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 ë‹ê°ˆë¹„ 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 =)
