Why So Many Koreans Live in 'Palaces'

Exploring the Strange World of Korean Apartments

안녕! It's Ari, your talkative Korean friend and weekend reminder 🎉 Long time no see! I’m back from a long break. I struggled with low motivation for a while. I spent many days just lying in bed, doing nothing when I was at home. I tried many things to get back to normal, including running and taking a cold shower before breakfast, and they worked. So now I’m back! Sorry for keeping you waiting. Thank you for your warm support during the break. I’m so happy to be back! 😆

Today’s newsletter is about a spicy salad recipe, funny Korean apartment names, a romance drama that I’m watching recently, and more. Let’s start!

Spicy Potato Salad

@v_zipbap_lab

Let me share a refreshing salad recipe for summer! It’s cold potato salad, or 감자냉채 in Korean. This dish is perfect as a side for your late-night instant ramyeon or as a filling of a sandwich during your lazy weekend lunches. One of the key ingredients in this recipe is hot mustard, or 연겨자, which is a popular spicy sauce in East Asia. While I’m not certain if it’s available in your country, I did find one from a Korean brand on Amazon which costs $6.99. This sauce pairs wonderfully with vegetables. If you have the sauce ready, now it’s time to cook! Here’s the recipe that I found on Twitter:

For 2 servings,

1. Chop 3 or 4 small potatoes (200g) and 1/4 carrot (30g), then put the potatoes in boiling water for 1 minute.

2. Wash the potatoes in cold water and squeeze out the excess water.

3. In a bowl, mix 2 tablespoons of mayonnaise, 1/2 tablespoon of hot mustard, 1 tablespoon of vinegar, 1 tablespoon of sugar, and 1/2 tablespoon of salt.

4. Combine the potatoes, carrots, the sauce, and add some leafy vegetables if you have any. Sprinkle with a bit of pepper. Bon appétit!

If you’re a vegetarian, you can replace the mayonnaise with vegan mayonnaise :D

Why So Many Koreans Live in 'Palaces'

Did you know that in 2023, there are Koreans who live palaces or castles? They are not royalty, and these palaces are not the actual historical palaces like Gyeongbokgung Palace. I’m talking about apartments that are called “palace” or “castle.”

D Palace in Jongno, Seoul

If you visit Seoul for the first time, you’ll be surprised to see many apartment buildings densely packed in the city. Each of these buildings has its own name. In South Korea, there are many construction companies that build and sell apartments. The market is highly competitive, so they strive to differentiate themselves with attractive names. Often, these companies choose foreign language names, such as French or Latin, to create an impression of European luxury brands. Examples include “laFacade” (French), “One Pentas” (“pentas” means “elite” in Latin), and “Reventus” (meaning “return” in Latin).

Lotte Castle in Songpa, Seoul

English names are also popular. Among them, “castle” and “palace” are the most commonly used. If you search for “롯데캐슬” (Lotte Castle) in Google Maps, you’ll get an extensive list of “apartment castles” across the country. (Lotte is a major construction company.) The same applies to “palace.” There are many “apartment palaces” in Seoul such as Sweet Palace, Golden Palace, and Royal Palace. Other names you might find funny are “Hill State,” “World Méridien Western County,” (a strange mix of English and French) “Acro Vista” (another strange mix of Greek and Italian).

There’s an old joke about a Korean student who studied abroad. One day, the student applied for a scholarship for financially disadvantaged students at the university but got rejected because their home address was “castle.” The school must not have known it’s just an ordinary apartment name in Korea and mistakenly assumed the student was a wealthy royalty. Now that you know this information, don’t be confused if you meet a Korean who says they live in a palace or castle. It simply means they live in an apartment.

Mini Korean Lesson: Apartment Ad

@tkssjaj_tks

Let’s learn some Korean from an apartment ad that recently went viral for its controversial ad copy. The apartment’s name is “The Palace 73” which is not surprising 🙃. And the copy is as follows:

언제나 평등하지 않은 세상을 꿈꾸는 당신에게 바칩니다.

It means, “I dedicate this to you, who always dreams of the world that is not equal.” It sounds weird even in Korean. The copy emphasizes that the apartment is for the rich in the unequal world. Many criticized the ad copy for being blatantly materialistic. In this ad copy, we can learn how to make a negative sentence.

Positive: 평등하다 (to be equal)

Negative: 평등하지 않다 (not to be equal)

As you can see, you can turn a positive sentence into a negative one by adding 지 않다 after the verb stem (평등하). Let’s look at some examples:

1. 가다 (to go) → 가지 않다 (not to go)

2. 먹다 (to eat) → 먹지 않다 (not to eat)

3. 사랑하다 (to love) → 사랑하지 않다 (not to love)

It’s easy, right? You can see other examples in Korean songs like 울고 싶지 않아 (Don’t Wanna Cry) by SEVENTEEN and 널 사랑하지 않아 (I Don’t Love You) by URBAN ZAKAPA. 아 is a conversational sentence ending while 다 is a basic form. Listen to the songs and check the lyrics out to remember the lesson!

One last thing to share is My Beautiful Man (2021), a Japanese BL drama that I have been watching recently. It tells the love story between Hira, a loner high school student, and Kiyoi, a popular guy in the school. While the story setting may sound typical, the series is anything but ordinary. The lead characters are eccentric, and the plot is unpredictable. The series has two seasons and has also been adapted into a movie, which was released in Japan in April. Each episode lasts only about 25 mins, so it won’t take long to finish both seasons. I highly recommend it if you enjoy unique love stories. Watch the fan-made OST music video above to get a feel for the series. It’s available on Viki.

Thanks for reading! If you liked my newsletter, like 👇, leave a comment, share, or make a donation to support me ❤️‍🔥. It’ll help me keep writing! I’ll be back next week. 안녕!