manduguk or just plain mandu

My favorite Korean dish is mandu (dumplings) or the modified version which is manduguk (dumpling soup). For the most part it is safe, consistently tasty and simple. Mandu varies from restaurant to restaurant, but the dish always involves a core of steamed meat and a few vegetables. The dough exterior often varies in thickness. My favorite type of mandu has a thin exterior with a moist juicy interior. Beware, these guys can be slippery. Unless your an expert with chop-sticks, I recommend using a spoon to serve yourself.

To learn how to make mandu, check out the following link.

http://www.maangchi.com/recipe/mandu

Are you really sure you have to go?

As in Europe, restroom facilities for women in Korea and China often involve "the hole." It is typically porcelain and at least in a stall. Most of the time, filth surrounds this hole. If you have on open toed shoes, you can feel the gunk oozing up to your feet. The idea of toilet paper never crossed the builder's mind because there is no toilet paper holder to be found. Thus, if you don't have tissues in your purse, you just deal with it. I believe Americans truly undervalue the quality of their public restrooms.

As for the photo below, that four star restroom had no toilet paper, but it did have a mixture of toilets and holes.

I will say that Korean restrooms in general are cleaner and more likely to have a toilet. In China, the only proper 'western' bathroom I found was in my hotel room at the Holiday Inn. Most of the restaurants there only had the hole, whereas it was less common in Korea.

Reflections on my time in China

I'll continue with the theme of my last post, shopping. I said previously that the clerks in Korea were aggressive. My experience in China taught me that I didn't have a clue what I was talking about. My introduction to Chinese shopping began at the Pearl Market in Beijing where the clerks pursue you to the point of grabbing your arms, pulling and begging you to buy. Additionally, the culture requires you to barter. For example, I bought a simple dress for 75 RMB (1$=6.7RMB) that was initially offered to me for 650 RMB. Even with talking them down, they still make money. In Korea, they ask if you want something. In China, they tell you what you like and need and then try to rip you off.

Additionally, my experience in China allowed me to realize how much profit companies make by outsourcing their manufacturing to China. It is extreme. Some items can be made for literally $1 or 6RMB and be sold in the US for $100. When I return home, it is going to drive me insane to buy items such as clothes because I will feel like I'm totally being ripped off.

So how is it so cheap? Despite being Communist, Chinese society is divided into the "haves" and the "have nots." Most of the folks, in fact billions, fall into the later and have little or no chance of ever moving up. Thus, it is competitive to get a factory job because there are just that many people. That have an extreme right to work system to the point that a "have not worker" can be replaced with the snap of a finger by another "have not worker" that is in line right outside the factory.

Based on my time in China, I've concluded they show little to no concern for their fellow man, especially the foreigner. Our interactions with the taxis demonstrated this the most. The drivers would flat out refuse to pick us up. After 10 or so passing us by, eventually we would find a nice driver that would take us. That is if we had a boy in our group. We were SOL, as a group of white females. Two of my white female friends had to take a rickshaw home one night and pay an obscene amount to the driver. The amount they bargained for doubled when they arrive because he changed it to a per person rate.

Extra Large

One of my favorite things to do abroad is shop, especially for clothes. In Korea, the clerks and vendors are very aggressive and want to help you find exactly what your looking for. The idea of browsing seems to be odd to them, and my attempts to convey that to them often result in them selecting something they think I should buy followed by the phrase "extra large." This doesn't sit well with me. As a size 6 or 8 in the US, I've always considered myself to be a normal size, not an extra large. But, the truth of the matter is by Korean standards I'm tall and thick. If I was going to live here, I'm pretty sure their standards would get to me, and I would force myself to loose weight. However, I would never submit to the Korean practice of bone shaving. That's right, women here have their bones shaved down so they can be skinnier.

Thus, why are they so small? For one, the media here, just as in the US, promotes the idea that in order to be beautiful you have to be thin. But, the definition of thin is far more extreme here than in the US. The Holocaust victim look is the look. I also think that because the men are built smaller than most in the states the women feel they have to be smaller than the men in order for the men to feel masculine and for them to feel feminine. Sometimes this can be a tough feat, as their are a lot of little men here. In fact, I dwarf most of them, especially the older men. I'm curious to know whether or not Korean men find me to be attractive. Maybe the fact that I have exotic blond hair cancels out my bigger size.

US based businesses in Korea

I've enjoyed observing American based companies that have a presence here in Korea. Thus far I've seen: Coke, Pepsi, Baskin Robins, Dunkin Doughnuts, Smoothie King, McDonald's, KFC, Starbucks, Subway, Outback, Bennigans, Altria Group, Buger King, Ralph Lauren Polo, Nike, Estee Lauder, Ray-Ban, Coach, 7-Eleven, P&G, Welch's, Sunkist, GT Bicycles, Apple, Tiffany & Co., Marc Jacobs, Michael Kors, Calvin Klein, American Apparel, Guess, Mars Inc, Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Ford, GM, RJ Renyolds, Cold Stone, Kellogs, North Face., Johnson and Johnson, Neutrogena, ADT, Cannon, Kimberly Clark, Harley Davidson, Tory Burch, Pizza Hut, California Pizza Kitchen, Cannon, IBM, Microsoft, Samsonite, Krispy Kreme, Mister Donut. My peers did help me in coming up with this list. I'll add more, as we see entities here.

What's for breakfast?

For the past week, I've been on the look out for traditional Korean breakfast foods. I've found an abundance of European style pastries and American breakfast sandwiches, but nothing that appears to be quintessentially Korean in my eyes. They even sell cereal in the grocery. But, where is the non-westernized breakfast food? Since the shops and restaurants in my area weren't providing me with the answer, I turned to the Internet. It turns out they don't have an equivalent to American breakfast food. They eat the same sorts of food for all meals, so rice and veggies. Interesting.