Teacher's Workshop & Christmas Week

I made it through the Christmas season! After feeling the homesickness on Thanksgiving, I was sure that Christmas time in Korea would be really tough. They hardly celebrate it here, you really only see decoration at department stores and hear really bad renditions of Christmas songs. But that actually helped because I didn't want to be reminded of what I was missing at home. But December went by so fast and Christmas turned out to be much better than I ever could have expected.

School ended on Monday the 22nd, and on the 23rd I went on an overnight teachers trip which was supposed to be a teaching reading workshop...turns out that's a complete coverup for a huge party. We left on Tuesday morning and made our first stop in the city of Gyongju to have some of the famous tofu soup and ginseng makaley. Makaley is a white korean rice wine which is home made, and this special type was infused with Ginseng root. I quickly realized that this trip would be an eating fest, so I asked my friend and coworker, Jolie, to teach me how to say, "No, Thank you, I'm full," and "I don't want to eat anymore." Koreans eat A LOT of food and they can't understand how I couldn't eat as much of them, so they insist on making me try things, even as I'm stuffed from the 5th course of the meal! After lunch in Gyongju, we made our way to the city of Pohang where we went to a famous temple. It was nice and we took a lot of group pictures with the teachers, including a "singles" pic of the 5 unmarried teachers, myself included. After an hour and a half at the temple, we hopped back on the bus and made our way through the mountains to get to the famous Jwangchung Mountain. On the way, our female vice principal provided entertainment by singing traditional korean songs and made us play some pretty funny games. I felt like I was on a teen tour for Korean adults! It was hilarious! When we finally made it through the mountain passes, we arrived at our motel the Dream Palace, which I can assure you is a misnomer. The "Dream Palace" was freezing cold and we got to sleep on the floor! We ate another huge meal and drank a bit more makaley (at least I did, many people drank A LOT of makaley) and then it was time for our workshop aka sports tournament.






The sports tournament was definitely the highlight of the trip. The female vice principal divided the teachers in to two teams and we each had to sign up for at least one round of the tournament, if not more. Since many of the games required Korean, I was entered into Crab Volleyball by default. First was the "acccent" game. The vice principal gave a word and each team had to have each of five players say the word emphasizing every syllable. For instance, one word was "mcDonalds" (of course this would be the one english word they chose) so they had to say Mcdonalds, mcDonalds, mcdoNalds, mcdonalDs or something like that. Anyway, it only got better from there. Next was the "kissing game." Each teacher playing was given a 3 inch long straw which they held in their mouth. Starting with the first player on line, they then had to pass a paper ring along the line using only the straw! This required very close mouth-to-mouth contact and the whole room was in hysterics watching! Notice my principal in the background of the picture, wishing he could get in on the action! Soooo funny. Finally, it was my turn to play crab volleyball, in which you play volleyball with a balloon and using only your feet and head. After three LONG sets, my team lost, but we put up a great effort! Finally, it was time for some karaoke and we called it a night by 1 a.m. The next day we went hiking at Jwungchung Mountain and then went for a feast of King Crab in the city of Yongda. I was finally home by 5 pm on Christmas eve.









The fun continued at a Christmas Eve party hosted by my good friends Heidi and Matt. One of the best parts was their suprise...a puppy they bought named Clancy! The toy poodle was soooo cute. We ate western food and drank red wine and then headed to a Noreabang (karaoke room) to meet our other friends and exchange our secret santa gifts. We sang Christmas eve night away, putting out of our minds the family we missed at home and instead enjoying the great friends we've all made here. It was truely a great night. On Christmas Day, I met my three best friends here for our own little gift exchange and then we cooked a western meal and spent the day watching Christmas movies. It certainly didn't make me wish I was home any less, but it was a far greater holiday than I expected to have here in Korea. I'm really lucky to have met such great people here. And now Christmas is over and I have New Years to look forward to! I'm heading off to Japan tomorrow with Kathryn, Natalie and Nisha where we'll spend 6 days in Tokyo and Kyoto, and party into 2009 in Tokyo. It's really cool to know that I've fullfilled my dream of being on the otherside of the world for New Years 2009! Hope you all had a great Christmas and have a wonderful New Year too. Love you all!

Korean Cuisine: First Edition

OK, I'm finally ready to take a stab at my first Korean food blog. Where to begin? I never could have imagined before I arrived here how much variety there is in the Korean culinary experience. I absolutely love Korean food because its delicious, healthy, and always nice to look at too. I live in Busan where there is a special focus on seafood, which makes me soooo happy! In this blog, I'll try to cover some of the basic dishes and then talk about the crazier side of Korean food. There is so much to say though, so I'll be back with a second edition within the next few months.

The first and most important dish in Korea (which I'm sure you've already read about in my blog) is Kimchi. Kimchi is probably the single most recognizable Korean dish and they are crazy about it here. Basically, kimchi is white cabbage and red pepper paste, which has been fermenting in a large clay pot for any where from several months to years. It is served like salad (on the side) with every meal, and sometimes it is actually incorporated into the dish. Kimchi cheegay is kimchi stew with pork or tuna and sometimes you'll see kimchi wrapped around meat or stuffed in dumplings. It's not for everyone, but for people who have a taste for spicy and savory food, you just might love it.

Kimchi



Lots of small side dishes

Koreans, like many asians, love rice. Rice is also incorporated into every meal, whether it be breakfast, lunch or dinner. It is usually served plain with a meal, but it is also used in many types of dishes. Some of the most popular rice foods are bibimbap, gimbap, rice cakes, and bokimbap (bap means rice, fyi). Bibimbap is one of my favorites. It is basically a bowl of rice with tons of vegetables and meats or fishes mixed in, and topped with an egg and a delicious thick red sauce made from soy, I think. Gimbap is the korean version of a sushi roll, only they put vegetables, kimchi, and sometimes meat inside, instead of raw fish. Bokimbap is a very spicy version of chinese fried rice. THEN, there are all of the other rice products. You wouldn't believe the variety of things that can be made from rice! Just like we use flour to make bread, cookies, wraps, cakes, pasta, scones, etc. they use rice for all kinds of things. Songpyon is a delicious dessert rice ball with sweet sesame seed or red bean paste inside. The list goes on and on, so I'll try to describe some other rice dishes next time.

Bibimbap

Rice cake desserts

Then there are all of the different meat and seafood dishes. Bulgogi is a popular beef dish, Songyupsa is korean barbeque...my favorite! Korean barbeque is so fun. You sit around a grill and cook your meat yourself. You then take a delicious sesame leaf and wrap the meat with kimchi and yummy dipping sauces. So delicious. There are also a ton of different soups and stews. My favorite are pork bone soup (Gum Jae Tong) and Spicy Seafood Stew.

Korean barbecue

Seafood Galbi...spicy!

Pork bone soup

Spicy seafood stew

Now, for the weird and scary parts of Korean cuisine! In my time here I've enjoyed sooooo much good food, but have also tried some pretty scary things. Among them: silk worm larvae, jelly fish, pigs blood soup (GROSS!), and......wait for it.....wait for it....live octopus!!! Yes, I have eaten all of those things. Let's start with silk worm larvae, which you can find on the street at most street vendors and is sold in a paper cup with about 100 of the little critters. They smell very funky...a little bit like dirt and bugs! And when you bite into one it pops in your mouth. It was absolutely gross. But children love eating it for a snack...they pop it in there mouth like M&M's! Next, there's jellyfish, which is pretty delicious. I didn't even know thats what I was eating, but it was pretty good. The pigs blood soup was served to me unknowingly at school. I didn't know what I was eating and I didn't like it either, so I ate very little. It was just very gooey and bland tasting and dark purple in color, so I got bad vibes. Later when I found out, I was not happy! Finally we come to the live octopus, which is served on the plate still moving! It is cut up, yet somehow the tenacles continue wiggling around on the plate for over an hour. It was delicious. I can't really describe the experience other than it was so much fun, but you can watch below for yourself! Enjoy!

Jellyfish

Silk worm larvae

Don't try this at home...or anywhere!

Don't worry, be happy...

The holiday season is here and I am beginning to feel the homesickness kicking in, and starting to ask myself why I came here, so far away from the people I love. It doesn't help when the closest thing I have to remind me of home is Starbucks. But as much as I miss you all, I know this experience is worth it, so I'm just keeping my chin up and reminding myself of the things that make me smile in Korea. Here are a few...

Things in Korea that Make Me Smile:

*When my principle says to me everyday at lunch, "Oh, Laura, nice to meet you."
*Being 10 minutes away from a beautiful mountain.
*Stumbling upon random temples in the woods.
*When my students pet me and say "Oh teacha, so beauteeful."
*When my favorite student runs in the room, hugs me and says "I LOVE YOU LAURA!"
*When my coteachers says to a student "Take off your clothes!" because he's hot from playing outside.
*Singing 80's ballads at norebang (karaoke) while drinking beer and eating dried squid.
*How all of the boys at school are obsessed with saying, "Fire in the hole!"
* Kimchi!
*Random English signs (see pic)
*Giant hula hoops (see pic)
*Randomly being invited to a picnic by a group of older Korean folks while strolling through the park.
*Being fed by the older korean folks at their picnic and being forced to drink homemade korean whiskey.
*Korean babies...so freaking cute.
*Korean hikers, they get all dressed up and take it very seriously, hilarious.
*Sitting on my warm heated floor...until it burns my tooshie!
*An 8 year old who doesn't know that his shirt says, "Shit Happens When You Party Naked."
*The secretary at my school who doesn't know that her shirt says, "Add Vodka and Stir."
*Last minute weekend getaways, and a bus ride that only costs $7 round trip!
*Finding ways to remember korean words like delicious (masheeshayo)..."my-sister-yo"
*Getting beer for $3, a cab ride for $4, and a t-shirt for $5!
* Planning for my upcoming trips to Japan and Thailand!
*Having my own apartment, meeting new people, and having the freedom to travel to the places I've always dreamed.

Norebang!!!

Being fed at a Korean picnic

The "I love you, Laura" girls

I live by this beach :)


Weekend getaways...always an adventure!


They didn't even try to use English on this sign


Stumbled upon a temple in the woods


MJ, my co-worker, with a giant hula hoop


making new friends!


a contemplative moment


Hanging out with the hikers...I fit right in!

Another thing that makes me smile is this video called "Where the Hell is Matt?"...you may have already heard him because he's gotten a lot of press lately. Anyway, this video inspires me to travel and reminds me that no matter where you are in the world you can always find a way to be happy and spread the love. WATCH IT:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBZQ1G5RBA4