Facts and Figures

Korea is one of the most densely populated countries in the world. With 492 people per square kilometre it becomes second only to Bangladesh (and then some Lilliputian areas such as Monaco, Singapore and Hong Kong). The estimated population density of the city of Seoul is 16 600 / km2. This is about a thousand times the density of Finland. You can imagine what this means for real estate prices. Owning a house is often a utopia for many Seoulites.

The city of Seoul holds a population of 10 million (yes, twice as much as Finland). If the entire metropolitan area is considered, the figure pops up to 22.4 million. This adds up to being the third largest in the world after Tokyo and Mexico City. Sometimes it’s a bit overwhelming, making this little Finn feel a bit insignificant. But then again, I think I’ve been to the most important spots around this city and know the way around pretty well. I can’t really speak Korean, but can get by.

Check this out, it's a great picture. In the middle there is the Han River, but all of the white is houses. And it goes on for miles more, especially to the East and South.

The four most common last names cover 50% of the population. 22% are Kims, 15% have Lee as their last name, 8.5% are called Pak and 4.7% belong to the Choi line. Koreans keep a special book called jogdo in which they keep a record of all of the members of their clan. Meaningless to say that there are several Kim and Lee clans, but most Koreans can trace their roots back even a thousand years.

In addition to this Korea is one of the most homogenous societies in the world. Koreans are really proud and protective of their Korean blood. Out of the 48 million population, the largest minority are the Chinese, of who there are about 20 000. Of course there are approximately 1 million foreigners residing in the country, but they are all here short-term.

A pie chart showing the distribution of Korean last names. (click on the picture to enlarge)

Fresh mud and live octopus

So I have another culinary adventure to share. A bunch of us Finns and a few of our friends decided to embark on a mission. We were to try a very normal local food: live octopus. Basically, they take the octopus out of a tank, chop off its head and serve the arms (no, they are not called tentacles) on a plate. Simple and delicious, right? I swear I have never been so excited to eat anything. The arms were still moving, desperately trying to find their way back to the sea. My god, it was gross! I can’t believe I actually put that thing in my mouth. My hands were trembling, but I just closed my eyes and went on with it. I tried to chew as fast as I could, but it was really hard. And the suction cups kept on sticking to your tongue. I felt a bit better since all of the other people in the table were equally disturbed by the act, as the pictures prove.

Yes, it really was just as disgusting as it sounds.

Timo having the same trouble as I was. David, the vegetarian, looking surprisingly happy in the back.

Jenna, our Korean hostess, had no trouble letting an dead octopus leg stick to her tongue. Awesome!

On the brighter side, Yonsei organized a trip to the Boryeong Mudfestival (http://www.mudfestival.or.kr/english/festival/festival1.php). Basically there’s nothing else there but mud. So we just ran around in the mud, painted ourselves with mud, mud wrestled, took a mud slide and swam all the mud off in the ocean. There was also a mud spa with a mud sauna, a mud Jacuzzi and mud bathes. A lot of people that I know ended up going with different groups, so it was also great to see so many people at the same time. Actually, it was an absolutely awesome day. And my skin felt really smooth and relaxed afterwards.

See all 'em boys posin'.

The holy Trinity: Juho the Son, Lauri the Father and Otto the Holy Ghost.

A spa, boy style. Me, Mark, David and Otto.

If you have been following the news, you’ll know that the monsoons hit the Korean peninsula pretty hard this year. There was a typhoon running around the south causing a lot of damage. Here in Seoul it’s been raining pretty much four days straight. And I mean poring. I don’t have any shoes left to walk outside in, even if I wanted to leave the house. Of course there are slightly graver problems than my lack of chance to tan and my forever-ruined Lacoste’s, such as several people dying and millions of won worth of damages. The Han River, which runs through the entire city, has flooded so bad that all of the parks around it meant for running are now more suitable for swimming. When the water levels hits the freeway, that’s when it gets scary. People have had to evacuate from their homes and probably will return to ruined apartments. But in any case, if it so happened that any of you were worried or something (hey, thanks for calling), I’m fine and so is everyone I know. For more on the floods, read http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/07/16/storm.korea.ap/index.html.

Way on the other side of Russia, in Finland, apparently there has never been a better summer. Though I try to remind myself that being in Korea is quite cool, I cannot help and feel a little resentment. I want to have strawberries and peas at the market place, have a barbeque at my backyard, have a cider at a terrace, go swimming in a clean lake and stay up all night when the sun is shining. I’m positive that a rainy season will start immediately after I return in August… I just try to live by the consolation my friend gave me: “Summer will be soon gone and forgotten, but the fact that you were in Korea will be remembered”. I’m trying to tell myself that he’s right, but the smell of grilled steak is still rather tempting. Here’s a link to an article from the New York Times praising Finland’s summer: http://travel2.nytimes.com/2006/07/16/travel/16helsinki.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1153270536-MIv/x8/u1f2JOM1RUVNeLw.

In my dreams

Fashion and Popular Culture

Seoul is a very vibrant city with own sense of style and a distinct cultural scene. Here I offer some of my insights to the bubbly zeitgeist of Korea.

First off, everyone here is skinny. It must be food. America, turn your eyes to Korean refrigerators! As a generalization, Koreans dress “better” than most Westerners. When I say better, I mainly mean more formally. Of course this often translates to better in the way that they actually look quite good as well. An interesting feature is that couples here match their outfits. And I’m not just talking about genre or color coordination, but they actually wear the exact same item of clothing, like a t-shirt or shoes.

A very popular look for girls here right now is a very glamorous 1950’s lady-look. Think Audrey Hepburn. They wear pleat skirts, dresses, boleros and cute little cardigans. And high heels. Always high heels. Many of them clearly put a lot of time and effort into their daily dressing-up routine. I think they look quite nice.

There’s just one way to describe the way young men around here dress. Gay. No, not flamboyantly chic, nor stylishly metro, just plain gay. As my friend Brian put it, they make “Oscar Wilde look like a monk”. So we're talking big v-neck t-shirts, purple shirts with pop-up collars and jeans only to be worn by Ms Sixty herself. The look is completed by long hiply unsymmetrical haircuts that accentuate their relative femininity ever further. But hey, I ain’t one to judge. Make up your own mind, here's a pic of popular Korean actor Lee Jun-gi:


Koreans live under the impression that Korean culture is taking over the world. There is even a word for it: Hallyu. What is basically happening is that some Korean soap operas have been sold to Southeast Asia and a Korean singer BoA has been number one on the Japanese charts. At the Korea Times the word hallyu is mentioned on an average three times a day, usually utterly out of context. The term has come so big that even at Yonsei – one of the most prestigious universities in the whole of Asia – they teach an entire course on the subject. This is a direct quote from the syllabus of Understanding Popular Korean Culture and the Korean Culture Wave:

“Many people now look to Korea for inspiration in fashion, lifestyle and entertainment. It is not an exaggeration to say that Korea is setting new international standards in business, politics, and culture.”

I’m positive all you readers from outside Korea could not agree more with the above.

This is just my opinion, so don’t anybody get offended, but to put it bluntly: Korean pop music is terrible. They can’t sing, the songs all sound the same, and that sound is just bad. Sometimes in supermarkets I just feel like trashing the loudspeakers. I haven’t found a single song that I would like, me who is notorious for my crappy britney-bsb-xtina-nsync taste in music. Right now in Korea its cool for songs to have English names. Stuff like “Once in a Lifetime” or “Let’s Party”. But don’t let the tiles fool you; this only means thought that the first line of the chorus is in English. Or what do you think about this lyrical masterpiece by popular boyband Shinhwa:

“Can really be a shooting star? Can't stop the music!
Ddo uri ape yollyojin mirel wihe go-go.
Nege pilyohan kon, Energy wa noeui bitnan nunbit.
We're going higher to keep this hot parade.”

Shinhwa, the hottest boyband around.