Our Journey is Coming to an End...

I'm getting close to my last blog post, and this very well may be it. We have less than 48 hours left in Korea, and our internet service might expire tomorrow. I am currently writing this in my empty classroom after teaching my last class at CDI. I will admit that there were some tears in my eyes after the last girl was lingering in the classroom to take a photo of me on her cellphone and get a final hug. I told all of my students that I was going back to America this week, and many of them were sad to hear I was leaving. So, many students gave me their snacks as gifts, drew pictures for me, and wrote me letters. I gave all of them my e-mail address, so hopefully we can keep in touch. I was more relaxed with my classes this week, and we had a lot of fun since it was my last week and the last week of the spring term for them.
Not much has happened after our first experience at the hot springs last weekend. On Sunday we went into Seoul in search of a "Doctor Fish Cafe." These places sell coffee, baked goods, and offer complimentary doctor fish service. Those are the little fish that nibble on your feet to eat away the dead skin. They are becoming popular at spas and nail salons back in the states, but the service there is probably more expensive. We went to one cafe near Insadong, which apparently no longer offers the doctor fish service. After eating a vegan dinner at Oh Se Gae Hyang in Insadong, we headed to Hongdae to scope out a second supposed doctor fish location. Guess what? That one had closed down too! It seems as though business establishments come and go really quickly in Korea.
This past week has been really busy for us. We have been packing, we wired our money home at the bank today, and tomorrow we have to terminate our cell phone service. We definitely set aside time for fun though! Last night Danny had Indian food with his coworkers and he also met up with some of them for lunch today. Last night I went to a galbi restaurant with a few of my coworkers. Eating vegan in one of these meat-friendly establishments turns out to be easier than expected. I was able to order delicious dwinjang jiggae with rice and side dishes. I also tried a traditional Korean rice wine called "baekseju," which is similar to a Japanese plum wine. "Soju," which is made from yams and is the the Korean version of vodka, is way too strong on my stomach. Afterwards we went to a bar and played darts and chatted. Tonight Danny and I will hopefully meet up with my coworkers for a final dinner, and then we will head over to Hongdae to see Danny's friends from college. I will probably write one more blog entry to let everyone know that I get home safely! Anyeong!

Relaxing at Icheon SpaPlus

Friday was Buddha's Birthday, a national holiday. Naturally Danny had off from work again, but I had to work 10am-4pm instead of coming in at night. The students complained all day because they had off from their regular school, but they still had to come to CDI. After work I met up with Danny for an early dinner at Petra in Itaewon. We can't get enough of this place, and we might go back later this week too. We can get similar middle eastern food back home, but it's so tasty here and we can order a bunch of different vegan appetizers and side dishes to make a nice meal.

I have been begging Danny to try out one of the traditional Korean hot springs spas, and he finally agreed to go on Saturday. We took the subway and an express bus and about 2 hours later we were in Icheon, a city just south of Seoul. Icheon is famous in Korea for its natural hot springs, pottery, and sticky white rice grown in really fertile soil. We went to the Hotel Miranda's SpaPlus, which is supposed to be more foreigner friendly. It turns out that by foreigner friendly they meant some signs would be in English. Korean spas, or "jimjilbangs," are insanely popular here and entire families will spend the day together at one. There are two kinds of spas though. The urban jimjilbangs in cities like Seoul are open 24/7 and you can spend as much time as you want for only about $10. The hot springs spas outside Seoul are usually connected to a hotel and they are allow entrance from morning to night for about $20. The hot springs spas were more appealing to me because they use natural hot spring water rich in minerals that have tons of health benefits. When we entered SpaPlus, we were given an electronic bracelet to wear that would be used to purchase food and services (so no cash needed on the premises!) We were directed to lockers, where we had to place our shoes. After that we were clueless as to where to go next. We saw two signs: one for the men's locker room and one for the women's locker room. Finally, we realized that we first needed to pick up our mini towel and t-shirt and shorts from the counter in the lobby. I had read up on jimjilbangs before going, so I knew that the spa area was separated by gender. So Danny and I parted and headed for our respective locker rooms. In the women's locker room, I found the locker that corresponded to my bracelet ID # and put my stuff inside. That included ALL of my clothing, because you must strip down to your birthday suit before entering the female-only spa. Next step is to shower down, which I did quickly because I forgot to bring soap. The Koreans take this step seriously and they sit on stools in front of low shower heads and basically scrub each other with soap and abrasive towels. Entire generations of families will come to jimjilbangs together, and the grandmother and her grandchildren will help scrub each other. It might be considered strange by Western standards, but I guess it's good family bonding time. So after showering I was ready to hop in the baths. First I tried one that was about 30 degrees celsius, which was the perfect temperature. They had nice massaging jets all over this tub too. After I hopped in the 40 degree celsius tub, which is the hottest, so I only lasted 2 minutes. I finished my cycle with the cold tub, which actually felt nice after the scalding tub. Then I headed over the the herbal baths, which were all different colors and scents. One was green, so maybe it was green tea. Another was labeled as charcoal, which is really popular in Korea for skin benefits. Next I tried a walking bath, where you walk in a shallow pool with rocks on the bottom to massage your feet. I finished my time in the spa area with a hop in the cold bath, which is supposed to tighten your pores. I met Danny back in the lobby and realized he had been waiting awhile for me while I was enjoying the spa. Donning our SpaPlus cotton t-shirt and shorts, we headed upstairs to the second floor. This floor featured a rest area, where people were just sprawled out all over the floor with wooden neck pillows under their heads. I don't know how Koreans consider a loud area with tons of families and kids relaxing, but I guess living in a city like Seoul is never very quiet either. We realized we were a bit light-headed from sitting in the baths, so we ordered a variation of Korea's famous "patbingsu" dessert. The version we had featured shaved ice topped with sliced fresh fruit and drizzled with a lemony sweet milk. It was really refreshing after the baths, and it kept us cool before entering the saunas. We tried charcoal, amethyst, and jade hot saunas. These were dark and relaxing inside, and the walls were covered with huge natural rocks and minerals. There were mats on the floor, and everyone laid down while watching Korean dramas on the TV in each sauna. Danny and I sat up, because they were pretty crowded. They were hot, but not ridiculously hot, so I didn't get too sweaty or dizzy. After we finished in the cool marble sauna room. We forgot to go into the hottest sauna, which looks like a giant oven and is 99 degrees celsius! The second floor also featured an area with cucumber and charcoal face masks and massaging beds and chairs. These services were all under $5 each, and I wanted to try them, but Danny was being cheap! He was most interested in finding the Doctor Fish, which nibble on your feet and eat away the dead skin. This service was listed on the spa's website as only about $5 for 30 minutes, which is probably a bargain compared to what it would cost at a spa in America. We searched everywhere and found out the Doctor Fish room had closed down. We decided to head outside in our swimsuits to the unisex baths. It was lightly drizzling, but luckily the baths were filled with hot spring water. We tried the bade pool first, which featured all kinds of massaging jets. This was my favorite pool at the spa. Next we went in baths made of wood and stone. After we tried the lime green aroma bath, which smelled really nice. Then we went in the multicolored herbal baths, which were the same as the ones indoors I think. We finished up in the cold pool under a "cave." By this point we were starving and pruney, so we decided to get dressed and head out for dinner. We ate dinner at a restaurant across the street from SpaPlus that offered Icheon's famous "Ssalbap." Ssalbap is steamed sticky white rice served in a hot stone pot. It is the main course of the meal, but what really makes the meal are the dozens of side dishes that are included. We were served our first round of side dishes, and when we finished those the Ssalbap and tons more side dishes were brought out. The Ssalbap is eaten by immediately removing most of the rice from the stone pot and placing it in a small bowl. The rice left in the pot is crusty and browned, so it has a nice toasty flavor. But to eat it, you must pour hot water from a tea pot into the stone pot to loosen the crusty burnt rice. This makes a nice soup that you can eat after your meal. We filled up on the rice and all of the side dishes, and we were given a cool cinnamon and ginger tea at the end of the meal. Most of the dishes were vegan, and they reminded me of the offerings from the buddhist style restaurants in Insadong. The entire meal cost us only $10 a person. We headed home after dinner, and we were surprisingly tired even though we relaxed all day at the spa. Now I'm excited to try the luxurious Spa Castle in Flushing, NY when I get home. It's a multistory spa that's modeled after Korean style jimjilbangs. Unfortunately, it's not as cheap as the real spas in Korea, and it's about $40 a day.

Vegging Out in South Korea

So you've probably noticed by now that I like to talk about food. A lot. You should have also noticed that Danny and I have been frequenting vegetarian and vegan restaurants almost every weekend in the past few months. Back in college I probably ate a near-vegan diet when I cooked my own food in my apartment. However, when I first got to Korea, I ate meat because it is pretty much unavoidable in most places here. About 3 months into eating this way, I decided I wanted to try to avoid animal products again. I have read several life-changing book since I've been here that really influenced me to change my diet again. The first, called "The China Study," was recommended to me by 3 guys that I work with. The author is one of the most prominent nutrition scientists in the world, and he's been practicing for nearly 40 years. He talks about the strong link between diet and common diseases. He advocates a whole-foods plant-based diet to prevent disease. This was by far one of the best books I've ever read and I have been constantly talking about it. The second book, "The Omnivore's Dilemma," I finally finished after starting it in college. This book, by famous food writer Michael Pollan, exposes the health and environmental consequences that the American food industry is placing on us. He doesn't advocate any specific diet, and Pollan himself eats meat, fish, dairy...basically anything so long as it's natural and healthy. The most recent book I'm reading is called "Living Vegan for Dummies." It's written by Alexandra Jamieson, a famous nutritionist, vegan gourmet chef, and wife of the guy who starred in the documentary "Supersize Me." Her book makes a vegan lifestyle easy to adapt to and provides recipes that sound so delicious. I'm trying to slowly transition to a vegan diet, which rules out all animal products. So that means no meat, no fish, no cheese, no milk, no butter, no eggs, no ice cream. You're probably wondering "what can she eat?" The beauty of a vegan diet is that most people who follow it probably eat more varied and much healthier than other people. I can eat tons of fruit, veggies, whole-grains, beans, nuts, and more. Oh and those "strange" yet tasty things like tofu, seitan, tempeh, miso, etc. I call it a vegan "diet," but it's not a diet in your typical sense. It's a long-term lifestyle, and it's based on health and environmental concerns. I'm excited to go home now and try some vegan recipes. I'm not sure if eating vegan at home will be easier or more difficult than in Korea. Here it's pretty easy because I only share my apartment kitchen with Danny, and he's trying to eat like me too. So we only buy vegan items when food shopping. However, it's difficult to ask for things veganized when eating out because of the language barrier. So I still get eggs in my dolsot bibimbap and kimbap. I'm thinking of starting another blog when I get home from Korea. Can you guess what the topic of this one will be?

Dancing the Night Away at the Seoul World DJ Festival & Strolling Through Seoul Forest

We finally finished administering the Level-Up exams to our students on Friday. Now they have to wait a week or so to find out if they moved up to the next level for the summer term. Wednesday was Children's Day, a national holiday celebrating - you guessed it - children! Danny was lucky enough to have off from work, so he went out for galbi and some drinks with his coworkers Tuesday night. On Tuesday night I went to a pork galbi place with some of my coworkers, but since I'm not eating meat, I ate two delicious bowlfuls of dwinjang jiggae (a spicy soup made with fermented soybean paste, tofu, and veggies). I wasn't lucky enough to have off from work on Children's Day, but my school decided to move our usual afternoon class to 10am-1pm. So I went into work for only 3 hours, and had the rest of the gorgeous sunny day to myself. Danny and I went to see an FC Seoul game at World Cup Stadium with his coworker. On Children's Day, every kid has off from school (except my poor students who came in 10am-1pm to take the Level-Up test!). Parents usually take their kids somewhere special for the holiday, so World Cup Stadium was packed. Well FC Seoul definitely pleased its thousands of young fans with a win of 3-0. After the game, Danny and I went to Petra, our favorite middle eastern restaurant in Itaewon. We wrapped up the night with some gift shopping in Insadong and sticky delicious Turkish ice cream (if someone knows where to buy this in America please let me know!).

On Saturday, we headed to Han River Park's Nanji area near World Cup Stadium for the Seoul World DJ Festival. I think this was the 4th year of the annual event, but it keeps getting bigger and bigger each year. This year the festival was a marathon of music from 2pm Saturday to 6am Sunday. Danny and I walked through the Mapo-gu Agrictultural & Marine Products Market on our way to the festival site. We then followed the festival music through Hanuel ("peace") Park to Han River Park. We met up with Danny's college buddy Lee, and got into the festival around 4pm. Luckily we didn't bring lots of food, because they confiscated everyone's food and drinks before entering. Fortunately, the food and drinks inside the festival grounds were way cheaper than they would be at a public event in America. The festival was set up with 4 different stage areas and various food, drink, promotional, and arts & crafts tents surrounding each stage area. The four stages were basically divided by genre: hip-hop, pop/rock, techno, and reggae. There were other performances going on simultaneously near the tents, such as drumming, Brazilian music & dancing, juggling, Samurai swordsmen, fire dancers, and belly dancers. My favorite area was the "Innertrip" stage area that features the reggae stage and most of these alternative performances. We also met up with Danny's other college friends Cormick and Christian throughout the night, and we danced from stage to stage until we were exhausted. After being at the event for nearly 8 hours and freezing from the riverside breeze, we took a taxi home.

On Sunday, the gorgeous sunshine woke us up early again and beckoned for us to come outside and enjoy the weather. We took the subway an hour away across the city to Seoul Forest. It is not really a forest, but just a huge park with various areas for recreation and relaxation. There were so many scenic picnic areas, fountains, sculptures, playgrounds, athletic courts, gardens, and eco-parks. We first had a mini "picnic" of oranges, granola bars, and cherry tomatoes along a pretty lake. Then we walked around the park for about 3 hours. After we headed to Itaewon for dinner in hopes of trying a Bulgarian restaurant that's supposed to be really authentic, fresh, and delicious! Unfortunately, the restaurant is super popular, and we couldn't get a table. So we ate at a Moroccan restaurant called Marrakech Nights. We had a buffet of salad, hummus, pita bread, cous cous, rice, and various tagines. It was delicious, but I'm still determined to go back and try the Bulgarian place. It claims to be the only Bulgarian restaurant on the entire Asian continent, and it's one ethnic cuisine I haven't tried yet!

Out and About...Enjoying the Wonderful Weekend Weather!

Last weekend we has just gotten back from Everland Saturday night, and we were exhausted. Sunday is usually our day for staying in and relaxing, but the weather was just too nice to be inside. We went to nearby Ilsan for the Goyang International Flower Show. Ilsan Lake Park has a permanent exhibit center on premises that is just for the annual flower show. Goyang city, where we live, is internationally recognized for its flower production, especially its roses. Like most other events we've been in Korea, the Goyang show had impressive displays of flowers in every shape and color. The indoor portion featured local and international merchants advertising different flower products and flower art. My favorite was the "pressed flower art" competition exhibition. When I first approached the area, I thought I was looking at beautiful paintings on display. But, looking more closely, I realized that the "paint" was really made of delicately arranged pressed flowers, plants, fruit, and vegetables. The artists used pressed flowers to decorate everything from furniture to jewelry and clothing. After images of flowers were burned into our eyes, we went to our new favorite vegetarian buffet in northern Ilsan.

We were constantly on the move this past weekend as well. Saturday we went to Gyeonghuigung, which is the 5th of the largest palaces in Seoul that we've been to. Every Wednesday and Saturday there is a free Taekwondo exhibition on the palace grounds. The exhibition featured the internationally recognized "Korea Tigers," a large group of mostly university students (including 3 girls!) The show was arranged so that it told a story and presented Korean culture. Taekwondo is really graceful and it's almost like a dance, so it fit perfectly with the music. After the show we explored the palace grounds a bit, but Gyeonghuigung is the smallest of the 5 palaces, so it didn't take us long. We walked over towards Gwanghwamun Square after in hopes of spotting Cheongwadae, which is known as the "blue house" and is the president's residence. On our way, we came across a street stand selling "hotteok", which is a type of pancake made with a filling of hot gooey honey, cinnamon, and black sesame seeds. We've never tasted it before even though it's one of the most famous street foods in Seoul. Ours had green tea in the pancake batter, and it was amazing! With our bellies satified, we walked over to Gwanghwamun. While admiring the new flowerbed there, we were stopped by some English speaking Koreans that were about our age. They asked us to take a picture with them, and afterwards they were nice enough to take down our email address to send us the photos. From Gwanghwamun, we spotted the famous blue roof of Cheongwadae, so we walked in the direction of Gyeongbokgung. On the palace grounds, we were directed to a road that would lead us to Cheongwadae. When we got to the Cheongwadae "photo zone," we learned that we couldn't actually go on the grounds, but we could only take photos from a distance. There are special tours of the blue house available, but you have to register nearly 6 months in advance! Next, we walked over to Samcheongdong, which is a cute neighborhood full of cafes, restaurants, galleries, and artsy shops. It seems to be the more fashionable and less touristy version of Insadong. We did some gift shopping in cute stores selling handmade items, and then came across a gorgeous park on the north end of the neighborhood. We finally made our way back south to Insadong for some more shopping and dinner at our favorite vegetarian buffet.

On Sunday, we took the subway all the way across the city to eastern Seoul for Chungdahm's Spring Picnic in Tteoksam Resort Park. English teachers from dozens of Chungdahm branches in the Seoul metro area were at the picnic. The picnic naturally featured some American style picnic food, like burgers, hotdogs, Taco Bell, fruit and veggie salads, and cookies. There were also recreational activities like ultimate frisbee, dodgeball, balloon toss, kite flying, and rock climbing. Danny and I had the highest score in balloon toss, but that was probably because we used a really tiny balloon that didn't break as easily. I wanted to try the rock climbing wall, but there was a long line. We wandered to the other side of the riverside park, where there were those swan peddle boats for rent. We peddled around the designated area in the Han River, and caught some views of Olympic Stadium and Namsan. After the picnic we headed over to nearby Children's Grand Park. This park was just down the block from the CDI training center that we were trained at in August. We had no idea back then that there was such a huge beautiful park nearby. Children's Grand Park was originally designed to celebrate children, and it includes an amusement park, zoo, playgrounds, botanical garden, ecological park, theaters, and more. Just like its name suggests, it was packed with children and it was definitely grand. It was probably the most beautiful park I've ever been in. We tried out the barefoot park, which is supposed to massage and strengthen your foot muscles (just what I need!). We also walked quickly through the zoo, botanical garden, and ecological park. As the sun set, we made our way over to Achasan vegetarian buffet for dinner. This buffet had a lot of dishes to choose from, but they featured too many mock meats and white bread. I prefer the more vegetable and whole grain based veggie buffets. But, Achasan's mock meats were tasty and could easily pass for real meat!

This Wednesday is Children's Day, which is a national holiday. Children usually have off from school, so Danny also has off from work. I still have to work, but my school is having a 10am-1pm class instead of 4pm-7pm. So I am able to go to an FC Seoul soccer game with Danny! Then on the Saturday coming up, we are going to try to go to the Seoul World DJ Festival. It is an annual 12-hour show outdoors along the Han River that features international DJ's and dancing all day and night long. So I'll keep you updated!

Spring is finally here!!

Sorry to keep you all waiting....it's been nearly 6 weeks since I last blogged! Danny and I have been super busy with school and other things. So we have some good news for all of you back in the states....we are coming home early! In late March I started looking into nutrition programs online to be sure I was on the right track. Originally I had planned to start working towards a registered dietitian (R.D.) certification at Queens College in the spring of 2011. But, I recently found out that Hunter College in NYC just launched a new program that combines a masters in nutrition AND an R.D. certification. This is a great opportunity, because very few schools offer these two things together. So, I won't be ready to enroll at Hunter until the fall of 2011. But, I need to come home ASAP to start taking pre-requisite science courses for the nutrition program. I spoke to my director, and she was obviously sad to hear I was leaving, but she understood. I will hopefully be home in the beginning of June (just in time to take General Chemistry I at Nassau Community College). I am already signed up for two science courses in the fall, and I have to take two or three more in spring. In case you're wondering, Danny will be coming home as well! We are a exciting to come home and see all of our friends and family, but we will miss Korea and our students though.

I'm trying to remember what we've been up to the past few weeks...Danny and I were sick for awhile (allergy season + stomach virus), and we had tons of work to do at our schools. So if you look at all of the pictures I've posted on Picasa, you can get an idea of what we've seen so far. Three weeks ago it finally started getting nice outside, so we walked around Ilsan Lake Park. We walked another 2km or so around the Ilsan area and finally found a vegan buffet restaurant that I've been looking for. It was probably one of the freshest and most delicious buffets we've been to so far here, and we are actually going back for dinner tomorrow. Last Saturday we went to Yeouido, which is an island in the middle of the Han River in Seoul. The annual cherry blossom festival was held there, and despite the late spring in Korea this year, the cherry blossoms were in full bloom. Last Sunday we went to the Korean War Memorial Museum. It was a huge museum, with displays on all the wars that Korea has fought in, and the grounds were beautiful too. Today we went to Everland, which is the largest amusement park in South Korea. It's owned by Samsung, but it's got nothing on Disney World. It was a lot smaller than Disney, but it was still really entertaining. It was a beautiful day, so nearly everyone in the Seoul metro area seemed to be at the park. Since it was so crowded we only went on two roller coasters and a water rapids ride. The wooden roller coaster was actually really fun and scary. The other rides were mostly kiddy rides, and the other adult rides had ridiculous wait times. So we spent most of the time exploring the park, which was really scenic because it's built into a mountainside and the cherry blossoms were blooming. Our favorite things were probably the giant tulip garden and the huge zoo area. I actually had my best amusement park meal ever there too. Literally every other snack stand or restaurant on the premises served only meat dishes, so we found a fancy buffet that had fresh food with lots of veggies. Plus there were no crowds in the buffet restaurant! The only thing that was disappointing about the day was the transportation. It took us nearly 3 hours to get the park, because the wait for the public intercity express bus was so long. On the plus side, everything was so cheap! For the entrance fee, transportation, and food combined we probably spent less than we would on just the entrance fee alone to an American amusement park.

I promise I will try to keep you all updated over the next few weeks, because we are scrambling to see as much as we can before we leave! We actually planned out a schedule for each weekend.

Weddings, Ferry-Riding, Caving, and Hiking Bukhansan

So I promised to blog about the Korean weddings we went to and our last Adventure Korea trip, and here it is (although a bit late)! Two weeks ago we went to my Korean coworker Jeff's wedding in Seoul. I was surprised how modern the weddings are. Weddings here are usually held in a big hall that is specifically designed for weddings only. The wedding ceremony and banquet are held in the same building, and the entire event only lasts about 2-3 hours in total. Much shorter than the all-day events in America right? Jeff's wedding hall was decorated with flashing lights and huge projector screens next to the ceremony platform. I almost felt like I was in Vegas. The brides dress in glittery white flowing gowns with princess crowns on their heads. The slideshow on the projector screen was really nice...it flashed professional wedding photos of the bride and groom that made them look like models in fashion magazines. They also played a video slideshow about how the bride and groom met...Jeff and his wife met in elementary school and dated for 10 years! So overall, there was no bridesmaids, no groomsmen, no flower girl or ring bearer. That cut out a lot of time! Also, the women who usually catches the bouquet in America is pre-selected and she only catches the bouquet so the photographers can get a good photo. After the ceremony, the few hundred people at the wedding rush into the banquet hall for a buffet dinner. The buffet was really fresh and delicious, but they only give you about enough time to eat two platefuls before they usher you out to get ready for the next wedding. Most guests leave after that, but we stayed for a few minutes to see "pebek," which a traditional ceremony in which the bride and groom don traditional hanbok and bow to their parents. The following weekend we went to Danny's Korean coworker Michelle's wedding. It was virtually the same, except that her ceremony hall was a little classier. Oh and I failed to mention the gift-giving process! In Korea it seems only acceptable to give straight up cash as a gift. Yup - that means no gift registry at Bloomingdales or Bed Bath & Beyond! At the first wedding, Danny and I placed our gift in a card with pretty pink envelope. Before you even enter the wedding, you must hand your gift to a table of men that collect and record the amount of gifts, and then give you meal tickets. We handed the pink envelope to them and they looked a bit confused, since most people were handing in cash with no cards!

The day after our first wedding we went on an Adventure Korea "caving & ferry-riding" trip. It was just a day trip to the largest and cleanest man-made lake about 2 hours south of Seoul. I didn't realize until after we got home that night that the lake was man-made. It looked so natural, and the water color was the turquoise blue-green of the Mediterranean! We rode 2 ferries around the huge lake and saw some beautiful hills around a valley and land formations. We went inside a large limestone cave, and then took the bus to another location which featured two famous natural rock formations. One was three peaks in the middle of the lake where it was believed nobles used to spend time and another was a "gate" or hollowed out piece of rock that gave a beautiful view of the lake. When we returned to Seoul we hit up the great vegan buffet restaurant in Gangnam again.

Last weekend we celebrated "white day" (second Valentine's Day in Korea) by going to our favorite middle eastern restaurant called Petra in Itaewon. Everything there is so fresh and tasty! We had hummus, baba ganouj, yogurt dip, roasted eggplant dip, pita bread, felafel, and roasted chicken with cous cous. The falafel is by far the best I've ever had. We also saw Alice in Wonderland in 3D last weekend. I knew I would like it because it's a Tim Burton film, and it was good. But the original Disney version is still my favorite.

This past Saturday it rained, so we just spent the day studying Italian and watching an entire season of Californication. Saturday night we had dinner at the Korean vegetarian restaurant Sosim in Insadong. Good thing we rested up Saturday because on Sunday we had quite the adventure. It was a beautiful sunny day and close to 50 degrees, so we decided to invite Danny's college friend Cormick to hike Mt. Bukhan with us. Bukhansan is a range of large mountains bordering the north of Seoul city. Hiking is the most popular sport here, and you can see tons of middle-aged and older Koreans riding the subway in hiking gear everyday. We started at Gupabal station in the northwest of Seoul near us, and took a short bus ride to one of the most popular entrances to the mountain. Along the base of the mountain, there are tons of casual restaurants serving hot Korean food, snacks, and alcohol. We bypassed those and headed up the mountain in our running sneakers. The "trails" aren't really marked at all and you can barely call huge piles of rocks a "trail," so we just followed our instincts up the mountain. We saw some temples and a fortress wall on our way up. It was really fun and we got really warm when we started. As soon as we neared the top, it naturally got colder. We thought we reached the highest peak when we witnessed an incredible view. But sure enough on our way "down," we reached 2 or 3 more peaks. Each one felt higher than the one before! I have to admit it felt quite dangerous at some times, and we slipped and turned ankles a few times. This middle-aged Korean guy made fun of us for hiking in sneakers, but we beat him up a big rock using a rope to climb up. He stopped criticizing us after that and even took my picture at the top. We finally found a steep and rocky way down and made it to the base. Unfortunately the base was on the outskirt of the city along a highway. Luckily there was a city bus stop on the highway and it turns out we ended just north of the school I work at. The hike took a total of over 4 hours and we know the trail down was about 5 kilometers. So I'm guessing we hiked over 10km total to a peak of 800m! Danny and I were starving after because we only brought 1 granola bar each for the trek. We headed to Insadong for dinner at Oh Sae Gye Hyang, another Korean vegan restaurant. This restaurant features mostly mock-meats in their dishes. Danny had vegan "tang-su-yuk," which is fried Chinese sweet and sour pork with fruit, vegetables, and cashews. Obviously his dish wasn't made with pork, but rather with soy protein and mushrooms. I had spicy chili mushroom rolls served over perilla leaves (sesame seed leaves). When I say mushrooms I'm sure you are thinking of the tasteless button mushrooms we have in America. Korean mushrooms are so flavorful and chewy. They could easily pass as meat, which is why vegan restaurants often use them. My dish could have passed for tender spicy chili chicken wings. I can't wait to go back to that restaurant...if only it was closer and open later!

Goodbye to Friends & Uljin Snow Crab Festival

Our second term at CDI has ended, and the spring term started this week. We've been busy prepping new lessons, so I haven't had a chance to blog in awhile. My students gave me some cute birthday and goodbye gifts at the end of the winter term. You can see some pictures of my students and Danny's students on my Picasa photo page. This term I am teaching more upper-level classes than usual. I taught my first Par Reading class on Thursday and I felt a bit confused. The structure and material was so new to me compared to the simple lessons for the younger kids. I can't believe how smart these students are. They read these long passages and then pick out the thesis, major details, and minor details. They seem to understand the exercises better than most American high school students would. Hopefully the upper-level students will also be more well-behaved than my younger students in the past.

Last week we said goodbye to 3 of Danny's coworkers. Two of his Korean teachers were getting new teaching jobs and his coworker Daniel was returning back to the the U.S. It was sad to see them go, because we hung out with them a lot the past 2 terms. Danny's school had a farewell dinner for its 3 teachers, and I met up with them at a norebang after work. We sang karaoke there for nearly 2 hours. Afterwards, we went to a bar and the casino. Luckily I didn't have to teach the next day until 4pm. Three of the teachers from my school finished their contracts last week too, and my school had a farewell dinner too. Unfortunately, I couldn't join them because Danny and I had to wake up crazy early for another Adventure Korea trip.

Our second Adventure Korea trip was called "Uljin Snow Crab Festival & Wilderness Trekking." Uljin is a seaport town on the east coast of Korea. It took about 4-5 hours to drive there because we had to meander through small villages and around mountains. It seems that most terrain in Korea is mountainous, which is so different than what I'm used to back home. The town of Uljin was having an "international festival" for the snow crab that the region is famous for. There were markets, music and dancing shows, ferry rides, cooking shows, and of course restaurants and stalls everywhere offering tastes of fresh snow crab. First we went to the festival publicity building where we could touch, hold, and take pictures with the giant snow crab. If you've eaten king crab legs, the snow crab's legs look similar in size. After we got to explore the market. We stopped to witness a cross-dressing drum troupe dancing to Korean pop music. We eventually met up with our tour group to take part in a Guiness World Record attempt at making the longest kimbap. Kimbap is one of Korea's most famous foods. It looks similar to sushi rolls, but it tastes nothing like it. Instead, kimbap is made of salted, dried seaweed that is stuffed with seasoned white rice, pickled vegetables, ham, egg, and usually meat or fish. Naturally, the kimbap we made at the festival was stuffed with fresh snow crab. Since the festival was trying to attract international publicity, they allowed our mostly foreign tour group to stand right in front of the news cameras at the tables and roll the kimbap. We were given aprons, chef hats, and gloves and assisted by Korean staff in rolling the kimbap. I couldn't understand what the announcer was saying, but I'm guessing we beat last year's world record. The Korean visitors to the festival all lined up to taste the giant kimbap that we made, and of course we got first dibs on tasting. Next, we went on an hour-long ferry ride around the seaport. We boarded an older-looking ferry with life jackets that were too small for us foreigners. The first 15 minutes or so were exciting, because the boat kept jumping up and down from the waves. It was an overcast day, and although it didn't rain, the waves were pretty rough. For the remaining part of the trip, nearly everyone from our tour group felt seasick. Danny and I rested on the floor in an inner cabin to avoid getting sick. Afterwards we got a private tasting of fresh snow crab at the festival site. I couldn't even think of food after getting off the boat, but once I tasted the crab I felt a hundred times better. I've only really tasted king crab legs and bits of crab in sushi before. But this crab was incredibly fresh and full of flavor. We moved on to our hotel after, which featured bedding on the traditional heated floor again. We had barbecued pork belly for dinner. The past few months I've been trying to eat vegetarian, which is somewhat difficult because meat is so popular in Korea. Luckily there were tons of vegetarian side dishes that I feasted on. The next morning we woke up early to use the hotel's free spa facility. The Uljin area is famous for natural hot sulphur springs. The spa was indoors, but the water had a slightly sulphuric smell because I think they use the water from the nearby springs. Danny and I have never been to a "jimjilbang," the famous Korean bathhouses here. But we decided to try it while there were other foreigners around. At a jimjilbang, the men and women use separated facilities. The spa in the hotel was very tiny, consisting of just a hot, medium, and cold bath and a few saunas. I went into the women's locker room, stripped down to my birthday suit (which is necessary here to use the spa), showered, then took a dip in each of the three pools. I hadn't eaten anything because it was 7am, so I actually started to feel lightheaded in the hottest pool, and I left after maybe 20 minutes. I didn't realize there was a sauna room, so I didn't try that. Overall, being naked in front of a bunch of Koreans wasn't as scary as I thought. I will have to try one of the big, luxurious jimjilbangs in Seoul (where you can all day for only about $10!) After a PB&J breakfast (my favorite!), we headed to the mountains for a 2 hour hike. It had rained the week before, so our original trekking area in the Shinsun Valley was flooded. We instead followed a relaxing hiking course in the mountains. The area is famous for its pine trees, and you could smell them in the breeze as we hiked. We watched a really good Korean movie on the bus ride home called "Castaway on the Moon." It was the first Korean film I've ever seen. When we arrived at the bus station in Seoul, we tried an organic vegan buffet in Gangnam called "New Start." Everything was so fresh and tasty, and they served homemade bread and jams too.

Today, Danny and I are going to the wedding of one of my Korean coworkers. He invited all of the teachers at my school too. Coincidentally, Danny was invited to one of his Korean coworker's weddings too. Hers is next weekend though. I have still never been to a wedding in America, yet I have been to 2 in Italy and now I will have been to 2 in Korea. I will let you know what a Korean wedding is like in my next blog entry, although I think they are similar to Western style weddings today. Tomorrow we are going on an Adventure Korea day trip to a big lake in central Korea, where we will go on a ferry ride and explore caves.

February Holidays: Valentine's Day, Lunar New Year, and my 23rd Birthday!

Another 3 weeks have passed since I've blogged, but nothing too exciting has happened. For Valentine's Day, I put together a big box with chocolate and other snacks for Danny. I might have mentioned before, but Valentine's Day in Korea is only for girls to give their boyfriends chocolate. On March 14, the guys reciprocate for "White Day." So I will wait until White Day to get my gift! Valentine's Day this year happened to fall on the Lunar New Year. Most of us in America know this as the Chinese New Year. It is the biggest holiday in Korea, and most businesses close down Saturday-Monday. Koreans traditionally spend the holiday visiting family in the country or in smaller cities outside Seoul. They eat a special soup on New Year's day that is believed to make every person age one year. Danny and I did not eat the soup, so I guess we stayed the same age. Families also play traditional games together and children are given pouches with money. Some of my students told me that they even wore the traditional hanbok dress to do a special bow to their elders. Since most restaurants were closed on the holiday, Danny and I had our Valentine's Day dinner at a chain buffet restaurant called VIPS. It's actually a steakhouse with a "salad bar" buffet option, and it's quite pricey for a chain restaurant. Danny was lucky enough to have off from work the day after New Year's, but I had to work (and naturally most of my students did not show up that day!) Danny was kind enough to clean the whole apartment on his day off....that's better than any Valentine's Day gift for me! My mom sent me some American Valentine's Day supplies to put together little gifts for my students. I gave each student one of those little cartoon character Valentine cards and a heart-shaped lollipop in a little gift bag with hearts on it. They loved them, because Koreans don't exchange cards with friends on Valentine's Day.

This weekend was my 23rd birthday, which makes me 24 in Korean years. One of my students was thoughtful enough to give me a hand lotion set for my birthday, and another student felt bad that she didn't have a gift and offered me her used pencil! One of my Korean desk teachers knows that I love Hello Kitty and she surprised me with a bag of Hello Kitty goodies on my desk. On Friday night we went back to VIPS restaurant for dinner with Danny's coworkers. Two of his Korean teachers and one of his American teachers are leaving next Friday, so we went out for an early goodbye celebration. After we stopped at a bar, batting cages, and finally spent nearly 3 hours at a norebang (private karaoke room). I sang so much that I nearly lost my voice afterwards. To finish the night, we went to a DVD-bang (private room for watching DVD's with friends) to play Nintendo Wii. I only wish we could have so much cheap entertainment available in New York!

On Sunday we went to Sanchon, a buddhist temple style vegetarian restaurant in Insadong. The food is served in the traditional Korean style, and we sat on the ondol heated floor. A traditional dance and music performance accompanies the dinner. The price is a bit steep at Sanchon, but it was my birthday gift!

A quick update...

Danny and I can finally relax now that intensives are over, so we decided to start learning Italian. Danny made us an entire weekly schedule, which includes reading, listening, writing, and speaking. It seems as though he modeled it after his school's language learning program, and he even included the acting activity that his elementary students do each week! I've been studying vocab words on my new iPod touch on my commute to work too. It's about time I learn Italian, so hopefully we will stick to our plan. Danny and I also started doing one of the yoga DVD's that I brought with me to Korea. I regularly use my pilates DVDs, but I've never really done yoga. It's really relaxing, and I feel great after. It's funny watching Danny try to do the poses, because he's almost too big and inflexible for some.
On Friday Danny and I had Thai food in Ilsan with his coworkers. Chungdahm schools are having a bowling competition for English teachers next weekend, so we decided to practice after our dinner. Danny's school is entering a team into the competition, and I think my school might be getting together one too. Although pool halls, movie theaters, and karaoke rooms are abundant in Korea, bowling alleys are hard to come by. We actually found one only 10 minutes from our home. It only had about a dozen lanes and looked like it hadn't been renovated in 15 years, but it was adequate. Luckily I could wear a men's size bowling shoe, but Danny's size-13 coworker wasn't so lucky. I only bowled an 89 (which is high for me), but I was getting lots of strikes and spares, so I considered it a good night. Afterwards we went to a dance club in Ilsan where it was "hip-hop night." It was fun, but rap music isn't my favorite to dance to.
On Sunday we visited the Seodaemun Prison History Hall in Seoul. Japan controlled Korea for much of the early to mid-twentieth century, and many patriots and protestors were imprisoned during that period. The prison was located in "Independence Park," which celebrated Korean independence from Japanese rule. The museum wasn't very exciting, but it featured some crazy life-size figures performing acts of torture. It only cost about $1, so it was worth the walk around the museum and park though. After that we went to an Indian/Nepalese restaurant called Everest in Dongdaemun. It was the 5th Indian restaurant we've tried in Korea, but the best one is still Mother India, which is luckily only a 5 minute walk from our apartment.
I am currently administering a 3-hour exam to my students, and after fighting with my coworkers over the copy machine to make a million copies of the test this morning, then stapling all of those tests, I am exhausted. I will leave you with a new Kpop song that I constantly have stuck in my head....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FB6eTIFjdkE

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas....

I had heard that Seoul has really dry winters and doesn't snow much, but it turned out to be a white Christmas after all! Luckily I had off from work on Friday for Christmas. On Thursday, I gave out mini candy canes to my students, and they thought they were so cute. Candy canes aren't really easy to find here, so some of my students didn't know what they were. That night, my school had a company Christmas Eve dinner at Castle Praha, a restaurant/bar in Hongdae. It took forever to get there by cab because of the holiday traffic, but it was well worth the trip. The restaurant literally looked like a European castle in Prague. Danny came along too, so he finally got to meet all my fellow teachers. The restaurant was three floors, and I think it even brews its own beer because I saw huge vats on the lower level. Well you could taste the difference, because they had dark German style beer that was much better than Korean Cass or Hite. The food was delicious too. Danny and I shared a roasted acorn squash stuffed with chicken, mushrooms, peppers, almonds, and cheese. I also had a cherry Hawaiian grilled chicken salad that was yummy. We exchanged Secret Santa gifts at the restaurant. I guess everyone sees that I eat tons of snacks at work, because my Secret Santa got me a huge snack basket. I got my Secret Santa a "snake plant," which is indestructible and also my favorite kind of house plant. She is new at my school, so I thought it would be a nice housewarming gift. After dinner, some of us went to a "luxury" norebang (private karaoke rooms). We even sang some Christmas Carols there. We finished after 4am and decided to wait take the first train home at 5:30am. I must mention that Danny was forced to eat a Burger King chicken burger, because nothing else was open at that time and he was hungry. It was probably his first fast food experience in years, and he said it was quite unpleasant.

On Christmas Day, Danny and I went to Westerndom, a large indoor and outdoor shopping mall in Ilsan. There is an IMAX theater there, so we planned to see the movie Avatar in 3D. We had some great Thai food before the movie. Thai isn't that easy to find in Korea, so we were excited to find some new promising ethnic restaurants in Westerndom. After that we had a caramel mocha coffee and toast with sweet cream at a cute cafe with rocking chairs and swings. Avatar in 3D was obviously even better than in 2D, and at this theater the Navi language scenes had English subtitles! When we left the theater, we were surprised to see it had snowed. It was truly a white Christmas! Unfortunately, we had a hard time finding a cab home at that time, so we were out in the cold snow for awhile. When we got home we got to Skype with our families and open Christmas gifts together at the same time. I guess you could call it a virtual Christmas.

On the day after Christmas, we were craving Italian food (I guess because we missed our families' Christmas celebrations back home). So we tried this "Italian fusion" restaurant near our apartment called Orto. It was exactly what I expected...just "eh". The seafood salad had iceberg lettuce and the brick-oven pizza had too much chewy cheese and no sauce. Oh and like all Italian food in Korea, it was served with sweet pickles on the side. Afterwards we saw the movie "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus," which was pretty decent.

Since today was another below 20 degree day, we went to the National Museum of Korea. It claims to be the 6th largest museum in the world, but it was much more organized and easier to follow than say the MET or the Natural History Museum, so it only took us about 4 hours. It displayed mostly Korean archaeological and historical artifacts and artwork. But there was some artwork from other asian countries as well. There was TONS of pottery, lots of Buddhas, and a million books in languages we couldn't read (mostly in Chinese). Overall, it was interesting though. After we had Arab cuisine (Jordanian to be exact) at a famed restaurant in Itaewon called Petra. The food was so flavorful and fresh. We had hummus, babaganouj, yogurt dip, pita bread, falafel, and chicken marinated in spices over vegetable couscous. The waitress asked us if we knew what to do with the falafel and she pointed out the couscous on our plate to us as if we couldn't tell it wasn't rice. I guess most Koreans aren't too familiar with middle eastern food.

It's been a longgg Saturday!

So before we get to Saturday, let me debrief about this week. Not much happened except that I didn't have to teach night classes yet. So Danny and I were able to go out to eat with his coworkers most nights this week. On Monday I tried a new Korean food. I had chamchi kimchi jiggae (which translates as tuna and spicy fermented cabbage stew). I'll admit that I was a bit hesitant to try it at first, and I was disappointed that they didn't serve a tofu stew instead (sundubu jiggae). But it was actually delicious! And it came with many side dishes and rice (and for under $5 it's an amazing deal). Danny and I also successfully mailed a package on Monday. We were clueless when we walked into the post office, but the security guard spoke a few words of English and he helped us wrap our package and everything. We mailed home some Christmas gifts, which was costly to ship by air (but it got home in under 4 days!) I also received a huge package from my mom with some Christmas gifts, but hers took 10 days to get here (I guess the US Postal Service is not nearly as efficient as KPost).

Saturday morning Danny had to wake up early and go to his school. Not for work, but for "Market Day." For 4 hours the students came in to his school to trade in their "dollars" for prizes and play games with their teachers. The students are rewarded during the term with dollars for good grades and excellent group projects. My school has the same reward system, but we don't have a market day. Instead, the students at my school just turn in the points to the Korean desk staff for prizes anytime they want. I decided to pass by Danny's school for market day because I heard there was face painting, and I had to show off my painting skills. Actually I was pretty bad, but I was doing a lot better than Danny. So the students flocked around me, and they all avoided "bad Danny teacher." The favorite design was a swan, which Danny modeled on his hand. At the market day, there was also a game room, a movie room, and a snack bar. It was cool because I got to meet some of Danny's students.

After market day, we went to Gwanghawmun Plaza in Seoul. It's a huge square that was just remodeled this year, and a 100 foot high fake snow ramp was constructed in the area for the Big Air Snowboard World Cup. At night there would be a competition on the snowboard ramp, so we got there early and walked around the square. There were thousands of people in the square for the event. A huge ice skating rink was also placed in the square for the winter. The grand opening of the rink was this weekend, so I wanted to ice skate but the wait line was ridiculously long. The weather was pretty comfortable out until the snowboard exhibition started, and by that time my toes were beyond frozen. So I could only watch 3 jumps and then I escaped to the warmth under the Sejong Art Center. It's a museum and art center, but in the basement there was an exhibition on King Sejong (one of Korea's most notable historical figures, from the 14th century). So I walked around that for awhile and met up with Danny after. Danny's roommate from college, Lee, teaches in a CDI April school south of Seoul, but he came into Seoul for the night. So we took the subway with him and his girlfriend to Itaewon. Itaewon is the "foreigner-friendly" area of Seoul, so we found a good Mexican restaurant for dinner. It felt so good to eat a veggie fajita and some black beans and nachos. Afterwards we met up with some of Danny's coworkers at a hip-hop club that was hosting a bellydancing show. Unfortunately, we showed up towards the end so we didn't get to see much. What we did see was really awesome though. After that we walked into a handful of different bars to find a place to hang out, but most were way too crowded and didn't suit our taste. I guess Hongdae is better for a night out. Just as we were about to leave Itaewon, we ran into Danny's head instructor. We wanted to take her out for a drink and the only place we could find was a posh club with thumping techno beats. It was fun though, and we ended up dancing a bit.

By 1am Danny and his coworker persuaded me to accompany them at the casino. Gambling is illegal in Korea, so Danny's head instructor couldn't join us. Casinos in Korea are purely for tourists, and are usually attached to hotels. We went to Seven Luck Casino in Gangnam, near COEX mall. Most of the people in the casino are Japanese, Chinese, and American tourists. I don't know how to play any card games, but I watched the guys play blackjack for a few hours, and I caught on. I also watched roulette, but I didn't find it that interesting. Danny actually did pretty well in his casino debut. But don't worry, we aren't becoming serious gamblers. I am super frugal, so I was extremely strict about his budget. We are so cheap that we waited to catch the first subway train home at 5:30am instead of paying the expensive cab ride home.

63 floors of fun: art, wax, sea creatures, and sushi!

So this past Friday I was invited to another outing with Danny's school. This time it was a farewell party for one of his coworkers. We ate at a galbi restaurant again. After what happened the night of my school's dinner, I decided to pass on the soju. So I was teased for toasting with water, but I was thankful Saturday morning when I was able to go out for a nice run. We went to a bar after, where the new teacher who will replace Danny's coworker that is leaving showed up. She literally had just been dropped off from her training location. I guess that a night out with new coworkers is a good introduction to everyone. Korea bar food is a lot different than the usual American fare. While bbq wings, french fries, nachos, and mozzarella sticks have become more popular here, the traditional stuff is completely different. First we had dried, grilled squid served with spicy ketchup and mayo. It was actually interesting. Then the Korean staff from Danny's school heard that we never tried "bundegi" before. Well they insisted that we try it, and I was pretty psyched because I like to try weird new things. Bundegi is silkworm larvae. Yes, those are bugs. And yes, they are edible. Some people buy them in cans in the grocery store as a daily snack. But we had them served in a spicy broth with vegetables. Apparently the smell of them is worse than the taste, but this soup had no foul odor. I tasted it and honestly it wasn't bad...I kind of enjoyed it! And when I heard from the Korean women at the table that the critters are high in natural collagen I liked it even more. So anyway I found this hilarious blog post about bundegi. It is so funny it literally made me choke on my breakfast. However, the humor is somewhat crude so if that's not your style then you may want to pass.... http://www.thesneeze.com/mt-archives/000398.php

On Saturday we just relaxed....had our usual Indian for dinner and did our biweekly Costco run. On Sunday we decided to check out the 63 Building. It has been a bit chilly and it was supposed to rain, so we wanted to stay indoors. The 63 Building is south of the Han River in Seoul, and it used to be the tallest building in Seoul. It has restaurants and cafes, stores, an IMAX theater, an art gallery, a wax museum, and an aquarium inside. We spent the first half hour or so just trying to figure out how to get up to the top. We finally realized that you have to enter through the "Sky Art" elevators. The 60th floor is an art gallery and observation deck in one. The day was pretty overcast, but we still took some cool pictures. Back downstairs on the main floor we went to a cafe and then to the wax museum. It was smaller than Madam Tousseoud's in Manhattan, but I enjoyed it more for some reason. Maybe because it wasn't so crowded. They had many famous American figures, and not nearly as many Korean figures. After we had dinner at a sushi restaurant. Then we went to the aquarium, which was nice at night because it was mostly younger couples and no kids. It had lots of cool displays, and my favorite was the "mermaid show." It was basically an underwater dancer.

This week we will be really busy with work because both Danny and I are winding down our first terms here and started the winter term next week. So we have some prepping to do before the new term starts. Next week I will have a new set of classes to teach. I will be teaching basically the same levels. The nice thing is I have Wednesday and Friday nights off again. Oh and my classroom will be on the main floor of my building, which is closer to the printer, photocopier, desk staff, break room, and much warmer!

Some things I'm currently obsessed with....

Just a quick update before I leave for work....

- Danny is feeling much better

- It's been 30 degrees in Seoul but it's close to 60 degrees in NY (not fair!)

- I could eat dolsot bibimbap and kongjang everyday

- I have these 2 KPop songs playing endlessly in my head

Girls Generation - Chocolate Love (I think this song was made for the LG Chocolate phone)

Brown Eyed Girls - How Come

- Thanksgiving is coming up next week! Enjoy this YouTube video in the meantime!

CDI Hwajeong Field Trip

Yesterday I went on a field trip with Danny for the employees of his school, CDI April. His boss, Mr. Jung, owns the CDI Hwajeong branch too, so the employees from that school were on the trip too. It was a good opportunity to finally meet some of the other teachers that live in our neighborhood. We took a coach bus from Hwajeong to the countryside in the north. First we stopped at this small village, where we made Korean traditional pottery. It wasn't totally traditional though because we got to use a pottery wheel. I made a small vase, which I painted and designed after. The pottery we made has to be fired in a special oven ("kiln") two times to harden the clay and protect it. So we will get the pottery back sometime next week after it has been fired. Next to the pottery house was another small building with hundreds of pottery items on display and for sale. The owners gave us each a small pot with a little plant in it. After we made pottery a woman demonstrated the preparation of traditional green tea. The tea leaves were so fresh and potent that the leaves were only steeped for a few seconds. In Korea, people drink at least 3 espresso-cup sized shots of tea. The first cup represents the past, the second is the present, and the third is for the future.

For lunch, we drove to another traditional Korean place in the countryside. The food was cooked mainly outdoors and they had both indoor and outdoor seating. It started to drizzle lightly, so we sat indoors. It was my first time sitting on the floor to eat in Korea (most restaurants here have floor seating). The heating in Korea comes from under the floor, so it was nice and warm sitting there. The meal was definitely one of my favorite in Korea so far! Everything was so fresh and flavorful. We had so many side dishes, called "ban chan." The side dishes are an important part of the meal in Korea, and they usually consist of vegetables, soups, and rice or noodles prepared in different ways. We had marinated pork that was roasted over a wood-burning stove as well. And we had a whole grilled fish too!

After lunch we went to a small horse stable. The owner introduced us to his horses, which were mainly older horses. He explained that they were from Russia, Mongolia, China, and Korea. Most of the horses were much smaller than horses I've seen in America. He said these small horses are ideal for battle. We each got to ride a horse around a small ring for a few minutes. I've been on a horse only once before in Montauk, but it only walked. The horses that we rode yesterday started out walking and started to move very quickly. I didn't want to ride the horses at first, because I was a bit scared. I'm glad I did though because it was really fun! When everyone finished riding, the owner let us try one or two shots at shooting with a bow and arrow. I practiced archery a few times in middle school gym class, but I was never very good. So yesterday I wasn't successful either. Danny's arrow went flying and just passed by my head though! Some of the people that worked at the stables presented a special show for us afterwards. Two women and one man dressed in traditional Korean clothing from 1,500 years ago and did archery and spear tricks while riding horses. The two women could shoot a target with a bow and arrow while riding a horse! Apparently they are the only two women in the country that can do this.

For dinner, Danny's school owner took us to a galbi restaurant in the neighborhood that we live in. It was delicious! Danny and I sat at the same table as his owner, Mr. Jung. The meal wouldn't be complete without plenty of beer and soju (Korean liquor). I told Mr. Jung that I was Italian, and it turns out that he is a big fan of grappa. He said that he tried it when he traveled to Rome and it reminds him of an oriental liquor. It was still early in the evening when we finished dinner, so most of the group decided to go out to a "norebang." I was excited, because I've been dying to try it! "Norebang" literally translates as "song room," and it is a place that has private karaoke rooms. As I had expected, it was tons of fun. The Koreans in the room sang to K-Pop songs, and the foreign teachers all sang to American songs. It was still really early after the norebang, so a bunch of us went into the Hongdae area in Seoul to go to a bar and dance! Of course I'm exhausted today, but I'm off to go run or play soccer with Danny!

Incheon "Global" Fair & Festival

Hello everyone! Sorry I've been slacking on the blog this week...I started teaching my middle school night classes again, so I've been busy with that. Last Saturday Danny and I went to two more palaces. I posted photos on Picasa but I didn't get to write about them. Basically, they were so similar to Gyeongbokgung, which was the palace we visited last Friday. All three of the palaces were built during the same dynasty for the same family, which is why they were all built in the same style. Changdeokgung was the first palace we saw on Saturday, and we actually had a real tour guide for that one. At Gyeongbokgung the day before we had to rent these digital audio guides, because there was no English tour available. We definitely had a better experience with a real tour guide though. We were the only people on the English tour at Changgyeonggung, the second palace we visited that day. It was kind of awkward, but it was like having a private tour guide. That was the smallest palace we saw, because the Japanese destroyed much of it when they colonized South Korea. It was also the least preserved, but we appreciated it more for that reason. You could actually see the original paint and wood on the buildings, as opposed to the other palaces that were recently restored. We finished up Saturday with some royal ancestral tombs and Indian buffet in Itaewon :-)

Yesterday, I decided we should check out the Incheon Global Fair and Festival. It's an 80-day long fair in the new city of Incheon, which is trying to become this ideal city that is famous around the world. Incheon is two and half hours away from where we live, and it is the where the largest international airport in South Korea is. I heard rave reviews about the festival, and it sounded something like a modern-day version of American's 20th century Worlds Fair. The trip alone was tiring....it took us over 3 hours because we forgot to transfer on the subway. The size and presentation of the fair alone was impressive. But we felt like we missed alot because most the displays were written in Korean, so we obviously could not understand them. Also, the fair attempted to be "global" by introducing various food and culture from around the world. However, all of the "global" things about the fair were somehow Koreanized. The "Thai," "Indian," and "African" foods were made with Korean ingredients and tasted like Korean food. I guess in America I'm always exposed to other cultures. But Korea is so homogenous, so to them anything is else new and strange. There was an environmental theme running throughout the fair, which I appreciated. It seems as though Koreans are alot more conscious of environmental issues than we are. The new technology and urban-planning ideas that were featured at different expositions around the fair were so impressive. It was a shame that we couldn't read the information, but we got the jist from the visual displays. With all of the "global" food offered, we finished the day with some good Korean bibimbap and roasted chestnuts from a street stall. Photos from the event will be up soon! We are off to do some food shopping at Costco...anyung!

Go FC Seoul!!

On Sunday, Danny and I went to watch the FC Seoul soccer game with his coworkers, Daniel and Scott. The game was at FC Seoul's home field, which is the 2002 World Cup Stadium. It was a huge venue, and had a mall, Walmart-type store, movie theater, food court, and gym/spa inside. It also had a FIFA World Cup Museum, so we checked it out because we had 2 hour to spare before the game started. The museum focused on the 2002 World Cup that was jointly hosted by South Korea and Japan, but it also featured information about soccer and World Cup history. At the end, it had some virtual soccer games you could play. Apparently the boys tied the all-time record on the goal-keeping game while I was in the gift shop (they cheated though). Like the baseball game, the tickets were ridiculously cheap. We sat in the 2nd row for under $20. The game was more like a soccer game in American or anywhere else, unlike the baseball game, which was a unique experience. But FC Seoul did shoot huge fireworks to start off each half or anytime a goal was scored! As some of the only foreigners there, we made it onto the megatron screen at one point during the game. As usual, I was stuffing my face with food while they filmed us....way to represent Americans. The fans weren't all as coordinated as those at the baseball game, but the die-hard FC Seoul fan section had these crazy chants and dances. Most of the spectators had these annoying horns that sounded like dying animals instead of the thundersticks. FC Seoul won the game 3-0, and we were cheering for them since we are living near Seoul, so it was a good game. Afterwards we had some galbi, I believe that was the 4th time in one week. I know I know....I would never eat that much meat at home. But you don't really eat tons of meat because you get lots of side-dishes. Last night we went out to eat at a Korean restaurant and I actually sort-of understood the menu for the first time! We are learning to read, so I could sound out the names of dishes. I just need to learn what they actually mean!

Seeing a different side of Seoul: Itaewon and North Seoul Tower

Well first I'll catch up on anything that happened this past week....on Thursday night I took my first public bus trip. The Seoul subway system is so efficient and easy to understand, but the busses are really confusing because they everything is in Korean and it's hard to find the bus routes on the internet. I was able to map out my route from work to school on one website, so I decided to test it out Thursday after work. I walked to the bus stop, which is literally around the corner from my school. Unfortunately, I was standing on the wrong side of the street so I missed the first bus. By the time I had caught the second bus 30 min had passed. I got home an hour after I had left my work building, so it was definitely slower than the subway trip. It also costs almost double the price of the subway. I decided to try the ride again Friday after work. The trip was much more successful, and it only took 40 min door-to-door. Maybe I will consider taking the bus when it starts getting cold to avoid walking to the subway or having to transfer twice on the trip home. On Friday night, Danny and I went out to dinner with his coworkers and some English teachers from another "hagwon" (a private language school). We went out for galbi again, which is Korean barbecue. We had about a dozen people at a long table, and all of the food is shared. Everyone eats out of the same dishes spread out all over the table. Two of Danny's coworkers are Korean, so it was interesting to talk to them and ask them how to say things in Korean. We had some "soju" (Korean rice liquor), and the word for cheers sounds something like "cambay!"

On Saturday, Danny and I decided to check out Itaewon in Seoul. It is known as the international neighborhood in Seoul. It is very close to the US Army base, so there are lots of places that cater to foreigners. There also seems to be a huge Muslim community in the area, because they had tons of Pakistani/Indian and Middle-Eastern restaurants in the area. There were tons of clothing and antique shops and restaurants. We were a bit disappointed though, because we are more into history and culture than shopping. But it would be a cool place to go for ethnic food. We ate at an Egyptian restaurant called Ali Baba. It was my first time having hummus in over a month!

After dinner, we decided to see how Seoul looked at night from North Seoul Tower. It is Seoul's version of the Empire State Building, but it is located on this mountain. Mt. Namsan Park has tons of trails and gardens leading up to the tower, but since it was getting dark we chose to ride a cable car up to the tower. There was a really long wait for the cable car, but it had some nice views. At the tower, there were restaurants and cafes and an elevator that you can take up to the observation deck. We went up there to see the city skyline. I think we may try to go back to Mt. Namsan Park next weekend to hike up the mountain to the tower and visit a traditional Korean "hanok" village on the way up. Annyeonghi Kaseyo! ("Goodbye!")

We have finally entered the 21st century in Korea....

Yes, we finally got cell phones! I also should mention that today is exactly ONE MONTH since we first arrived in Korea. And it went by so quick! So yesterday we took the subway to the Seoul Global Center before work. Some of my coworkers recommended it as a great place for foreigners to get cell phones. The SGC provides services and information for tourists and foreign residents, so they speak English there. Perfect! So we spoke to this girl who was an LG Telecom representative at SGC. She set us up with these sweet phones that cost under $10 each and our monthly plan is only around $10-$15 a month, depending on our use. My phone is pink (who would've guessed), and I bought this cute Hello Kitty charm to hang on it. Phone charms are HUGE here.

If you check my Picasa page, you we see that I also hung photos and maps on our apartment wall. I searched high and low to find anything that resembles Funtac in Korea, and I finally spotted some on Monday. We have a big map of Seoul, a map of Korea, and a map of Goyang City on our wall. So anytime we want to travel someplace we can look at the map beforehand and pick a place to go. There are so many places we want to see in Seoul and Korea, so every weekend we are going to try to travel. This Sunday, we might so see an F.C. Seoul professional soccer game at World Cup Stadium. Like the baseball games, tickets are really cheap (around $10).

I mentioned galbi the other day, and we have slowly been trying more and more Korean food. On Monday night, we had galbi again at our new favorite place. We ordered the same as last time, except we also order man-du (steamed dumplings filled with green onions, minced pork, vermicelli noodles, and spices). Everything was so fresh and delicious. Last night I had bibimbap, which is steamed white rice with vegetables and red chili sauce. Danny had shrimp fried rice. Both plates came with side dishes, all for under $5 each! Yesterday I also bought grapes before work. The red grapes in Korea are nothing like the ones in America. They taste similar to Concord grapes, and they are huge and juicy. I looked them up on the internet and apparently they are called Kyoho grapes and originally come from Japan. For $4, I got 3 huge bunches from a fruit-stand on the street near my school. Another fruit I am currently obsessed with is Asian pears. They are similar to the pears in America, except they are huge and round. They are more crunchy, and are a cross between a pear and an apple. I'm off to work now, so anyung!

Fun weekend in and around Seoul....

So this past Thursday night I went out to an Indian restaurant near Sinchon with some of my coworkers. I rode on the back of a motor scooter to get there! It was so much fun, and it was a really awesome way to see the city at night. The Indian food was delicious! The owner was so nice...he just opened his restaurant, so he gave us free curries and chai tea. Afterwards, I went out for gelato with some of the my coworkers and their friends.

On Fridays, I only teach one class in the afternoon. Another teacher has that same class on Wednesdays for their first weekly session. This was only my second time meeting with this class, and they were by far my most well-behaved and enjoyable class! After work, Danny and I met up with 2 of my coworkers and 1 of his coworkers from CDI April. We went into Hongdae, which is Seoul's college neighborhood. So there's lots going on there every night. I saw the most foreigners that I've ever seen in South Korea so far on the streets of Hongdae. Most of them were American, Canadian, and British English teachers like myself. We had such a large group, because we met up with my coworkers other friends, Danny's roommate from college and his friends, and even these guys from Switzerland, Sweden, and England. At least 20 of us went to this place called Ho Bar (it means "nice" bar in Chinese). It was just like a western-style bar, except the drinks were only like $2 and I don't think you have to tip the bartenders (you are not supposed to tip anywhere in this country...it's considered offensive). Afterwards we went out to 2 clubs for dancing. One club that we went had lots of American music and strobe lights, so we stayed there awhile.

On Saturday, Danny, myself, and his coworker Scott went to a Korean baseball game. Baseball is really popular here like in America. We took a subway to Jamsil Stadium, which was built for the 1988 Olympics in Seoul. The stadium was really small and intimate feeling though. They definitely sold too many tickets, because hundreds of people were sitting on steps and anywhere else they could find. The most expensive tickets for Korean baseball games are about $30! It's such a crazy experience, because both teams' fans sit on separate sides of the stadium and EVERYONE has those annoying thunder sticks. Well the fans for each team all seem to know these different chants, songs, and thunder stick routines. It's almost like the fans are choreographed. During breaks between innings, these cheerleaders dance on a stage to KPop (it's crazy Korean pop music....look below for links to hear some songs). It was fun, but we left after the 6th inning because we were hungry and the game isn't as exciting when your not a fan of the teams playing. I was craving Indian food from my experience Thursday night, so I brough Danny and Scott to Sinchon to try the same restaurant after the game.

On Sunday, Danny and I took the subway to Ilsan (it's only about 10 minutes from us). We live in Goyang City, and Ilsan is just a smaller city within Goyang. I actually just read yesterday that in 2006, Newsweek named Goyang City as the TOP Most Dynamic City in the world (in a list of 10 cities picked, it ranked #1 and beat out London and Las Vegas!) Well the main reasoning for that is the city of Ilsan, which is only about 15 years old. It was designed to be like a perfect city for young, upper-middle class families. In Ilsan, we went to Lake Park. It is a huge park that is really beautiful and has so many activities. On Sunday, it was packed with families. Danny and I spent 2 and a half hours walking the 3 mile perimeter of the lake. I stopped so often to take pictures though. Also, every few meters there are different gardens and displays. They even had a great saxophone band playing in the park, so we stopped to listen for a bit. After the park, we went in search of food for dinner. The main shopping and entertainment area in Ilsan is called "La Festa," and the dining choices were overwhelming. It's all mainly the same types of Korean cuisine everywhere, but there are just soo many restaurants. We finally decided on galbi, which I had for the first time last week. It's the famous Korean barbecued pork. You cook the pork yourself over a grill built into the table, and it comes with dozens of little side dishes. I'm not a huge pork fan, but it is delicious. And for two people, a galbi dinner usually costs between $5-$10 a person!

So I posted TONS of new pictures from this weekend: http://picasaweb.google.com/lauralipari87

And here are the KPop videos I mentioned:

MC Mong - Indian Boy

Brown Eyed Girls - Abracadabra

2NE1 - Fire

G Dragon - Heartbreaker (Does this one sound familiar? haha)