is gone and people live with this kind of shit all the time, right?
Now I just hope I can get some money to get a crown before this tooth starts turning creepy...

Anyway, as I said we went to a concert that evening, at the Rolling Hall near Sangsu (Hongdae area).
The bands performing were 구남과여라이딩스텔라 (Goonamguayeoridingstella), 눈뜨고코베인 (Nuntteugo Cobain), 10cm and 허클베리핀 (Huckleberry Finn). Of all of those, I only knew 10cm who gained a lot of popularity after releasing their hit song "아메리카노" (Americano) which appears to be an ode to the coffee drink. The other bands I checked out on youtube before buying the tickets, and they sounded really good, so I decided to go for it. I wasn't disappointed at all; all the bands performed extremely well and there really wasn't even one that I disliked.
One thing that was less than awesome was the venue though. Space is the number one commodity in a city as crowded as Seoul, so the hall was quite small. You even had to get your ticket at a tent positioned on the street outside, and the wardrobe was a closet full of trash bags in which you put your clothes.

We ended up arriving just in time for the first act. I had expected I'd be able to pretty much walk to the front of the stage, considering my height and experience at metal concerts (which are a lot more..physical..than indie concerts) but damn do those Koreans know how to pack a room tight. I've never been one to rudely push past people unless there's at least SOME room on the other side, so we ended up somewhere halfway the room, which wasn't all that bad really since the place was so small. Plus, the biggest pro about going to a concert in Korea is that pretty much everyone is shorter than you. Fuck yeah.

The first act was a dude on a guitar who wasn't on the billing, BUT EVEN HE WAS AWESOME.
He played a kind of mushy romantic acoustic music which was really good to start the evening with.

Second was 구남과여라이딩스텔라, an indie rock band. Their songs were extremely interesting and kind of...avant garde?

After that it was the turn for my favorite band of the evening, 눈뜨고코베인, which means something like "Get your nose cut with your eyes open", which GaHui told me is a Korean saying regarding unsafe areas or something..like, even when you have your eyes open you will still GET CUT UP HOMIE. Anyway, they were totally awesome. Not only does the band feature a hot chick on keyboard, they also have an extremely charismatic front man who looks Japanese. Plus their songs are really lively. Check it out~

Then it was time for the main event, 10cm. For some reason, a lot of people had decided to ONLY show up for 10cm, so after Cobain finished a giant rush suddenly ensued, nearly crushing small GaHui. The hall, which had been half empty for the past 3 acts, was suddenly packed full of people and cameras pushing and shoving. 10cm was definitely good. They knew how to make the audience laugh (and scream like crazy fangirls) and their voices sounded great live. It also helped that I knew most of the songs they played, so I could sing along a little. I wasn't really blown away, but it was definitely very enjoyable. On top of that, they also gave away a signed guitar to one lucky member of the audience because it was Rolling Hall's 17th anniversary!

After all the 10cm fans stormed back out into the street, 허클베리핀 closed the evening with a really energetic performance that completely made up for their somewhat plain repertoire.

The night was still young though, and we decided to have a drink at a Jazz café I ran into while aimlessly wandering around the streets one day. Lucky for us, there was a band playing the moment we came in and I felt like a total boss sitting in the classy looking sitting area drinking my Dutch beer.

So in the end, I couldn't help but go home happily. Even though some bad shit happened, I saw some great bands and had some beers with a great girl, and I'm still in one of the greatest countries in the world.

Happy Lunar New Year everyone!

Today is the first day of the Year of the Dragon in the Lunar calendar. Lunar New Year is a bigger deal in Korea than our 'regular' new year, but it's not celebrated very loudly. In fact, the holiday mostly consists of seeing relatives that live far away and eating certain kinds of traditional food, so there wasn't that much going on in Seoul.
Actually, Seoul was creepily empty the past few days. Because no one actually lives in Seoul (everyone just like works/studies/shops there) all the people who are usually here are now visiting their family in different parts of the country. It was so weird to see the otherwise so busy subways and 6 lane streets almost completely bare.

There was some stuff going on to entertain the foreigners and the few people left behind though, and we played a traditional new years game called Yut Nori at the guesthouse.

새해 복 많이 받으세요!

I got bored today so I grabbed my camera and just started walking.
Took a bunch of good pics that I will soon be uploading here, ate at a freaky little small place where no one spoke English, and then found a used book store that also sold cd's. Ended up digging around there for about 2 hours, finding lots of awesome stuff but the prices were a little skewed. I mean who the fuck would pay 5,000 won for a Video CD of Super Mario Bros in Korean? So I ended up buying just Yobi the Five Tailed Fox and Nobody Knows, plus a promotional-only-not-for-sale AVP VCD. Because there's no way I will ever be able to buy that anywhere else ever again. The Starcraft and the headphones were bought on Gmarket, together with a sweater that is so fucking Kpop I'm almost afraid to wear it. The patches are from an Army Store I ran into during my random walking around.
Seoul still holds some interesting surprises.