The greatest Japanese invention of the 20th Century

1.Andrea went out for a better shot.
2. Then she got a bit closer.
3. ...and the closest, you can count the pores on my nose

Yep, you guessed right, didn't you? I'm talking about ramen, or as we say here in Korea ramyeon. I am sure that Koreans would object to ramen being called a Japanese invention, since they are Chinese in origin, - and anything is better than having to give credit to the Japanese.

During my first year in Korea, I would have at least one serving of cup ramen a day, usually in front of the TV, late at night, watching reruns of Ally McBael and drowning my sorrows in the hot broth. I was a walking storage of MSG and all that other bad stuff found in ramen.

My favourite brand was and still is Shin Ramyeon. Shin might mean "Chinese" but it also may have a different meaning. One thing all of us in Korea hear more than enough in lieu of explanation when we ask about a mystifying piece of vocabulary is that "it, oh, comes from a Chinese character, which is different but same." Translation: it's a different character, also differently pronounced in Chinese, which is a tonal langauge, but not differently pronounced in Korean, which is not.

Anywhere from 40-60% of Korean words (depending who you ask) come from Chinese, and you can only imagine what that means: Korean ended up having one word, spelled and pronounced in the same way, with numerous different meanings. This (among other things) makes learning Korean a nightmare from which I am still refusing to wake up, hoping that one day all of it will fall into place.

I lost my habit of eating ramyeon, or rather train myself not to eat them. I don't even like them that much anymore. However, they are still perfect as a quick snack on a cold night, in between parties.
Lisa, Clare and I felt a bit peckish before the 'after party' so we stopped by at a local family mart, where we slurped our unhealthy snacks while Andrea immortalized this aspect of life in Korea on camera.