Korean Food

I had a really good day today.  All of my classes went really well, except my last one.  Those kids don't care and it's tough to keep them focused and away from chatting with their friends in Korean since they don't listen to me at all.  And there's Daniel in Beginner 2 who is ALWAYS a problem.  But, the classes were great overall.  Even my little kids were on top of it today.

Ian had a good day today, too.  One of his trouble students didn't show up to his Essential 1.  He said it was the smoothest it's ever been.  By the way, our class levels go Beginner (1 and 2), Basic (1 and 3), Essential (1, 2, and 4), and Fluent (1 and 3).  We teach kids from 6 years old up to about 15 or so.

Being a vegetarian can be tough in Korea.  Even if you communicate "no meat, no seafood" over and over again they may just fail to understand you.  For some Koreans, not eating something expensive and "classy" like meat is just out of the question, so requesting it be left out is just so strange they think you must mean something else.

We like a lot of what we've eaten, though.  Kimbop (like sushi rolls, only a little more bland [no vinegar]), yachae bimbimbop (veggies with a fried egg on top served with rice), dduk ("cakes" made out of rice flour and water, they can be made savory or sweet), and paht (the read bean that shows up in everything).  We bought some plain dduk last night to make with sauce (a popular "between meal" here, usually with red chili sauce).  We made it with a sweet chili sauce.  It was delicious, though both of us agreed that we wouldn't of though so a month ago.  Also, I've been craving bimbimbop, I believe the feared culinary assimilation is happening.  I think we're going to try to make more Korean food at home.  And I don't mean like the "cheese bokki" we ate for lunch.  Cheese bokki is like cup of noodles met easy mac and had a disgustingly delicious love child.  Koreans love their instant food, which amuses me because they think Americans eat only fast food and packaged meals.  I guess some do, but more Koreans per capita eat that way for sure.

Ian made yachae pu-chin-geh (yachae = vegetables, pu-chin-geh is sometimes called Korean pancakes or Korean pizza) for dinner tonight.  We just made it from a package (it's easier to find packaged things in the stores than the ingredients themselves), but it was delicious.  And so filling.  Pu-chin-geh is typical Korean get together food.  It's heavy and relatively calorie laden, but it packs a nutritional punch (it's made with lots of veggies).  We had it with cold corn tassel tea.  It's got a light roasted corn flavor, like the smell of unseasoned and unbuttered popcorn.

Ian prepares the mix and chops the veggies.

A bit like a big, savory pancake with  veggies in it.

My pu-chin-geh and seasoned rice.  I had Ian finish my rice.  :)

Ian's pancake is prettier (the carrots made mine fall apart) and he gave himself a more reasonable portion of rice...

I'm curious, what did you have for dinner last night?  What do you wish you cooked more often?

Good night!

An Evening with David Beckham, Tom Cruise and ... That One Kid from High School Musical 3

I will be keeping this short and to the point because I just got back and I'm very tired, so forgive the brevity. 

Today Ian and I walked to down town to pick up some things that we've wanted, but couldn't get because we are so poor.

We got cleaning supplies, a bathroom scale and computer speakers among other things.  Maybe not super exciting, but it's nice to be able to buy things without sacrificing grocery money.

We had to go to Hi Mart to get the scale.  Hi Mart is a little like Korean Best Buy, only not as good.  You're not supposed to take pictures in this particular store, but we got some on the sly.

This is the outside of a counter top dish washer.

And the inside.

This is a stove top, but instead of an oven, you'll find a dishwasher inside.  I was a little disappointed.

Some graffiti about Americans near the Lotte Supercenter.  I don't know how to go about translating it.

 

This morning when we walked around Sinback (our neighborhood) we were stopped three times and handed four packs of tissues.  They are advertisements for a church.  The left side is the front of the packet and the right side is the back with service times and info.

We had a pretty bad experience in a restaurant this afternoon.  We went in and ordered kimbop.  We ordered it (in our extremely rudimentary Korean) "no ham, no meat, no seafood."  The waitress tries to ask us something in Korean, when we don't understand her, she just repeats herself louder.  Eventually she brings us our order.  But, there's ham in it.  So, Ian tries to explain that we don't eat ham and that we'd like some kimbop without it.  He even uses the unwanted ham as a prop.  The woman simply does not understand us, she doesn't try to fix it even though it's obvious that it's wrong.  Instead, she just talks at us loudly and pushes the soup (a standard kimbop side) toward us.  Ian tries to explain again and again for the next five minutes, but the woman just looks at us and then awkwardly laughs with her coworker.  So, Ian gave her W2,000 and we left having not touched the food.  She tried to refuse the money, but he made her take it.  Being a vegetarian here can be pretty rough.  It's another good reason we eat in so often.

We went over to SJ's tonight for a mini house party get together with the teachers.  It was so much fun.  Ian and I didn't drink much.  Though we did find a half way decent dark beer at the store.  We're not big fans of soju.  It breaks your brain.  We just sat around and listened to music (most of the teachers have good taste, thankfully) and talked.  Ian and I discovered that pretty much everyone is just as gekky as we are.  And many of them have a better film viewing repetoir than us.  It's a pretty great crowd.  I'm sorry I didn't take any pictures, there wasn't much to memorialize.  Plus, I don't want to annoy anyone with incessant photo taking. 

Pete said that he was told (here in Korea) that he looks like David Beckham.  I think he does a little.  Then Jeff said he had gotten Nick Cage (he was not pleased, but I don't think he has any reason to worry).  Matt had been told he looked like Jude Law and we teased that he looked more like Tom Cruise.  Albert apparently looks like a kid from high school musical.  Terrible Americans may say that all Asians look alike, but Koreans think that all white people look like celebrities.  Pretty funny.

We are going to Wonju tomorrow to shop for some winter wear.  I hope I can find some inexpensive stuff because I don't want to freeze, but I also don't want to spend all our money.  It's about a forty minute bus ride, so I'll be sure to document our trip.

Good night/morning!

Hey, you there, name this post for me.

Ian and I slept until 10am this morning.  Sounds fun, but we had to do lesson plans.  Which meant no run.  The sleep was good, though.  I haven't been feeling very well.  I haven't really been feeling sick, either.  I feel like I'm in a perpetual state of "coming down with something."

  It was WAY too warm at Ha So today.  The thermostat was set to 27 Celsius.  That's a little over 80 degrees Fahrenheit.  It was not exactly pleasant. 

Today flew by.  Thursdays always do because our material is fresh.  For my last two classes (my two most fluent groups), I decided to ignore the book just talk to them for the most part.  In the first of the two, we discussed the ways in which America is different from Korea and vice versa.  Unfortunately, the students didn't really start to get brave until the end when I was met with "Americans keep guns" and "Korea is one country and America is made of many."  It was so awesome to address culture in such an open way.  I only wish the students were less shy with their English.  I'm sure as they get comfortable with me, they'll have more confidence in their skills and talk more.  My last class today closed with each student asking me a question.  They were pretty predictable, like "Do you have a boyfriend?" and "How did you know to come to Korea?" but it was still fun.  I'm amazed at how the fetishism over being a foreigner is equally flattering and frustrating.

I got an email from Ian today chronicling an mini-adventure he had right before work.

"So I didn't pack myself anything for lunch today, but being the large man that I am I decided that I would need to eat something in order to refrain from devouring my students.  I walked about a block down and found a small restaurant that sold Kimbop and, being that it is one of the only things that I can order, I did so.  It was average, mild in flavor, but filling.  Most importantly it is very very cheap.  One roll is about 95 cents US, I ate two.  But what was really nice was near the end of my meal and small child, perhaps one and a half or two came to my table, crawled onto the chair and sat down.  I offered her some of the sides that inevitably come with any Korean meal.  Her mother swiftly moved her away laughing, but luckily for me the child came back again.  This time gladly accepting my offerings.  It was one of the only things that has happened here that made me feel really normal.  It was quite a pleasant way to start work."

I thought it was a cute story.  It was weird to read it, however, since he didn't preface his story in the email.  It left me thinking "Did he mean to email this to me?"  Anyway, there's a little bit of Ian for you.  This time sans violence against Korean women and children.

Ian tried to make cheese last night.

This is one of the most disgusting pictures I've ever taken.  Milk turns my stomach, so the smell of hot milk was not my favorite.  You're welcome.

We couldn't find real cheese cloth, so Ian tried to make due with a look-a-like.  Unfortunately, it wouldn't drain.

So, Ian created this contraption to allow it to drain slowly overnight in the fridge.  Sadly, it... didn't.  So, we had to throw it out.  All our dreams of nachos and sandwiches were a little premature.

Chun wha gave a fruit today that I had never seen before.

It looked a bit like a wayward tomato, but it tasted delicious.  After classes I asked her if it had an English name.  "Yes," she said.  "Persimmon."  The look on my face was probably priceless.  I felt so dumb. I can't believe I've never eaten or seen one before.  Apparently, that's what I came to Korea for.

So, Ian and I will be going to Chun wha and her husband's house on Saturday afternoon.  There we will be fed Chuseok leftovers and liquor.  It's less like we're participating in Chuseok and more like a Chuseok after party.  I'm happy to be included.  Plus we'll get to meet their son and daughter, who are our age.

No plans for tomorrow.  In an ideal world, we'd travel, but the lack of funds and inconvenience of the holiday makes that impossible.  Tomorrow I'll post about Chuseok, since Mom was the only one who chimed in on what she wanted to know.  :)

Birthday!

Today was my 23rd birthday.  And, no, I don't feel any different.  :)

I got up around 8:30, talked to the family and then we started our day.

We started our day with pastries and coffee at Paris Baguette in the downtown shopping district.  Everything was pretty good, the coffee was a bit on the sweet side, though.  We were just happy for the taste of espresso.

Where we sat to eat breakfast had a view of this strange (read: slightly racist) little cafe called Africa.

As we walked through the center, we found this rather large collection of rubber flip flops...

It was a little warm out, so we had some Coke Zero (in honor of Rob).  As we walked around and explored more, we found some familiar things:

And some more unfamiliar things:

It says "BooBoo Dental Clinic."  I hope I never have a dental-related boo boo.

After walking around for a bit, we had lunch at the tiniest restaurant I've ever been in.  There was literally one table and some counter seats along the wall.  We ordered veggie Kimbop and the first set was served with ham.  We ordered another one and it was deliciously meat free.  Three full rolls (think of the full sized nori sheets) of kimbop, soup and a side of pickled radishes was only 3,000 won ($2.30).

After lunch, we headed into a park/school ground and played around for a little while.

Ian is too tall for the monkey bars.

Swings are fun!  But, they kind of hurt your butt.

Then we headed over to the Techno Town Cinema to watch "9."  When we first went in, the times weren't the same as we'd seen online, so we were worried, but it all worked out.

Some shots inside the theatre lobby:

There are many things attached to the movie theatre, like a restaurant, a hair salon and some sort of boutique.

Self explanatory.  :)

They don't have Diet Coke of Coke Zero, so I got "Cider" (it's pretty much Sprite) and Ian got Orange Soda.

We got some popcorn, too.

All together it was about $18.  Not bad, considering you'd only get in to see the movie for that in the states.

A close up of the popcorn box.  An interesting note:  at this theatre, the tickets have seat assignments.  We'd didn't follow them.  But, even thought the theatre was mostly empty, all the Korean patrons stared at their tickets and followed the rules.

After the movie we went to Mr. Pizza for dinner.  It seems to be the most popular pizza place in town.

We don't know why it's "made for women."  Their main slogan is "Love for women."  ???

We were given an English menu, which was very helpful.  The menu tries to explain why women love Mr. Pizza, but, like Ian at being in photos, it fails.

The cheese sticks were served with honey mustard.  May sound weird to you, but I was pleased, as that's how I order them stateside.

The pizza was... okay.  We ordered a cheese and potato pizza.  The cheese is a little rubbery and the sauce is closer to spaghetti than it is to pizza.  But, like the coffee, we're just happy for familiar flavors and textures.

(Sorry for the blurry photo, the camera started to die)  We wondered why we were served this yellow sauce with our pizza.  Ian tried it and it turned out to be butter.  Ick.  A group of Koreans (about our age) sat next to us.  I thought that maybe you just use it for the crust or something, but they were dipping their pizza in it with each bits. Granted, their pizza had seafood on it, but come on.  Also, it sucks to be a foreigner here.  People have no shame and will stare, and stare and stare.  Tough to eat dinner through that.  When we first got here, we thought we were being paranoid, but the quiet comments and staring are real. At least little kids just opening gape and say "Whoa!"

They had yogurt and stuff to put in it (mostly cereal) at the salad bar, so Ian and I tried a little.  It wasn't bad, but the yogurt wasn't so great without mixing in the jam and cereal.

We decided to walk home.  It was a nice night and it's a pretty nice walk.

Dickies Ingrish on the way home.  ("Dickies didn't invent fashion cothes/ We stronger-quality/ Cloth service for you")

We rounded a corner near the theatre and found a little arcade.  Later we discovered that it was actually attached to the theatre.  Mostly they had your typical arcade games, but they also had little karaoke booths.

We couldn't resist.  We did Barbara Ann and Gold Digger.  A good mix, I think.

Gold Digger was about twice the speed it should be.  This made it impossible, yet humorous, to sing.

It was fun, awkward and gross.  Those booths are not so clean.

When we were done at the arcade we finished our walk back to the apartment.

My present from Ian: maroon, low-top Chucks.  They don't give you the box when you buy them hear, they just put them in that cute pink bag.  I laced them so they'd be easy to slip on and off since we live in Asia and shoes are not a constant.

The cake!  Two big candles for "20" and three small ones to add "3."

Blowing out the candles in our tiny kitchen.

Success!

Unfortunately, the cake was pretty terrible.  It tasted like white bread, only less flavor.  It's like the baker ran out of sugar and vanilla.  Not so great, considering it was apparently a vanilla cake.

Oh well, it was pretty!

P.S. Family, have some Papa Murphy's for me tonight.  After all, it's still my birthday there. :)

Yes, Tom Hanks is awesome.

Hey there kids. Apparently my absence from any other posts have caused some minor concerns from the friends and family in the good ole US of A. I am alive, Casey has not killed me and no my liver doesn't hurt.

I was told that today was my day to hulk around our massive canon camera to document the events of my glamorous day. But like most of Casey's days, it was not really all that amazing. I arrived at my school late, because we never EVER get out the door at a reasonable time. However, when I did arrive at school I slipped passed my principal and fellow teachers without notice. This proved to be a bit of a problem because it was assumed that I had not arrived ten minutes prior to my first class (they had called Julia). This was not the case. My supreme ninja skills allow for undetected movement. Plus, it becomes hard to read my Star Wars book when they know I'm there.

Even though Korea may be the single most humid environment the world has ever known, this small evil device is in full use, five feet from my desk.

Today my Beginner 1A was given the task of learning the names of various facial features.  Rather than being an adult and teaching them anything, I gave then a marker and sat down.  I pointed at the board and barked DRAW!  They did not disappoint.

.  

This is my principle (she doesn't have an English name, and I can't remember her real one).  She is really nice, she is nothing but smiles and offerings of food.  This pleases me.

This was today's offering.  Yachae (Veggie) Kimbop, it was awesome, I was very hungry and this simply "appeared."  I don't know what Casey complains about.  I never have to do anything and I get lots of free stuff.

I also had my favorite class today, Fluent 3.  Best class ever, they understand everything that I say and I understand nearly everything that they say back.  I decided that the book was lame and just started to talk to them about random things: traveling, music comic books and American celebrities.  Obama came up several times, along with Brangelina and Micheal Jackson.  But when I asked who the most famous and greatest celebrity was I was met with one powerful god like figure, Tom Hanks.  I approved of their decision and informed them that they should all watch "Cast Away."  My description was such: two hours of Tom Hanks doing stuff; their review is due next week.