Cultural transcendence: Day 3 in Korea (Sunday July 7)
The morning began with an actually successful coffee transaction! I did not miss a beat. I got all the prompts: ee, amerikeoppi, hot, box. [two coffees to go.] Obviously I was so high on karma at this point that something had to break, and it did: just as I was getting into the elevator, the to-go box from Charles and Smith broke and I lost most of our coffee, which wasn't even that strong to begin with. (Departing from the French obsession, Charles and Smith instead had a distinctively British sounding name.)
After breakfast consisting of delicious walnut cakes, rice cakes, almonds, and a half cup of coffee split between Eddie and me, we headed off to the conference site and hotel.
As I was rapidly re-discovering, Seoul transcends all US cultural boundaries. It doesn't matter if a coffee shop or fast-food restaurant is a West Coast thing, East Coast thing, Midwest thing, or all over thing. Wendy's, Friendly's, TGIF, McDonald's, Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, Starbucks, Smoothie King (where I met up with Kahye, a sweet and brilliant and awesome person who spent two months working for our group in Ann Arbor), ... they're all here, in Seoul, everywhere.
Today's highlight, besides the re-discovery of cultural fast food mishmash, consisted of the cultural mishmash display of "kimchi around the world" at the Kimchi Museum (toured with isomorphisms's friend Laura!) where we all ♥ kimchi and learn rightfully about it (to quote from the entrance sign). Apparently, the following are actually kimchi, as proclaimed by the sign above the glass bulbs in which they were displayed:
Today's moment of zen: another display at the Kimchi museum.
Lactobacilli in kimchi restrain cancer cells from regenerating.
After breakfast consisting of delicious walnut cakes, rice cakes, almonds, and a half cup of coffee split between Eddie and me, we headed off to the conference site and hotel.
As I was rapidly re-discovering, Seoul transcends all US cultural boundaries. It doesn't matter if a coffee shop or fast-food restaurant is a West Coast thing, East Coast thing, Midwest thing, or all over thing. Wendy's, Friendly's, TGIF, McDonald's, Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, Starbucks, Smoothie King (where I met up with Kahye, a sweet and brilliant and awesome person who spent two months working for our group in Ann Arbor), ... they're all here, in Seoul, everywhere.
Today's highlight, besides the re-discovery of cultural fast food mishmash, consisted of the cultural mishmash display of "kimchi around the world" at the Kimchi Museum (toured with isomorphisms's friend Laura!) where we all ♥ kimchi and learn rightfully about it (to quote from the entrance sign). Apparently, the following are actually kimchi, as proclaimed by the sign above the glass bulbs in which they were displayed:
- German sauerkraut,
- Greek olives,
- American pickles.
Today's moment of zen: another display at the Kimchi museum.
Lactobacilli in kimchi restrain cancer cells from regenerating.