Seoul's Western Food

Besides shopping, the variety of non-Korean food is one of the best reasons to go up to Seoul for the weekend. Stephanie and I went up this past weekend, and our whole weekend essentially revolved around Forever 21 in Myeongdong and eating as much non-Korean food as possible.

We first began with a Kebab from Mr. Kebab in Hongdae, for which I now have a punch card. Sorry, no picture of this as we were both too hungry to wait to snap a picture!

Saturday, we picked up a coffee from Dunkin Doughnuts in Hongdae, and by the time we were finished, Dos Tacos had opened up. We each ordered a burrito, mine was rice and bean with beef and avocado. It was simply fantastic, even though I couldn't eat it all. It was completely worth the 9,900 won!



After having perhaps too much success at Forever 21, we refueled with a giant, 1,500 won ice cream cone. It was fantastic because it was cool in the hot, afternoon sun, but it wasn't so filling that we were stuffed after.



Before we had dinner, we went to Happy Hour in Hongdae. The group next to us had a pitcher of what appeared to be fruit soju with real fruit. We ordered the same thing, but had to add the soju ourselves. It had a yogurty base, and was pretty unique.



The next place our group went to was a hopping Hof in Hongdae. Despite Hongdae being one of the main tourist areas, we were one of two tables of foreigners. Every other table was full, and it did take a while to get served. We ordered two types of chicken- a cheesy, boneless bbq style, and a spicy garlic chicken. The garlic chicken came in a shovel! I'd never seen that before.



Sunday, we began with breakfast at Rocky Mountain Tavern in Itaewon. This is probably the best Western-style breakfast for less than 10,000 in town. And the IPA we each ordered with it may not have been the healthiest decision for 11 am, but, oh, it tasted so good!



Finally, something I'd been literally dreaming about! Subway! I missed my chance when my parents were here when I stumbled upon a Subway in Gangnam, but forgot to go back to order! I was so happy to see one in Hongdae, where I generally stay. I chose the Subway Club, and it was just like back home. It was by far the best sandwich I've ever had in Korea!



When we weren't eating, we were either shopping, relaxing, or people watching around town. Even though we didn't do too much, we were both exhausted by the time we came back Sunday evening!

Happy Birthday~ To Me!

I've got some great friends here in Gwangju! More than 20 of them came to my birthday BBQ Saturday evening on Kenny's roof. Everyone brought their own meat as well as a dish to pass- I even got some cute presents!

The weather was great- warm and sunny, perfect for summertime dresses! Here are some of the girls. It's hard to tell, but the theme was hats.



Here's Kenny and I!



And after we got the grill heated up, I snapped this picture of the guys. I didn't choose the "prom-style" pose though!



We had a lot of food and it went quickly! Everyone still loves my cheese ball (I think I've taken it to 4 different potlucks), and it was one of the first things to go. We also had pico de galo, guacamole, potato salad, spinach salad, strawberries, and orange jello. Ann was really sweet and made me an extra large jello shot with half a bottle of Smirnoff in the shape of a baby. It was pretty funny!



It was a great party and I was so happy everyone came! Thanks to all my friends!

Vietnam Recap

I plan on posting more about my Vietnam trip in detail soon. Until then, these are my links to the Facebook albums. Be forewarned, there are a lot of pictures! They should be visible to everyone, even if you don't have Facebook. If there are problems, please let me know!

First/Finally~Sài Gòn
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2288981&id=59501140

Second/Third- Cu Chi Tunnels and Mekong Delta
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2289003&id=59501140

Fourth, Mũi Né
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2289016&id=59501140

Fifth, Đà Lạt
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2289024&id=59501140

Fifth, Đà Lạt Part 2
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2289034&id=59501140

Sixth, Nha Trang
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2289037&id=59501140

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!

Gwangju International Day

Gwangju International Fest also took place in October. It seemed like everyone who was in town that weekend, October 9th, was there! It was a great time.

It seemed to be a few things combined- an international festival, a food fair, and concerts/performances, all at the Kim Dae Jung Convention Center in Gwangju. Kenny and I went for a few reasons, primarily because The Deserts were playing again, and to get some non-Korean food, which we'd both been craving. We also had amazing weather, which made it such an enjoyable day.

There were many booths set up outside the convention center, all with different foods from around the world. The booths were Greece, Mexico, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Nepal, North America, Philippines, Russia, Japan, Nigeria, and Sri Lanka, just to name a few. There must have been 20 different booths and they all had amazing food. Kenny and I had a great time eating our way down the row.



Inside the convention center were many different food booths promoting various things- beer, pumpkin ramen noodles, ice cream, etc. The highlight inside was the baking contest. Middle and High School students competed for prizes, similar to a 4-H show. However, these students took it to the extreme! I was so surprised to see all the sugar, chocolate, and bread sculptures that kids younger than me had created!







Finally, the Deserts gave a performance with a new sound. I'm not too sure how happy they were with their performance.



It was such a great time, I'm so happy we went!

Boseong Workshop, Spring 2010

These are some of my favorite people in Korea. The Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education treats us really well. We're the only EPIK city I'm aware of that does fun retreats like this. Dinner was a sushi buffet- so delicious!



The MOE also views these retreats as a sort of reward for our hard work. They were kind enough to provide some "social lubricant" (otherwise known as poju- Poweraid and Soju) to make the time more enjoyable.

These are some of my best guy friends here:

I found this photo on Facebook. Apparently the boys, Joe, Carmen, Evan, and Patrick were playing video games (Starcraft I think) at a local PC Bang. I've heard that Starcraft 2 is coming out soon, so they must be practicing. I can't belive I'm such good friends with them.

World DJ Fest- Part 2

Here's a picture from Alli from this weekend. From left to right, Emily, Abe, Margaret, Michael, Mike, Alli, Alex, Miguel, and Brian down in front. I still can't believe how much fun we all had!

4th World DJ Fest

This past Saturday, I went up to Seoul with Michael and Miguel to see the 4th World DJ Festival. We got on the bus around 11:20, and made it there by 4. After getting off the subway at the World Cup Staduim, we kind of got lost on the walk to the park along the Han river, but made it eventually just by following a mass of people!

I was glad we had purchased our tickets in advance. There were so many people in line waiting to get in! Our friend, Leah, was already inside and she told us that we weren't allowed to bring in any outside containers, so while we were waiting in line to get in, we were also drinking some Hite and whiskey. Here's Michael, Miguel, and I waiting to get in:



I was so glad we had gotten there early. It was great to be at the concert while it was still light out. I almost immediately lost Michael and Miguel, but that was okay :) I walked around drinking with Leah. We explored a lot of the vendor's stalls, took some silly pictures, played some bongo drums, and drank some more. Here we are at the Jagermeister stage, prior to getting face paint:



Here's what the venue looked like when it was still light out:



We had a lot of fun once the sun went down also. This was the main stage again. I'm not sure who was playing at the time, but everyone on the main stage was very talented!



Here's another of the stage. There must have easily been 10,000 people in the park. Good thing there were 5 stages!



The rest of our ticket group, Alli, Alex, Brian, and Emily, came later on in the evening. They also rode up with some friends from Gwangju, Mike and Abe. We looked for our Incheon friends, Evan, Carmen, and Joe, and eventually found them. It was a great time once we were all together. Things got pretty crazy pretty quickly. I stopped drinking around 11, I wouldn't have made it all night had I kept on drinking with the rest of them! That ended up being just fine though. By the time we left at 4:30 am, I was feeling good, just tired, while the rest of them were pretty hungover and tired I think!

Before we got back on the subway at the World Cup, we stopped at the Home Plus. I almost had a breakdown when deciding what early-morning snack to get. There were so many food choices that I hadn't seen in about 9 months, and I didn't know what to choose! In the end, I got something that I could have easily gotten in Gwangju- I didn't want to make the wrong decision! And, 5 am was just too early to be thinking straight!

It was a really long night, but it was so much fun. Everyone had a blast! I'm not sure if I'll go again next year, it may just have to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience!

Congratulations, Margot!

Congratulations to my sorority sister and fellow German Club co-president, Margot Pfefferle! She is the 2010 United States Cherry Blossom Queen!

This lucky lady applied to represent the state of WI, and by chance, her name was selected at the week's end ball to be the queen! Looks like she'll be going to Japan for a few weeks pretty soon. Couldn't be more proud of her, she deserves it!



Here's some news stories about the competition:

http://ncss.typepad.com/my_weblog/2010/04/congratulations-to-2010-us-cheery-blossom-queen-margot-pfefferle-of-wisconsin.html

http://www.postcrescent.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=20104110553

Gwangju's Party of the Year

This past weekend, Alli, Emily, and I hosted a party. It wasn't just any party, it was THE party to be at. Everyone had a fantastic time!

We celebrated 3 birthdays, Brian's, Alli's, and Ann's. They all fall within a few days of each other. People here have been excited to have a party ever since our friends in Incheon threw a great party, so it was the perfect time.

We organized food, jello shots, decorations, drink specials, sparklers, and games. The party took place at Soul Train downtown, which was perfect because of the space. The bar is huge and there's plenty of room to stand and talk in. We told them a week ahead that there would be about 50 people, so they organized a drink special and a bottle juggling show.

Miguel showed up with a homemade beer bong, which everyone was very excited about. Brian got all 18 guys lined up to do one each and that was highly entertaining with Michael emceeing the event.

I tried to talk with everyone that showed up and made sure they were having a good time. I really hope everyone did. We had people from out of town (Busan, Ulsan, and Incheon) visiting and it was great to see them again.

Later on, the party moved to Project Beer where everyone continued to have a good time dancing to the 80's music there.

Lots of pictures were taken, here's just a few of them:









For even more, follow this link:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=46814277&id=3612744#!/album.php?aid=2227957&id=59501140&ref=mf

An American "Dinner"

If you can recall from a previous post, I had my host family over for dinner earlier this evening. I decided to do something relatively simple, breakfast for dinner. On the menu was French Toast, bacon, strawberries and pineapple, 2 crossants from Paris Baguette, and a variety of chocolate and sweets from the good of U.S. of A.

The Mun family came right on time- 7pm. I was ready for them, and thankfully everything went smoothly, cookingwise. We had a good time playing One Card (Korean Uno), and they stuck around until about 9pm. I did learn a few things during the night:

One: If it is a families first time visiting someone, they bring tissue as a gift. I now have 6 boxes of Kleenex, and will not have to buy any more the entire time I'm in Korea. (Edit: I tried one later on, and I'm pretty sure they are scented. It almost makes me want to sneeze again when I use them!)

Two: Chocolate is expensive. I knew this before tonight when I dropped about $5 on a small bag of M&M's at Lotte Mart. My brother and sister were so excited about the chocolate for desert. I put out some treats that were recently mailed to me (Ferrero Rocher, Dove, and Lindt). I think they may have liked it more than the meal.

Three: My putting out forks and knives really indimidated them. "How else to you eat French Toast," I thought? Koreans take the easy way out- roll it up like a burrito, syrup and all!

Four: The people that work at City Hall with my host dad like me (I hope). As another present, I got a few magents, a CD, and 4 sets of Gwangju Artwork Postcards. They are... unique looking. I'll try to mail some out soon.

Five: Third grade is not too old to get upset about a card game. My little host sister got upset at something that happened during One Card. I'm not sure exactly what it was, but she started to cry, and refused to play the rest of the game. Her mom took her place, and then she joined in for a hand later on.

It was a very fun and entertaining night. I got to learn a few more Korean words and terms, and taught them some English sayings. We plan on seeing each other once a month, and I think next time, they are taking me out to eat. I'm pretty lucky to have such a nice family here!

I was so happy...

Today, I came home from school on my lunch break. One of the men that works below my aparment in the car shop opened the door for me, and presented me with two large boxes! I hadn't ordered anything, so I was taken by suprise! One was from Mike Kubisak, and the other Analiese Tushaus, one of my best friends from back home. I haven't been that excited in so long! It was a great feeling!

I ran back to school before opening them, because I wanted some pictures taken. Mihey was just as excited as me! Here I am. Look at how happy I am!



I tore into both packages, and had such fun opening them. They each contained the necessities. For example, shower gel, t-shirts (Go Badgers!), chocolate, Hershey's, Dove, candy canes, and macaroni and cheese. I just put them into my cabinets today after school, and I've got one designated specifically to American food. Combined with the food my brother brought over a few weeks back, it's the fullest cabinet! And mostly with junk food. It's a good thing I joined a new gym yesterday in my neighborhood since my other membership expired. It may not be as nice, but it's about half the price, and it doesn't take me a half hour and cost 1,000 won to get there each way! Which reminds me, I'm off to my training session. Just wanted to say thanks again! ^^

4 out of the last 5...

weekends, I have been in Seoul/Incheon. I realized this when I was halfway to Incheon on Thursday to visit Joe. Most of my friends in Gwangju are out of the country, specifically to SE Asia. So I didn't have any plans, and decided to go up and see what was happening in Incheon.

Everyone and more was in town for the weekend, so we had a blast. Thursday we went to Trivia night at a small bar named G7 in Bupyeong. It was lots of fun. I got to see Patrick, Evan, Sophia, Carmen, and Ryan. There were also lots of other Incheon people from orietation there, like Drew and Kevin. The Incheon crowd has made friends with some Koreans, and I got to meet some of them. It was a good crew, and one of our two groups came in first place. Here they are with their winnings:



On Friday, I went into school with Joe. He was doing an English camp this past week, and after we went out with two of his teachers to get coffee and ice cream. The cafe near Juan station was adorable, and the bathrooms were western! There was a real toilet, toilet paper, liquid soap, and paper towels! That's not something you come across very often!

Later, we took the subway into Seoul to get a very late dinner in Insadong. Insadong is close to the main palace, so it tends to be a little touristy. Since we were there later, we didn't get to see much of the shops. They sell a lot of antiques and traditional Korean handicrafts. I would like to go back again someday to do some more shopping in the small stores. There are also a lot of tea houses in the area, and we got tea at 10 pm after dinner. I had ginsing and ginger, it was pretty tasty!

Saturday, Joe and I went back to Seoul after watching a few episodes of Jersey Shore. We went to Myeongdong, which is a very popular shopping district. I really wanted to see the Forever 21 and get some clothes. That place was amazing, and I could have spent all day (and all my paycheck!) in there! The three stories were filled with women of all different races, it was strange hearing that much English! I didn't come out empty handed, but I'll refrain from telling you everything I got. Here's the outside.



Joe's friend Alex lives in Seoul, and does the SMOE program. We met him and two of his friends, Diane and Julia, at 6 in Sinchang. It is a university area, and one of my new favorite places. There, there's a place called HANA and every week there are language exchanges between English speakers and Koreans. This weekend was a special "party" weekend and it was packed! We figured there were a little less than 300 people there. It kind of felt like speed dating! You get unlimited beer and snacks, and get to mingle and small talk. I meet a few girls who I exchanged numbers with, and I'd like to get together with them when I'm in Seoul next. Before the party wound down, there was a dance contest and dating auction. It was pretty entertaining! Our group decided to skip the official round two, and instead went with our new friends to Hongdae for a good time at a few places. Sophia, Evan, Ryan, and Carmen came in from Incheon and met us there. Here we are at a Soju Room.


From left: Badi, Qu, Sophia, Unknown, Ryan, Me

From left:Unknown, Evan, unknown, Alex, unknown, Carmen, Joe, Diane.

It was a great night and I wish that Gwangju had something like that. I'd definitely do it again!

Joseph- my travel buddy

I went to the Philippines with my friend Joeseph. We met at orientation back in August, and got along really well. Even though we were in the same training class, he destination was Incheon.

Anyhow, this is the link to Joe's brief but entertaining post about our trip to the Philippines. He has a nice camera, so most of his pictures are better than mine.

http://josephgutierrez.tumblr.com/post/320962376/my-trip-to-the-philippines

I also want to mention that he has started his own website, just because. He was talking about it in Manila, but I didn't think he was serious. According to his tumblr post, his web address is http://joseph-gutierrez.com

You can read more about him and his new website here. I have to agree with him, it is pretty shameless but should be highly entertaining.

http://josephgutierrez.tumblr.com/post/337156180/momma-im-going-to-be-an-internet-superstar

This is Joe.