Thursday, September 29, 2011

How do you say "Quesadilla" in Italian?

I had one of those "only in Korea" moments tonight.... I went out with a friend to celebrate her birthday. We went to one of my favorite restaurants in Seoul. Everything I've ever had there has been delicious. Given this track record, I decided to try the quesadilla .

You have to understand -- Mexican food is nearly impossible to come by in Korea, and the recently opened Taco Bell is considered to be among the best available... I had low expectations going into this meal, but I had faith in this particular restaurant. Besides, I figured the worst case scenario, I'd get a flour tortilla shell with some chicken and cheddar cheese melted together. Oh how wrong I was....

It looked really promising at first! The tortilla shell was a lovely golden brown. It smelled pretty good, and I could see some green peppers peeking out. Given past experiences with Mexican food in Korea, I knew that it would be a fatal mistake to take a bite without opening the tortilla to look inside. I almost couldn't believe it when I first looked.

There was chicken that had been marinaded in something to make it quite dark. The first bite confirmed that it was in fact a balsamic vinegar marinade. There were vast quantities of red onions and green peppers, which I was ok with. But there were also vast quantities of garlic cloves and shredded cabbage, which is not something I typically associate with Mexican cuisine. But the kicker to this balsamic-garlic-cabbage quesadilla was the cheese. In my worst case scenario, I'd envisioned cheap cheddar cheese. What I was faced with was both terrifying and puzzling. There was ricotta cheese in my quesadilla. Ricotta cheese doesn't really melt well, it certainly isn't Mexican, and it is ridiculously expensive in Korea. I have no clue what it was doing in my dinner that was masquerading as a quesadilla, but there it was.

It wasn't bad, per se.... But it definitely wasn't terribly delicious. The mix of flavors and textures was just off... I will say it is definitely the most creative take on Mexican I've ever seen, and perhaps also the most Italian... At one point, it occurred to me that this was probably the kind of dish you'd watch someone make on the Food Network, think sounded interesting, but never actually want to make at home.

At least now I know for sure -- if I want Mexican food in Seoul, I'm going to have to try to make it myself.

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

A day in the life (almost)

Sometimes, I try to think how to describe what life is like here, but I don't know how to try and convey all of the details that make Korea so different from America, and give it its own charm and culture. I was flipping through the pictures on my phone, and I realized that I have quite a lot of random shots of things that embody Korea, in various ways, but they've never fit into anything else that I've written about... So, without further ado, here are random pictures from the past year that make Korea, well, Korea!




This is in my old neighborhood... Isn't every neighborhood supposed to have a bar called "Cheers"? That's what 80's and early 90's TV told me!


Also in my old neighborhood... Obviously putting the "I" in "IGA". There was an IGA in the tiny little town where I grew up as well....


This is inside a Korean hotel room. Koreans love wallpaper. It's even on the ceiling in my apartment. 


I got so excited one day to see a box of graham crackers on the shelf! This box is *only* about $8. Thankfully, there are perfectly good Korean crackers that work as a substitute at about a quarter of the price!


Whenever a new store opens, the owner's friends send these massive flower stand things with encouraging messages to display in front of the store. 


This is on a university campus in Southeastern Seoul. I've never taught at this school or anything, but they have a nice campus. The graffiti seems to change pretty often. 


This shirt is only $10! I have a good friend whose last name is Foster. If he had a girlfriend, I totally would have purchased this shirt for her! If you can't read it, it says "Foster affection and feel a pleasure". 


I was in a taxi once, and they had TV that you could watch while you were riding. 


Seen outside of a restaurant near where I live now. 


This is a typical Korean cake. They are absolutely beautiful to look at, but they are all beauty and no substance. The frosting is all airy, the cake isn't very sturdy either, and there are often unusual fillings in there. I will say, living here has made me appreciate American cake. 


One of my former students and her work of art at the end of semester party. 


The aforementioned Mr. Foster bottling brew that he and some other friends brewed. I don't actually like beer, but the time to bottle came when everyone else involved in the process was out of town, so I went over to help. 


A random picture on the side of a subway car that didn't make any sense to me. She has paint brushes in her hair. Nobody is ever allowed to make fun of me for my hair sticks again!


This is Namsan Tower, and it's beautiful on clear nights. I live really, really close to it now!


You can get ice cream cake at Baskin Robbins that is pretty good... It isn't as good as Dairy Queen, but beggars can't be choosers.... When you buy ice cream cake, it comes in this massive cooler thing. If you are going to be going far, then they put packets of dry ice in the cooler to keep your cake from melting. 


This is a raspberry, cream cheese, and yogurt ice cream cake. Except for the dark things, which are chocolate, and the three berries, everything there is ice cream. 


I found a pretty awesome grape popsicle last night. It is from a chain called Paris Baguette. The writing says "Grape. Mon amie, mon amour, mon Paris Baguette", which is French for "My friend, my love, my Paris Baguette". I don't understand it. But the popsicle was delicious!


Yesterday, I had to go to Gwanghwamun to go to a bookstore. I thought that this shot represented a part of Seoul rather well. A giant memorial statue, lots of people walking, an ancient palace, mountains in the background, and a long line of cars off to the left. 


Finally, Foster and Thomas came over last night for a cooking lesson. We made curry pan fried salmon, crushed red pepper and parmesan asparagus, and greek roasted sweet potatoes. It was a rather nice meal!


I tried a new route home from work tonight, and I walked past this salon. I know it's hard to read the sign, but it is called "scissor stalker". It sounds like a scary place to get a hair cut. 

I wonder if Einstein Baby milk makes your baby smarter, just like the Baby Einstein movies??

A snack food I've never managed to try. Banana Corn!

This was painted on the side of a wall near where I live. I affectionately call it the sad whale mural. This just brings up oh so many questions about the artist....

Somehow, it was a little odd to see traditional pilgrim characters done in Anime right next to halloween Anime and traditional Korean Anime, all done in cross stitch....

A statue of a random person sitting on top of a club/bar entrance. Maybe they're trying to save money on the bouncer?

I was walking through one of the shopping districts that is popular with Japanese tourists a few weeks ago, and I saw these random street performers. I think they were advertising something. Such performances aren't very common here, but it was highly interesting nonetheless! 

This map is in my office directly above my desk. It is always a little odd, because the continents have swapped sides from what I'm used to. 

You can buy great, cheap jewelry in the subway stations and on street corners. I picked up this necklace for about $3. She's like a little marionette doll. Her joints all move! It makes me really happy!

Monday, September 26, 2011

Walking Home

I was on the bus, on my way home from work tonight, and I was chatting with my friend Martha. Martha is one of my "back home" friends, and her days are starting just as mine are ending. So it works rather conveniently, and we chat just about every work day. I tried a new way to come home tonight, and at one point, I realized I was on a bus and I had absolutely no clue where I was... Finally, I recognized one of the announcements about a stop, and was able to make it back with no problems.

Martha was right there with me during this whole process, and got a bit of a play by play as I got lost and found again. So when I finally exited the bus, she inquired how far I had to walk to get home. I thought that I'd snap a few pictures of my walk from this particular bus stop back to my apartment. I apologize for the really terrible picture quality. I had books and bread in my hands, and it was dark out.



This is where the bus drops me off. Well, it actually drops me off on the other side of the street, but you get the general idea ;) 


Next, I take a right at the fruit stand. Yes, that is actually fruit and produce, even though you really can't see it. These produce stands are EVERYWHERE in Seoul. The prices are usually quite good, and the produce is quite fresh. 


Looming ahead is the "tunnel of doom". When I went to look at the apartment, the previous tenant went to great lengths to assure me that it wasn't too creepy/scary, and I shouldn't take this apartment off of my list just because of the tunnel. I actually kinda like it. It's nice and echo-y and mysterious!


After the tunnel come the never-ending-stairs. Ok. They really aren't that bad, especially not compared to some of the subway stairs, or all of the stairs I climb at work. But sometimes it feels like there are a lot of them ;)


Past the tunnel is this intersection. My neighborhood is quite quiet, but there are two major tunnels that run under the mountain that merge onto a highway here. Traffic can get a bit heavy sometimes. 


This is the road that I turn onto to get to my apartment. We're almost there! Just one more turn and one more hill. 


This is the final turn/hill combo to get to my place. When I first moved here, I hated this hill... But after walking up and down it multiple times a day, and comparing it with the mountain I climb at work, we are becoming old friends and it isn't such a big deal anymore ;) I do really appreciate how much green there is around my building. The ajumma all have their little vegetable gardens and pots. 


This is my actual building, shot at a funny angle so you couldn't read the address plate on it ;)


Just inside the door, you see all of these stairs. My landlord lives in the basement apartment, and I live on the "2nd" floor. Really, it's just up that tiny flight of stairs to the first landing. 


Finally, we reach my front door. For some reason, it is very hobbit-esque to me. Maybe it's the green and gold. Who knows. But I'm usually quite happy to make it back here!

All said and done, from the bus stop to my apartment door, it is about a 5 minute walk. There's another bus stop that is about a minute away from my apartment (down by the exercise park) that I use when I go to work. When I come back, that bus isn't as convenient, so I've been exploring a number of options to get home again. 

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

A Disaster Averted!

It isn't often that I can say something like this, but today I rescued 35 girls from what was surely a fate worse than death. I base this statement not so much on the reality of the danger as I perceived it, but on the ferocity of reactions both during and after the event at hand.

You see, there was a disturbance in my classroom today. It was unexpected. I'm not entirely sure where he came from. He definitely wasn't there when we started class, but about 5 minutes into my warm up activity, there he was. At first, it wasn't a big deal. I'm sure many of my students didn't even notice him. He moved around the classroom a bit, but he wasn't bothering anyone.

Perhaps I should have taken action then, but I really didn't see the need for intervention. He started to become a bit more active, but again... It wasn't much of a disruption. Then, this unfortunate representative of his race decided that it would be ok for him to touch one of my girls. She froze and was completely unable to move, but I managed to make him leave her alone. Just as I returned to the front of the classroom, he went after the same girl again. Of course, all of my other students were freaking out. I was trying to calmly handle the situation. Naturally, it was a little difficult given the language barrier.

Lest you think I'm dealing with truly appalling situations in Korea, let me show you a picture of my unruly invader this morning.


That's right... There was a wasp in my classroom. And every single girl in it was freaking out. They were curled up in balls on their chairs. They were trying to cover themselves with their books. Chairs were scooting across the floor as far as they could from where he was flying. I don't think I've ever seen anything like it.

I decided that my only option was to show these city girls a thing or two about how we do things in the country. So I very calmly took my book, walked to the back door of the classroom near where the wasp was, and I whacked him out the door.

The girls cheered and applauded and spoke more English than I'd heard from them all day.

I went back to the front of the class, opened my book, and recommenced with the day's lesson. It was a good way to start the morning ;)

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Catholic Martyr's Shrine

On Saturday, a group of girls got together to go visit the Catholic Martyr's Shrine near Hapjeong. I wasn't exactly sure what to expect, but the gardens were lovely. My friend Becky organized the event, and she did a great job of providing background information and guiding us through the park. 

This was one of the first things you saw when you got to the park. Koreans do a good job with public art, most of the time. I'm collecting pictures to do a post on that someday, but it wasn't unusual to see a statue. What was a little less usual was the more natural approach to gardening here. It seems like most of the public green spaces here are pretty highly manicured, so this was a refreshing change. 

There were some lovely, ivy covered buildings. I'm not actually sure what they were, but they were pretty!

This was a statue to commemorate all of the early Catholic martyrs who were beheaded. The building in the background is a large Catholic church that is connected to the park. 

There was a place to light candles. This was about half of the candles that were lit, and we were there at 10:30 in the morning...

This is Becky, and she is giving us background information on what the rest of the park will be. It was a guided walk through the Catholic stations of the cross. I was familiar with the original stations, but I wasn't aware that they had been revised to follow the Bible rather than tradition. Becky explained some of the differences to us. 

Right next to where we were sitting was this memorial. Just beyond those trees is the Han river, which is a quite large river. There is also a bit of a drop from where we were standing to the actual water. Apparently, back in the day, Catholics were killed by being pushed off of the cliff into the river. 

For each of the stations of the cross, they had one of these carved stones. The explanations were all written in Korean, so we didn't benefit too much from that, but Becky was able to explain each of them to us. 

Station number 6 (according to the old list) is where Christ meets Veronica. This is my friend Veronica. It seemed fitting that they should pose together. 


I really loved the style of the different stones. They were surprisingly detailed, and the facial expressions were really nice. 

There was a statue of Mary, in a pose to bless people. In the few minutes we were near the statue, I saw two people who must have been Catholic come up and lean forward to put their heads in her hands. I presume this is for some sort of blessing. Then, there were the people who were more touristy, and they would pose with the statue in a variety of ways. The contrast was rather extreme. 

I was a little surprised when I looked closer at the statue. Mary is wearing hanbok, which is the traditional Korean costume, although the veil isn't part of hanbok. 

The whole garden had the natural, countryside feel to it. There were lots of patches of wildflowers and plants. If I can paraphrase Jane Austen, I have rarely seen a place for which nature had done more, or where natural beauty had been so little counteracted by and awkward taste. 

After we toured the gardens, we went inside the tiny museum to cool off, because it was unseasonably hot that morning. Becky wanted to get a group photo, so we asked a group of Korean girls standing nearby to take it for us. We asked in both English and Korean. There was some giggling and hesitation for a moment, then two girls come forward. Only, instead of taking a picture of all of us, this is what happened. 


Ahh, the wonders of being a foreigner in Korea. There is always something random that will happen. After this slightly awkward picture, we managed to get them to take a group picture of us. 

All in all, it was a nice way to spend a Saturday morning, even if it was ridiculously hot for the middle of September. From left to right, this is Sarah S, Caitlin, Becky, me, Jungmi, Jennifer and Veronica. 


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