Gwangju Christmas Party

One of the hardest things about living abroad for an extended period of time is missing family and friends, especially during the holiday season. I'm so lucky and blessed to have a wonderful group of friends in Gwangju that have really become my family in so many ways during the last year and a half.







Christmas Eve, me and about 25 of my closest friends in Gwangju got together downtown at German Bar for a potluck Christmas dinner. Everyone chipped in some money or food, and had an amazing time! We even had special place settings and decorations!





We had two turkeys, cooked by Steve and Rupert at Steve's school's kitchen (with the help of some of his students!), stuffing, gravy, rolls, green beans, baked beans, macaroni and cheese, wild rice salad, veggie tray, lettuce salad, carrot and ginger soup, cheese ball, sliced cheese, jello, ice cream, doughnuts, and banoffee pie. I'm not sure if I'm missing anything, there was so much selection!

Here I am with two of the best turkey-cookers I know!





I brought the cheese ball!



Song, the owner of German bar, has always been gracious to us (rock night, poker run, and bake sales), and we were so thankful that everyone was able to gather there without any problems. Andrew gave him a present for all he's done for us.

We also had a secret Santa gift exchange, which Rupert did a great job of organizing and emceeing. Some of the presents were really thoughtful (slippers, scarves, tea, coffee, clothes, toys, liquor, etc), while others were a "last minute" idea (ie: random items from Mini Stop!)



In the end, everyone was just glad to be around friends and to have had such a great meal. I think everyone would love to do it again sometime soon!

Boshintang (Otherwise known as dog soup)

Last night I did something illegal. I went out with 5 other friends (Kenny, Matt, Steve, Emily, and Miguel) to a restaurant in Pungam-dong to try boshintang soup. It was my first time, along with Steve, Emily, and Miguel. Gaegogi (dog meat) is illegal to serve in Korea, but I read an article not long ago that estimated there are around 3,000 restaurants in Korea still serving it. Back in 1998, there were as many as 20,000 I won't get into any animal rights or treatment of the dogs, because thats just sad. I do know that nowdays there are not beaten to death in Korea, as they still are in other parts of the world. There is a specific breed of dog raised for this purpose, called Nureongi, so it's not as if we're eating random strays off the street, or cute fluffy pet dogs. Nureongi dogs are not normally kept as pets, according to Wikipedia.

We were really nervous, because we had no idea what to expect. We had to get some beer and soju before hand to help it all go down.

Here's what the soup looked like when it first came out:



Here's the first bite!



It didn't taste quite as bad as it looks like it does. The broth wasn't bad, it tasted similar to other Korean broths I've had before. Then there were some onions and vegetables, which I ate. There were some unknown chunks of something that honestly looked like skin... but it may have just been a tendon or fat. I don't really want to think about that! As for the meat itself, it wasn't horrible. It's more of a mental hurdle you have to get over. If it wasn't in the soup, it would taste greasy, gamey, and fatty. However, when you took a bit of broth, rice, onion, and meat in one bite, it wasn't the worse thing in the world.

Kenny did the best out of all of us finishing the soup, but didn't do it entirely. The rest of us had about a third, and filled up on the kimchi and rice. Including the drinks, the total for each of us was 10,000 won, or about $9. Not a bad meal cost wise, but I'm pretty positive it will be the last time I have boshintang!

Seoul Getaway

A few weekends ago, Kenny and I went up to Seoul for our 6th month anniversary. I hadn't really been out of Gwangju since I'd come back in August, so I really felt the need to get out!

We just went up for Saturday night, but we seemed to do so much in the short amount of time that it felt longer than it actually was. We did lots of fun things, but I think our favorite was going out to dinner at "Between" in Itaewon, and going to "All That Jazz," also in Itaewon.

"Between" is a relatively new restaurant on the main drag in Itaewon. They're known for their wide variety of Tapas and bar selections. We had no problem getting a seat in the non-smoking section, even though it was busy. It was much bigger on the inside than it looked on the outside!

We poured over the extensive tapas menu for a while before we decided. We chose the set menu, assuming it was a "couples set." Unfortunately it wasn't (but for the price, it should have been! 55,000 won!). However, we looovveed every dish they brought us!

We had a total of 6 courses, and started with the appetizer- raw beef, lettuce, fresh Parmesan, olive oil, and some nuts:



Our second course, the tapas, we selected seared scallops wrapped in bacon. They were my favorite!



Third course was a spicy seafood pasta:



Fourth course was our meat dish- so good! Roasted duck with a orange glaze, garlic mashed potatoes, and cooked apples.



Fifth and sixth courses was desert (creme brule) and tea (mango). All this food was washed down with a nice Canadian IPA, Alley Cat. Even though the food was delish, we weren't completely full, but that made getting the late night Kebab from the street vendors all the better!

Here are some more shots of the restaurant:

How a 7th grader can Save The Earth~ Unit 10

Dear Principal (Mr. Hyeok Seun Kim),

We can do a lot to save the Earth! There are many kinds of pollution: water, air, ground, and noisy. We can save Earth. We should use less water and recycle bottle, paper, plastic, cans and turn off the lights, TV, fan... but some of students think teachers waste many thing. Why teachers say, "Student turn off heater!~" Oh... my God!! Because of teacher, we waste many things. Students are cold. Please give our mercy! I want to turn on the heather. We are very cold. Please one more time say, teachers save Earth too.

(Korean blah blah blah 400,000won blah blah Korean)

Please teathers! Save Energy!!!!

Sincerely, Kim Chi Hun