My first love is and will forever be: eating. I have always been a 'big' eater, and have also fortunately been involved in many sports and exercise activities over the years. Good thing, or I'd probably weigh well over 300 lbs by now. Well, I have finally found a place where eating like a pig is smiled upon, praised even - and that place is where I now call home. This could likely be my heaven. Let me explain: Whenever I eat anywhere here in Korea, I always receive compliments for being a 'healthy' eater. I have gotten this from my boss at school (where daily I eat heaps of rice and whatever is offered), from friends' mothers who invite me to come back after I eat their monthly grocery allotment, from restaurant owners (who of course have a vested interest, since I probably pay for the first year of their kids college education).
If I had to compile a list of my favorite Korean foods, the top of that list would say dalk galbi. Galbi is to us Westerners is 'Korean barbeque', and galbi usually consists of either beef or pork. If you ask me, you can't go wrong with either of these two, but 'dalk' (chicken) is even more delicious! There's a great local dalk galbi restaurant owned by a very nice gentleman. I'm sure he makes dishes other than dalk galbi, but I have no idea what those are (and probably never will - I have no need for them). Another favorite Korean food has become 'gop chang', which is ox stomach. Yes, sounds a little unappetizing at first, and the texture is a little, how should I say - chewy. But it is mighty tasty from the restaurants I frequent. What else you ask? Well there's dankas (breaded pork cutlets), bibimbap (bowls full of rice, meats/seafood, eggs, etc), cold buckwheat noodles (which are really tasty, and I had just thought the name was a character from the Little Rascals), and ttoekboki (rice cakes) just to name a few. Korean food in general is very different than other Asian foods, and is a bit of an acquired taste, but I am now a convert.
I have also mentioned that we foreigners get together every so often to indulge our 'western food' cravings. We've had a few potluck dinners (which seem to be becoming a montly tradition), and American-style barbeques. The hosts of the barbeques say that they only had one of these last fall, but have already held two in the past month, since the weather has warmed up again.
Our school recently had a farewell party for one of the supervisors. This was another opportunity for our boss to show us how great he is. We went to a local buffet, and food and drinks aplenty were paid for by Mr. Yoon. It was essentially a company sponsored food festival.
A group of friends usually goes to the local swimming pool on Saturday mornings. The pool is attached to our City Hall complex, which is about 20 minutes away by bus. Another bonus is the free shuttle provided to the city hall area. So I joined the group a few weeks ago and it was a great time. It had been many months, maybe even years, since I'd swam for the purpose of exercise. I forgot what a good workout it is, and that afterwards I should have an entire slaughtered animal on hand. But the greatest revelation that came from our swimming trip, was realizing how nice it is to have a car again. Since I've been here in Korea, I've never especially had a need for my own auto. Public transportation is quick and accessible, and the cold weather put a damper on a lot of excursions. All this has changed now that Mother Nature's mood has changed. So now I am super glad to have made some Korean friends with their own wheels. My Korean buddy Johgwha joined us on my first swimming trip (and he has a car, so was able to give us a ride). It was excellent not having to rely on the bus - which meant no waiting at the bus stop, and a much quicker commute time. We went swimming a second week, but this time Jongwha wasn't able to join us. So we had to catch the bus to get to the pool, but fortunately met a nice guy while there named John. Well, after we had know John and his dad for about 20 minutes, they offer to give us a ride back (ah, Korean hospitality)! My friends Travis and Megan also last month bought a car. They have a dog, who is not allowed on public buses. So, of course, the obvious choice was to find a cheap used Kia that they can use as a knockaround car. The past month they've been taking weekend trips all over Korea (for a camping trip, to beaches, to visit friends, etc). I'm pretty jealous of their newfound freedom. It recalls the days when I was a freshman in high school and only a handful of the cool kids had their licenses so could actually drive.
I visited a local fortress here in Yongin. It's called Hwaseong, and is in the town of Suwon (about 30 mins away by bus). Us foreigners usually simply refer to it as 'Suwon fortress'. It's a very old guard post, and was also used basically as a vacation palace for the royal family. I guess Yongin was a nice place to relax and get away from the rat race in Seoul. Like it still is today!
May 5th was another great holiday over here - Children's Day. It's a magical day for everyone to celebrate skinned knees, colds, and Korean kids studying until their noses bleed (I'm told this is a real and common occurance). And it provided an extra day off for us teachers! It unfortunately fell on a Wednesday, so we weren't able to make many real plans, but it was still a nice mid-week vacation. And we all know what else falls on May 5! (Hint, it rhymes with Sinco de Mayo). So a bunch of us foreigners had a Mexican-style party! It was held over at our friends' Travis and Megan's (and Megan did the majority of the excellent cooking - complete with tacos, burritos, and guacamole).
Our week vacation from school will be the last week in July. Originally, we had planned for my family to come out and visit. But alas, airline prices and some health problems have reared their ugly two heads. So, I have 9 days to see as much of Asia that I can! I've booked my flights to see 3 countries during the time. I'll be spending 2 nights and days in Cambodia, the same amount of time in Bangkok, and my last leg is a 4 day visit to the Philippines. It'll be a whirlwind tour! I'll plan to devote a post entirely to that week. Stay tuned.
That's all for now. Talk to you again soon!
Matt
