16 WEDNESDAY

AUGUST 13, 2008 COMMUNITY

August tourist
festivals
Yangpyeong Dumulmeori
Open-air Arts Festival

When: Aug. 13-16

Where: Yangpyeong, Gyeonggi
Province
A festival celebrating the environ-
ment and the arts will be held in
Yangpyeong, near Seoul, from
Aug. 13-16.
Theatrical and musical perfor-
mances will be held at the scenic
Expat living is a page dedicated riverside areas of Yangpyeong,
to the issues that affect expats' and eco-friendly farming and en-
daily lives. It is your page, vironmental programs will be of-
fered.
where you can share stories about
For further information, call 031-
your life in Korea. Send story
775-5171 or visit www.yoaf.or.kr.
ideas to Matthew Lamers (Yonhap News)
at mattlamers@heraldm.com
Seoul Fringe Festival
showcases indie art

When: Aug. 14-30

Where: Seoul

New ways
The Seoul Fringe Festival will pro-
vide a showcase of independent
artists. Individual artists or groups
can freely perform dramas,
dance, mime, music and other
arts in this festival which will allow

to use your both the performers and the audi-

ence to enjoy freedom of expres-
sion and selection.
Performances will take place at
various venues including small
theaters, live clubs, galleries and

unused booze even on the streets around

What do you do with leftover
alcohol? Look in your refrigera-
tor. Is there a smidgen of flat
beer? Is there a finger of soju
that has been sitting for
months? These are the re-
minders of pleasant evenings
with friends. They could also
be from bitter heart-wrenching
nights — but let’s not go there.
The point is that many people
eventually throw out leftover
alcohol because they likely
won’t drink it.
Throwing beer down the
drain is a pitiful waste of nat-
ural resources. It makes a
good breakfast. No, I don’t
mean the type of liquid
breakfast enjoyed by
those in the modeling
community. Stanley
Crocker, a dietician who
lives in Incheon, says he
enjoys using the beer to
make pancakes.
Hongik University in western
Seoul.
For more information, call 02-
325-8150 or go to www.seoul-
fringe.net.
(Yonhap News)
Joe McPherson
The Hi Seoul Fest
on Dining down by the river
sliced onion, a whole sliced When: Aug. 9- 17
green pepper and a handful of Where: Seoul
old kimchi. When the onions A performer at the R-16
This year’s Hi Seoul Festival fo-
are soft, toss in a tablespoon cuses on the “renaissance of
B-boy Championship Hangang” through arts and cul-
of flour and mix with the in Suwon.
juices. ture. “Seoul is no longer a city
Photo courtesy of R-16 one longs to leave, but a city one
Pour between one and two
likes to visit in summer,” says the
cups of beer. Turn the heat to Jeff Chang, journalist, press release. It will take place in
high and let it boil down a bit author of “Total Chaos: Yeouido, Seonyudo and Ttuk-
while stirring. The beer will The Art and Aesthetics seom.
start making a gravy after a of Hip-Hop” For the first time ever, Hi Seoul is
while. Be careful not to headed by a foreign art director,
let it reduce too much Performers at the R-16 Roger Rynd. Events include
and burn the sausages. B-boy Championship Korean music and performance
Serve this with rice or a in Suwon.
by internationally acclaimed
big hunk of crusty bread Photo courtesy of R-16
artists. See www.hiseoulfest.org
and more beer. for more information.
That emerald bottle of (mattmalers@heraldm.com)
soju stares at you every
time you open the refrig-
erator. You keep promis-

Korea’s trend-setting hip-hop culture

Stir together a cup of
flour, a quarter cup of
sugar, three quarters
teaspoon of baking
powder, a half tea-
spoon of salt, an egg
and a cup of that flat
beer. Throw in a
dash of cinnamon if
you like. Melt some
butter in a non-stick
skillet and spoon
the pancake batter
in. Flip them over
when you start see-
ing bubbles form on
top. Expect the first
few to be a little
burnt. Stack the
pancakes on a warm
plate, and you know
what to do with the rest.
Let’s have more fun with
this and insert beer into clas-
sic Japanese tempura tech-
niques. Chill a cup of beer to
where it’s almost frozen. Do
the same for an egg and a cup
and a quarter of flour. Gently
mix the ingredients, dip what-
ever goodies you want and fry
them in a pot or wok filled a
quarter of the way with hot oil.
Be careful not to heat the oil
too high.
Another good use for neglect-
ed beer is this little Korean-
German fusion dish. Get a
package of those flavored
sausages that they sell at the
major supermarkets. They’re
the ones that look like giant
bratwurst that come in differ-
ent colors. The red and tan
ones are the best, but they all
taste good. Cut some slits in
them to help them cook all the
way.
Heat a little oil in a pan and
fry the sausages with a whole
wants to hear
from you
Share stories of your life abroad with all of Korea.
Send in photos of your weekend excursions for publication.
Participate in Photo Challenge, our weekly photo
competition.
Or just write a letter telling a personal anecdote you’d like to
share. Letters should be shorter than 400 words, photos
larger than 500 kb and article submissions under 1,000
words. Please e-mail Matt at
mattlamers@heraldm.com — Ed.
ing to finish it but never
get around to it. I usu-
ally get rid of my
soju when I need an
extra sweet kick in
something I’m cook-
ing, like kimchi jji-
gae. It works well as
a flavor-enhancer in
spicy boiling
Korean soups. Zen-
Kimchi’s Soju Sauce
gives you a richer
and more impres-
sive option.
Slowly heat half
a chopped white
onion and chopped
cloves of garlic in
two tablespoons of
olive oil until soft. If
you have fresh tomato sauce
on hand, that’s cool. If you’re
lazy like me, just dump a
small jar of spaghetti sauce in
the mix. Also add half a bottle
of soju.
Let this simmer for around
10 to 15 minutes to get much of
the harsh alcohol out and let
the flavors have time to mingle
and get to know each other.
Pour in about half a cup of
heavy cream, stir, and simmer
for another ten minutes. Use
this sauce with whatever pasta
you like.
Remember the
Alcohol that isn’t used is
abused. No, no, I don’t mean
rule:
drink all the alcohol, you see.
Now, that is abuse. Just don’t
throw it out when you can
cook with it.
Joe can be reached through
his website, the ZenKimchi
Korean Food Journal, www.
zenkimchi.com — Ed.
Jeff Chang is a journalist and
book writer whose writing fo-
cuses on hip-hop culture. He
has written for many well-re-
garded publications, from the
New York Times to Vibe maga-
zine. He is the author of two
books on hip-hop culture. His
first was “Can’t Stop, Won’t
Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop
Generation.” His second book,
“Total Chaos: The Art and
Aesthetics of Hip-Hop,” is an
anthology of essays and inter-
views. It focuses on the reach of
hip-hop culture beyond its obvi-
ous elements of rapping or
MCing; DJing; urban art and
graffiti; and b-boying or break
dancing. The book looks at how
hip-hop culture has influenced
other art forms like theater and
film, fashion, photography, po-
etry, literature and painting.
I had a chance to sit down and
talk to Chang during the recent
South Korea is relatively safe for women
Following is the second in a
two-part series on women’s safe-
ty. — Ed.
SUWON — At the end of the
day, when all is said and done,
sex matters. It changes the way
we interact with each other, and
even the ways we are allowed to
interact with each other. And,
depending on the person, the ex-
periences, or the situation itself,
the actions of others will cause
us to react to circumstances in
our own unique way. Though it
pains me to admit this, one has
more to fear when it comes to
personal safety if you happen to
be female.
In my last column, I asked
readers for their opinions on ha-
rassment. In the midst of read-
ing the slew of e-mail I received
after my last column, I was sur-
prised at the emotional reac-
tions I kept having each time I
“The International Hub of Podcasting”
Regina Walton’s
Expat Interviews
R-16 B-boy Championship in
Suwon on May 31 and June 1 at
the Suwon Olympic Sports
Complex.
For expatriates in Korea who
are interested in hip-hop and b-
boy culture, Korea is a new cen-
ter of innovation. That’s very ex-
citing. When asked why he was
attending the R-16 competition,
Chang replied at length. “R-16
is recognized, I think, as one of
the top b-boy events in the
world, and, I think, for good rea-
son. The Korean b-boys have re-
ally been able to put themselves
on the map in a huge way.
They’ve completely changed the
game as far as b-boying goes.
They breathe all kinds of new
life into the art form that I think
Stephanie Morris
on Women’s Issues
opened and read one. I was
lucky enough to receive respons-
es from men and women, expats
and foreigners, teachers and
students. But, regardless of
which side they found them-
selves on, they all seemed unit-
ed by one fact: Korea is not as
safe as one, namely I, had previ-
ously imagined.
A female Korean student told
me about the time she was fol-
lowed home from the bus stop
and attacked on a side street.
Her attacker grabbed her
around her neck and began forc-
ing her to the ground when he
was frightened away by a pass-
ing car. Another woman told me
about having her wrist broken
by a man trying to attack her. A
SeoulPodcast, sponsored by
folks have been looking for a
long time.
“And, so, I think the excite-
ment around R-16 in the world
has to do with the fact that it
just seems that this (Korea),
right now, is the place to be if
you want to know what’s at the
cutting edge of hip-hop and
what’s at the cutting edge of the
dance forms. I think, for in-
stance, in the United States
over the last two years, there
have been all these dance com-
petitions that have been going
on. There is this huge craze for
dance and, at the same time,
that’s created a hunger for the
real thing. And I think this is
the epitome of the real thing.”
With such kudos for the
Korean b-boy teams from some-
one so established and well-
versed in hip-hop culture, the
question is what exactly sets the
Korean teams apart from the
male expat told me about his fe-
male co-worker, also an expat,
who was raped in her apart-
ment during her first month in
Korea.
When the attacker was
caught, the rapist’s family was
permitted to visit the girl at her
school and beg her not to press
charges. A number of female ex-
pats and Koreans alike relayed
stories of unknown males fol-
lowing them home or behaving
towards them in threatening
ways, including shouting at
them, grabbing at them, follow-
ing or chasing them. Some of
these incidents happened in
broad daylight, with other
Koreans around. No one did a
thing to stop them.
A male Korean student told
me about a time he felt threat-
ened by someone, reminding me
that it is not only women who
feel vulnerable.
other fiercely competitive b-boy
teams worldwide? What is it
that makes Korean b-boy teams
worth paying attention to?
For Chang, what it comes
down to is both mastery of basic
elements and innovation.
“I think it’s a combination of
the fact that these are crews
that are fiercely and intensely
competitive. They have com-
pletely mastered the forms and
they’re also completely trans-
forming the forms. I was start-
ing this afternoon to compile a
list of all these different types of
moves that Korean b-boys have
innovated over the last five
years, and it’s mind-boggling.
There are so many. And not just
that; it’s the whole form.
“It’s the whole choreography.
It’s the way that they present
the shows. It’s the way that they
use the stage. It’s the way they
engage the audience. It’s all that
It is easy, for me, when perus-
ing the streets of places like
Itaewon or Hongdae — where
the number of non-Koreans tends
to be larger than in other areas —
to forget I am even in a foreign
country. The faces around me do
not greatly differ from those I
would see at home, and, aside
from the language, which admit-
tedly is difficult at the best of
times to put aside, I could just as
easily be back in Canada.
So, the apprehension I might
feel when walking late at night
in those areas may have more to
do with me identifying with my
surroundings and recognizing
the dangers that are inherently
there. The same risks that lie in
wait there may just as well be
waiting for me on my walk
home from work. The difference,
perhaps, is that I have more
trouble recognizing them in
these surroundings, in these
— Not your grandfather’s internet radio show.
See SeoulPodcast.com
and that hardcore b-boy atti-
tude of ‘I’m the best’ and then
proving it. It (hip-hop) allows
folks to stake out their own
identity and to then make that
identity available to folks all
around the world. What the
Korean b-boys are doing in that
sense is they’re making Korea
visible and accessible to millions
and millions of kids all around
the world.
“It’s always been a grass-roots
movement that’s been about al-
lowing people to express them-
selves in the deepest kind of
way.”
Read more about Jeff Chang
and his writing at www.cantstop-
wontstop.com and www.
totalchaoshiphop.com
Regina can be reached through
her blog at expatjane.blogspot.com
— Ed.
forms and shapes.
It is not that one is worse or
more dangerous than the other;
it is my perception that has
been thrown off-balance.
Many of the Koreans who
wrote to me told me how lucky I
was to have “gotten away” as I
did and that they were sur-
prised and concerned by my
lack of fear. Many expats told
me that, in spite of their experi-
ences, they still felt safer here in
Korea than they ever did back
home, wherever that might be.
I can’t decide what’s scarier:
the fact that so many of these
crimes go unreported, or that we
expats often perceive this place
to be safe, when it’s really just
safer by contrast.
Stephanie can be reached
through her blog at stephaniein-
suwon.blogspot.com — Ed.