Arrived and Alive in the City of Ulsan

The first difference I noticed between my culture and Korean culture was chilling... literally. I was waiting in Seoul Station for the 7:30am train to Ulsan, and having spent a restless night playing online Catan in Seoul Incheon airport, desired a keep-me-up to tide me through the 2 hours I'd be spending in transit. There was a Dunkin' Donuts there in the station, so I ordered from them a coffee and 2 glazed donuts. The cashier there spoke as much English as I spoke Korean, which is to say absolutely none, so the ordering process was a classic case of the pointing game. After a little while of that, I eventually received my refreshments and went to a table to enjoy it and try and find the internet. I hadn't really paid attention to what she was doing behind the counter, and it was only when I took a sip of my coffee that I realized my mistake – instead of the piping hot kick in the ass that I was expecting, I received an ice-cold punch in the mouth. Nobody had told me that they like their coffee cold here in South Korea. Dreading the prospect of attempting to communicate this discrepancy to that cashier, I slogged it down, and having no success with the internet, directed my attention to remainder of the trip.

After an uneventful train ride and a disorienting taxi ride, I eventually landed at the UNIST dorm at around 10:30am on Saturday. The dorm rooms here are suite-style, so I have my own room within the room, and there's a shared common area and bathroom. The campus is tucked away in the mountains on the west-most part of the city, kinda far away from... well, everything. The closest part of the city is a 10 minute bus-ride, and most of the attractions of downtown Ulsan are at least a half hour away by the same medium. It comes as a relief, then, that the campus here is very impressive. It is clean and pristine, and the view of the mountains that surround the area is a sight to be seen (rhymes!). Pictures don't do it justice... but here's their attempt:

Engineering buildings. This is the view from the library, at one particular angle. Rotate that about 90 degrees...

... and you have the view of the lake and mountains. Drastic difference, no?

Once I find the time and a nice enough day, I'll take the FlipCam out and give y'all a walking tour of the campus.

Barbecuing Octopus, Korean Style

The thing that I've had the most experience with in what little time I have spent here is the food. Over the last couple of days, I have twice had legitimate Korean barbeque. The first time was Tuesday night, where Ga Ram, Clayton, Labiba and I (henceforth referred to as the USURFour) all traveled to the urban area of Ulsan closest to UNIST, for dinner. At a Korean style barbecue, everybody sits around a table with an oven insert in the middle. You order the meat, and (after you receive a plethora of various side dishes) it is brought out to you raw, and you cook it yourself on the grill. We got a family platter for the four of us which consisted of pork shoulder (typical meat texture), pork intestine (very rubbery, chewy), and some pork sausage as well. The second time was the next day, Wednesday, where the USURFour and several UNIST faculty went out to eat after sightseeing, and we cooked pork ribs and octopus meat, or (insert Korean name). It was the first time I'd ever tried octopus. It was served with (some sauce) which gave it a mild, tangy flavor, and while it was somewhat rubbery, but not quite as bad as the intestines from the previous day. Many people eat octopus raw (some people eat it very raw), so it didn't need to spend a whole lot of time on the grill before it was ready and delicious.

I mentioned the sightseeing. On Wednesday, we went to visit two museums, both of which exhibited integral parts of the culture and history of Ulsan. The first of which was the Jangsaengpo Whale Museum in Gong-Du. Whaling has been internationally banned since 1986, but before that, was a thriving industry in Ulsan. Many residents of the southeastern Korean cities of Ulsan and Pusan eat whale meat to this day, and there is a push by the people of these cities to make it a legal and regulated process. The most interesting thing about the museum, in my opinion, was the tremendous difference in 1970s Ulsan and modern-day Ulsan. The ship yard where the museum is located is now dominated by Hyundai heavy industry, the ship-building capital of the world, but a mere 30 years ago it was a relatively undeveloped port specifically for whales. After that, we went to a restaurant on the bordering street and ate fresh (and delicious) sashimi, courtesy of UNIST. Though whale meat was on the menu, none of us were daring enough to have a go.

Onggi Pottery

The second museum was the Onggi Village at Oego Mountain, an area 20 minutes south of downtown Ulsan. Onggi is a type of earthenware pottery, made from clay, mixed with a little bit of sand to introduce porosity, and glazed with lye. Onggi describes pottery made from this special method, and shaped on a pottery wheel with special tools and methods that allow a 1-m tall jar to be shaped and ready to fire in as little as three hours (compared with two weeks for Western pottery of the same size). Koreans use onggi pots to store many different powders and sauces, as well as fermentation of some of their foods, including the staple dish of Kimchi. Because it was raining, we decided to take the opportunity to be instructed on making our own small pottery. I made a large bowl, decorated it with the carving and stamping tools they gave us, and carved my name (in the Korean alphabet) in the bottom. The rest of us made mugs, small pots, and Labiba made a vase that (mostly) resembled the shape of the actual Onggi we had just seen in the museum. The village will glaze and fire the pots for us, and they will be sent to UNIST in the next couple of weeks.

Me, and my new favorite bowl.

This weekend is the homestay for all of the USURFour. I have been in contact with a UNIST student, and I'll be staying in his home town of Gyeongju this weekend. I'm told that this area is a more traditional Korean home, but I don't really know what to expect from that. However, I know that this guy speaks English, and fairly well at that, because I've been communicating with him via email and Facebook for the last couple of weeks. I'm really looking forward to meeting him, and his family, and reporting back to you once it is all said and done. I'm off to play frisbee one last time before the rainy month starts. Talk to you next week!