Welcome back!  For this week, I was going to write about something important and socially relevant, like the G20 conference we hosted here last weekend, but the G20 affected me in the following way: I received an email in Korean saying "for the Thursday and Friday of the conference you shouldn't drive your car to work to help keep the streets clear and in case there are protests."  Turns out I don't have a car here  (plus I never learned how to drive), so the 20 minutes I spent trying to find a Korean to translate the email for me was pretty much wasted and otherwise, the G20 passed unnoticed from my end.  In the center of the city, they closed down some subway stops, put about 1/3rd of the national police force on patrol, there some peaceful (mostly) riots, and, from what I've heard and read, that's about it.

So instead, this post is going to be about me accomplishing a goal, one that I've had ever since I watched the Anthony Bourdain Korea episode.  That's right folks, I finally ate live octopus tentacles.  And it was everything I hoped it would be and so much more. 

Before I came to Korea, I happened to catch this episode of No Reservations and, after watching Bourdain devour those tentacles, I knew at some point while I was over here I would have to do the same thing.  Here's the clip I'm talking about (it starts at 6:30 in):

Gross, right!  The rest of the episode is great, so I highly recommend it if you want to find out a little more about Korea (plus the whole episode is up on YouTube).  Anyway, after seeing that, I really wanted to give those tasty tentacles a try.   Little did I know, last weekend I would get my chance.

So last Saturday, I was sitting around, minding my own business, when my archnemesis Joel gave me a call.  Here's roughly how it went...
J: "What are you doing today?"
M: "Watching a Golden Girls marathon"
J: "Scrap that, we're going to eat octopus"
M: "hmmmmm"
J: " ...."
M: "OK, let me just set the VCR to record"
J: "What's a VCR?"
M: "It's like a cassette player. See you soon"

So we met up at the Garak Market, a large agricultural market that covers at least a few city blocks and mainly deals in fresh fruits, vegetables, and fish.   We wandered around for a while, admiring the vast collection of water creatures and wondering which was the tastiest.   And then we found him.  A friendly, bearded, Korean man who was eager to serve up all of our tentacle-filled dreams.

Through Joel's deft miming abilities, we explained that we were after the hard stuff, the tentacles of a fresh octopus with a little hot sauce to wash it down with.  And here is what he prepared (they kill the octopus first, so it's not writhing around in agony while its legs are cut off):

And boy did we dig right in!  Now, I've had octopus before, and it's tasty.   Not super chewy, not super seafoody, not super salty, overall a pretty good taste.  But fresh octopus was so much better.  Once you get over the grossness of feeling the tentacle stick to your tongue and your cheek and the roof of your mouth, it's really good. 

So, there you have it.  With my goal accomplished and my stomach full, we set off to the nearby Olympic park to enjoy everyone's first time riding tandem bicycles.  And a special thanks to Adam, Joel, and Maria for making this day possible!

(also I might have gotten in a small scuffle with Mario later that night...)

Happy Pepero day!  Wait… don’t tell me you’ve never heard of Pepero day - the infamous Korean holiday, celebrated every 11/11 by giving friends and loved ones Pepero sticks?!?  Well let me tell you all about it!

First, what is a Pepero (빼빼로)?  While they come in many forms, the root of all good peperos  is a cookie stick dipped in chocolate.  Where you go from that point is entirely up to you.  Some are covered in almonds, some are covered in sprinkles, some even have the chocolate hiding on the inside of the stick!  What a surprise! If that wasn’t enough, they come in every size imaginable.  From pencil-sized to baby-sized! (seriously)

Now, I know what you’re thinking, “why don’t we have Pepero day in America? It sounds so dreamy!” Well, I’ll tell you why.  Pepero day is the brainchild of the multi-billion dollar Asian conglomerate Lotte, which owns pretty much everything, including their own baseball team and an amusement park called Lotte World.   Turns out, back in the 90’s they were a tad disappointed that there was no Halloween or Valentine’s day here to help boost candy sales so… they invented Pepero day!  And it stuck.

So these days things get pretty crazy during the week of 11/11.  Stores put up giant displays of Pepero sticks, girls start wondering which handsome gent will be bringing some of the Pep for them, and there’s even a black market offering sticks on the cheap (like this little bungalow that sprang up right outside my apartment).  

Plus the candy division of Lotte does over 50% of their yearly business during this week.  Hopefully they gave the guy/gal who invented this holiday a hefty raise and a few free treats.

The part about this holiday that I particularly enjoy is that students usually bring Pepero sticks for their teachers.  And when you have over 500 hundred students, that adds up to a lot of Pepero.   Too bad most of my kids hate me though, because I only ended up with 5 boxes (so basically 1% of my students like me).  But I also got one batch of homemade sticks which is worth double points in my book.

In closing, this link sums up Pepero day way better than I ever could (and it's hilarious).  So if you’re in the mood for some chocolate cookie sticks let me know and I’ll bring you back a box for the holidays. 

Next time on Karlin in Korea:
How I survived the G20 riots in style.

Hiking is a huge pastime here and it is especially popular with the over 50 crowd.  There are between 15-20 national parks that have mountains for hiking, plus there are tons of other mountains scattered throughout the country that you can hike up.  Many people go every weekend, all year round, and have calves to prove it.  

The only problem is, this crowd takes hiking incredibly seriously.  If you’re in their way, and they’re trying to make good time, you better find something to hold on to or it will be a quick trip back down the mountain.

Thanks for tuning in to an all new, all spooky, Halloween edition of Karlin in Korea.  Boo.  Yeah, yeah, I know it's a few days late, but think of this as an extra treat to enjoy with all that Halloween candy you just bought on super-sale down at the local supermarket.  

So, Halloween in Korea, do they know what it is over here?  Do they freak out when you show up at their door dressed as snookie?  Do they even have pumpkins to carve over here?  Luckily, the answer to all 3 of those is a resounding "Yes!" 

In the past decade, the popularity of Halloween has grown immensely.  This is mainly due to the huge influx of foreign English teachers who celebrate the holiday. Most of the students in the nation are familiar with the holiday as are many people in their 20s-40s.  However, if you asked an adjima (old lady) why everyone was dressed up and looking for candy, she'd probably have no idea.  Now, while Halloween has become relatively familiar, there are really only 2 places for one to go if they want to celebrate the holiday in style.

Hongdae and Iteawon! These two towns have the most vibrant nightlife as well as an incredibly high concentration of foreigners, so if you're looking for a costume contest or tons of people dressed to the nines in the latest costumes, this is where to go.  According to our cab driver, "Hongdae and Iteawon fun tonight, everywhere else, dead town."  He also told us to stop trying to dress him up in our costumes.

This year our group went as a herd of animals (or a pride, or a pack, or a waddle...)  Not as awesome as our TMNT themed party back in the day, but pretty close.  As you can see above, I went as the Siberian tiger (the classiest of all tigers), but we also had a regular tiger, a crocodile/dinosaur, a panda, and a sheep.  Overall it was a veritable Noah's ark of animals.  Well, really a Noah's lifeboat. Like we were the only 5 animals that managed to escape after Noah hit an iceberg, but you get the idea.

Even though we didn't win any costume contests, it was a pretty great time, and I'll put more pictures up here as they roll in. So if you're thinking of coming to Korea, but you're worried you won't get to celebrate the best holiday in the world, you can now rest easy!  They have Halloween over here and it's a great time.  In closing, I leave you with this spoooooky video.  Grandma, probably don't watch this.