On Friday night we had dinner at a ssabu-ssabu place. Ssabu-ssabu... Probably my favorite meal in Korea. It is a real experience. First water is poured into the pot in the middle of the grill, a different type of pink water is poured into those smaller pots that hook into the grill. Next a plate of meat or seafood is brought out along with rice paper, greens, sides, and sauces. We ordered both meat and seafood. The seafood we got was pealed shrimp, whole shrimp, calamari, octopus halves, little squids, clams, and sea squirts. Before I continue... let me say something about sea squirts. They are gross, they are the only food that I have eaten so far that I have not been able to even eat. I had to spit it out, I almost vomited. I have no idea why anyone would want to eat a sea squirt. I boiled one in the pot, popped it into my mouth and bit down. When I bit into it, it popped loudly and squirted a rancid sea water taste into my mouth. The texture is unlike anything I can even begin to describe. So be sure to stay away from sea squirts. All the other seafood was delicious. The little squids were my favorite, followed by the calamari.
Ok so, back to the process. The shredded beef is usually thrown into the pot(but you could grill it too if you want), along with some greens, mushrooms, and spices. The pork is cooked on the grill around the pot. Using a pair of tongs, you take a sheet of rice paper and dip it into the pink water. Then you put in on your plate and fill it with pork from the grill, things from the pot, vegetables(carrots, beets, onions, green stuffs, bean sprouts, etc) and roll it up and eat with chopsticks. The sauces are used for dipping, they are good. But don't fill up on the rice paper rolls! The meal isn't over once you are done with all the meat grilling. The waitress then brings either noodles(the best) or rice. Noodles are poured into the pot around the grill. Then you scoop out the noodles into little bowls and eat whatever is left over in the pot and drink the broth like soup. So good, I think this meal cost us less than $10 each.
After dinner we went back to our places to get ready for the evening. I played some accordion for Stephanie while waiting for Chris. It felt good to play in front of someone else other than 6 year olds. I appreciated her input and compliments. Finally Chris showed up and he wanted to hear me play too. Eventually we head out. Our first stop was a bar called 'Gansta.' I actually really liked this place, I hate most bars, but this place felt comfortable. We sat around on sofas and chatted and people-watched the young Koreans around us. Our server then brought out a hamburger and fries as a gift for us, Koreans are so hospitable and generous. Next we went to a big foreigner hot spot, I cannot remember it's name though. I met some new people, but most were probably too "happy" to remember me much. Everyone knew the guy that I've replaced, he was really popular. My kids are still saying "Jacob is my teacher!" even though I'm like "No, he was your teacher, I'm sorry but I'm your teacher now!" I wish I could of met him, I jumped right into teaching here while the other teachers had weeks of observing. I probably could have learned some good techniques from him. Most of the people I talked to wanted to talk Hurricane Katrina, it was weird having to talk about it again. In New Orleans, we don't talk about it anymore for the most part, moving on and rebuilding.. Coming back strong. I don't mind talking about it now like I did in Europe, I think maybe enough time has passed for me and that I've healed. I can share my experiences without feeling sad, I understand that people want to know about it and that it was an interesting thing to have experienced. Anyway, I'm not really into to drinking, but it seems like that is something most of the foreigners here like to do... every night. I want to meet new people and make friends, going to bars is depressing but its something that I must endure until I find more friends and get some digits. We left at around 3am and wandered the streets a bit. It was rainy, but the lights from the signs reflected in the puddles were alluring.
This picture came out too dark in the original, after some mac editing it is now kinda cool. I like it.
Found a McDonalds. Chris ordered us something, I didn't get to eat most of it because he said I was eating to slow and ate it off my plate! I'm in no hurry to back to Mcdonalds.
On Saturday we went downtown to see the city and do some shopping. We rode to the top of the elevator and took some pictures of the city. It was a rainy and cold day, the clouds look so menacing.
We walked through the market area. There is a part for clothes and random things. A section for fish and meat. Then another part for veggies and food. It was huge, I've seen it from the streets a few times but this was my first time going through it. Talk about strange food overload.
Kimchi Vendor
Some birds pigging out at a nut/grain store. You think they would bring it inside or stand outside to keep the birds out.
Next we walked around the trendy shopping area. I got some new Converse, they are SO cute! I saw them in Seoul and almost bought them there. I'm glad I waited because they were 12,000 won cheaper here and about $10 cheaper than Converse website. They are pale yellow with bees and bee flight path stitching. I also got some Totoro socks for 75 cents, a Konglish(this is the term for when Koreans misuse English in funny or interesting ways) t-shirt, a gift for Ryan, a lotus lantern, and a more portable music stand so I won't have to lug the huge one from school back and forth anymore. Its actually a really nice stand for the $14 I paid for it. Shopping in Korea is a lot of fun and manni ssan(very inexpensive). I saw so many cute dresses, I can't wait for it to warm up a little bit. I might go back and get a couple. I think that I can probably fit into most Korean fashions, although it is iffy because not everywhere lets you try things on. I feel like I'm slimming down a little more due to the healthy food, yoga, teaching "exercise" to the kids, walking, and mountain climbing. So hopefully by the time summer comes I'll for sure be able to wear all the cute outfits. I'm really liking the Korean style.
For lunch we ate at an all you can eat sushi place for 6,000 won($4.50) each. It was really good and they had an amazing selection.
The last thing I saw was this scooter. I love it! I would be the coolest oeguk that anyone ever laid eyes on if I had this scooter. It even has a speaker system.
At night we went to another foreigner hotspot for dinner. We didn't see any foreigners though. I had a philly cheesesteak sandwich. Bread! This was the first bread I've had since being here except for a grill cheese and honey snack at school that we had one time.
I spent the rest of last night checking out K-pop on Youtube. I'm really getting into the music here, everywhere you go you hear the same catchy songs playing. I think my favorite groups so far are Super Junior, BoA, and Super Kidd. The girl I tutor at night is going to be really happy that I learned some more stuff about Korean music. She is really fun, I'm going to miss tutoring her this week as she studies for a big exam instead of meeting with me.
Ok. I know this entry is getting long. But I want to share the music video for the most popular song in South Korea. This song is king here right now. I hear it at least 5 times a day. Saying 'sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry' is part of every Korean's vocab.
Readers not familiar with Youtube, hit the play button in the middle. I suggest letting it load a little first.. After hitting play button in the middle, look at the bar on the bottom and hit pause button located all the way on the left. Wait till the red line reaches the end and then hit play/pause button on the bar again.
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