Part 4. Food & drinks (Introduction to korean food and drink)

Basically it is possible to define korean food as spicy. Sometimes very spicy, and if you are lucky maybe you eat something "not that spicy". The most common problem in korea is that you never know what are you ordering. Restaurants knows that, so they have pictures to guess what are you gonna eat.

It is necessary to create a whole blog only on that purpose. But I will try to explain a bit all the food I ate.

As an introduction, when you eat something in korea you has an holistic view of it. It invites you to be creative and courageous to taste all the combinations. The goal is choose a "main" meal, and then you get a lot of "small" meals, such as salads (many different kinds), sauces, leaves,... and the "main meal". Then you just have to combine them. How? just do it, I don't really know...

Well as you can see, she is not food, and she is not korean. This was my first food in korea. In the small plates we see a soup, some fried vegetables, and kimshi. This is the most common korean food, you find it everywhere. If you come to korea and you don't try kimshi it means that you have never been in korea. kimshi is cabbage with a spicy sauce. Is a very fiendly food for breakfast. If you eat it in the morning you eat kimshi all day!,jeje.

The main food here is "bibimpap", if have no a better picture, but is basically a salad with vegetables (many different configurations) such as carrot, soya, cabbage,... the magical spicy spicy sauce and rice.

The thing that I'm pointing with the chopticks are small prawn, without the head, and just fried. Not pealed. And with a spicy sweety souce. It tastes sweet and a bit strange. But is good. The thing close is just fried something (sometimes is not easy to distinguisch wait is in fried formats).

That looks great! and it is. Is a kind of boiled pork in one side, fried one in the middle and kimshi and something unknown in the other sides.

Yeah! these extra meals are very small prawn, which taste very salty, garlic and pepper, and raw onion with a sweet sauce.

This is traditional korean food. Beff, onion, soya, and noddles. It is served precooked, then you turn on the fire and cook it yourself.

These are the noddles, they look weird... but taste good. They are made with potato flour and you use to discover them in the bottom of the "soup", surprise!

This is the korean pizza! Is a egg floured omelet with onion, soya and octopus. There are many different kinds, and it is really good. Can be spicy, so before order it ask...

Surprise! (again) can you imagine?? yes correct, kimshi again, but now is mixed with tuna and rice. I can be very spicy, normally is...

Other of the korean pizzas, this one has the same than the last one, but with more ingredients such as green beans, and other stuff.

Basically this are the korean food. But if you come to korea you find, as everywhere a Macdonald's, KFC and this kind of places. The chicken and beer places are also popular, at least in Incheon, and it is also a good choice (be careful about the sweet spicy sauce!).

About drinks, you can find basically all the soft drinks that you can have in all the world (coke, fanta, ...), and water. They have smoked rice tea (not stoned, smoked), and lemon tea.

The alcoholic ones (I bet that you was thinking in that, jeje) they have many kinds of drinks but basically we talk about:

Beer: I dont really want to insert a picture of a bottle of beer or similar, I think that you must know what's beer, if you don't know, check if you are reading the correct blog.

This is "Macoli" (or Macori, the difference bettween "r" and "l" is not clear...). Is rice wine, and it has a grape wine aroma and a sparkling wine taste. Is not as strong as the catalan ones, is about 6º.

That is the special korean guest: Soju! Is a potato distillate. 20º of soft vodka taste . Is possible to mix it with beer (pok tan ju), with macoli, or alone ("on shot", (is a korean word)).

People drink it during dinner, after dinner, or, well, for partying. Is the perfect friend at night, cheap, mixable and strong enought ;). In the picture for example, we were celebrating a Sandra's birthday.

Salut!

(Sorry about the names of the food because I want to check them again to be sure, maybe I can say a name for each of them and you will never know.. ejeje, but I prefer to write the good ones)

Part 3. People

In my arrival in Incheon I wondered what kind of people I could meet. I mean, I don't really know if there will be a cultural shock, or just different ways to live. I was a bit afraid. I knew that some colleagues from Germany were coming in a few weeks, and some from France were still there.

Anyway, I met the korean colleagues that picked me up at the airport, and I just let it flow. When the curiosity and the need to talk to someone tend to infinity, the cultural and language differences tend to zero. This was my theory (I really like to create my own theories about myself, but they don't use to work properly).

I met all the French "family" the first day. We went to have a beer in to a kind of English pub in the middle of Incheon city (yes, and english pub). After 24 hours travelling it was great to feel again the known and delicious taste of barley juice in my mouth. They are 9 people, from all the different corners of the cheese wined country. They come from the University of Nice (Sophia antipolis), and they knew the country a bit more than me (there arrived 1 day ago :)).

After a couple of weeks, the German people arrived. They are from the University of Cottbus. In the North East of Germany. And, to preserve the good traditions, we went also to have a beer at the same place we when the day that I arrived.

With all this "European group" we have also the always pleasant company of Tra-mi roommate (she is also french, aaaaaaaaaahhhhh I'm sorrounded by french!!!). She arrived some month before us, so she is being our guide since we met here. Thanks Fatima!

Well, let me introduce you the "European group":

The first time that I went into the hydraulic and environmental lab. I found really nice people there. " something to drink?, a coffe?", it use to be difficult to a korean remember the european names. But, I think that is forty, or fifty times more difficult to remember a korean name!! Well, maybe is no like that, but when you met lot of people, and you are not familiarized with korean names. The technique applied was try to match korean names with catalan names. For example "Sin Ae" (I knew how to write it last week) it was "Sònia", and "Se Jin" was "Sergi". It was good at the beggining, but it doesn't really work, it doesn't really match... my advice now is don't do it, it doesn't work, just ask for the english name or a nickname... (or just learn them if your brain can absorb that amount of information.

Anyway, in my daily visits to the hydraulic and environmental lab. (to say hello, work a bit, ask a lot of questions... (many thanks ;)), I was getting familiar with the names so now is the moment to say that is not that difficult, jeje.

It is a bit difficult to find all them together, and there is always somebody missing and new people appearing, so I'll introduce you the korean people (and others) I could record in these weeks:

Part 2. University of Incheon

Here I am. Dormitory of the University of Incheon. I went in to register in the superintendent's office. I needed my colleagues to translate what the people were telling to me. Basically, I was registered in the device door entrance control (based on the lecture of the hand) and I took an electronic key to get in to the room.

As I've seen, people us to interact with the people of similar age. Then, in the dormitory they told me that I have to stay a couple of days with a korean guy (I don't really mind), and then I will change my room (they use to ask if do you agree, but I have no choice). 3 days later they were telling me that it was not possible to change my room. So here I am.

My room is at the last floor, can you see it??

That is my roommate, "G" for the friends, sixty kg of freshman:

The room is really small. There is two bed-table with some drawers and a miniwardrove. We have a tiny whashroom-shower, and a small wc. People is Barcelona thinks that flats and rooms there are small. They have never seen this room. Is so difficult to get dressed if your roommate is waching a movie.

Is a bit difficult to live in an austere room as this one, so it is extremely necessary to decorate it to feel it yours. People knows that I need a few things to remember people and places I love.

There are a lot of rules in the dormitory, I just want to show you one, all the other are, ehm... comprensible?

Well, there is another funny one, I just took it:

It is another "Don't touch, or my father will come and through you coconuts!" (I don't really know exactly, but the characters are so friendly). I was taking this picture, witch is in a three inside the dormitory, and , suddenly, somebody came to me (she appeared from somewhere I couldn't realize) saying: "Don't touch!".

Ok! I was just taking a picture! ;), that's another rule I understood fast.

The University of Incheon is located now in the brand-new Songdo campus. The whole campus is new. There are people still working in the buildings, and it is growing in to the sea continuously. Yeah, you can have breakfast while a queue of trucks are throwing tones of soil 200 meters far from your meal. But is ok, is like to be in a class of "how to earn place to the sea" everyday.

Anyway the campus is huge, you can take a look at it at http://www.incheon.ac.kr/campustour_eng/index.jsp

The hydraulic and Environmental department is in Building 8.

Part 1. Geography, trip, and others...

All the histories has to have a begginning. This history starts some months ago in Barcelona. It started as a possibility, for some month it was, but in less than a month, I woke up one day, and I was in a plane with a kind of pepsi logo on it, going to Incheon.

It was a rainy day. Waiting in Madrid airport for a huge plane, with a lot of kind corean people. It has some good and bad sides to be a solo taveller. In that moment I think It didn't matter. When you just wait for something that no depends on you, you just wait.

This was my face when I just get in to the plane. It says: "What I'm doing in here?" or maybe "I should have shaved before taking the plane".

In any case, I was there. Sleepy, a bit bored (I was learning corean during the trip), and thinking how can I get from the Inchon airport to the campus.

I don't really know a lot about geography, but I think that most of you don't really know where is South Korea. I did not since 2 weeks before arrive.

There is my trip, you can discover where Incheon is:

The white line is about 10.900 km, and it takes neraly 14 hours in a plane (if all goes ok), but, if you depart from 2 hours far from Barcelona, you arrive there 3 hours before the departure time (thanks dear parents ;)), it takes 1 hour and ten minutes to arrive to Madrid, you tranfer in Madrid and wait 4 hours before take the "pepsi" plane, 2,5 hours to Amsterdam, go out of the plane, pass the security control again (3rd time), and take the same plane (1 hour waiting in that useless go in go out, it was fu... annoying), and finally only 10 hours to Inchon (plus 40 minutes flying above the airport waiting to land, I though that the pilot was joking). But, I depart at 16:00 from Madrid, and I arrived at 17:00 to Inchon so I though it was convenient to think that I spent only and hour in the trip. Wait a moment! Oh no! it was the 5th of march! Ah shame! ok, I spent 1 day.

Let's go! I bet that my luggage is somewhere but not in Inchon...

Inchon airport is huge, modern, clean, and effective airport. I got no problems with my luggage, either with the passport control. They are very efficient people, "passport"-quick look to your face-visa-stamp-"next". I was in!

What I was thinking is if somebody was there waiting for me, and if yes, are they with something with my name, or they studied my face. Well, there are not lots of non-korean people in the plane, is not difficult to recognise me. Anyway, let's go!

Surprise!! So Young, Sony and Inny (they know that is difficult to catch a korean name) are there, with a poster of the university of Inchon! I was very happy to meet somebody at the airport. When you arrive somewhere is very gratifying to see that somebody is waiting for you, in that case, was also more, because you need to find somebody friendly in a place in witch all the people look at you in a suspicious way... ;)

It's a shame I don't have pictures of this moment, there was to much new things to see and to understand, and I was also a bit tired, I really wanted to eat something and sleep. Before take the plane, my plan was try to arrive to the campus on my own, I mean by bus or train, or I don't know. But was good to go by car, google earth is not uploaded, so there are a new brigde witch goes very close to the campus. The first impresion before see the city is that they live in these kind of cities where there are buildings everywhere, small houses, lot of lights everywhere....

But:

They have a wall of skycrapers in the coast, new ones. The university is placed near the Songdo International business district (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Songdo_International_Business_District).

This is the new view that I had about Inchon...