After going to the gym on Friday, I stopped by the Lotte Grocery Store to pick up some snacks and drinks for the Halloween Party. I had used up the rest of my milk, and decided to get some.
I was standing at the milk section, debating what kind to get, when I remembered Emily had mentioned a few weeks ago that she bought the milk in the pink carton. I found one, and was suprised that some of the label was in English. This particular milk has 0% fat, and then, I decided to compare the Korean word for milk on this container to the other nutrition labels. I've tried about 3 different kinds so far. I was so suprised to find that those three kinds had 8%, 14%, and 16% fat!! I almost dropped the carton when I realized I'd been drinking 16%!! At back home, I'll have either 1% or skim. I always knew the milk tasted strange. It was so thick, it was like pouring pudding on my cereal in the morning. Well, alright, not that bad, but definitely like cream!
I ended up buying the last two half liters (they sold them in sets of 2) of skim milk. As soon, as I got home, I poured myself a glass, and while it was not WI milk, it was a great improvement from before! I've now memorized the Korean word for milk and also where on the nutrition label it is listed (it is different than in the USA) so that I don't end up with any more 16%!
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Kimchi Festival
One of the things that Jeollanam-do province is known for is it's food. Here is an excerpt from my travel book:
"Considered the 'rice bowl of Korea,' the two Jeolla Provinces are a veritable cornucopia of food. In the late spring, ample rains water the fields, and the farmers can be seen bent over, planting even rows of rice. As might be expected with such an agricultural region, the women from this area are considered the best cooks in Korea.
The conspicuous lack of heavy industry in the Jeolla provinces does have advantages, as the region has perhaps the cleanest air and best-preserved natural environment in Korea. A ride through the countryside reveals scenes that are only a memory in more devolped provinces. The Korean curve motif is everywhere in this pastoral scene- in the sublte curves of terraced rice paddies, the rolling curves of mountains, hills, and burial mounds, and the upcurved roofs of traditional farmhouses.
Gwangju competes with Jeonju for honors such as "best food in Korea" and "the most food served in Korea." This is because in the past, wealthy landlords established gracious food standards, and because the lush Honam Plain in Jeollanam-do has provided food for the city's gormets."
This describes Gwangju perfectly. A lot of times if you are hungry before you go out downtown, you're better off to NOT get food, because you are always served food when you order a drink. They don't want you to drink on an empty stomach! For example, downtown last night our free bar food was (unlimited) sweet potatoes, deep fried mushrooms, rice cakes in red sauce, and nuts. Other times, we've gotten squid or fish jerkey, popcorn, rice cakes, and other light snack foods.
Anyhow, since Ben and Neil were visiting from Busan for the weekend, we decided to hit up the Kimchi Festival together. The boys were a little late arriving, because they had a very late (or early!) night that ended with them eating at 4am at a 24 hour bulgabi restaurant.
I got to the fest grounds next to the World Cup Stadium around 11:30 am, and met up with a girl Megan from Korean class and her co-teacher. We walked around for a bit before everyone else came and saw lots of things. There were many white booths set up on the Southern Providence Food Street where you could eat to your hearts content. There were huge slabs of pork, octopus on a stick, various kinds of kimchi, and lots of Soju and Maekju. The smells were overwhelming, but in a good way. Inside one of the stadiums, we could sample and buy different kinds of kimchi. It was great. I must have had samples of 15 different kinds. I couldn't tell you what they all were though!
There was a special booth called "Foreigners Making Kimchi." I really wanted to do it, but I knew that I wasn't going to be going home until after midnight, and didn't want to be carrying around a pail of cabbage and spices with me all day. I happened to see Steve and Linda Brown (also EPIK teachers, about 50 years old) and they had made some kimchi already. They said it was a lot of fun, but wasn't easy!
For lunch, our menu was on a piece of paper, all in Korean. Alli, Emily, Brian, and I did our best to order by just pointing at one. We figured that it would be pork, because there was so much of it at this booth. We first had their kimchi, which was delicious, then they brought out a second kind of kimchi, which we determined after 10 minutes was our main course. There were dark bits of something in it. It was kind of earthy, like a mushroom, but also kind of meaty. Alli is somewhat a vegetarian, no red meat, so we had to figure out what it was. We eventually found out that it was snails. It wasn't bad, but not what any of us had expected. That's what happends when you just randomly point to something on a menu, hope for the best!
"Considered the 'rice bowl of Korea,' the two Jeolla Provinces are a veritable cornucopia of food. In the late spring, ample rains water the fields, and the farmers can be seen bent over, planting even rows of rice. As might be expected with such an agricultural region, the women from this area are considered the best cooks in Korea.
The conspicuous lack of heavy industry in the Jeolla provinces does have advantages, as the region has perhaps the cleanest air and best-preserved natural environment in Korea. A ride through the countryside reveals scenes that are only a memory in more devolped provinces. The Korean curve motif is everywhere in this pastoral scene- in the sublte curves of terraced rice paddies, the rolling curves of mountains, hills, and burial mounds, and the upcurved roofs of traditional farmhouses.
Gwangju competes with Jeonju for honors such as "best food in Korea" and "the most food served in Korea." This is because in the past, wealthy landlords established gracious food standards, and because the lush Honam Plain in Jeollanam-do has provided food for the city's gormets."
This describes Gwangju perfectly. A lot of times if you are hungry before you go out downtown, you're better off to NOT get food, because you are always served food when you order a drink. They don't want you to drink on an empty stomach! For example, downtown last night our free bar food was (unlimited) sweet potatoes, deep fried mushrooms, rice cakes in red sauce, and nuts. Other times, we've gotten squid or fish jerkey, popcorn, rice cakes, and other light snack foods.
Anyhow, since Ben and Neil were visiting from Busan for the weekend, we decided to hit up the Kimchi Festival together. The boys were a little late arriving, because they had a very late (or early!) night that ended with them eating at 4am at a 24 hour bulgabi restaurant.
I got to the fest grounds next to the World Cup Stadium around 11:30 am, and met up with a girl Megan from Korean class and her co-teacher. We walked around for a bit before everyone else came and saw lots of things. There were many white booths set up on the Southern Providence Food Street where you could eat to your hearts content. There were huge slabs of pork, octopus on a stick, various kinds of kimchi, and lots of Soju and Maekju. The smells were overwhelming, but in a good way. Inside one of the stadiums, we could sample and buy different kinds of kimchi. It was great. I must have had samples of 15 different kinds. I couldn't tell you what they all were though!
There was a special booth called "Foreigners Making Kimchi." I really wanted to do it, but I knew that I wasn't going to be going home until after midnight, and didn't want to be carrying around a pail of cabbage and spices with me all day. I happened to see Steve and Linda Brown (also EPIK teachers, about 50 years old) and they had made some kimchi already. They said it was a lot of fun, but wasn't easy!
For lunch, our menu was on a piece of paper, all in Korean. Alli, Emily, Brian, and I did our best to order by just pointing at one. We figured that it would be pork, because there was so much of it at this booth. We first had their kimchi, which was delicious, then they brought out a second kind of kimchi, which we determined after 10 minutes was our main course. There were dark bits of something in it. It was kind of earthy, like a mushroom, but also kind of meaty. Alli is somewhat a vegetarian, no red meat, so we had to figure out what it was. We eventually found out that it was snails. It wasn't bad, but not what any of us had expected. That's what happends when you just randomly point to something on a menu, hope for the best!
Kia Tigers win the series
Saturday, Alli, Alex, Brian, Emily, Gabe, Neil, Ben, and I went downtown to watch the Tigers play the 7th and final game in the series after hitting up the Kimchi Festival in the morning. Going into the game, the SK Wyverns (Incheon) and the Kia Tigers (Gwangju) were both tied with 3 wins. Whoever won this game would win the series.
We met a bunch of other EPIK teachers by chance at a pizza, chicken, and beer place. It was basically a group of 40 Americans watching the game, not many other Koreans there, but that was okay. Alli, Emily, and I watched the first 4 or so innings, but it was going really slow, and at one point, we were down 5-0. We decided to go shopping since we had just been paid the day before (we got some great stuff for fall/winter!). We heard from the boys, who had stayed to watch, that the score was 5-5 in the top of the 8th, and decided to head back. In the bottom of the 9th, we got a homerun and won the series. It was pretty exciting and everyone started jumping up and down screaming.
One of the EPIK teachers student's dad is the catcher for the Tigers, and the big news was that if we won this game (it would be the Tigers 10th victory), that they would add a second level to the stadium. The stadium isn't big by any means, but then the games would be even more fun to go to. Check out the you tube link below to watch the home run. Also, I love watching/listening to the crowd, they get so into it!
We met a bunch of other EPIK teachers by chance at a pizza, chicken, and beer place. It was basically a group of 40 Americans watching the game, not many other Koreans there, but that was okay. Alli, Emily, and I watched the first 4 or so innings, but it was going really slow, and at one point, we were down 5-0. We decided to go shopping since we had just been paid the day before (we got some great stuff for fall/winter!). We heard from the boys, who had stayed to watch, that the score was 5-5 in the top of the 8th, and decided to head back. In the bottom of the 9th, we got a homerun and won the series. It was pretty exciting and everyone started jumping up and down screaming.
One of the EPIK teachers student's dad is the catcher for the Tigers, and the big news was that if we won this game (it would be the Tigers 10th victory), that they would add a second level to the stadium. The stadium isn't big by any means, but then the games would be even more fun to go to. Check out the you tube link below to watch the home run. Also, I love watching/listening to the crowd, they get so into it!
EPIK Workshop
This past week was a short one, we had a manditory 2 day workshop on Thursday and Friday. We left behind schedule Thursday morning on 3 coach busses from the MOE. We arrived at Boseong Dabeach Condo before lunch. The condo was gorgeous! We were on the southern tip of Korea and the beach was beautiful. We had really nice pleasant weather too. The area is known for their green tea, the few cups I had was very good. I ended up buying some for my center school before I left, trying to get some brownie points so I can have my 6 weeks off in January!
The lectures overall were okay. A lot of teachers are in Elementary school because there are so many of them. Most of the material I felt was catered to that level. I was really excited to get more ideas for games/activities but did not really walk away with much unfortunately. Guess I'll just have to get some more ideas off Dave's ESL Cafe.
The meals we had were really good, for dinner Thursday night we had a huge buffet. I knew it was going to be full of good stuff, so I didn't waste precious stomach space with things like salad. Some of my favorites were raw salmon, raw oysters, eel, crab, songpeyong, and beef. Everything was so fresh and unprepared, so the flavor was great.
Most people stayed up late on Thursday night even though we had to wake up early on Friday. It was fun to see everyone in one place again. Our group skipped out on the after dinner activites, and instead watched the Kia Tigers win against the SK Wyverns up on the 6th floor. We had about 30 people in that room and had plenty of refreshments. Then, after the win, we moved down to the Noraebang on the 1st floor. We joined up with Michael, Andrew, Mechele, Amandeep, Miguel, and a few others. It was quite the happening place. Allie, Em, and I did pretty good at singing songs by BSB and NSync. Of course, the classics like Bohemian Raphesody and Somebody Told Me we sung too! I think we were in there for about 3 hours. Quite a good time.
Friday morning, we went to a green tea plantation/bamboo farm in the morning. It was pretty impressive to see all the green tea and how big the bamboo trees were! In the afternoon, we went to a tradtional folk village where people are still living. It wasn't too touristy which was nice. So many of us always talk about how cute the Korean kids are, and there were tons of young kids on field trips.
We made it back to the MOE around 3:45 pm which was good, because we had another 2 days off in front of us and had things to do!
The lectures overall were okay. A lot of teachers are in Elementary school because there are so many of them. Most of the material I felt was catered to that level. I was really excited to get more ideas for games/activities but did not really walk away with much unfortunately. Guess I'll just have to get some more ideas off Dave's ESL Cafe.
The meals we had were really good, for dinner Thursday night we had a huge buffet. I knew it was going to be full of good stuff, so I didn't waste precious stomach space with things like salad. Some of my favorites were raw salmon, raw oysters, eel, crab, songpeyong, and beef. Everything was so fresh and unprepared, so the flavor was great.
Most people stayed up late on Thursday night even though we had to wake up early on Friday. It was fun to see everyone in one place again. Our group skipped out on the after dinner activites, and instead watched the Kia Tigers win against the SK Wyverns up on the 6th floor. We had about 30 people in that room and had plenty of refreshments. Then, after the win, we moved down to the Noraebang on the 1st floor. We joined up with Michael, Andrew, Mechele, Amandeep, Miguel, and a few others. It was quite the happening place. Allie, Em, and I did pretty good at singing songs by BSB and NSync. Of course, the classics like Bohemian Raphesody and Somebody Told Me we sung too! I think we were in there for about 3 hours. Quite a good time.
Friday morning, we went to a green tea plantation/bamboo farm in the morning. It was pretty impressive to see all the green tea and how big the bamboo trees were! In the afternoon, we went to a tradtional folk village where people are still living. It wasn't too touristy which was nice. So many of us always talk about how cute the Korean kids are, and there were tons of young kids on field trips.
We made it back to the MOE around 3:45 pm which was good, because we had another 2 days off in front of us and had things to do!
Monday, October 19, 2009
Kia Tigers
Here is the webpage for the Kia Tigers. Not much is in English, but it shows on the site under "records" that we are currently ranked #1. The boys in my class this morning were really excited to find out that I was at the game, and explained how if the Tigers win 2 more games, then we are the champions. It is the best out of 7, and we have won 2 so far.
Here is a picture of #27, the jersey I got. His name is 감상현.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
A Weekend of Suprises
I was looking forward to having a nice, relaxing weekend in Gwangju. Doing some reading, lesson planning, cleaning, getting my hair cut, and catching up on sleep. Needless to say, none of that happened.
Saturday morning started off productive- I made it to the gym by 11. When I was done, I looked at my phone. I usually don't check it often because I don't get many calls. This time, there were 3 missed calls and a text message, all from Emily. I called right away because she somehow managed to get an extra ticket to the 2nd game of the World Series Kia Tigers v. SK baseball game. I flew home, put on some deodorant and was out of the apartment in 5 minutes.
The Tigers are ranked #1 so far in the nation, and if they win this series, they will have won 10 times. We had so much fun at the first game, so I knew this was going to be good. It surpassed my expectations! Every single seat was full, and people were standing in the asles watching. There were two cute Korean kids in front of us that we enjoyed playing rock paper sicssors with and teaching them how to fist bump. Emily and Brian had gotten hats, and Allie and Alex got jerseys, so during the break, Kenny and I got jerseys too. I chose #27, who according to 2 different people is the "Home Run King." The game was great, and we won 2-1. I'd love to go to another game, but ticket are hard to come across.
After the game, the girls went to get food for dinner, while the boys picked up the refreshments. We made dinner at Brian and Emily's, and had fun with the Wii. Kenny knew of a place called "Super Club" so we went there around 12.
Super Club was crazy. It was 3 stories, and really full. The DJ's came up from a hole on the stage, and there were lots of entertainers- girls wearing cat suits, a male singer, a KPOP band, and then a male stripper who took it all off. We were on the second floor with a good view of the dance floor and show. We had bottle service, and it was a pretty good night. We weren't expecting any of the entertainment, but it made for some great pictures.
Sunday Emily, Allie, and I went to Mokpo, a coast town about 50 minutes away. The boys were still hurting from Saturday, so they didn't come along. The city is pretty small, 260,000 people. We saw lots of seafood markets, boats, the National Maritime Museum, a ECO festival, and had King Crab for dinner. Between the three of us we took about 200 pictures, mostly of the fish. There were so many kinds! The crab for dinner was really good, we saw them bring the crab in from the tank and a few minutes later it was prepared and ready to eat. It was delicious! Emily and I also bought some fruit. I'm not sure what it is, and I can't seem to find it. But it's red and you peel the skin off. It looks white, but on the inside it is pink and and soft and delicious!
It was a pretty exciting weekend, and I'll be putting up pictures soon of what we saw!
Saturday morning started off productive- I made it to the gym by 11. When I was done, I looked at my phone. I usually don't check it often because I don't get many calls. This time, there were 3 missed calls and a text message, all from Emily. I called right away because she somehow managed to get an extra ticket to the 2nd game of the World Series Kia Tigers v. SK baseball game. I flew home, put on some deodorant and was out of the apartment in 5 minutes.
The Tigers are ranked #1 so far in the nation, and if they win this series, they will have won 10 times. We had so much fun at the first game, so I knew this was going to be good. It surpassed my expectations! Every single seat was full, and people were standing in the asles watching. There were two cute Korean kids in front of us that we enjoyed playing rock paper sicssors with and teaching them how to fist bump. Emily and Brian had gotten hats, and Allie and Alex got jerseys, so during the break, Kenny and I got jerseys too. I chose #27, who according to 2 different people is the "Home Run King." The game was great, and we won 2-1. I'd love to go to another game, but ticket are hard to come across.
After the game, the girls went to get food for dinner, while the boys picked up the refreshments. We made dinner at Brian and Emily's, and had fun with the Wii. Kenny knew of a place called "Super Club" so we went there around 12.
Super Club was crazy. It was 3 stories, and really full. The DJ's came up from a hole on the stage, and there were lots of entertainers- girls wearing cat suits, a male singer, a KPOP band, and then a male stripper who took it all off. We were on the second floor with a good view of the dance floor and show. We had bottle service, and it was a pretty good night. We weren't expecting any of the entertainment, but it made for some great pictures.
Sunday Emily, Allie, and I went to Mokpo, a coast town about 50 minutes away. The boys were still hurting from Saturday, so they didn't come along. The city is pretty small, 260,000 people. We saw lots of seafood markets, boats, the National Maritime Museum, a ECO festival, and had King Crab for dinner. Between the three of us we took about 200 pictures, mostly of the fish. There were so many kinds! The crab for dinner was really good, we saw them bring the crab in from the tank and a few minutes later it was prepared and ready to eat. It was delicious! Emily and I also bought some fruit. I'm not sure what it is, and I can't seem to find it. But it's red and you peel the skin off. It looks white, but on the inside it is pink and and soft and delicious!
It was a pretty exciting weekend, and I'll be putting up pictures soon of what we saw!
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Seongdeok MS Field Trip
Since this week is midterms for my 7th graders, my visiting school invited me to go on a teacher's field trip with them. I originally thought we were going to see a temple, but did a lot of other things instead.
We got on the bus after lunch and I thought we would be on the road for maybe an hour. Well, it was further north than Jeonju, where we had our orientation. It took about 2 hours to get there! The city was a small city called Gongju, and I wasn't really sure why we were there. I asked my co-teacher, Hyunju, what we were going to do. She said, "I told you before we are visiting a school." Well, okay, I'd forgotten that. She said that this school is more American than others because the kids move classes, not the teachers. Most schools in Korea have the teachers move, and my school is considering changing their ways.
We got to the school, and our coach bus was so tall that we caught a welcome banner strung across the road to the school. Rather than back up and have the teachers (about 30 of us) walk down the road, some of the male teachers took out a pocket knife and cut the banner down! I thought that was funny, since it would have been about a 2 minute walk!
The school was much older than mine, built in 1971. There were three grades (7-9) with a total of 93 students. We had a quick meeting in the library about the pro's and con's of having the students move classes. After, we were free to walk around the school and see the facilities. I have to say, I really lucked out with my school being brand new! However, one thing that was cool was that their English room was called the "English Palace."
We got back on the bus after taking a group picture, and continued with our field trip. I didn't want to ask my co-teacher again why we were at the school, so I tried a different way of asking the same question. She's a smart lady, and told me that we went because the students move classes. It seemed strange to travel 2 hours to listen to a 15 minute presentation. I'm still not really clear why we had to go all the way there, but whatever.
We rode the bus for over an hour, I wasn't sure in which direction. When I opened my eyes, we were at the coast, and it looked familiar. It turns out it was the same beach were my friends and I had our fresh seafood lunch a few weeks back. This time, we drove out onto the spit and I was able to get some beautiful sunset pictures, and one with my co.
For dinner, I knew we'd be having raw seafood, so I was trying to keep an open mind. I definitely tried lots of new things! We had a variety of seafood platters with fish, crab, shrimp, octopus, and other strange looking things. There was one fish that look especially odd. I asked Hyunju what it was called and she said, "I can't tell you at the dinner table!" I wasn't sure if I wanted to try it after that, but she insisted that it was good but chewy and to tell me later on what it was. It was dark pink/purple and about the size and shape of my pinky. To put it nicely, it looked suspiciously like a part of the male anatomy and raw! I only had one of those because I was afraid of what it was!
I had also been wanting to try the octopus that is still moving on the plate when they bring it out, even though it is dead. It was just my day. I wasn't really set on trying it, but when it was placed in front of me, how could I not. My camera battery was dying, so unfortunately I only got an 11 second video, but it's better than nothing. Man, was that weird! It was the same sort of octopus that I've been eating for the last 2 months, but since this was JUST killed, it was still squirming on the plate, just like worms do. There was some sort of sesame sauce on top. I was a little freaked, but Hyunju told me that this dish is her three year old daughters favorite dish. There was no way I was not going to try it! It was difficult to use the chopsticks to pick it up because it was sucking on the plate and once I did manage to pick it up, it was so strange to see it moving. Hyunju wanted me to try a small piece first, but I thought, "If I'm going to do this, I'm going to do it!" I put a relatively large piece in my mouth and it was chewy! It didn't stick too much to the sides of my mouth, but did a little. I thought that I was going to feel it crawling down the back of my throat, but it didn't. Once I chewed it for a few bites it stopped moving.
I ended up having about 5 different pieces of it, and it was quite tasty. I'm familiar with the taste because it is quite common, and in many dishes. The stuff that I had been eating had been killed quite a while before I've ever seen it, so that's why it didn't move. Apparently, it moves for up to about 20 minutes after it has been killed.
Another dinner highlight included me showing a male teacher just what a soju bomb was. He's a drinker, and took it like a champ. On the bus home, he was definitely feeling the buzz and was pretty entertaining. When we were almost home, I forgot to ask my teacher what that strange thing we had eaten was. She laughed and laughed, and told me that it is called "Dog Penis!" I responded by saying, "I thought we were having FISH!!" She explained that it is a fish, but the proper name really is Dog Penis, because of the shape of the fish. I seriously thought I had just eaten a bit of dog penis! Luckily, it was just a fish. Here is a picture of what it looks like, but what I had looked a bit different. I'll post a picture of it soon:
To say the least, it was an exciting day full of suprises. We got back around 9 pm, and I was pooped! The teacher's field trip was a success and I'd love to do the octopus thing again, but this time I'll pass on the "Dog Penis."
We got on the bus after lunch and I thought we would be on the road for maybe an hour. Well, it was further north than Jeonju, where we had our orientation. It took about 2 hours to get there! The city was a small city called Gongju, and I wasn't really sure why we were there. I asked my co-teacher, Hyunju, what we were going to do. She said, "I told you before we are visiting a school." Well, okay, I'd forgotten that. She said that this school is more American than others because the kids move classes, not the teachers. Most schools in Korea have the teachers move, and my school is considering changing their ways.
We got to the school, and our coach bus was so tall that we caught a welcome banner strung across the road to the school. Rather than back up and have the teachers (about 30 of us) walk down the road, some of the male teachers took out a pocket knife and cut the banner down! I thought that was funny, since it would have been about a 2 minute walk!
The school was much older than mine, built in 1971. There were three grades (7-9) with a total of 93 students. We had a quick meeting in the library about the pro's and con's of having the students move classes. After, we were free to walk around the school and see the facilities. I have to say, I really lucked out with my school being brand new! However, one thing that was cool was that their English room was called the "English Palace."
We got back on the bus after taking a group picture, and continued with our field trip. I didn't want to ask my co-teacher again why we were at the school, so I tried a different way of asking the same question. She's a smart lady, and told me that we went because the students move classes. It seemed strange to travel 2 hours to listen to a 15 minute presentation. I'm still not really clear why we had to go all the way there, but whatever.
We rode the bus for over an hour, I wasn't sure in which direction. When I opened my eyes, we were at the coast, and it looked familiar. It turns out it was the same beach were my friends and I had our fresh seafood lunch a few weeks back. This time, we drove out onto the spit and I was able to get some beautiful sunset pictures, and one with my co.
For dinner, I knew we'd be having raw seafood, so I was trying to keep an open mind. I definitely tried lots of new things! We had a variety of seafood platters with fish, crab, shrimp, octopus, and other strange looking things. There was one fish that look especially odd. I asked Hyunju what it was called and she said, "I can't tell you at the dinner table!" I wasn't sure if I wanted to try it after that, but she insisted that it was good but chewy and to tell me later on what it was. It was dark pink/purple and about the size and shape of my pinky. To put it nicely, it looked suspiciously like a part of the male anatomy and raw! I only had one of those because I was afraid of what it was!
I had also been wanting to try the octopus that is still moving on the plate when they bring it out, even though it is dead. It was just my day. I wasn't really set on trying it, but when it was placed in front of me, how could I not. My camera battery was dying, so unfortunately I only got an 11 second video, but it's better than nothing. Man, was that weird! It was the same sort of octopus that I've been eating for the last 2 months, but since this was JUST killed, it was still squirming on the plate, just like worms do. There was some sort of sesame sauce on top. I was a little freaked, but Hyunju told me that this dish is her three year old daughters favorite dish. There was no way I was not going to try it! It was difficult to use the chopsticks to pick it up because it was sucking on the plate and once I did manage to pick it up, it was so strange to see it moving. Hyunju wanted me to try a small piece first, but I thought, "If I'm going to do this, I'm going to do it!" I put a relatively large piece in my mouth and it was chewy! It didn't stick too much to the sides of my mouth, but did a little. I thought that I was going to feel it crawling down the back of my throat, but it didn't. Once I chewed it for a few bites it stopped moving.
I ended up having about 5 different pieces of it, and it was quite tasty. I'm familiar with the taste because it is quite common, and in many dishes. The stuff that I had been eating had been killed quite a while before I've ever seen it, so that's why it didn't move. Apparently, it moves for up to about 20 minutes after it has been killed.
Another dinner highlight included me showing a male teacher just what a soju bomb was. He's a drinker, and took it like a champ. On the bus home, he was definitely feeling the buzz and was pretty entertaining. When we were almost home, I forgot to ask my teacher what that strange thing we had eaten was. She laughed and laughed, and told me that it is called "Dog Penis!" I responded by saying, "I thought we were having FISH!!" She explained that it is a fish, but the proper name really is Dog Penis, because of the shape of the fish. I seriously thought I had just eaten a bit of dog penis! Luckily, it was just a fish. Here is a picture of what it looks like, but what I had looked a bit different. I'll post a picture of it soon:
To say the least, it was an exciting day full of suprises. We got back around 9 pm, and I was pooped! The teacher's field trip was a success and I'd love to do the octopus thing again, but this time I'll pass on the "Dog Penis."
Monday, October 12, 2009
Gwangju Kimchi Festival
Here is the link for the Kimchi Festival. On this website, there is information about past festivals, how to make kimchi, event details, and all sorts of random bits about kimchi!
http://www.kimchi.gwangju.kr/eng/main.html
I'm pretty excited for this, to say the least!
http://www.kimchi.gwangju.kr/eng/main.html
I'm pretty excited for this, to say the least!
"I can't wait to have fish come and eat my feet!"
I decided that it was about time to visit my good friend Dinah in Busan last week. I bought a bus ticket for Friday night, and got there a little late. Traffic on the roads were especially bad because this was the weekend of the 14th annual PIFF festival (Pusan International Film Festival). I happend to be riding the bus with two other EPIK teachers from Gwangju, Brian and Carleigh. A lot of other people from Gwangju were going to Busan too (Brian and Emily, Alex and Allie, Gabe, me, Carlo, Ann, Amanda, Shabana, Amandeep, and Mechele) but everyone traveled separately for the most part.
When I got in Friday, we went basically straight out to one of the downtown areas in Busan. We went to two places, Keno-eye and Ghetto Bar. It wasn't really that Ghetto! I got to see a lot of people I hadn't seen for a while, Dinah, Ben, Neil, and Natalie, and got introducted to a lot of other Busan EPIK teachers. It made for a good but late night (we got back to Dinah's apartment at 6 am!).
Saturday we slept most of the day. We finally got out of bed around 1, and left around three. We met one of Dinah's friends from church, John, and he showed Gabe, Dinah, and I around town. We saw the Jung-gu area of town. Highlights there included Yongdusan Park, Jagalchi Fish Market area, and Busan tower. We also went to a huge market area, but I can't remember the name off the top of my head. We went up to the top of Busan tower (118 m), and got a good view of the port. Busan has the 5th largest container port in the world, and the biggest in Korea. It was a lot of fun to see the boats coming in. I took a lot of pictures and will post them soon.
We met some friends for dinner in a different part of town. It was really good- fried rice, chicken, and spicy sauce. It is called DakGalbi, or 달갈비. We got to see Brian, Emily, Neil, Allie, and Alex. Dinah and I ducked out of dinner a little early to get our feet eaten by fish.
We went to Dr. Fish, a place that is similar to a Borders or Barnes and Nobles. However, they have an area where for 2,000 won you can get your feet eaten by fish. What happens is you wash your feet, and put them in a tank where there are at least a hundred small fish. They come and eat the dead skin off your feet. At first, Dinah and I were shrieking with laughter and causing a comotion. It tickled so much! It was the strangest feeling. It almost felt like you were getting poked with a needle all over but it didn't hurt at all. I took a few video clips of that too. It was quite the experience. Once we got used to the sensation, it was a lot of fun. It would make for a great first date! I'd really like to find one of those places here in Gwangju. We stayed for about 30 minutes, but we could have stayed 2 hours if we wanted. My feet did feel a lot smoother after just the 30 minutes though!
Saturday night we took it easy and checked out the Gwangalli Beach area. That part of town is known for the Diamond Bridge which lights up and is quite beautiful. There were plenty of bars and cafe's to choose from, but the Busan's crowd's favorite is Thursday Party. It was pretty fun, and it was good to have the Gwangju group back with the Busan group.
There was a person selling fireworks on the beach, and Alex really like lighting those off. It made for some great pictures. It was a really good time, but we headed home early (2am) because we wanted to do church in the morning.
Dinah goes to a place called ICC, so we made it there by 10:30 am on Sunday morning. It is a church for foreigners and is non-demoninational to accompany everyone. It was pretty nice and the people were really welcoming.
We wanted to go to a place in Haeundae Beach (often the beach is compared to Wikiki) for lunch, but kinda ran out of time. Instead we got Burger King there. The beach is the headquarters for PIFF, and Dinah and I had our picture taken on the red carpet where the stars come and stand to promote their films. That was pretty cool. We didn't have time to see any movies, but that was okay with me. I've heard that between 75-80 countries are represented at the fest, and Josh Hartnet was even in town promoting a film. It is a really big deal for Busan, and it is the largest film fest in Asia.
Gabe and I got the bus back at 3:30 on Sunday, and we were both pretty tired. I'll be sure to put up pictures soon so you can see the city!
When I got in Friday, we went basically straight out to one of the downtown areas in Busan. We went to two places, Keno-eye and Ghetto Bar. It wasn't really that Ghetto! I got to see a lot of people I hadn't seen for a while, Dinah, Ben, Neil, and Natalie, and got introducted to a lot of other Busan EPIK teachers. It made for a good but late night (we got back to Dinah's apartment at 6 am!).
Saturday we slept most of the day. We finally got out of bed around 1, and left around three. We met one of Dinah's friends from church, John, and he showed Gabe, Dinah, and I around town. We saw the Jung-gu area of town. Highlights there included Yongdusan Park, Jagalchi Fish Market area, and Busan tower. We also went to a huge market area, but I can't remember the name off the top of my head. We went up to the top of Busan tower (118 m), and got a good view of the port. Busan has the 5th largest container port in the world, and the biggest in Korea. It was a lot of fun to see the boats coming in. I took a lot of pictures and will post them soon.
We met some friends for dinner in a different part of town. It was really good- fried rice, chicken, and spicy sauce. It is called DakGalbi, or 달갈비. We got to see Brian, Emily, Neil, Allie, and Alex. Dinah and I ducked out of dinner a little early to get our feet eaten by fish.
We went to Dr. Fish, a place that is similar to a Borders or Barnes and Nobles. However, they have an area where for 2,000 won you can get your feet eaten by fish. What happens is you wash your feet, and put them in a tank where there are at least a hundred small fish. They come and eat the dead skin off your feet. At first, Dinah and I were shrieking with laughter and causing a comotion. It tickled so much! It was the strangest feeling. It almost felt like you were getting poked with a needle all over but it didn't hurt at all. I took a few video clips of that too. It was quite the experience. Once we got used to the sensation, it was a lot of fun. It would make for a great first date! I'd really like to find one of those places here in Gwangju. We stayed for about 30 minutes, but we could have stayed 2 hours if we wanted. My feet did feel a lot smoother after just the 30 minutes though!
Saturday night we took it easy and checked out the Gwangalli Beach area. That part of town is known for the Diamond Bridge which lights up and is quite beautiful. There were plenty of bars and cafe's to choose from, but the Busan's crowd's favorite is Thursday Party. It was pretty fun, and it was good to have the Gwangju group back with the Busan group.
There was a person selling fireworks on the beach, and Alex really like lighting those off. It made for some great pictures. It was a really good time, but we headed home early (2am) because we wanted to do church in the morning.
Dinah goes to a place called ICC, so we made it there by 10:30 am on Sunday morning. It is a church for foreigners and is non-demoninational to accompany everyone. It was pretty nice and the people were really welcoming.
We wanted to go to a place in Haeundae Beach (often the beach is compared to Wikiki) for lunch, but kinda ran out of time. Instead we got Burger King there. The beach is the headquarters for PIFF, and Dinah and I had our picture taken on the red carpet where the stars come and stand to promote their films. That was pretty cool. We didn't have time to see any movies, but that was okay with me. I've heard that between 75-80 countries are represented at the fest, and Josh Hartnet was even in town promoting a film. It is a really big deal for Busan, and it is the largest film fest in Asia.
Gabe and I got the bus back at 3:30 on Sunday, and we were both pretty tired. I'll be sure to put up pictures soon so you can see the city!
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Korean Language Classes
We started our Korean lessons this past Tuesday at Chonnam Univeristy in Gwangju. It isn't too far away from my house, but it took me an hour and a half to get there. It starts at 7pm, and traffic is especially bad during rush hour. I also have to transfer busses, and that can take up some time.
On Tuesday, I arrived a little late, so I missed some of the welcome speech. That was fine though, I got the jist of it. We took a group picture of everyone too. The lessons are for all EPIK teachers, and there were probably about 60 or 70 of us there. I think most people really want to learn the language. We did get warned though that we had to come to at least 80% of the classes. If we drop halfway through, the governement will see that and wondering why they are offering free Korean classes and potentially cut the program. One of the EPIK coordinators, Mr. Lee, did tell us that if we quit and they cut the program, he wouldn't have a job, so "please don't quit!!"
We paid 13,500 won for our textbook. It is really nice, and even comes with an audio CD. Our class has about 13 people in it, and everyone from our crew, except Alex, is together. The first night we went over the vowels and a few consonants and did a lot of repetition. Luckily, after being here a month and a half, it wasn't completely foreign, but it was nice to have formal training.
Here is an excerpt from my Korean textbook about the language, if you're interested:
"Korean uses its own unique alphabet called Hangeul (한글에). It is considered to be one of the most efficient alphabets in the world and has garnered unanimous praise from language experts for its scientific design and excellence.
Hangeul consists of 14 consonants and 10 vowels, totaling 24 basic characters. The shapes of Hangeul's consonants were formed after voice organs (such as lips, tongue, throat, etc) while those of vowels were formed after what one might say symbolizes heaven (ㅗ), earth (ㅜ) and human beings (ㅓ,ㅏ,ㅣ). (I can see the resemblance, I don't know about you!)
All words in Korean are composed of syllables, which go by the following basic rules:
1. A syllable begins with a consonant.
2. A syllable has at least one consonant and one vowel.
3. Each syllable gets written in a square box.
A syllable that consists of a consonant and a "vertical vowel" is written with the consonant on the left, and the vowel on the right.
ㄴ[n] + ㅏ [a] = 너 [na]
A syllable that consists of a consonant and a "horizontal vowel" is written with the consonant on the top and the vowel underneath.
ㄴ [n] + ㅗ [o] = 노 [no]
If a syllable shows CVC combination, in other words, if a syllable ends with a consonant, the final consonant goes to the bottom of that syllable.
ㅁ [m] + ㅏ [a] + ㄴ [n] = 만 [man]"
We have Korean classes every Tuesday and Thursday nights, 2 hours each night. So 4 hours a week. That's just as much as a college course! However, I don't think we'll be having much homework! There is plenty of study time at school though, and our coteachers are a great resource. When I get a chance at school, I like to practice by (attempting to) read the newspaper. They have a nice section for expats to learn Korean.
At the end of the course, we have to score 70% on the test in order to "pass" the class. I've also heard we get a certificate if we past, which is pretty sweet. Hopefully learning a few key phrases won't be too much of a challenge and I'll be able to communicate with my students better!
On Tuesday, I arrived a little late, so I missed some of the welcome speech. That was fine though, I got the jist of it. We took a group picture of everyone too. The lessons are for all EPIK teachers, and there were probably about 60 or 70 of us there. I think most people really want to learn the language. We did get warned though that we had to come to at least 80% of the classes. If we drop halfway through, the governement will see that and wondering why they are offering free Korean classes and potentially cut the program. One of the EPIK coordinators, Mr. Lee, did tell us that if we quit and they cut the program, he wouldn't have a job, so "please don't quit!!"
We paid 13,500 won for our textbook. It is really nice, and even comes with an audio CD. Our class has about 13 people in it, and everyone from our crew, except Alex, is together. The first night we went over the vowels and a few consonants and did a lot of repetition. Luckily, after being here a month and a half, it wasn't completely foreign, but it was nice to have formal training.
Here is an excerpt from my Korean textbook about the language, if you're interested:
"Korean uses its own unique alphabet called Hangeul (한글에). It is considered to be one of the most efficient alphabets in the world and has garnered unanimous praise from language experts for its scientific design and excellence.
Hangeul consists of 14 consonants and 10 vowels, totaling 24 basic characters. The shapes of Hangeul's consonants were formed after voice organs (such as lips, tongue, throat, etc) while those of vowels were formed after what one might say symbolizes heaven (ㅗ), earth (ㅜ) and human beings (ㅓ,ㅏ,ㅣ). (I can see the resemblance, I don't know about you!)
All words in Korean are composed of syllables, which go by the following basic rules:
1. A syllable begins with a consonant.
2. A syllable has at least one consonant and one vowel.
3. Each syllable gets written in a square box.
A syllable that consists of a consonant and a "vertical vowel" is written with the consonant on the left, and the vowel on the right.
ㄴ[n] + ㅏ [a] = 너 [na]
A syllable that consists of a consonant and a "horizontal vowel" is written with the consonant on the top and the vowel underneath.
ㄴ [n] + ㅗ [o] = 노 [no]
If a syllable shows CVC combination, in other words, if a syllable ends with a consonant, the final consonant goes to the bottom of that syllable.
ㅁ [m] + ㅏ [a] + ㄴ [n] = 만 [man]"
We have Korean classes every Tuesday and Thursday nights, 2 hours each night. So 4 hours a week. That's just as much as a college course! However, I don't think we'll be having much homework! There is plenty of study time at school though, and our coteachers are a great resource. When I get a chance at school, I like to practice by (attempting to) read the newspaper. They have a nice section for expats to learn Korean.
At the end of the course, we have to score 70% on the test in order to "pass" the class. I've also heard we get a certificate if we past, which is pretty sweet. Hopefully learning a few key phrases won't be too much of a challenge and I'll be able to communicate with my students better!
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Chuseok 2009
This past weekend was Chuseok, or Korean Thanksgiving. I had a busy weekend, and wish I would have had more than just Friday off! Typically, you get the day before and after the holiday off. This year, it just happened to be on Saturday. That's okay though, my co-teacher HunJu told me today that we'll start winter break sooner instead!
It was pretty sunny, so that's why the city is hard to see. And yes, there are 1.5 million people living here. It is a very high and dense city, not at all like back home!
The weekend started with the crew meeting out Thursday night at Chonnam University. This was the first time we had been to the area, and some of our friends, Allie and Alex, got lost on the way. They eventually made it to "Pump," a pretty cool bar with crazy lights. We got a table tap of beer, my first time seeing one of those! Another highlight at the bar was the coasters that light up different colors when you put the drinks on. Made for a pretty cool looking martini!
On Friday, my co-teacher Mihey came by with her 7 year old nephew. They dropped off some Korean Rice Cakes, songpyon. To be honest, I wasn't the biggest fan. I thought I'd try another one today, but they had started to mold. Ew.
Friday night we met at German Bar. The owner of German Bar has been telling us for the past 2 weeks that Oktoberfest is starting. However, he's never really specified a date. He just says, "Next weekend Oktoberfest." We are starting to think it's never going to happen. But that was okay, we just had a couple of beers anyhow.
Emily and I took a hike up Mt. Mudengsang on Saturday afternoon. We took our time on the way up. Neither of us really knew where we were going, so we just kept on walking. We kept saying, "just a little farther! I think I see the top!" Eventually we made it. It took about an hour and 20 minutes, but we probably could have done it in 1 hour. From the top, an area called Jungmeorijae, we had some awesome views. On one side, we got to see the entire city, surrounded by mountains. When we turned around, it was completely lush green mountains. It was very impressive and felt great to make it (almost) all the way to the top. When the leaves start turning, we want to go back again, this time all the way. Here are some pictures of the views:
Here was a temple we stopped at on the way up.
One side was green mountains like this for as far as you could see.
It was pretty sunny, so that's why the city is hard to see. And yes, there are 1.5 million people living here. It is a very high and dense city, not at all like back home!
Finally, here are Emily and I sporting our new hiking shirts for the first time. Next hiking purchase- a backpack. Oh wait, I got that today. Make that hiking boots.
Emily had heard that there was going to be an EPIK pig roast on Friday night, and we wanted to check that out with our friend Joe, who was visiting from Incheon for the weekend. So Gabe, Emily, Allie, Brian, Alex, Joe, and I looked for it later on that night. However, all we saw was a car accident happen in front of The Underground Groceriers. That almost made up for missing the pig roast. Instead, we just showed Joe around downtown. We checked out an amazing and kinda fancy restaurant, Ethinic Cafe, German Bar, WaBar, and Fusion Soju. Emily, Allie, and I even snuck in a bit of shopping. We had heard that many places would be closed over Chuseok, but luckily we didn't have any problems.
Sunday, Joe had to go home, so we took it easy. It was kinda rainy too. I definitely did a lot of fun stuff, and it was good to see Joe again. This coming weekend I'm going to visit Dinah in Busan, so I need to rest up for that this week. It will be hard to though, I'm staying busy with going to the gym and my 4 hours a week of Korean class!
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