xteethx

and now back to our irregularly scheduled program

you missed me?!?
I’ve been busy having too much fun. and having some technical difficulties. and being lazy. sorry. here are some of my winter pics.
New years part deux:

My aunt and her daughter making dumplings.

I love hanging out with my cousins. They’re witty, loud, and can drink like fish; what more entertainment do you need?

my cousin and her hubby

haha one of my aunts shows how it’s done.

unabashedly asking for some money…

My cousin cheyoung is seemingly harmless but she can kick your 엉덩이, trust me. Here she is admonishing me not to take her picture.

at the sauna… or 찜질방

the next morning i went snowboarding with some friends…breaking all the way down the mountain is more like it though ^.^

At 노량진 (Nolangjin) Fish Market. Not as awesome as tsukiji market in Tokyo but the food we had was so good nonetheless…

our dinner before:

And after you can pick out seafood goodies at the market and you can have it cooked or cut up at a nearby restaurant. The restaurant will charge about $2/person and whatever drinks you order.

it was indeed jumbo, unless my hands are really small.

king crab was so good…

Sean’s fiance, Kana. If i look like I didnt take a shower for a couple days and I look really tired, it’s most likely to be true.

Sgt. Patton.

After the fish is all cut up in sashimi pieces, the restaurant will make spicy soup out of the leftovers/bones and add some vegetables. It’s pretty good actually; perfect for the winter.

Cosmopolitan

almost.

Although Seoul still has a ways to go in becoming a cosmopolitan city compared to other Asian cities, it has come a long way when I stop and think about what happened in my day.

On my way to church, I met an African-American couple from Georgia on the 2 line with their two year old son. Afterwards I went to a meeting about North Korea with Americans, a Brazilian and a South African. I never thought one of my close friends in Korea would be from Brazil, but Glau and I click in many ways. We blew about $100 at kyobo book store (always a foreigner convention going on there ) and then went out to eat pork bbq and these sumptuous desserts, including fondue, at Hagaan Daz, which for some reason are unavailable in the US. The couple cakes look amazing and the espresso with ice-cream is the perfect combination of my two favorite vices:

Anyhow, best news is I may have found a roommate for grad school in Maryland right here in Seoul. Looking forward to exploring DC and MD, but nothing is like Seoul of course.

Food

Part of the most fun experience here is just eating new dishes every week when I’m hanging out with my family and friends. For instance, Chungja brought me dukbread which was this really soft bread with rice cake in it. It was sooooo good. I never really went to the bakery shops as i try to avoid carbs but I’m going next time. The baked goods even at Dunkin Donuts or Krispy Kreme look so exquisite….I’m going to be disappointed going back home.

Two weeks ago I hung out with my aunts watching them make kimchi which was fun to see. (and yes, it was good) I finally got to see my mom’s oldest sister then too which was nice. Below are my youngest and second oldest aunt; my mom was in the middle of five sisters.

I went out with my cousin, chungja and her husband last week and we had pig’s feet. i was squeamish at first but it’s just like regular meat and you can wrap it in lettuce with garlic and fermented soybean sauce.

We also went to another place to have sashimi afterwards. It came with a lot of side dishes and hot spicy soup. After we ate, my cousin and I slept over Chungja’s house where we had icecream lol.

You work hard, you play, eat and drink hard. I asked my cousin what his colleagues will think if they see him come into work in the same clothes. he said it’s understood and accepted to do that since people work long hours; if they were only as forgiving as in the States.

One other dish I tried was 닭갈비 or chicken kalbi. It’s really just spicy hot chicken bbq mixed with potato and other vegetables with your choice of rice or noodles. It was so good; esp in the winter when it’s so cold. It’s guaranteed that you’ll sweat and have a runny nose, esp. if the restaurant has ondol heating and you’re sitting on the floor.

This past weekend I slept oer my mom’s youngest sister’s house where she fed me to death and sent me home with even more food. lol. Strangely I find my stomach shrinking. I don’t know what’s going on. Anyway I also made Christmas cookies at my friend’s in Itaewon afterwards. Some girls from the N. Korean church came along and they did such a good job for their first time making cookies. It was funny trying to communicate through hand motions at times when our vocabulary was lacking and it was interesting to see our differences. For instance they never saw a roller before and told us that they use bottles as rollers when they’re making bread. They were also dying for some kimchi even though we were having spagehtti and garlic bread for dinner. I did teach them how to eat a baguette with honey and butter which they seemed to love =)