Category Archives: Korea

Psy’s ‘Gentleman’ Lampoons Korean Men and Confucianism (+video)

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psy-gentleman

Psy is a Korean singer. His songs and videos are meant for Korea as they are cultural critiques on the society. He’s been critiquing and lampooning Korean society and celebrities since 2001 when he was fined by the South Korean gov’t for “inappropriate content” on his debut album. He’s been controversial in Korea similar to Eminem in the States. Psy’s only international fame came from (arguably mainly the video of) Gangnam Style.

Psy’s new Korean song and video, “Gentleman”, appears to be a critique of the male-dominated Confucian society that exists in South Korea today. As a Westerner you probably understand what the male-dominated part means, but the Confucian might be new. Basically Confucianism as practiced in Korea (no it’s not a religion) culturally requires a strict adherence to obeying your elders. Even a 1 year difference requires more formal language. In the famous lyric “Oppa Gangnam-style”, “oppa” is the term used by a woman referring to any male slightly older than her.

In the beginning of “Gentleman”, notice Psy’s entourage – all old men. Why not sexy women? Because old men are funny? Well kinda, but there’s more to it. The old men look like they could be butlers, which makes since in Western society (think Alfred from Batman). But in Korea, you will never see an older man acting in an inferior position to a younger person. This scene alone will make Koreans awkwardly laugh seeing old men carrying clothes for the clearly younger Psy. Huge cultural faux-pas.

The opening scene also sets the stage for the mindset of the rest of the video. The “gentlemen” are the older men (or men in general) in Korean society. They are rude and inconsiderate towards others because they are men and older, aka in a male-dominated Confucian society (watch this video humorously explaining sexism in Korea).

Now, for those of you unfamiliar with Korean culture, no, obviously men don’t pull the chairs out from women and give them the stink-fist in libraries. And that’s the point Psy is making. What’s so different from not letting women smoke in public, talking down to people younger than you, not waiting in lines, pushing to be first on or off an elevator, and all of the humorous incivilities in the video? They’re all incivil and rude.

As a Westerner living in Korea, I appreciate Psy’s efforts to change the course of his society through humor and music. I won’t argue his talents as a musician, singer, or dancer but I will commend him on his willingness to take chances to make change through ridiculous humor.

Psy is dead. Long live Psy.

2010 Year in Review (video)

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Never said I wasn’t lucky. Here’s a short review of some of the things I did, places I visited, and people I hung out with in 2010. This video was inspired by Jdre‘s 2010 Year in Review. (no offense, Jdre)

From Snowboarding near Vale, Colorado at Veckman’s wedding, to Mexico, Tokyo, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, and Cambodia. I’m a lucky son-of-a-gun. Check out the video below.

The song is Little Secrets by Passion Pit

You can buy this song here – http://amzn.to/fDliBn
and the album here – http://amzn.to/eW0Hzb

Fall Colors in Naejangsan National Park

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Korea’s breathtaking beauty can sometimes sneak up on a foreigner. The people of Korea however, sometimes have the beauty of their country down to a science. Naejangsan National Park just north of Gwangju is well-known throughout Korea for its vast expanse of trails lined with Japanese maple trees. These maples put on a display of shades – reds, oranges, yellows, and burgundies – every Autumn, and Koreans know exactly when to take in this annual ritual.

The weekend of November 6-7 was not a festival – it was simply the best weekend to see Naejangsan in all its glory. Considering that Korea is a country only as big as Indiana, yet containing more people than all of California and Indiana combined, that more than 70% of people live in apartments, and that there are only so many places to go outside of one’s apartment, you’ll should believe the next statement. On Saturday, more than 80,000 people visited Naejangsan.

As Warren so deftly put it, “Americans watch football on the weekends; Koreans go to mountains.”

That’s twice as many people as can attend a sold-out Boston Red Sox game. Warren and I drove to Naejangsan at the peak time, and ended up parking in Parking Lot 4 out of 5, which was more than 2 km away from the entrance of the park. It was seemingly absurd how many tour buses from Seoul, Busan, and Gwangju we saw in the parking lots of this National Park. I repeat, this was not a festival. This was not an event. There were no celebrity appearances. The celebrities were the leaves of the trees. The stages were two Buddhist hermitages, and two temples.

So, if you come to Korea in the Fall and want to experience a unique facet of the Korean culture, then ask somebody the best time to go to Naejangsan. If it’s a weekend in the Fall (probably November), then go, and experience the masses. But if you prefer a more exclusive experience, then visit Naejangsan in the Winter after a snowfall. Either way, Naejangsan is worth a visit.

For more photos check out my Flickr album.

Eating Our Way Through Korea (video)

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One of the highlights of traveling to Korea is getting the chance to eat authentic versions of the variety of delicious Korean cuisines. One of my best buddies from America, Jack, visited me last week in Korea and much of his experience revolved around what would eaten next (interspersed with a lot of hiking).

I plan to do a more thorough post expounding upon some of the must-try Korean dishes in the future. For this one, I’ll let Jack’s pictures, videos, and voice do the explaining.

Eating Our Way Through Korea (video)

How to Eat Pork Spine Stew

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Haejangguk, or pork spine stew, is one of the top 3 Korean dishes you’ll want to try if you visit Korea. It’s known in Korea as the best hang-over cure, and restaurants specializing in the dish are often open until the early morning hours.

The tenderness of the meat combined with the spicy red-pepper spices and vegetables make this dishes one of the standards that I eat in Korea. It’s never hard to find a haejang-guk (pronounced hay’-chong-gook) restaurant in any town in Korea. Just act drunk and tell any passing Korean “pay go pah yo” which means “I’m hungry.” They’re bound to direct you to a haejang-guk restaurant.

Now, there’s a subtle art to eating the dish. It’s brought to you in a steaming hot pot usually with some spinach draped over the pork bones boiling in the broth. Don’t be alarmed by the bones – you’ll be eating the meat and tossing the bones aside.

Here’s how I eat it – and my recommendation for how you should eat haejang-guk.

Step 1: Remove meat from bone. Do this by holding a bone still with your spoon (or fingers) and scraping the meat down into the broth with your chopsticks. Some will fall easily, others will resist.

Step 2: Remove bone from soup. Pick the mostly meat-bare bone from the soup and place it in the empty white bowl. While picking at the other bones, this one will cool, allowing you to pick it up with your chopsticks (or fingers) and gnawing off the last bits of meaty goodness. Yes, it’s worth it.

Step 3: Enjoy. Wait a second for the soup to cool. Eat the kimchi’s sides while you wait. Try each of them and figure out which ones you like the most. Then, grab your spoon and dig into the haejang-guk.

Hint: Spoon a little rice before dipping into the broth. “Mah-she-tah” – “delicious!”

Enjoy the video below of us eating two different types of haejang-guk, the traditional pork dish, and a seafood version with clams and crab.

How I Accidently Participated in a 15K Mountain Biking Race

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Well, it was half on accident, half on purpose. Obviously I could’ve taken a different route. But, when you accidentally ride your brand new 24-speed mountain bike to the beginning of a mountain biking race that’s going up the same routes you were planning to ride, why wouldn’t you ride along?

I woke up this morning with the intention to ride up the mountain. The only difference today was that I decided to ride by the nearby soccer field to see if anybody was out playing. I wanted a little outdoor activity and I was willing to jump in a pick-up soccer game, basketball game, or even a game a catch. What I got was a 15 kilometer mountain biking race!

I didn’t jump in the front of course. I waited until the slackers were making their way around the start of the track before I headed off in the same direction. We started along the road in front my University, and took a right up the road that runs along the reservoir. When the cherry blossoms are in bloom, this is one of the most beautiful roads in the world on which I’ve been.

The reservoir road runs up the mountain and gets real steep real quick. Pumping away in my lowest gear, most of us were crawling up the mountain. Yes, many of us hopped off our bikes and pushed them up until the path leveled out a bit. But, man, once we got to the top and it started downhill – I quickly flipped to my highest gear and FLEW down the mountain. I’ve ridden this trail a few times, so I knew when to slow down and when to let it go, and I was able to blow past a few of the race participants.

All-in-all, I rode for about an hour and a half up and down the mountains behind where I live. After the race, I stopped to chat with one of the more serious competitors and he informed me that it was a 15 km race. He was from a city about an hour away and had driven here just for the race.

Check out the video below for a taste of the views. What a beautiful day!