Dad, show this to Mom and Samchon, please! ありがとう. ^^
Here's the photo play by play...
For Imo's birthday dinner the night before, she wanted to eat eel, but was concerned I wouldn't eat it and then tried to come up with a million other options, including getting fried chicken delivered to the restaurant. I didn't want her to worry so I promised to try a few bites. Sure, it tastes fine, but I still have a problem trying not to think about squirmy-slivery-water-snake-creature-shapes so don't count on me adding unagi to my list of regular eats just yet. ^^;;
There was wine and cake but no corkscrew! ㅠㅠ Should have pulled out a screw and hammer... oh well.
Birthday breakfast... I always eat well with Imo. ^^
We also took a trip to the mall, chomping on junk food...
...and saw a movie, 눈에는 눈 이에는 이 (Eye for an Eye). I suppose it's worth seeing if you're into action crime flicks... Here's the trailer!
Straight from the Coffee Bean: POG! That's Passion Orange Guava for the non-Hawaii folks, and one of my favorite juice blends. It's not quite Hawaiian Sun, but the $6 version's a refreshing treat if you're willing to shell out the cash.
Anna and I decided to scope out Daehangno (대학로), in an attempt to do a little bit of research on musicals. We walked by the theatre showing Polaroid, and saw a bunch of girls waiting outside with their cameras. I figured they were looking for one of the show's stars, Andy, a singer turned actor who's been enjoying increased popularity due to his part on the well received "reality" program 우리 결혼했어요 (We Got Married).
Well, we had swung by at the right time, and got to see him for a good 3 seconds as he walked out of the theatre and into a darkly tinted black SUV. Truthfully, we were a little disappointed it was a Kia, haha. Perhaps I'll see the show one day; I've got another week or so to buy tickets. But I've also seen ads for Grease, and I would never turn down the chance to see a Korean Danny Zuko!
In our quest for dinner, we ran into one of those cocktail-in-a-plastic-bag stands on the street. I've yet to try one, but I imagine it's one of those things you do once just to say you did it. It doesn't look very appetizing, but where else can you get a $4 cocktail in this city?
We ended up at Kraze Burgers (pronunciation closer to kra-jay than craze). It was my second time there, and I ordered the same thing I had before - the K.O. chicken sandwich. Unfortunately, it wasn't quite as good this time around, but I still enjoyed it.
Anna ordered the philly cheesesteak and chili cheese fries, but judging by her "eh" expression, she didn't seem very impressed with it. The "steak" turned into a hunk of meat that resembled a badly thrown together burger, and the chili cheese fries, as you can tell in the picture below, lacked a staple ingredient - cheese.
On my trip to Incheon airport last week, we decided to have our last Korean family dinner with JJ. Despite the fact that it was his last chance for a "real" Korean meal in Korea, he wanted to eat cream spaghetti from the food court. Go figure.
Since we were there, I finally got to eat a salad, though it was covered in honey mustard gunk. Koreans sure like their dressing! But this was nothing compared to my aunt's tuna-corn-cucumber-iceberg salad drenched in green kiwi dressing. She actually uses the entire bottle so it's more like a "salad soup" but I don't have the heart to say anything. Whenever I come over, she tells me with a wide grin, "I'm making the salad that you like!" as if she won the key to my stomach.
Hyun also had spaghetti that night, which meant he was planning on eating again. You see, for a handful of Koreans, if you don't eat rice, you're not really eating a meal, and Hyun is one of those people. We once ordered pizza, and after three slices, he decided to heat up some leftover rice and kimchi jjigae. So it was no surprise that he after we drove back to Seoul, I was treated to dinner #2 at Outback Steakhouse and the Dark Knight. ^^
Well... the overall outcome? The boys said it was surprisingly better than they thought it would be, and gave it the thumbs up! I agree.
On a side note, I feel like I've been getting a bit of crap for the types of movies I've been watching here in Korea. ㅋㅋ I wouldn't under normal circumstances watch these movies in the States (well, Batman's an exception), but in my defense, I don't really have much of a choice when it comes to foreign films in Korea. Quite obviously, most of the time only blockbusters (or blockbuster-ishes) make it through, which tend to lean towards the action/superhero/fantasy genre. Looking at the Megabox website, the only American movies currently showing are the Dark Knight, Nim's Island, The Mummy 3, and Wall E. So cut me some slack! ^^;;
Despite the fact that I've been in Seoul for over seven months, my relatives still don't think I understand the subway system. I can find my way to my aunt's new apartment in Suwon without an address by bus (which is more confusing, especially if you don't have Internet Explorer and can't access the city's interactive bus map), yet she wants to make sure I know that on my subway ride way back to Seoul, I should take X train and transfer at X station, etc. I know, I know. It's cute. They care. But it's still amusing.
Anyway, I thought I'd start taking more random videos of this wonderful city so here I present my boring subway ride back home. I don't particularly enjoy subway rides, especially during rush hour when the ajummas are in full force and ready to attack (i.e. bump, whack, knock you over the head, and step on your toes). But mostly it's because subway rides (in any city) tend to be dull, offering little to look at other than a bunch of other restless, bored, or tired souls punching away at their cell phones in zombie-like fashion. I'd much rather take the bus. Sure, it's a bumpy ride (hold on if you're standing, and I say that in all seriousness), but if you've got a seat, at least there's something to look at!
This video is taken from Line 2 as we cross the Han River (going south to north). You can see the parliament and 63 buildings in the background.
The rail to the airport, however, I enjoy. It's clean, quiet, usually people-free, and offers beautiful views of the water in Incheon.
P.S. Onni - Samchon and Sukmo don't want to come back to Korea, I hear. Samchon says he's in love with our lanai and could turn that into his room since it's the size of my Korean "apartment," which is really true (and kind of sad) when you think about it!
It's definitely a different feeling, watching the Olympics away from home for the very first time in my life. I'm not quite sure how to articulate it just yet.
Yesterday, I saw 박태환 win the gold for the men's 400m freestyle swim. While my future uncle patiently sat in the car for a good 20 minutes waiting to take us to the movies, 수정 언니 refused to leave the house until she had a chance to see this race. American Larsen Jensen was competing in the same event. Hmm, I thought silently, first and second, preferably with America on top. That would be perfect. Jensen ended up third. The crowd - 서정 언니 - went wild.
We also watched Phelps take the gold and set a new world record in the men's 400m individual medley. Woooot! Everyone else let out a somewhat nonchalant, "Cool."
I sent this text message to my friend Annie shortly thereafter. "친척들이랑 올림픽 같이 보는게 진짜 웃겨.(Watching the Olympics with my relatives really makes me laugh.) Who do I cheer for? Identity crisis!! ^^"
To which she responded: "ㅎㅎ 그럼 완전 다른 나라를 응원해라.(Then cheer for a completely different country.)Go Argentina!"
Haha.
I suppose you can call it a mix of "Kick Ass, USA!" and "It'd be pretty damn cool if Korea and Japan could win too." The cool thing about watching the Olympics here is that you get to see it live. But a lot of the coverage obviously focuses around Korean athletes and the events they're involved in, which makes it difficult to catch an event in replay, if a Korean isn't involved in it. (NBC is blocking all streaming video to people outside of the US and I haven't figured out how to deal with the proxy stuff to get around it... if anyone has any suggestions, please let me know!)
The closest thing I found to the America's amazing comeback in the 4x100m freestyle relay was this, shot off the television:
And the win is analyzed by the NY Times (with dorky graphics that we all love) here.
I didn't realize grabbing a sandwich and salad would prove to be such a difficult task in Sinchon.
Don't get me wrong - I love Korean food and grew up in a household where rice was an everyday occurrence. But sometimes, on a hot summer day, all you really want is a fresh sandwich or salad with an icy cold beverage.
All I could think of was poke on wild greens.
...And The Original BBQ Chicken Chopped Salad. I know, I know... CPK? Tsk tsk, Cheri, you can do better than that. It may not be the world's greatest tasting or creative dish, but it's consistent, and I stand by my salad constant. I can already feel the fresh crunch crunch of the jicama as I type...
But since we're fresh out of CPKs north of the Han River (Gangnam's a pretty far ride when you're hot and hungry), and poke is pretty much nonexistent in this country, where do you go when you're in Sinchon and:
looking for something fresh,
quick,
in a sit-down,
well-air conditioned place,
but don't feel like paying $20+?
Well... I'm not really sure. Admittedly, I haven't eaten my fair share of cold sandwiches in Sinchon. So we decided to try the local Paris Croissant (which is technically closer to Edae).
Smoked salmon (6,000 won):
Cranberry chicken salad (6,000 won):
Not bad... the bread was nutty and tasty, but the small portions will leave you hungry! (Think tea time servings.) Maybe we should have gone to Quizno's? ㅠㅠ
Friends, if you have any good sandwich and salad recommendations, please leave a note in the comment section. I'd be much obliged. On another note, I challenge you all, for my own selfish benefit, to find some poke in Seoul! (Because I could really go for some right now. ^^)
I've been searching for a good plate of vegetarian mandu for a while, and haven't had much luck. (Anyone have any recommendations?) So on a recent breakfast stop in Gangwondo, I was surprised to hear that the restaurant actually served chicken mandu. Uncle: Try the mandu guk. Me: No, thanks. I'll eat that kalguksu over there.
Uncle: There's no pork in this mandu. It's made of chicken. Me: Chicken? *shoots incredulous look* Uncle: Ajumma! What's in the mandu? Ajumma: Kweong (꿩). Me: What's kweong? Uncle: It's chicken. Me: No, it's not.
After multiple (failed) attempts to convince trick me that kweong was indeed chicken, my uncle found a picture hanging on the restaurant's wall and pointed to it.
Ohhh, "kweong" = pheasant!
Googled results tell me that kweong was originally used in ddeok mandu guk but these days, wild pheasant meat is used mostly on special occasion.
Personally, I'm a fan of tofu and veggie mandu, which I like to make at home. At Trader Joe's, it's easy to find chicken gyoza, which is pretty decent, and of course, a wide variety of frozen mandu is available at any good Korean grocery store. What's your favorite mandu filling? "Netherland Kweong Mandu" Heongseong, Gangwondo 342 7888
Talk about dedication! Sox Fans may have some competition... as far as cheerleading goes.
Here they are cheering on (Busan) Lotte Giants' player Kang Min Ho before, during, and after his RBI double.
Yes, each and every player gets his very own cheer! (My favorite was Garcia's song, which I unfortunately didn't catch on camera. If you're really interested, you can hear part of it here.)
The fans also have team songs... talk about good marketing! Name your team after your company and get people to sing it over and over and over. I provided some lyrics so you can sing along to the first part of the video. : )
Annie and I checked out our first ever Korean baseball game at Jamsil Stadium last week. It was hot. It was muggy. It was sweaty. It was loud. It was fuuuuunnnn!
Tickets are pretty easy to come by right before the game. We purchased 일반 (general) seats for about $7 (the most expensive VIP tickets are around $25) which meant it was a free for all - first come, first seated.
In the stadium, food is pretty much limited to KFC, Burger King, and a few convenience store snacks. Although, there are tons of street vendors outside selling kimbap, and you can also bring in your own food. (No bag checks here.)
Alternatively, you can wait for the peanut boy ajumma to make her rounds.
Although I originally intended to cheer for the home team (the Doosan Bears), we ended up sitting near 3rd base, and came to realize it was the visiting team's section, who were even louder than the Doosan fans!
I saw more MLB caps (particularly Dodgers, Braves, Red Sox, and Yankees) than Korean baseball gear on fans, but after a few innings, the Lotte section started passing out orange plastic bags. Apparently, Lotte fans blow them up and tie them to their heads.
Regardless of whether you're a sports fan or not, a trip to the ballpark is certainly an interesting part of the Korean experience. : )
The Doosan Bears and LG Twins play at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul. To get to Jamsil Stadium, take Line 2 to 종합운동장역, Exit 5. Olympic Stadium is also within view from the baseball stadium if you want a photo op. : )
What's better than quality time spent in the library? A pretty library! Namely, Yonsei's grand spanking new beauty. It was my second time in the extension building, but my first time actually being productive in it. ^^
Plasma touch screens, seat reservation systems, movie rentals (with a multimedia center to watch them in), language lab booths, beautiful shiny new computers, ample hang out space, and study areas very reminiscent of an Apple Store (it must have been the white pod-like desks)... With this type of atmosphere - wide, open, modern, dust-free, and super duper conducive to studying - you could practically live here (says the inner nerd in me)! It certainly brought me back to college days.
Here are a few photos taken from the 7th floor roof deck -
Posts
