Summer in Korea

Summer in Korea is quite different than summer Victoria. First off, it gets hot here, much hotter than I'm used to and it's not one day of hot, it's all the days, all the time. Right now I think it's at least 25 degrees and it's after 12 am. The second strange thing about summer weather is the humidity, this is because Korea has a monsoon season in July. It feels pretty deceptive to me because it started to get warm (summer weather by my standards) and I was all like, yesss summer is finally here! Fun times! But then, it started to get cloudy and rainy and glum again, which wasn't very fun. My mood immediately shifted and my energy dropped. 

Next it gets hot, everyday, like about 30 and it still is a bit humid, with some random rain thrown in, although monsoon season is pretty much over for now. The other thing that happens are typhoons, although Korea doesn't seem to get hit that hard, at least it didn't this year. We really only got one, it was stormy and windy for the whole day, not just a few hours. It also rained a lot. I couldn't even get delivery because they wouldn't deliver in the poor weather conditions. 

Not it's just hot, and apparently could get a little hotter, although I don't think that much. My coworker has told me that at the end of August there will be a second storm season which will last into september. I can neither confirm, nor deny this since I don't know Korean weather patterns, but I really hope it just stays warm. It's like being in a sauna always. It's very tiring mixed with the humidity but I'm adjusting to it. The air conditioner helps

There are also special summer foods in Korea. The first and I think, most traditional, is samgyetang which is a whole cornish hen (or some other kind of small bird) and ginseng soup. You get served a ceramic bowl with a whole chicken in it. The chicken is stuffed with rice, ginseng, chestnut, jujube and other spices or nuts. The soup is serve pipping hot and bubbling. It also comes with a lot of side dishes. I love this dish, it reminds me of a chicken soup, but more chicken and more yummy. The chicken is so soft and tender you can break it apart with your spoon. 

Now, I know what you're thinking, it's a little strange that chicken soup is a summer food in Korea... that sounds more like something you'd eat in the winter.... what's going on here? Well, due to the very hot and humid summer you feel slow and tired so you definitely need a pick-me-up. Ginseng is considered very healthy in Korea so the soup is viewed as a health food rather than just a chicken and rice soup. 

For your health you're supposed to have the soup three times during sambok (삼복) the three hottest days of the summer. They have special names: chobok, jungbok and malbok (beginning, middle and end). The days vary every year because it's based on the lunar calendar, I'm not sure what days they were this year, but I think they've already passed. 

The other popular summer food is a special kind of noodle soup (so much soup). These noodles are called naengmyeon (냉면). The most popular varieties are mul naengmyeon (water) and bibim naengmyeon (mixed). This noodles are served cold and not just cold, but icy cold, literally, they put ice in the broth. They usually have a tangy, strong flavoured broth, lots of long noodles made out a variety of things, a hard boiled egg, cucumbers thinly sliced, sesame seeds, and some pickled radish and sometimes red chili paste. It really depends where you go though because everyone seems to have their own variety of this dish. There are two main types, the water cold noodles which comes with broth or the mixed cold noodles which just come with a spicy sauce and no broth. 

I honestly love this dish. It's so yummy, it sounds strange and I didn't think I'd be a huge fan of cold noodles (the idea seems a little strange still) but they taste so refreshing and good! The tangy, spicy, flavour, chewy noodles and noodle broth go so well together. I really don't think this dish would taste good warm. The other day my coworker took me to a special naengmyeong restaurant across from our school. It was super busy and we had to wait for a bit (which is unusual in korea) but it was worth it. The noodles were not the buckwheat ones which naengmyeong more commonly has, but a white variety, the broth was more delicious which a more complex flavour than I was used to. Also, this naengmyeong had meat on top (just a couple of slices) which I'd never seen before and the pickled radish was especially tasty and fresh. 

The soup is the perfect thing for cooling yourself down in the middle of a hot summer day. The other thing Koreans seem to do in the summer is a lot of beaching. I haven't gone yet, but from what I've heard the beaches in Busan get crazy busy, especially their most famous beach haeundae (just google it and you'll see what I mean). I haven't had a Korean beach day yet, but I'll go this weekend and report back to you'll! 

Anyway, Korea summer is very different from home and I can't say I'm in love with it. I kinda felt a bit like I was waiting, waiting, waiting for the good weather then it came then the rainy season started, then the hot weather arrived, which can I get something in the middle?! Well, in all honesty, despite the sweatiness and humidity the hot weather brings I still prefer it to the cold winters, still I do miss swimming in the ocean at home and beach days with my friends. Soon though, soon! 

Jindo Sea Parting and Holi Hai at Haeundae Beach

A few weeks back with our Social Group we decide to attend the Jindo Sea Parting and Holi Hai. Since they were both happening in the same weekend we ended up signing up for a tour with a group based in Korea. It was a really good decision in the end. Not only did we end up going to two awesome festivals in one weekend, but we also didn't have to plan any bus routes or book and hotel which I thin made the whole trip even more enjoyable and it was only 105,000 won so it was a pretty good deal.

The trip start in Jindo then we spent the night in Boseong then went to Busan early in the morning on Sunday. Everyone got to the bus station early Saturday morning... and by early I mean before 9 am, so early for me. We had a 4 hour bus trip to Jindo. It went really smoothly I thought. Although it was awkward with the pee breaks. I went almost every time we stopped, but still ended up having to go really badly at the end of the trip. Still, it was really fun. I sat with Julianne and we get along fairly well so we just chatted or did our own thing the entire time and we were both content.

When we got there we immediately went to look at the ocean. It was a foggy day, but not too cool and still pretty sunny. I guess I should interject here and talk about the festival. Each year when the tide gets really low the sea 'parts' in this one area where there's a kind of sand bar or underwater spit and you can walk across to an island called Modo. The distance is about 3 km.  Thousands of tourists come every year to walk across to the island and enjoy cultural festivities. Sounds pretty neat, right?

So when we arrived the tide was still in and it wasn't much to look at. They have a whole festival when the season for the low tide starts with tons of food, drinks, and cultural activities. There were jindo dogs which is a famous korean dog breed from the area. If you google jindo that's pretty much the only thing that comes up. Apparently they are known for their intelligence, they were beautiful looking dogs too.

We got some boots to walk out into the parting right off the bat, or at least I did and Michael. I wasn't sure what the boot situation would be like inside the festival so I decide I should get something right away. If you saw my pictures then you saw how ridiculous looking these boots were, but they worked great. Despite being thinner than a rubber boot they didn't leak at all and despite my lack of belt looks to attach the suspenders to (I wrapped them around my thighs) they stayed up really well. And everyone was wearing them looking ridiculous so it really didn't matter.

We wandered around for while, not sure how far the festival went or what to do first. People kept offering us samples of seaweed, turmeric and booze which we happily accepted. I found out that jindo is famous for their turmeric, not a spice I usually associate with Korea. We tried to find the dog show that was supposed to be happening, but ended up getting distracted by food and a ssireum (korean wrestling) demonstration. Julianne and I found  some yummy Japanese food with eggs, some cabbage, batter of some sort, bbq sauce bacon, octopus and various other tasty things. It wasn't like anything I'd had before, but it was so so delicious. I forgot what it's called, but I'd have another one in a heart beat.

We also found puppies when we were walking around. Jindo puppies. They were extremely soft and cute looking. Really adorable faces  and super relaxed, but friendly little guys. There were a ton of cute Korean kids in the pen to add to the cuteness. Jackie and Julianne kidnapped one little puppy and smothered him with love (not literally, but almost). The puppy was sooooo soft and sleek. I was in love. I sorta want a jindo dog if I were ever to get a dog, but my friend said they were expensive so it probably won't happen. Still, they are beautiful dogs.

They also had singing, dancings, skits and activities like painting. We watch a few of the performances. They were all pretty awesome, there were girls dancing and singing in traditional costumes, a short, but funny skit of a mean guy and his servant teasing him then drummers playing traditional music in traditional costumes and last soldiers doing army drills to k-pop songs and dancing a little sexily which was hilarious. I think my friend took a video. We got some visors when we were at the performance and wore them like all the older ladies around us, they were difficult to keep on until we realized we had forgotten to fold one of the flaps down.

After watching the performances we went and found some food. I got a gukbap which just means soup and rice which is a type of traditional korean meal (I think) it was a beef soup with a bunch of veggies and rice in the soup which I hadn't had before. We also had some magkoli, a korean fermented rice wine. It is delicious, I recommend trying it if you can get your hands on some. So tasty. This stuff was especially 'smooth' as my friend put it.

After food we wandered around a bit more then it was finally time for the sea parting. Everyone got their awesome thigh high boots on and we followed the crowd out into the water. The water hadn't gone out completely so it was really great that we had the boots because it allowed us to just wade through the parts where there was still water. Although I felt sorry for the people had chose to wear their own shows or boots.

It was pretty cool being that far out in the ocean. It kinda felt like you should be on a boat or small island, although at the same time it took me back to hanging out at the beach at Deep Cove when the tide goes out really far. It felt both very familiar and strange at the same time. The scenery was beautiful. It was foggy still, but the sun was starting to get lower and looked hazy through the softened sky making everything feel a little surreal. There were boats off in the distance and the water seemed to merge into the sky when you let your eye go that far.

There were thousands of people at this event, lots of them foreigners. For all of us from Changwon it was definitely strange seeing that many foreigners in one place and hearing that much English spoken. Normally in Changwon if you're in a group over ten foreigners that's a lot, but at this festival the foreigners were definitely in the thousands. It was fun to see the stuff some people dressed in to. Someone was dressed as moses (of course) but I didn't see him. I did see a couple dressed like waldo and another one dressed like the guy from the Steve Zissou from the Aquatic life, although I don't know if that's what they were going for.

My favourite part of this festival was definitely walking out for the sea parting. I found out after why they do the walk and I thought it was really sad, but beautiful. Apparently there's a story about the island Modo, that it used to be inhabited with tigers, well there was a family living there and the tigers drove them away except the grandmother who stayed on the island. Well another creature (I forgot what it was) felt bad for her and showed her a route to get off of the island were the water was shallower. She followed the route to find her family, but because she was weak and old she couldn't make it all the way across. Luckily her family was also looking for her and walking along the same path, unfortunately she collapsed before they got there and ended up dying in her family's arms. So to this day Korean's walk from both Modo island and Jindo and they meet in the middle. They take two different coloured ribbons from each side then tie them in the middle. ribbons looked really cool stretch out into the spit of land. And yes, this is the story of the old lady and tiger statue I posted... in case you were wondering.

When we were doing the sea crossing there were tons of older Korean's out on the beach harvesting seaweed and lots more out along the sand bar harvesting clams. They didn't seem to give a shit when the guy announced that the tide was coming in. Lots of them brought bags and were filling them and as it's isn't a one time phenomena I had to wonder if they came every low tide to collect seaweed and clams.

After we finished the walk, which I unfortunately never made to Modo we had some time to kill before our bus left so we hung around the food tents and got some snacks. Julianne and I split a giant deep fried squid which has apparently become a thing here. It was pretty tasty, like a giant calamari  on a stick, but spicier and whole. The other people in our group wanted food from Turkey's booth (there were international food booths) but the line was really long so we ended up giving up on that. Still, we all went away happy and full.

After the sea parting we hopped on our bus and headed to Boseong where we would stay the night. Boseong is apparently really famous for their green tea and beautiful landscape. We were just staying the night then moving on so we didn't have time to spend a lot of time there. The trip from the festival to the hotel was about 2 hours, why so far you ask? Because we wanted to get closer to busan so we wouldn't have to travel so far in the morning when we were all sleepy, thus allowing us to sleep in more as well.

The hotel we stayed in was fairly nice and luckily we were able to pick our group for the hotel room so it was just everyone in our group, plus two other people who got assigned to our group. Since the tour we'd singed up for had over 200 people going from different cities in the country it was a little crazy at the hotel. They only had the convenience store open by the time we got there (sometime after 9 pm) so it was crazy. We all wanted to get some proper food in us, but only thing they seemed to food-wise was instant ramen. I know that doesn't sound really appealing to most westerners, but instant ramen is different in Korea. First off, it is a little bit higher quality and second it just tastes better and they have lots of different kinds. It's also really popular. Like I've seen Korean's in the grocery store with huge flats of their favourite ramen. So that's a thing here. I didn't get ramen in the end, because I wasn't really that hungry and needed to get some rest for our 6 am wake up call.

Back in the hotel room, after surviving the crazy line, getting some juk (rice porridge) then realizing I needed to go back to the convenience store to heat it up I finally got to relax, drink and beer and discuss the day with everyone. It was the perfect end of a long, but very memorable day.

The next morning we were up at 6 am to leave at 6:50 for Busan since we needed to be there before noon for Holi Hai. Luckily the night before Sujin and I had made hard boiled eggs so we ate those and then got back on the bus, there was a lot of busing this weekend, yet some how the bus ride was pretty relaxing and not that stressful (for me anyway). I think it's because Korean buses are really comfortable with nice comfy, large seats. My friend told me that Korean's like to sleep when they travel so I think that could explain the comfortable seating.

The bus ride was pretty fun. As we left Boseong we drove by some of its famous valleys and tea fields. It was so beautiful in the misty morning (mist was a thing this entire trip). It looked like another world from the crowded cities full of high rises and neon lights. Korea is like that. One minutes your looking at rows of apartments and the next your watch rolling hills and fields go by. It's kind of awesome. Anyway, this was one of the most beautiful places I've seen in Korea. The valley seemed endless and untouched. Apparently it's known for it's beauty and I definitely need to go back there.

When we started to get close to Busan the trip coordinator brought out some face paints and some how Jackie got roped into painting everyones face (she was the only artist in the group... I still owe her a beer for that one!). Most of us went for neon coloured dots, but I also got some swirls added into the mix. It looked pretty festive. Everyone had been instructed to wear white for the festival so the colours would show up better. And you should definitely 100% wear something you don't care about staining cause the amount of paint you get on yourself is insane, especially if you're like me and keep heading back into the crowd.

I was really excited to be going to Haeundae beach because it is a really famous beach in Korea and super popular in the summer. We all agreed after we got there that we would be coming back like everyone other weekend. Seriously. It was also so warm I had brought a sweatshirt I didn't want in case it was cool, but the temperature got up to around 20 that day, possibly a bit higher. When we arrived at the festival they gave us a pack of colour powder to throw and apparently rub all over everyone, and a free samosa and drink. The samosa's were really tasty.

We had a bit of time to kill before the festival started so we just hung out by the water, of course we all had to test how cold the water was. It was pretty cold. After eating, Jackie, Dave, Michael, Sujin and I all decide to go to the convenience store, unfortunately when we got there the line was huge with all people wearing at least one piece of white. I guess everyone else had the same idea. We finally gave up waiting or we were going to miss the opening of the festival. We got back just in time. I was so relived.

There was a count down and everyone threw chalk in the air at the same time. It looked really pretty. I wanted a picture, but honestly I doubt it would've shown up the well and I didn't want to get powder on my camera. The powder was scented so when everyone threw their powder in the air the whole area smelled like perfume or flowers. It wasn't a bad smell at all, but I'm not sure what it was.

After the powder throwing was when the fun really started. There was dj and people were just hanging out, dance and throwing powder at each other on the beach. Unfortunately I didn't know to save some powder and threw all mine at the beginning so I had no powder to throw on anyone, but that didn't seem to stop people from throwing powder at me.

It was really funny because my friends and I were off to the side a bit so we ended up only getting each others powder on us and we all had the same two colours: green and yellow. So at the beginning I only had green and yellow powder on me, but ended up with every colour under the sun by the end of the day. Some of us wanted to hang out and dance while others wanted to chill on the beach. We attempted to enter the crowd with everyone, but it fell apart pretty fast. I went back in for another round and it was pretty fun, just dancing and laughing and having some random dude rub paint all over your face... yep, that was a thing. I ended up with far more paint and powder on me than in the beginning. Also, for some reason people kept starting conga lines and every time I got swept up in it.

Finally I escaped the crowd and the endless conga lines. I hung out in the beach for awhile and for some reason decided it was a good idea to run into the ocean with a jackie and another girl... I will admit that beer and soju may have played a part in this decision. One thing about Korea that I still find a bit strange is public drinking is not illegal so you can just have a beer at the beach... quite a few people were doing this. It was pretty cold, but really refreshing...expect when it was too cold and I was gasping for breathe for about 20-30 seconds, that wasn't really that fun, but after was good and it was nice to get some of the paint off, especially my face cause it was getting hard to move the face muscles.

After the ocean dip everyone was pretty cold and we left the beach not long after. We changed and scrubbed our faces in the bathroom with mul tissue some girl was kind enough to give us. Finally, we went and got some yummy bibimbap and soup. I think it was around 4-4:30 at this point and our bus wasn't leaving until 6. Since most of us were tired from the early morning we decide to go catch a regular bus back to Changwon. I was pretty happy with this decision because I was about ready to fall asleep.

Michael and Lori opted to stay behind because they wanted to check out a lighthouse, I was tempted to join them but my tiredness won that time. The other guy with our group had already left with some new friends for India food. The rest of us headed home. We all just really wanted hot showers and sleep by this point, although I did feel a bit guilty to leave the beautiful sunny day behind me and when I got back to Changwon it wasn't nearly as warm. I realized this when I jumped off the bus in my shorts and tee shirt and immediately regretted not putting on tights and a sweater.

Surprisingly my biggest worry about the colour not coming out of my hair was unfounded it washed out beautifully, although I still washed it twice to make sure and rinsed it extra well. I don't know if you can tell from my photos, but my hair and face got the brunt of the colour attack.

In all it was amazing weekend. The Jindo Sea Parting festival was definitely an amazing phenomena to see. Even though I'm an island girl and I've seen some pretty awesome beaches that was definitely and unique experience and the festival just made it more fun. Holi Hai in Busan was a crazy, colourful mess and I loved every minute of it. Plus Haeundae beach is my new favourite place and I just want to spend the whole summer there soaking up the sun there. I will definitely do more of these types of festivals they make this year in Korea so memorable and it was a great way to bond with my friends here and create some really lasting memories together. Oh gosh, this is sound cheesy I better finish up here. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this post and it sheds some light on how Korean cultural events are hosted. I hope to go to some more awesome things in the coming months. Apparently spring and summer is the time of festivals for Korea. I'm excited for the summer season! 

Seoul Part 3: Hongdae

So this will be the last instalment of my trip to seoul and I'll be moving on to more resent events, finally!

Our last full day in Seoul we visited a popular university neighbourhood. We had a couple reasons for going there. First, it's kind of trendy and targeted towards young people so it's fun to visit. Lots of cute stores, funky coffee shops and yummy restaurants. Second the You Are Here Cafe is in Hongdae. This is a cafe started by a Canadian couple who lives in Korea and makes funny youtube videos all about living there and a website called Talk to Me in Korean who try to help people learn Korean. The cafe was really large, but felt kinda empty. People did come and go as we were sitting there, but it wasn't especially busy. I really hoped to see one of the owners, but alas they were not there that day.

Before we hit up the You Are Here Cafe we went to a Sheep Cafe because it is the year of the sheep and all. The sheep were outside the cafe in their own little pen. They were really cute, but more interested in licking salt and eating than us. Still, it was really fun to visit with the sheep and take some pictures. We also got really yummy waffles for breakfast from the cafe too. It was really cute and the tea was good.

It also ended up raining that day which was disappointing, but we spent most of our time in cafes and restaurants anyway. I wanted to go to this one dumpling restaurant we knew about, but unfortunately when we tried to find it it was gone or possibly being renovated, we weren't sure. After this we tried to find a ramen restaurant Julianne wanted to show me. Eventually we found it with the help of google. It was amazing. It looked like an authentic Japanese ramen bar inside, complete with the small, narrow restaurant and counter. We both got pork ramen (I think, it was just the regular one) and we also got gyoza's which are a kind of japanese fried dumpling that I love. The gyoza's were far superior to any other gyoza I've ever ate. The filling was tender, flavourful and hot. The outside had a crispy rectangle attached to it which tasted delicious and just the right amount of crispiness on the dumplings. They more than made up for the failure of the dumplings from the previous night.

The ramen was equally amazing. The noodles were the perfect chewiness and the broth was salty and rich. Everything about that meal was awesome. I loved it and I will definitely return next time I'm in Seoul. Since it was raining again when we finished lunch or more like afternoon meal we headed back to the hostel. Also, we were both pretty stuffed and just ready for a rest.

The next day would be our return to Changwon, but since we had a lot of time before our train we decided to check out the War Memorial which was basically just a museum mostly about the Korean war. I found it really fascinating there was information from the people who were effected by the war, to the allies who helped to war heroes to the clothes, the role of women, famous war stories, weapons and planes, pretty much everything related to war was presented, especially the Korean war. It was a stark difference from our wimpy memorials with just a could of statues and plaques, it was also a stark reminder that North Korea is not that far away and for many older Koreans the Korean war was a reality.

After the memorial we attempted to find Itaewan, which is the foreigner district in Seoul, first we walked in the wrong direction for awhile then we finally checked a map and realized we needed to walk in the opposite direction. We finally made it there and spent a bit of time wandering around aimlessly which was mostly my fault because I just wanted to find some salt and vinegar chips, but hadn't really been able to find anywhere that sold them. Other than eating a really yummy gyro Itaewan was not that exciting to me. I did see a dumpling place I want to go back to, but nothing else really stood out, unless I'm really missing something from home that I can only get there I doubt I'll visit again. After that we got our stuff and caught the train home. It was relaxing and we remembered snacks and water this time. And when I got home it was time for a long, hot shower and lots of rest.

The highlights of the trip that really made an impact on me were definitely the touristy things that we did, the delicious ramen in Hongdae, the sheep, the palace and Seollal celebrations, Myeongdong, Namsan tower, the studio Ghibli exhibit  and the war memorial. In all it was really good trip and I definitely hope to go back to Seoul again before I leave Korea, perhaps in the fall at the end of my trip I'll make another visit, or when I have a long weekend.

Seollal in Seoul, part 2

So I know I've been a bad blogger and haven't finished my blog of Seoul, but here is part two! I will try to fit all the high lights into one post this time rather than like 3 or 4 haha.

Our second day in Seoul we went to Gyeongbokgung palace which turned out to be crazy busy, strange since it was also Seollal day or not strange at all since the palace was free that day. Probably because they wanted to give at least some of the staff the day off.  I was not actually prepared for how large the palace grounds were. For some reason I'd always imagined it as just the huge main building and a few other smaller ones around, but no, it never seemed to end. It was huge and beautiful, full of the traditional Korean architecture I've seen at some of the other historical sites I've visited. See all those wonderful pictures I've been posting on facebook guys!

We wandered around the grounds for awhile, saw the palace and various peoples house and buildings. There was a beautiful little pond in front of Chuirojeong pavilion which is huge, according to me friend you can go in it in the summer but it was closed off while we were there. Being on the palace grounds also felt like an escape from the endless city because they were large enough that you could almost forget where you were. Also, the mountains towering around the palace in the background made it feel even less like it was in the city. 

After we wandered around and looked at some more buildings and gardens we went to the Korean Folk Museum which is pretty much just your standard museum. It had history of Korea, a contemporary exhibit about jeans and a bunch of celebratory stuff for Seollal. which we approached the museum there were tons of white tents set up for various things. You could buy traditional snacks, make crafts for the kids and get your fortune told, we by passed the tens because they were really busy. First, we found a cute little imitation town which I think was supposed to show Korea before the Korean war then we went to see the folk museum. On the way in we passed a bunch of giant drums set up outside the palace and a sign saying there was going to be an activity at 1. I think it was around 11:30 when we went in? Or 12? I'm not sure, but we definitely came out after the drum show started, but it was still really really amazing. 

The loved seeing how past people in korea led their lives, all the artifacts from their daily life and what they did for fun and so forth. I don't really know what to tell you about the museum it was pretty much your standard type. They did have a really cute exhibit of sheep for the year of the sheep, it was probably one of my favourite things it was so simple, but so interesting. It had different depictions of sheep and they talked about its signification in Korea society. 

I ended up spending way more time in the museum than I intended. And around the time the show outside started I was busy watching a video of traditional Korean weaving, which looked really cool and I happened to like weaving and textile arts. So finally after reminding me of the time Julianne and I headed out the see the drummers, luckily we barely missed anything. The drummers were amazing, I took some videos I'll have to post later. It was so intense and the drummed so fast. Everyone was really engaged with the performance (for the most part) and enjoying themselves so it made the atmosphere really great.

After the museum and palace we were both pretty hungry so we went to find some food and walk towards Cheonggyecheon river. Unfortunately because it was Seollal a lot of restaurants and businesses were closed so we ended up grabbing some food at a convenience store along the way. Next we headed down the river, which was a beautiful walk towards the subway station to go to another part of Seoul. the day before Julianne's friend had told us she had a bunch of old clothes sitting outside of her apartment she was trying to get rid of. Excited at the prospect of free clothing we both agreed to stop by and take some of the stuff off of her hands. It was a good decision. Not only did I briefly see Lotte World or at least the building its in, but I also got a cute dress and skirt.

After we hit up another grocery store for supplies for the evening. We decided to get a few snacks and drinks, luckily the day before we planned for the chance we might not be able to find a good place to eat by buying ramen cups and drinks so we were basically set for the evening.

The next day we went to the I'Park mall for the Studio Ghibli exhibit which was so so worth it in my opinion, despite the 15,000 Won entrance fee. They did a really creative and beautiful job of bringing the movies to life. It made me so happy to be there. After we found lots of open restaurants (thank god) and had some delicious tteokbokki which is really famous korean street food. We had it at a restaurant and with free fried rice, gosh that's a mouth full! It was delicious and cheap so that was awesome. After that we went to a market and I desperately tried to find some different shoes, without any luck. Julianne has size 10 feet (I believe) so finding shoes in Korea is basically impossible for her.

Since we'd had a little bit earlier start that day and I was feeling sluggish I suggested we go back to the hostel and rest for a little bit then go out for dinner and visit the Namsan tower. So fast forward through our resting we decide to try out this chinese restaurant in Myeongdong because I saw soup dumplings on their poster and I was desperate to try them (Julianne's version of events may differ slightly in that she may claim that I talked about dumplings the entire time, but really, I swear, it wasn't like that!)

Well unfortunately, as these things go, the dumplings turned out to taste pretty bad. i don't want to say they were the worst dumplings I'd ever had, but they were pretty high on the list of bad dumplings... they tasted like they'd been in the freezer for awhile, ie no flavour at all and the wrappers had tears in them, which if you know anything about soup dumpling this is the ultimate faux-pas. You cannot, I repeat, cannot have holes in the wraps. All the freaking soup pours out before you even get them to the edge of the steamer basket. So sad. The last problem was the soup itself. It was also pretty tasteless. I know I sound awful, but soup dumplings are special, like they are really special dumplings. They are like little meat-y, liquid-y jewels of flavour in your mouth. I have only had them one other time, in Vancouver, right before I left. I made Jon find a dumpling shop with me and it was amazing. So happy and delicious and omg. I just looked back and realized how much I just wrote about the dumplings... so this is awkward and I'll be moving on now.

Although the dumplings weren't great the rest of the food was pretty yummy. After eating we headed to the Namsan tower. It was really cool. Although I wasn't a huge fan of the line, going on the gondola was pretty fun. It is definitely worth going up Namsan at night because seeing the city lights and just how far Seoul stretched out was pretty amazing. I loved it up there and despite all the people it still felt really peaceful and happy. I wanted to go up the actual tower too, until Julianne told me it was 25,000 won (about $22 can) so never mind on that. We just went up the hill that the tower is on, not the actual tower. I do plan to go again next time I'm in Seoul and if I can afford it I'll probably go up the tower and I will also probably walk up the hill rather than the gondola, but neither of us could handle it after being on our feet for three days straight and walking everywhere. After that we called it a night because it was already getting pretty late we almost bought ice cream up there too, until we realized how expensive it would be then decided to get ice cream at the GS25 (popular Korean convenience store) which we never ended up getting.

The next day would be our last full day in Seoul and we were going to Hongdae! A popular university district. But that, I'll save for a new post because I just realized how long this one is... why do I need to describe everything, I don't know? I guess since I went on this trip almost a month ago my recall is getting a little foggy and I feel like adding in all the details. Anyway, last post about Seoul is on it's way, I swear! Then I'll have some posts about the graduation for the grade 6 students, and the first day for the grade 1 students and some other stuff, when I remember what it is.... I swear some other cool stuff did happen. I'm just tired now and blanking. 

Oh the foods you will eat (Korean food part one, the intro)

I know I've probably mentioned in a couple posts that I like Korean food. You know, maybe.

Well I do. I love it.

Korea has some of the most delicious, unique food I've ever eaten. They love two popular flavours sweet and spicy, those flavours often go together. Although it is not only sweet and spicy foods here, they have many kinds of food you could never experience outside Korea. An array of different kinds of soup and fish, a billion side dishes. My favourite are the ones that have green leafy veggies and lots of sesame oil on them. Yummy.

Of course there's also kimchi, which is most westerners image as only be pickled cabbage. It's not. There are actually different types of pickled vegetables, not all called kimchi, but some them are. My favourites are the radish kimchi and the sweet pickled radish. Radish kimchi is super crunchy and juicy. It's not sliced like you'd imagine, but the radishes are cut in half with the tops left on in most cases and pickled with left over kimchi sauce. Or they are cut into fairly large cubes. Either way they are delicious.

Another thing that you probably already know about Korea food is the BBQ. There are different kinds of BBQ meals like bbq'd pork slices called samgyeopsal and then bulgogi the Korean classic. Both are delicious as they look. Usually when you eat Korean bbq they give you lots of side dishes, soup (there is soup and side dishes with every Korean meal traditionally) and various leafy greens to make wraps with for the meat. Seriously, the leafy greens are the way to go. So delicious. You gotta put some garlic and a Korean bean paste called doenjang in them and maybe a little kimchi. It is seriously so tasty.

The last thing that most people know about Korean food is the street food. It's very popular here. Any market you go to is gonna have dumplings (called mandu in Korean and my personal favourite), tteokbokki which is basically rice cakes (not actually cake, there's more like a chewy noodle made out of rice flour) and fish cakes (again not actually cakes) in a steaming hot, spicy and sweet red sauce. Koreans at work were worried this dish would be too spicy for me, but I handled it fine. The last really popular street food is fish cake soup. It has fish cakes on sticks that boil in broth. you eat the cake off the stick and drink the broth. It sounds kind of strange, but it's really good, I wasn't a huge fan of it the first time I had it but, since trying it again I've come to love it.

Moving on the some lesser known Korean foods... there is duk galbi which is a chicken dish cooked at the table. I've posted a few pictures of it. Actually, I've probably posts a few pictures of most of the dishes I've mentioned. It is spicy and has a variety of veggies, rice cakes and chicken in it. Most good places make it at the table in a large flat pan so you know it's freshly made. After eating all the chicken and veggies they will bring you steamed rice and seaweed to sop up all the yummy sauce left in the bottom of the pan. Be warned though, this dish is spicy and can mess up your clothes cause if it's too hot then the sauce splatters.

I feel like I could easily dedicate a whole blog to Korean food, but I think I will only high light one more dish for today. There are still many many things I haven't even mentioned and many more that I haven't tried. Korea actually has a lot of regional cuisines, which Koreans are fairly proud of. This past weekend three of my friends and I went to Jinju, a city about an hours drive from Changwon to see a castle. According to my Korean friends we had to try this special bibimbap (a mixed rice dish, it's very pretty and fresh) with thinly sliced raw beef on top and a yummy soup with it., The meal did not disappoint. It had the yummy red chili sauce that is also a little sweet and a bunch of veggies, carrots, mushrooms, bean sprouts... and on top of it all in a neat little mound was pile of thinly sliced, small slivers of beef. The soup with the meal was also pretty good. It had some blood cubes in it which didn't really taste like anything to me and liver which I actually don't like that much.

All in all Korean food is good. Really good. Don't be fooled into thinking it is just BBQ and rice dishes. I mean I didn't even talk about bean paste soup, Korean pizza, the fried chicken, soondubu jjigae, Korean Chinese food (yes, it's different, yes, it's good), kimbap (rolls that look like sushi rolls, but taste nothing like them) and many other things. I think this post will have to be part of a series? This can be Korean food part one, the intro. So look forward to Korean food part two, jiggae, kimbap and regional cuisine.