no.2: food is a language, and I speak it better than Korean

Time has felt unreal the past two weeks and I haven't exactly been keeping track of the dates, so it's hard to believe that writing this now, it is one of my last days in South Korea. The past two and a half weeks have created such a valuable experience for me, beyond just exploring my research of street food. By spreading out my trip to South Korea I've been able to experience this modern society in more than just a touristy sense, but also observe how Koreans go about their regular days. By following this research I have also met some amazing people and created some unforgettable experiences. I now have contacts from Korean friends I made struggling to order at a restaurant, or reaching for the same item in a clothing store who have said they would welcome me again with open arms on my next visit to Korea. Realistically it has not been all utopia either and I have definitely encountered some struggles as well with the language barrier, some foreigner discrimination and balancing my finances, which although all challenging, they have contributed to make my experience whole. 

Although I already mentioned I didn't have much of an itinerary to begin with, the freedom of the schedule really proved to be an advantage when we chose to spontaneously explore other cities in Korea this week. I cannot wait to share all the experiences, so with that said, here is the past week in a messy, disorganized breakdown: 

The remainder of Thursday: Where I left off last week was the Persian holiday of Shab-e-Yalda, which is an ancient Persian holiday celebrated in many nations on the night of the winter solstice. Usually, I spend this holiday with my family, but whenever I'm away, I make sure to celebrate it and share it with those around me. Alysa has been around for a couple Shab-e Yaldas with me, so she already knew the drill. We found the only Persian restaurant in town, which I deeply needed to satisfy my withdrawals from rice and kabobs, and afterwards we also bought a pomegranate to seed and eat which is also Yalda tradition. I made sure to call my family and celebrate with them virtually as well, and we ended the night catching up with Alysa's friends Malechi and Tenny on their last study abroad night. Although the Iranian restaurant we went to was not street food, I really wanted to ask the Persian owner about his experience being a food vendor in Korea as an immigrant, and what inspired him to open the restaurant. Unfortunately, him and his staff were taking care of a technical issue in the restaurant before a big party came in for Yalda, but the owner has done many interviews and has articles online that speak on the matter, so I'll just have to use those. 

Friday: Continuing with incorporating tourist activities into our itinerary, we decided to visit the Dongdaemun Design Plaza which is an urban plaza for creative outlets designed by the famous Zaha Hadid. This was a field day for Alysa to geek out on architecture as well. Overall the whole place was beautiful and we got to walk through some of the exhibits and also creative stores which was fascinating. There was also a lot of Christmas decorations and events which made it the plaza even more beautiful once it got dark. Afterwards, I really wanted to do some work on my research and also eat some good food, so we made our way to tteokbokki town in Sindang-Dong. I was so excited because not only is tteokbokki not one of the most famous Korean street foods, it is also one of our favorites, and we were about to enter a street full of its best vendors. After looking around we found a small shop with bright decorations which attracted us in, and we sat down to order some tteokbokki. The menu was written all in Korean, and recognizing our struggle, the owner walked over and in her broken english told us we should order the portion for two. This was unlike any tteokbokki experience I had because we saw her throw all the ingredients in a pot and actually let the food cook at our table. The meal was absolutely delicious and from our observations it looked like the store was ran by an older lady and her sons and daughters worked with her. At the end we thanked her for the meal and I got to interview her which I am so excited to listen to the translations later, she seemed to have a very unique story with her shop. We ended the night very happy and very full. 

Saturday: With the fast paced city life of Seoul catching up to us, and both Alysa and I being from Colorado, we needed to be in nature again. We spent the day with the perfect weather walking through Seoul Forest which was just amazing. The park was huge and besides its unique nature, it also had statues, art pieces and even an exhibit installation of thousands of Christmas trees hanging upside down. We spent the afternoon here and at night we head back to our neighborhood in Gangnam to check out some of the food and call it an early night because honestly, we were tired and satisfied from our walk. 

Sunday: Christmas eve! and what's the worse thing you can do? Go shopping in Myeong-Dong when there are thousands of people trying to do the same. We explored some of the malls in Seoul and honestly spent most of the day trying not to get trampled, but some of the major highlights were the food interviews I got in Myeong-Dong. I got to meet Ahmed, a Middle Eastern vendor selling kabobs in Seoul. He was my first interview conducted and replied to in English which made the experience so rewarding and I was so fascinated to know his responses in the moment than wait to translate them later. His wife is Korean and he has been in Korea for 35 years and doing street food vending for 15 years. One of my favorite answers Ahmed said when I asked him about the struggles of starting a street food stand as an immigrant in Korea was: "If you are good to them, they are good to you" referring that his love for sharing food has rarely been challenged because his sincerity and kindness shines through. I really enjoyed meeting him, and the whole interaction will stay with me forever.,

Monday: Christmas day! Such a pretty day in Seoul. We learned that majority of Koreans are christians, but their celebration for Christmas day looks a little different than everyone else's. In America, this day is mostly spent with family at home, but in Korea it is spent with friends and significant others and it is tradition to go to dinner together and also have a Christmas cake. Alysa and I decided to partake in the tradition and made reservations at a nice Han Woo (Korean beef) place and also got a cake. Before dinner we went and explored the Christmas decorations at Lotte tower and also paid to go see the view from the observatory which was insane. The meal we had was one of the most unforgettable Korean BBQ experiences I've had, with Han Woo meat being unlike anything I have tasted. Everything that was prepared for us was so tender and almost melted in your mouth, and the chef was so kind to answer our questions about everything as well. We once again went home, happy and full, and the joyous day we had together really filled the void of not being with our families on this day. 

Tuesday: This is where our trip kind of changed as Alysa's mom suggested we should go visit Alysa's family in Suwon for the holidays and also because of the diverse food markets in Suwon. I decided this would be a great opportunity to look more into my project as well with other popular regions of Korea so we booked our bus to Suwon followed by a train ticket and stay in Busan for the days after. I realized as big as Seoul was, it obviously doesn't speak for all of Korea so when the opportunity presents to go explore more, why not? Our trip to Suwon was really short and we were greeted by Alysa's kind family who were so excited to see us, but unfortunately, their English was as good as our Korean. Regardless, with a little help from translation apps and also hang signals, we managed to share our thoughts but where we really bonded was when they took us out for a traditional Korean meal where we all bonded through the satisfied sounds made from a delicious meal and surprised looks and smiles. Alysa's aunts and cousins taught us how to stay the dish names in Korean and also say things like "delicious" and "thank you for the meal". I also got to meet another one of Alysa's aunts who runs a rice cake shop in Suwon and got a tour of her little mini factory. We parted ways with them and met with some of Alysa's mom other friends who took us into Dongtan for another amazing meal. The whole day was full of love and I was so grateful to Alysa's family and friends for showing us Suwon. Seoul has been amazing but the smaller town feel and kindness of people was definitely refreshing. 

Wednesday: We left for Busan on our afternoon train, not the bullet train, and luckily no zombies. The weather was a bit warmer in Busan and the light smell of the ocean breeze was also so welcoming. By the time we got to Busan we were tired and hungry so we tried some local Korean BBQ place that specialized in pork and chatted with the owner as well. After our meal we walked around the Seomyeon neighborhood a bit and saw some "red tents" which are little street food shops for meals and drinking Soju and they are very popular in Busan. We sat down at one and ordered more food (even though we were stuffed) and also got to interview the owner who was the most eccentric, joyful lady ever. One of the guys sitting at the tent with us saw me struggling during the interview and offered to help with a bit of his English knowledge. This act of kindness was new to me as most of the people in Seoul follow the "no small talk, no talking to strangers" format even if someone is struggling with the language. I also noticed the street food vending license hanging from the tent and asked the owner about the hardships of attaining it so I'm very intrigued in translating her answers later. Tired from our travels we went back to our cozy airbnb and got some rest. 

Thursday: This is the only day I had semi planned as it was our only day for exploration in Busan. Many people had told me the sightseeing and also seafood in Busan was a must so I planned our day around that. We started at the Gamcheon Cultural Village which is sometimes called the "Santorini of Korea" with its beautiful and colorful stacked houses. The weather was in the 50's which was so nice and we walked around the village for a couple of hours. We definitely met more foreigners here than anywhere we had in Seoul and we talked to some of them and shared experiences which was so fun. In the afternoon we went to check out the sunset and light festival at Haeundae Beach which was absolutely breathtaking view. We also had some fresh and delicious seafood for dinner before heading into the Haeundae Traditional market where we explored the unique seafood street food culture in Busan. I managed to mostly take pictures and ask quick questions since it was so packed in there. We ended our night back exploring Seomyeon, and I have to say, I absolutely love Busan. It was such a great choice to come visit the city and I wish I had done it sooner and for a longer time. They have such a rich and unique culture that differs from that of Seoul which is also beautiful in its own way. If I ever come back to Korea, I will make sure to spend more time in Busan, because I will never forget this trip,

Friday: We caught a 5 am train back to Seoul and took a nap immediately as we got back. Our plan is to take it slow today and run some errands before our last two nights in Seoul. Thinking about trying American Korean fusion style street food so I'll let you know how that goes in the next blog. 

And once again, let's hear from Alysa from this last week in Alysa's though box:

"People are so much friendlier not in Seoul *thinking and drinking pear juice* the moment that keep replaying in my head is seeing the exercise park at the top of Gamcheon village I WAS LOOKING FOR ONE FOR SO LONG. I just turned around and yelled "Parmida!!! We found one!". Another highlight was these strangers who came up to us and handed us an ice cream bar when we looked lost in Suwon, I hope homie is living his best life"

That's the end of week 2! the next update will be written from Bangkok, Thailand which I cannot wait to start that adventure. As always on top of the pictures added, if you want to see more adventures follow my instagram @parmidamahdavi. 

That's all for now, update you all next week...FROM THAILAND!

Love, 

Parmida 

Picture dump:

in order: 

1. Alysa enjoying our Yalda meal 2. Pomegranates and pomegranate soju! 3. Sculpture in Seoul Forest 4. Japchae vendor in Myeong-Dong 5. Me on Christmas day at Lotte tower 6. Me on Christmas day on top of Lotte tower 7. The traditional Korean meal with Alysa's family in Suwon 8. Hotteok vendor in Busan 9. Gamcheon Culture Village view 10. Sunset and Haeundae beach 

Video 1: Best tteokbokki ever Video 2: Han Woo Christmas dinner