Jeff's contribution to Yanksgiving dinner in Korea

(to nobody's great surprise)

Lemon Cheesecake
Makes 1-9 inch cheesecake (8 servings)

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
6 tablespoons butter, melted

24 ounces cream cheese,

softened 1 cup white sugar

1 tablespoon com starch

3 eggs

1 tablespoon grated lemon zest 2/3 cup lemon juice

Directions

1 Combine cookie or graham cracker crumbs with butter or margarine. Press into bottom and partially up sides of 9 inch springform pan. Refrigerate.

2 In a large bowl, beat with an electric mixer the cream cheese, sugar, lime peel, and cornstarch untif smooth fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, blending just until smooth. Add key lime juice with mixer on low. Finish mixing by hand. Do not overbeat, or cake will crack during baking. Pour batter into prepared crust.

Bake at 300 degrees F (150 degrees C) for 55 to 65
minutes, or until set. To minimize cracking, place a shallow
pan half full of hot water on lower rack during baking.

Turn oven off, and let cheesecake stand in oven 30
minutes with the door open at least 4 inches. Remove from
oven. Refrigerate cake overnight, and up to three days.

Adam Asks A Waeguk, Vol. 6.4

The latest in an ongoing series:

Dear Waeguk,

If I were to watch the Korean equivalent of
Sportscentre, what sport would be most likely to
feature as the lead story? Does Korea have its own
versions of the NBA, NHL, MLB, etc? Professional
leagues or associations for any other sports? Is any
particular Korean athlete the LeBron of the bunch
(meaning the anointed and most favoured one)?

The Waeguk responds:

Adam,

Korea has its own versions of the NBA (the Korean Basketball League, or KBL), and its own Professional Baseball League. Ice hockey, on the other hand, is virtually unheard of, at least in Busan.

Interestingly, most of Korea's most famous athletes do not play in Korea. These include Park Ji-Sung, who plays for Manchester United in Great Britain's Premier League, as well as almost a dozen Koreans who play in North America's Major League Baseball. The best known of these is the Los Angeles Dodgers' Chan Ho Park. Manchester United is quite popular because of the Park Ji-Sung connection, but I don't there's an overwhelming allegiance to any particular baseball team.

Another popular sporting figure in South Korea is the 7'2" kickboxer Choi Hong-Man, who dwarfs just about everyone. Choi is well-known because of his massive size and impressive record in the ring, but even despite his personal appeal, kickboxing is not a particularly popular sport here.

Almost all of my male students, as well as a number of my female students, attend taekwondo classes on a regular basis; it's not uncommon for boys to come to school in their taekwondo uniforms.

Ask A Waeguk, Vol. 6.3

The third question comes from A. Christopher Garskey, formerly of Lindsay, Ontario. Mr. Garskey writes:

Dear Waeguk,

What is kimchi, and why would schoolchildren complain when it is dry? Also, I’ve heard positive reviews of Korean barbeque, but have never experienced it myself.
Have you indulged, and if so, what are your thoughts?
Also, have you noticed any seasonal changes in the local food?

The Waeguk Responds :

Kimchi is a staple of Korean cuisine. It's spicy pickled vegetables (most commonly cabbage), and is served with almost every meal. Most of my students will eat kimchi for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It's typically quite moist, and thus if it were dry schoolchildren would likely find it offensive to their finely honed palates.

As for Korean barbeque, it's one of my favourite types of food here in Korea. At the Korean barbeque restaurant I frequent most often, pork is the meat of choice. It's an almost bacon-like cut, brought raw to the table on plates piled high. Each table has its own little charcoal grill, and the meat is cooked with onions, hot peppers, garlic, and sliced potato. When done, one removes the bacon and vegetables from the grill and wraps it in mint or other leaves along with one's sauce of choice. It can be a bit messy at times, but is really quite delectable.

As for seasonal changes in the local food, I haven't noticed many as of yet. The persimmons and clementines are in season, and are being sold on the street along with the standards of fish and bananas, but I haven't yet detected any huge differences in the eating habits.

Ask A Waeguk, Vol. 6.2

The next question is from AC "Slater" Garskey in Ottawa, who writes:

"Dear Waeguk,

I recently heard that there are somewhere in the neighbourhood of 20 000 anglophones teaching English in Korea at the moment. Is the demand for any other languages strong in Korea, and if so, do you ever run into evidence of the presence of native speakers of those languages? (Note: by “evidence”, I more or less am thinking of observing young speakers of, say, French or Spanish on the subway who appear to be on their way to work or who appear to be somehow less transient than tourists. I’m not thinking along the lines of stool samples or footprints.) "

The Waeguk responds:

English is far and away the dominant second-language in Busan, and Korea as a whole. In terms of foreign-language education, the next most popular would likely be Mandarin, but it doesn't have even a tenth of the presence of English.

That's not to say that all the non-Koreans in Busan are anglophones, though. The interestingly-named Texas Street, for example, is home to Busan's Russian community, and many of the signs in the area are in the Cyrillic alphabet. I think the presence of the Russians is due largely to Busan's status as one of the major port cities in this corner of the world; Texas Street also plays host to a number of Indonesian and Philipino restaurants and is, or so rumour would have it, the recommended (and likely only) place to go for a Caucasian (possibly literally, in this case) prostitute.

There are a couple of French people in the Korean class which takes place before mine; I haven't spoken to them much, but I think they likely work for a multinational in the area, as I have seen absolutely no demand whatsoever for French teachers.

It has occurred to me on occasion that it would be amusing to procure myself a position as an English teacher in a rural area where nobody speaks the language, and proceed to teach the children French or Spanish instead, but the odds of my doing this are slim.

Ask A Waeguk, Vol. 6.1

The first of several questions today comes from Sara-Jane in High Park, who asks if Hallowe'en is celebrated in Korea.


The Waeguk responds:

Korea has numerous holidays. Some of them, such as Chuseok, have deep roots in this country, while others, such as Christmas, are newer additions but have still been adopted by a significant proportion of the population. Then there's Halloween. This seems to be celebrated exclusively at the hogwan (English academies) and Wageuk bars. Korean children come to English school dressed in costume and receive and candy and may participate in certain Halloween-themed activities. However, it's done much in the spirit that a Canadian school might have, for example, an "International Day," wherein students will organize cultural activities from different nations. That is to say, Halloween in Korea is celebrated almost exclusively within the school, rather than within the community as a whole.

As for your faithful correspondent, I amazed and delighted my pupils with my interpretation of Wolverine, the X-Man. I made claws of cardboard and tinfoil, and the Kindergardeners especially were quite impressed. We also had a haunted house, which is to say: a classroom with the lights turned off,black garbage bags draped from the ceiling, and a cd of scary sounds playing. I was quite skeptical of our ability to scare anyone, but I had neglected to take into account the fact that our target audience was 5 years old. Many kids refused to take more than 2 steps into the room, and those who did enter were oft shocked to find the mannequins coming to life and jumping out at them. But rest assured, 'twas all in good fun.