Seoul, Golbi, and Shabu Shabu

Well, so much for updating this thing once every two weeks. This is what happens when I don't have internet in my house. But, now that it's here, I'll try and be a little more faithful. Try being the key word.

What's happened in a month, you ask? Quite a bit.

The first weekend I was actually on my own here, some friends and I went hiking up Mudeung Mountain, which is just a city bus ride away. The nice thing about living in a valley is there's lots of mountains to hike within 45 minutes of us. It was incredibly steep but definitely worth the view. Korean trails are not very user-friendly: there's always hundreds of people climbing a day, there's stone steps built into the mountain face since the mountain is so steep, and the climb down is treacherous, but fun. Liz and I were having such an awkward time getting down that one of the locals told us we should get climbing poles...as he literally ran down the mountain past us. I don't even want to say how old he was. Point of interest: Koreans usually hike with a radio at full blast in their hand right up against their ear. Multiply that by 100 and you have the sound of climbing a mountain in this country. Not quite as peaceful as I was expecting, but a great experience nonetheless.

My next weekend was pretty great. A group of us took the high speed train up to Seoul (it was only a three hour journey). We had a table for the four of us and it was cheaper than individual seats...which worked out to also be cheaper than the four hour bus. Plus, everything here runs on time. I love it. When we got to Seoul, we spent most of the day hunting down a place to stay. Here's a story for you: ever heard of a love motel?

Yes, it's exactly what it sounds like. And yes we did stay at one. Was it cheaper than a hostel? Yes. Were the rooms clean? Yes they were. Did we get the usual hotel amenities (linens, soap, etc)? You bet. Ten bucks each for one room. Central to downtown. Fan-freaking-tastic.

That night, we took a boat cruise down the Hahn river which runs right through the middle of Seoul. It was a little chilly but the view was great. I got a lot of really cool pictures. After we got off the boat we inadvertently ended up in Seoul's Olympic Park. Nothing much to see anymore, but the complex is huge. The next day, Liz took me shopping at the underground mall here. It was like a street market underground and you're literally surrounded by hundreds and hundreds of full-to-the-gunnel stores. Needless to say, we bought a lot of stuff.


Other than that, I've been spending some quality time with my friends sampling the local food. We usually eat out once or twice a week, which is pretty easy since the food here is so cheap. Here's a breakdown of it for those of you who haven't heard:


Kimbap: Pretty much a sushi, but without the fish. It's the best fast food money can buy and full of goodness. Rice, seaweed, chicken or tuna salad and vegetables rolled into kimbap goodness and a bowl of soup in case you're cold. One roll of this stuff gives you 10 pieces...for $2.


Pig Spine Soup: No, I'm not joking. It really is what it sounds like. You sit at a low table (as in you sit on the floor) and the food comes as a spicy broth with two pig vertebrae in it. Plus, you get a big bowl, some kimchi, vegetables, and rice. You take the meat off the bones, throw the bones away, and toss whatever you want into the soup. At this point, it basically looks like your regular beef soup, or pork in this case. Spicy, cheap and delicious. $4 a bowl.



Golbi: Korean barbecue. As you can see from the picture, you get a ton of stuff with your meal. You sit at a low table with a stove in the middle. The meat is raw on a refrigerated buffet and you can pick whatever kind you want (beef, duck, or fatty, fatty bacon). The waitress lights your stove, brings your green onion, garlic, mushrooms, spicy sauce, and kimchi and leaves the rest to you. You get a pair of tongs and a pair of scissors and away you go. Grab a giant lettuce leaf and fill it tortilla style, wrap it up, and shove it all in your mouth at once. So so good. $9 a person.


Shabu Shabu: Same as golbi, only soup style. Same kind of table, same deal. The waitress brings the raw food and you do the cooking. This time, though, you start with a spicy broth in a pot on your stove. You can pick a beef or seafood style shabu and there's an order you cook things in. Start with the broth, add the vegetables, then the meat. That's course one. To the leftover broth, you add the noodles; that's course two. Then the waitress will take your pot and throw rice, seaweed, raw egg, and spices into the pot and make you some fried rice in your broth leftovers. MMMMMMM. More expensive, at $10-12 per person.


And now, for the part of the story about my job. My kids are so great. Monday, Wednesday and Friday I teach older kids who typically are pretty on the ball about their English. Tuesdays and Thursdays are a bit more challenging, only because the kids tend to be younger (about kindy age). However, what they lack in attention span they make up for in cuteness. In fact, some of my kids, since finding out that you say "Merry Christmas" to people, made the connection that my name sounds like merry. There is now a group of children who greet me with "Marion Christmas!" every time I see them in the hall. By the way, I've already figured out the secret to keeping kids on task: stickers. They will literally do anything for them. And they love it when they get to teach me something too. My kindy kids love to tell me what things are in Korean. Most of one class today, I actually spent asking them what different Christmas words were in Korean. They love it. So, I get paid to hang out with some pretty great kids, hear their stories, and teach them a few things. Plus I only work from 2 to 7 (that's PM). My job rocks.