It’s been a loooong time since I last wrote, honestly I’ve been very busy these days. I’ve had a somewhat mixed experience about my stay. The truth is I’ve had to work very hard, like never before, and unlike Mexico, the stress isn’t just concentrated when exam week approaches but every single day. My sleep habits have been disrupted, now I sleep when the sun rises, since it’s at dawn when I can get the most effective study and work time. I don’t think it’s the worst thing that’s happened to me because I’ve tried to sleep at least 5 hours a day, just at a different time. My breakfast is at 2 pm, my lunch at 6, and my dinner is around 1 am or midnight. Overall, it’s not so bad even though I’ve actually had little time for myself or to visit Korea. Maybe I’ll have January free, but I’ve been told winter is very harsh and you can only stay home or go out drinking at a bar. Well, that’s what they told me at a bar so maybe don’t pay too much attention to that comment.
Today I decided to make a little space to write, one of those moments when you just lie in bed, when you read the news… the atrocities happening back home, the time you check your email, when you chat with someone you meet while walking, the time it takes to brush your teeth… These are things that give meaning to your day when you’re very busy, or rather, they break the routine. So I’m going to share with you some of those rare and short moments.
One day when I left class at 3 pm, I thought of going to the cafeteria near the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science department. I decided to enter from the side where the little shop is, where the lady who works there always seems to scold you and is very “grumpy”. I went to check the food counter just in case they were still serving, but there was nothing left, I felt very loser honestly because I was very hungry, so I continued on my way to look for fruits and edible roots in the garden -Bazinga!-. By chance, this time I decided to cross the cafeteria to get to the library, when I found that on the other side there was a secret place where they were serving noodles. Until then I hadn’t seen it, since I’d never crossed to the library through the cafeteria before.
Cheeselicious
There, there’s only one cashier and a lady preparing at least 5 bowls of noodles (Ramen 라면) at a time on the grill. Nobody makes noise, everyone eats and nobody talks. I asked the cashier what they sold, she answered Cheese Ramyeon (치즈라면) 1,500(원) wons, Cheese Ramyeon with rice (치즈라면고 밥) 2,000(원) wons. Ramyeon is a very cheap and popular food in Korea and the world. According to Wikipedia, these instant noodles originated in Japan by Momofuku Andō in 1952. It’s quite cheap, not very nutritious, no fiber, 3 grams of sodium, but very rich in carbohydrates. A serving has between 350 and 550 calories depending on the package, which can represent up to 50% of the average caloric intake (1,200 cal). It’s very popular among Asian students to eat Ramyeon late at night or even as a snack during the day, and it’s even a remedy for party nights.
Fun fact: it’s said that ramen was widely consumed in Japan after World War II, when economic conditions were not very favorable.
The lady who prepares the noodles, whom we’ll call Mrs. Ramyeon by definition, is a celebrity at the school and according to my Korean roommate, she makes the best noodles in KOREA. I don’t know how many places he’s been to eat Ramyeon, nor if his family burns even the water, but from my own experience I can tell you they’re very good. The winning combination is Cheese Ramyeon with rice (치즈라면고 밥), and Kimchi, not mixed in the soup but each separately. Kimchi, like water, is fortunately complimentary and you can take as much as you want. The most popular way to eat them is: first you eat the noodles with Kimchi, without finishing the broth, once the noodles are gone you eat your rice by the spoonful and dipped in the soup.
Kimchi
Ramyeon is considered an inferior good economically, meaning when incomes drop, its demand increases. I don’t really know when is the season when more noodles are consumed at school, but to analyze the Freakonomics of this dish, it would be enough to interview Mrs. Ramyeon, who is a celebrity in the making.
Always a cheese fan, Noé.