The Korean Center in Jerusalem | Fili’s World

18 Jan, 2007 in Asia-Israel connections, Korea by Fili
Tags: Asia-Israel connections, Korea

The Korean Center in Jerusalem

Korea is still a big mystery to me. I don’t really know much about Korea, but I came across Korean influences in almost all the Asian countries that I’ve been to, and they were always in a positive context. Korean culture - Korean movies, Korean fashion and Korean food are regarded of very high quality and of good style in both Taiwan, Vietnam and Singapore. The only Korean influences I’ve noticed in Israel so far were the growing Korean community at the Hebrew University, a Korean restaurant in Jerusalem and a Korean girl that I met downtown. It weird that almost nobody in the East Asian Department takes the Korean courses and Korea wasn’t represented in the East-Asia day we had last year. I guess China and Japan are more trendy.

Which is why I was glad to see this ad on the Chinese-Garden :

It reads : "The Korean Cultural Center in Israel invites you to a Korean comedy - My Sassy Girl - on January 18th, 18:30, in 2 Ben Yehuda st. Jerusalem". I haven’t even heard that there’s a Korean Cultural Center in Jerusalem. I almost forgot about this when an Australian friend who’s visiting Jerusalem (and who I met through this blog) - Jonathan - told me that a Korean girl at the university convinced him to come to the movie.

From IMDB :

Based on a series of true stories posted by Ho-sik Kim on the Internet describing his relationship with his girlfriend. These were later transformed into a best-selling book and the movie follows the book closely. It describes the meeting of Kyun-woo (Cha) and an unnamed girl. Kyun-woo is shamed into assisting the girl because the other passengers mistakenly think she is his girlfriend. Once he helps her, Kyun-woo develops a deep sense of responsibility for her which enables him to tolerate (somehow) the girls abuses.

We walked over there and met Irena, a Russian-Korean girl, who decided to liven up the center by inviting more people and holding more acitivies. There’s even a website being built. The movie was cute (/kitsch) and romantic, very much Korean style from the Korean pop-movies I’ve seen so far, and it reminded me of the Japanese Train Men alot. Later on I heard that the center is holding a Korean language exchange every Thursday, and that plans are to have some more food and origami meetings in the near future.

I might head out there again if they hold something, and maybe even see what that language exchange is all about. My curiosity knows no limits.

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10 Responses so far | Have Your Say!

harry | January 18th, 2007 at 10:52 pm #

My office is in Ben Yehuda 2. How is it possible that I don’t know about this? I shall investigate on Sunday!

Korea House has been closed for about two months. They told me they had some sort of license problem and were hoping to reopen soon. I haven’t stopped by in a few weeks though, so for all I know they might have reopened.
Amos | January 19th, 2007 at 5:47 am #

One of my best friends and housemate here is Korean, and I think it’s a fascinating culture and country. I live in the Bay Area which has a huge selection of Korean restaurants. One of the things I’ve wondered about is how Korean food would do in Tel Aviv. I didn’t realize there was a restaurant in Jerusalem. I think Israelis have to be introduced to the cuisine.
harry | January 19th, 2007 at 10:22 am #

There used to be a place on Yad Harutzim in Tel Aviv. I’m not sure when it closed. Last time I ate there was in 1999!
fiLi | January 20th, 2007 at 1:19 am #

Yeah, it’s very well hidden. Look at room 153. It might look like a dodgy underground gambling place from the outside, but the Korean characters give a small hint to the wonders of what’s inside.

Yeah, two bad about Korea House. I visited them just before they closed down. Last time I checked - they were still closed.
fiLi | January 20th, 2007 at 1:23 am #

I find most Asian cuisine here a bit problematic. I can already see the local version of Korean BBQ all covered in sweetened Soya sauce, half baked spaghetti noodles and ordinary rice served with the Hummus house specialty.
When I posted some photos of the visit to Korea House, one reader commented that it wasn’t really Korean food.

Does you Korean flatmate cook for you sometimes?
Amos | January 20th, 2007 at 4:41 am #

I can’t eat all the food but we’ve made kosher versions of galbi with all the side dishes and accompaniments, which is no problem at all, since you just need really good beef, and various other dishes. I’ve also eaten some really good things, vegetarian and fish, in the restaurants here, which are top-notch.

My flatmate almost only eats Korean food, but he likes hamin, hummus, hatzilim, a lot of things for some reason from the region.
korean center | February 19th, 2007 at 12:48 am #

o!it closed:(
korean center | February 19th, 2007 at 12:50 am #

it’s a huge old building
we are opposite kafe “Rimon”
Come to visit and drink some tea:)
irinalyan | June 3rd, 2007 at 3:11 pm #

korean center’s new internet site

http://www.kccil.org
fiLi | June 3rd, 2007 at 10:29 pm #

The Korean culture center website looks great. You’ve done a great job with it. Mazal Tov.

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