a day in seoul of culunary diversity, sort of

chris, david and i went into seoul on saturday. we took the bus instead of the train, which had initially intimidated me a bit but, this time i was convinced that i think i actually like the bus better. instead of leaving once an hour (or less), the bus leaves every 20 minutes. plus, it takes you right to Techno Mart which is this mammoth mall of techie everything plus food courts and movie theater and enough to entertain you for a day.
so, we spent a few hours looking at dvds than determined that we would come back after some time around the city to watch a movie.

i found what was said to be "the best mexican restaurant in seoul" (a different mexican place than i went to a few months ago) and so we decided to check it out. Dos Tacos did not disappoint. The only slightly awkward thing about it was that it was about 90 americans eating there. not a bad thing, just a bit uncomfortable considering that, for some reason, we americans tend to ignore each other in seoul. very strange. but, worth the sacrifice because, i got a burrito that did not disappoint. it was fresh and authentic in taste and, probably due to the excessive amount of americans, i had to pinch myself to if i was really still in korea.

we headed back to Techno Mart, to watch "Street Kings" (good movie, by the way) and ate at a "Italian Bistro" before catching the train back to Yangpyeong. Italian Bistro was a stretch for a name, we all ordered ridiculously expensive chili fries and noticed half way through eating that there was a big mural of Germany on the wall. But, i suppose if you live in Asia, you're allowed to clump Italy and Germany into one generic pile.

but the day was good, really fun and relaxing and, were it not for the koreans around i could have thought-maybe- that i was somewhere else entirely.

Costco!

Costco is a really big hit in korea. there are something like 5 costcos in Seoul. that's seems a bit excessive in my opinion but, i am not the one deciding these things. regardless, i admit that, when i made a trip to Costco last month and again on this past friday night with my super nice neighborhoods, it was a bit like walking into a small america. and, when you've been away from america for 7 months, walking into a small america can be really exciting. think peanut M&Ms and heinz ketchup, think hot dogs and potato chips.
Koreans, in yet another one of my sweeping generalizations, seem to be really pro-quality. apparently walmart came to korea and flopped because it wasn't "quality" enough for the average korean joe. but Costco, koreans love it.
jonathan fell asleep on the way there, so they just put him in the cart and piled the food around him. quite amusing considering that i stood beside the cart for about 30 seconds before i even realized he was in there.

the craziness of my thursday (the day that never ended)

thursdays have, by the very nature of our rather dull schedules, fast become the highlight of the ANCA teachers' week. we finish our drab job and then we go into town to first eat dinner somewhere and then we go grocery shopping, usually at Megamart (not quite as exciting as it sounds, i'm sure).
yesterday's thursday was by far the best thursday i've had yet in korea.
it was a very long day.
here is how my day unfolded, and unfolded, and unfolded....

1. yesterday, the teachers did our usual. we all went for pizza this week. i tried to order a sweet potato pizza, which is the absolute korean favorite (and i've yet to have it), but we accidently got potato pizza, minus the sweet. which, wasn't bad, but sort of like eating a baked potato on a pizza. or maybe more like eating oven roasted potato wedges on a pizza.

2. then we went grocery shopping. nothing really too great here. i did buy toothpaste though.

3. we arrived to our apartments a bit before 8 pm. i immediately went up to my next-door-church-neighbor-friends; two adorable kids (jonathan and timmy) father, mother (daniel and ella...i named ella myself) and aunt (katie...the same katie who makes up a third of my korean posse, who i named as well).

I was using them for their oven.
yes, i certainly need to pause and explain something here. some of you are aware of this, others were like me prior to living in korea. it is uncommon, in fact rare, to have an oven in korea. i brought a brownie mix in my suitcase back in september, thinking it would come in handy for a "i miss america" moment. instead, it's been sitting in my oven-less kitchen for 7 months.

So, i arrived to their house with brownie mix in hand, admittedly a bit nervous because, i haven't baked for 7 months and, i soon realized that, though there is an oven in her house, ella hasn't baked much either. we set the oven and then found a few small "oven proof" containers to bake.
shockingly, or rather, against all odds, the brownies turned out to be quite perfect.
(after all they'd been through, i was kinda proud of them)

4. Then...as the brownies baked, my posse showed up (Esther, Eunice and Katie) and we (along with Ella) prepared for our 10 pm departure to Seoul's Dongdaemun Market, "the market that never sleeps" by consuming as much coffee as is humanly possible. We arrived to Seoul at around 11 pm, drinking coffee and eating brownies the whole way there.
We spent from around 11pm-2 am in the Doota Mall, near the market where, much to my waistline's embarrassment, my posse proved determined to find me a pair of jeans in Korea that actually fit. And, after trying 25 pairs (this is no exaggeration) and 2 hours later...I found a pair that I bought. Unbelievable. You must remember that we are in the land of the size 4 woman here.

5. Then, at around 2 am, we entered the Dongdaemun Market.
Now, I have virtually no idea who these people are that fill the market at 3 am on a friday morning looking at Adidas knock offs, Calvin Klein underwear and pirated DVDs, nor do i have any idea who these vendors are who decide to be awake to sell things to the people who are walking through the market at 3 am. But, the people were certainly there. I mean, this outdoor market was buzzing with people like it was Saturday afternoon or something (minus the sun, of course).

It was intriguing, it was beautiful, it was bizarre.

At around 2:30 am, we decided we were hungry. That happens at 2:30 am. So, we sat down at one of the 50 food vendors and ordered an array of spicy wonderfulness.
duckbukee, mando, soondae, soup. yummy.

We finished up the food, shopped a bit more and then headed back to the car at around 3:15. we were home at around 4:15am... i was in bed for a few short hours and then off to my friday of teaching. teaching deliriously, but teaching none-the-less.

going to the market, combined with baking brownies, may have easily been the most fun day i've had in korea yet. pretty dang fun. and certainly worth the market hangover i've got today.

it is rare indeed to get visitors at my apartment. however, last weekend, the first grade teacher (chris) was having a party at his apartment for the first graders and their parents (the huge class of 4). this party swelled into a party for the entire church (well, minus the americans) ...leaving children tromping around all evening. i was hanging out in my apartment, doing my thing, when the girl-kids all came over, immediately asking for food and candy. they plopped down on my bed and watch 3 episodes of Sponge Bob (dubbed in korean, obviously). honestly, i didn't mind. it was kind of fun having other life in my place for once. besides, they now think i'm cool because i gave them cookies and let them watch tv for an hour and a half.

field trip!

one rather large coach bus.
14 kids from our preschool plus 30 kids from the "downstairs no english" preschool.
seven people above the age of six.
and, one rather entertaining childrens' museum in seoul.

the preschool went on a field trip to Samsung Children's museum last friday. it was mostly fun because it was a change of pace. plus, i must admit, as a non-kid the memories of the thrill of a field trip are not hard to tap into.

i mean, who doesn't love a field trip?

our kids are the ones in red. the other class is wearing the gray and red sweatsuits. maybe i'm bias, but our kids are cuter.



the highlight of the day (besides of course my posing as a 3 foot tall chef) was at lunch when every kid busted out their packed lunches. in korea, it is apparently custom for the parents to pack lunch for the teachers too, and any stow-aways, and half of Seoul, just in case.
Because, in korea, it is culturally expected to over do it in everything. So, every kid had enough to cover their meals for the next week plus feed all the teachers.

that equals a lot of food.

ritzvill_?

have i mentioned yet that my new apartment is located in the neighborhood aptly named Ritzvill?
the teachers' apartments are located on the very bottom of a rather steep (and lengthy) hill. sometimes i climb up the hill to watch the sunset when we get home from work. sometimes i just walk up the hill to watch the reactions of the neighbors when they see the blond girl in their small isolated kingdom.

and of course, i occasionally ponder why it is that koreans insist on using misspelled english words as much as possible. ritzvill. interesting. they just couldn't find a reason to add the "e". with or without the e, it's a nic_ n_ighborhood to liv_ in.