Quarantine Day 8: K-Drama

As part of my Korean culture education, I've started watching a Korean drama. Korean culture in general is experiencing a renaissance period, partly because the digital era has made it easier to export culture profitably, and partly because the government began subsidizing it once they realized the power that soft influence brings. It's even considered a weapon against the North.

That's part of why I picked this particular Korean drama, Crash Landing on You. It's about a South Korean woman from a powerful elite business family who goes to test her business's new activewear line by going paragliding, but gets caught up in a tornado and flung across the border where she crash lands and is rescued by a handsome North Korean army captain.

What makes the series interesting to me is that the actress who plays the leading role is actually a North Korean defector. While the premise itself is pretty far-fetched, all the depictions of life in North Korea are pretty accurate because they consulted her on everything. And the role of South Korean cultural influence on life in North Korea is a recurring theme.

I imagine the producers thought a lot about the impact the show will have when it makes its way across the border. What will they think seeing a fellow North Korean who escaped to star in a South Korean TV series? The North Koreans in the show (all played by South Koreans) accuse her of spreading propaganda when she accurately describes life in Seoul, much like many of her former countrymen are sure to accuse the actress of doing. In a way they're both right; she does tell the truth about the world below the 38th parallel, and that's what makes it such potent propaganda.

Quarantine Day 7: Garbage

The hotel will no longer take my garbage out. They're saying by government policy, it has to stay in my room until I'm released from quarantine (9 more days). They gave me some biohazard bags and some disinfectant along with a very complicated 2 page manual written entirely in Korean on how to properly pack my garbage. I've tried translating it but to no avail. Google's image translation breaks down on passages this long.

Upon closer inspection, the "disinfectant" appears to actually just be an odor eliminating scented spray. I can see why this would be necessary because after only one day my garbage smelled terrible. The meals they provide are largely seafood based, which makes it worse. Here's a picture of some kind of tentacle I've been eating. The scented spray is nice but it really just doesn't cut the mustard here.




The staff kept calling about it and saying it's a government policy and I can't keep leaving garbage out for pickup. I really don't want the garbage in the room and have been protesting. They typed up a rough, abbreviated translation of the manual and left it on my tarp. I was able to get them to take one last bag of garbage out but I think that's about all I'm gonna get.

Quarantine Day 6: Semifood Restaurant

I ordered takeout on a little app called Shuttle, and the hotel staff brought it to my tarp! I don't know if it was just miscommunication when they told me I could only eat the quarantine food or what, but I'm happy to have a little more control over my diet again. Here's something I got from Semifood Restaurant.



It's about 3x more expensive than quarantine food but it tastes a lot better. I think this is a vastly superior introduction to what Korean food really tastes like. Here's some beef kimbap. It's like sushi but with beef.

Quarantine Day 5: Climate Control

Climate control has proven to be a challenge. There's a very modern, powerful AC / heater in the room but the controller is entirely in Korean.

You can kind of guess from context clues how it's supposed to work but I'm always left wondering if it's in heating mode or cooling mode. 

I tried using Google Translate's handy camera feature to automatically translate the buttons. The results were pretty interesting. I'm very curious to know what the Barab Century button does.

Quarantine Day 4: Simplicity Descending Life Line

I found the simplicity descending life line beneath my desk. It was next to a hook bolted to the floor. The instructions are simple.

1. Hang the hook to the supporter ring.

2. Fasten the belt around your chest.

3. Throw the rope-rill out of the window.

4. Descending safely with facing to the wall.

The rest of it is written in Korean. From this much, I gather it's a sort of fire escape. Unfortunately, neither I nor my simplicity descending life line will fit through this tiny hotel window.

The window has a much larger upper panel that doesn't open. The glass is pretty thick but I think I might be able to smash through it with the chair if I got a running start. I could throw a few towels over the glass shards so they don't cut my simplicity descending life line.

I quietly pray for a fire.

Quarantine Day 3: Kimchi for Breakfast

The hotel provides all my meals in these little bento boxes. I don't have any control over what goes in them, so I pretty much always get kimchi.

Breakfast this morning was unusual in that I could name almost everything: kimchi, eggs, sushi, fruit, bacon, compressed protein nugget.

The only thing that stumped me was this wet yellow lump next to the kimchi. I make an effort to eat the local food but I wonder if quarantine food is really the best introduction to Korean cuisine.

I stare longingly out the window at the barbecue joint across the street as I gnaw on my wet yellow lump and try not to smell.

Quarantine Day 2: The Benefits of Big Brother

It's time for my daily self-check. This app, "Self Diagnosis", was released by the Korean government. Once a day, I have to self-report any symptoms I might be experiencing. If I have symptoms, they'll send someone to come test me, which is nice. The part that's creepy is that it checks my location in the background and reports it back to the government. That way they can tell whether I am still in my quarantine room. Also, if needed, they can use it for COVID Alerts.

I didn't know what a COVID Alert was when I first got one. It showed up on my phone like an Amber Alert or a Flood Watch alert does in the US. They happen often, and they're written entirely in Korean. Sometimes they're just updates on the situation in general, but sometimes they're reports about a specific new individual diagnosed. They list basic information about the person and every location they've been to since contracting the disease. Even love hotels.

They know when the person contracted the disease because, with everyone's location history and diagnostic status, they can tell exactly who the person contracted it from and where. Creepy, but effective.

I wonder if one day I too will become a COVID alert. Based on my daily self-check results, at least I won't be today.