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soomin
Joined: 18 Jun 2009
Location: Daegu
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 Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2012 4:52 pm Post subject: Re: Can you have unusual hair as a teacher? |
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| jasonXkeller wrote: |
| EmmaHewitt wrote: |
*Another random question
I am a vegan (I don�t eat meat/dairy/eggs/honey), and I also don�t drink alcohol. I am fine with not being able to eat out, but how often are there situations where I would have required work outings at food places where this will cause an awkward situation?
Thanks in advance for the replies I appreciate it! |
I'm vegan and I have long hair(albeit the normal sort, tied back in a ponytail or knot). You must take my advice with a grain of sea salt, because I am not in Korea yet. It has been my experience, though, that listening to non-vegans about how to eat vegan in Korea is just short of useless. They have no idea what it's like to be vegan anywhere, let alone in Korea(with the exception, of course, of @Soomin, who was vegan). I follow a dude on IG who is vegan and living in Daegu. He does just fine. I suppose it just depends on how strong your convictions are about it. I would never change my diet as a matter of convenience. Where there is a will, there is a way. My hairs another matter. I'm growing my hair to donate, but it interfered with obtaining a professional position, I'd cut it off tomorrow. A pic of your hair would be helpful.
I guess I should also ask, what type of diet you normally maintain. If you rely heavily on veggie"meats," it may be harder than if you are accustomed to eating whole foods. Also, they have LOTS of tofu. They just have no idea how to cook it and will put fish sauce on it if you're not mindful. Where are you looking to teach? Perhaps we should take this to PM. |
I live in Daegu, and we have a few Loving Huts (vegan chain restaurant) and there is a vegan/veg group here... (here's the leader's blog: http://noksaeksari.blogspot.kr/). You can also get fresh, organic veggies delivered to your home ^.^ As for veggie "meats"~ you can buy them at the Loving Hut restaurants (they have a frozen section and a little section of store items) as well as other random places~ I really like something called "콩단백" (Kong- dahn-baek) which is soy "meat"~ it is really hearty and chewy ^.^ Just add it to soup or pre-soak and cook~
It's not impossible to be a vegan here, but it is very easy to accidentally eat non-vegan food... almost all soups contain fish powder or meat broth, rice is often mixed with lard/grease in cheaper chain restaurants, and even when you lay out exactly what you call "meat" or "animal products"(what? fish is not meat! seafood is not meat! You don't eat eggs... but you eat fish eggs, right?), they'll either ignore you, forget to take something out, or purposefully try to hide it in your food. One Korean friend told me "they feel sorry if they give you food with no meat in it, because meat is healthy and if they don't feed it to you, you will be unhealthy because of them." This is also a big danger zone for anyone who is has an allergy... my friend had a pack of emergency medicine that she had to dip into whenever someone forgot that the soup had shrimp shells in it, or when she ate seaweed soup and found a clam at the bottom @.@
Also, I ate a lot of kimbap (veggie sushi rolls) and bibimbap (no egg, please!) (veggies and red pepper paste mixed with rice). Some places will get angry or not pay attention and give you something non-vegan, so I recommend sticking to one shop near your house and let them get to know you. Once you've asked for the same thing (kimbap, no egg, ham, or fake crab) enough times, they stop giving you weird looks and you'll stop having to hover over them while they're making it ^.^ You can do it! |
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jasonXkeller
Joined: 17 Jan 2012
Location: Redlands, CA
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| Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2012 4:57 pm Post subject: |
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| EmmaHewitt wrote: |
@ewlandon the point was that you would be thin skinned if you cut your hair in fear of being made fun of. Changing your image to get a job is a different topic. Also, you cant respect the decision to be a vegan? You don't even know why i'm a vegan, so why would you immediately not respect the decision? |
It's it's a bit of an old fashioned idea. It's called ignorance. Though it has fallen out of fashion in recent years, there are still large pockets of holdouts all around the world. On a lighter note, @ewlandon has a fairly decent blog...even if, from time to time, he arbitrarily dismisses things without giving them due consideration. |
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luckylady
Joined: 30 Jan 2012
Location: u.s. of occupied territories
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| Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2012 5:09 pm Post subject: |
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| EmmaHewitt wrote: |
| Also, you cant respect the decision to be a vegan? You don't even know why i'm a vegan, so why would you immediately not respect the decision? |
if you're going to get your back up every time someone makes a dumb remark about vegans, or ask you directly about it, then you will definitely have some problems.
I think in general that's what bothers some people about vegans and vegetarians in general; it's the holier-than-thou attitude many exhibit towards meat eaters.
I've been a vegetarian off and on and presently don't eat red meat but I also make it understood I'm not an extremist - so if someone serves soup to me that has a meat-based broth I'm not going to have a kiniption fit. eating is a social activity and it does no good to put up barriers with people one is sharing bread with. if you want to extoll the goodness of eating more vegetables, by all means, do so, but do it in a way that doesn't make people feel like going home and butchering their own meat, drinking blood and gnawing on bones. |
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sml7285
Joined: 26 Apr 2012
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| Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2012 6:28 pm Post subject: |
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| luckylady wrote: |
| EmmaHewitt wrote: |
| Also, you cant respect the decision to be a vegan? You don't even know why i'm a vegan, so why would you immediately not respect the decision? |
if you're going to get your back up every time someone makes a dumb remark about vegans, or ask you directly about it, then you will definitely have some problems.
I think in general that's what bothers some people about vegans and vegetarians in general; it's the holier-than-thou attitude many exhibit towards meat eaters.
I've been a vegetarian off and on and presently don't eat red meat but I also make it understood I'm not an extremist - so if someone serves soup to me that has a meat-based broth I'm not going to have a kiniption fit. eating is a social activity and it does no good to put up barriers with people one is sharing bread with. if you want to extoll the goodness of eating more vegetables, by all means, do so, but do it in a way that doesn't make people feel like going home and butchering their own meat, drinking blood and gnawing on bones. |
+1 |
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Joe Boxer
Joined: 25 Dec 2007
Location: Bundang, South Korea
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| Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2012 7:35 pm Post subject: |
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I'm sure you've heard this before, but...
What's the difference between a vegan and a vegetarian?
A vegetarian gets invited out for dinner  |
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jasonXkeller
Joined: 17 Jan 2012
Location: Redlands, CA
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| Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2012 9:59 pm Post subject: |
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| luckylady wrote: |
| EmmaHewitt wrote: |
| Also, you cant respect the decision to be a vegan? You don't even know why i'm a vegan, so why would you immediately not respect the decision? |
if you're going to get your back up every time someone makes a dumb remark about vegans, or ask you directly about it, then you will definitely have some problems.
I think in general that's what bothers some people about vegans and vegetarians in general; it's the holier-than-thou attitude many exhibit towards meat eaters.
I've been a vegetarian off and on and presently don't eat red meat but I also make it understood I'm not an extremist - so if someone serves soup to me that has a meat-based broth I'm not going to have a kiniption fit. eating is a social activity and it does no good to put up barriers with people one is sharing bread with. if you want to extoll the goodness of eating more vegetables, by all means, do so, but do it in a way that doesn't make people feel like going home and butchering their own meat, drinking blood and gnawing on bones. |
You have a very sensible approach to this. I've been vegan for 21 years, but I take a very practical approach to my veganism. Sometimes avoiding trace amounts of animal products are just not worth the trouble it causes, or the benefit is not worth the effort. Mainly I have a distaste for factory farming and such. I actually prefer those who hunt and fish. If I were to ever eat meat again(highly unlikely) I would only eat what I caught or killed myself. And you are correct that the holier than thou attitude is foolish and off-putting. I don't tend to get my pants in a tuft unless people start spouting off things like the BS above without qualification. I encourage anyone to disagree with my, by all means. Not because I like to argue(I actually don't), but because I like to learn new points of view and get excited when the scales are removed from some ignorance of my own. I just wish that people would qualify blanket statements with something intelligible. I have no room for dogmas in my life.
I also like your point about eating being social. I will and have on occasion eaten something I would rather not eat for the sake of community, or simply to avoid wasting food(which I dislike). I won't make exceptions for actual meat, but I have for dairy or eggs when the situation called for it. |
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jasonXkeller
Joined: 17 Jan 2012
Location: Redlands, CA
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| Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2012 10:59 pm Post subject: |
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| Joe Boxer wrote: |
I'm sure you've heard this before, but...
What's the difference between a vegan and a vegetarian?
A vegetarian gets invited out for dinner |
I do like a good joke. |
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ewlandon
Joined: 30 Jan 2011
Location: teacher
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| Posted: Sat Jun 02, 2012 1:25 am Post subject: |
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| jasonXkeller wrote: |
| EmmaHewitt wrote: |
@ewlandon the point was that you would be thin skinned if you cut your hair in fear of being made fun of. Changing your image to get a job is a different topic. Also, you cant respect the decision to be a vegan? You don't even know why i'm a vegan, so why would you immediately not respect the decision? |
It's it's a bit of an old fashioned idea. It's called ignorance. Though it has fallen out of fashion in recent years, there are still large pockets of holdouts all around the world. On a lighter note, @ewlandon has a fairly decent blog...even if, from time to time, he arbitrarily dismisses things without giving them due consideration. |
Thanks for the comment about my blog ( I need to update it spon)
As for me being ignorant about the vegan thing, well I grew up in portland oregon and went to school in eugene. Its sort of a mecca, ive heard everything and have tons of vegan or veg friends and really most the arguements are just bs hippie stuff. The only reason I can respect is the factory farming thing, because food in the usa generally comes from really bad sources but thats true about non animal products too. Anyway ut was mostly a troll comment but I dont find most reasons to be vegan are either silly or scientifically wrong.
Also if you read my blog and think I skipped over something you should comme.t, I am interested. |
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ewlandon
Joined: 30 Jan 2011
Location: teacher
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| Posted: Sat Jun 02, 2012 1:30 am Post subject: |
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| edit:Do find. Sorry posting from my phone |
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thunderbird
Joined: 18 Aug 2009
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| Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2012 4:26 am Post subject: |
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| Who cares bout hair, were all freaks 2 dem anyways it dont really matter |
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ThingsComeAround
Joined: 07 Nov 2008
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| Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2012 7:52 am Post subject: |
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veganism won't be easy for you. The national staple kimchi is usually marinated in fish/crab/shrimp paste so that could cause issues from day 1. Second, people in Korea don't regard ham as being a meat. When you learn Korean, you have to remember to ask for Pork to be removed, Meat, AND HAM. I am a Pescetarian, so there is understanding that you will want to keep your diet for whatever reason. Even that was tough. In Korea there is a lot of nutrition ignorance, so expect heaps of silly questions that you would have answered fifty times already, from the same person often. It would help that when you start, cook for yourself 24-7 and try sharing your food with others (offset the snob issue- it is real)
The hair? Not great but I've seen worse. |
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jasonXkeller
Joined: 17 Jan 2012
Location: Redlands, CA
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| Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2012 12:51 pm Post subject: |
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| ewlandon wrote: |
| jasonXkeller wrote: |
| EmmaHewitt wrote: |
@ewlandon the point was that you would be thin skinned if you cut your hair in fear of being made fun of. Changing your image to get a job is a different topic. Also, you cant respect the decision to be a vegan? You don't even know why i'm a vegan, so why would you immediately not respect the decision? |
It's it's a bit of an old fashioned idea. It's called ignorance. Though it has fallen out of fashion in recent years, there are still large pockets of holdouts all around the world. On a lighter note, @ewlandon has a fairly decent blog...even if, from time to time, he arbitrarily dismisses things without giving them due consideration. |
Thanks for the comment about my blog ( I need to update it spon)
As for me being ignorant about the vegan thing, well I grew up in portland oregon and went to school in eugene. Its sort of a mecca, ive heard everything and have tons of vegan or veg friends and really most the arguements are just bs hippie stuff. The only reason I can respect is the factory farming thing, because food in the usa generally comes from really bad sources but thats true about non animal products too. Anyway ut was mostly a troll comment but I dont find most reasons to be vegan are either silly or scientifically wrong.
Also if you read my blog and think I skipped over something you should comme.t, I am interested. |
I will redact my statement. Jaded would be more appropriate and I can see why, being from Oregon. I figured. Sometimes I'm a little over-sensitive. I forget that my many vegans can be quite disagreeable and self-righteous. |
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alljokingaside
Joined: 17 Feb 2010
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| Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2012 5:09 am Post subject: |
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Pescetarian here (or the lazy man's vegetarian-ish). You'll have to be really laid back about the vegan thing. Like, most soups are fish-stock based and meat is equated with health and taste (like, some restaurants'll refuse to serve X dish w/o meat for [speculation] fear that it'll ruin the flavor and reputation, and things just aren't done that way! You'll have to watch the bibimbap (rice/mixed veges/sometimes meat/egg) since the hot paste it comes with might have beef/pork mixed in. Ham isn't considered meat (and I can understand why) by many. Some waiters/cooks will forget.
Actually, it isn't horrible if you cook and bring your own food to school.
Public schools aren't horrible either, not necessarily at least. Some ignorant people (like my previous holier-than-thou Xtian co-teacher who either make dumbass remarks or taunt you [eg like at the end of the winter camp when she wasn't even supposed to be there and bought a pizza chocked with meat, having been well acquainted with my non-meat eating habits by then, having "forgotten", the day I was gonna do a CostCo pizza day with the kids- UGH]) may annoy you, but most'll leave you alone. The food at school'll be ...troublesome unless you really like rice! (although, somedays, the rice may have meat IN it) They definitely won't understand why you can't just pick it out (which defeats the purpose, somewhat). These are the bad examples.
The school I'm at now, a Korean teacher's well acquainted with the V-V-P divide and will explain to other Koreans. they just go...eh? eh. It's definitely more intensive than back in the States, but do-able. Like I did start the pesceratian thing here.
sidenote: Also, from what I understand, the pork production thing here isn't that great either. Probably chickens, too. can't say for beef though. Eels, avoid like the plague. etc etc |
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luckylady
Joined: 30 Jan 2012
Location: u.s. of occupied territories
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| Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2012 2:12 pm Post subject: |
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curious about snails and silkworm larvae - the former I became a big fan of in Korea and the latter, tried a few times, never got used to the bitterness and aftertaste -
what category do these fall into ? I can see a vegan would not have either but people like me, who only avoid red meat, will eat them. what about you fish-only folks? would you give either a nibble ?  |
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NYC_Gal 2.0
Joined: 10 Dec 2010
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| Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2012 3:43 pm Post subject: |
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| luckylady wrote: |
curious about snails and silkworm larvae - the former I became a big fan of in Korea and the latter, tried a few times, never got used to the bitterness and aftertaste -
what category do these fall into ? I can see a vegan would not have either but people like me, who only avoid red meat, will eat them. what about you fish-only folks? would you give either a nibble ? |
I'm pescatarian, and I eat snails. I'm not a fan of bundeagi, but, if I did, I'd eat them, because I believe that eating bugs is a really great way to get protein. If only I liked the taste! |
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