8.17.2005

Everything

The summer intensive schedule along with looking for a new job when I return to Korea have kept me very busy hence the lack of updates. But as promised I have lots of pictures and a few stories to share.

Since arriving in Korea a year and a half ago I have eaten nearly every meal out. With the exception of Ramyeon and a few cans of tuna, every meal has been in a restaurant or ordered from a restaurant and eaten at home. The reasons for this are two-fold. First, my apartment is the size of a small storage shed with nearly zero ventilation and the only method of cooking I have is a small, portable camping stove. Second, eating out in Korea in very cheap. I can eat a full meal for about W2500 or about $2.50. A really expensive meal such as 갈비 galbi, barbecued beef, will cost w8000, W9000 if you order rice.

Add these to the fact that I live alone and cooking for yourself is rather boring and you can see why I've never made the effort to make my own meals. That is until a couple of weeks ago when Yunha thought it would be fun to make dinner at my apartment. I thought it odd being that she can't cook, but went along with it anyway. It turns out (many people in Korea may know this, I didn't) that grocery stores sell pre-packaged Korean meals. These aren't the frozen and bagged meals I was used to in the States, but all of the freshly cut ingredients to make meals yourself.

Here's a sample of what I've been making. This is 시굴돼지찌개 Sigul Dwaeji Chigae, which roughly translates to Country Pork Stew. All it took was to open the package, fry the pork, add in the vegetables (onions, green peppers, red peppers, cucumber, etc), pour in the pre-made stock and hot pepper sauce, add water and boil. It was delicious, if not incredibly hot, but then again I couldn't read the Korean directions so I just guessed as to the method. So, now I've been doing a lot of cooking. Today I made some Pork galbi and have a pack of my favorite Bu Dae Chigae waiting for tomorrow.

Apart from cooking, on my time off I've mostly recovered from my hectic schedule, but I did make it to Seoul a couple of times.

Yunha and I went to the 63 Building, the tallest building in Seoul and I think this picture best sums up the enormity of this city. Imagine this 360 degrees around you. Also, she thought if was fun to watch me have a panic attack on the glass elevator on the way up. I'm not so good with heights.

Another shot from the 63 building. I put it here just to show the air pollution.

I probably find this funnier than most people, but I've never seen a historical account actually mention being assassinated by ninjas. This was part of the photo exhibition in the 63 Building.

Along the Han river are these cute, if not cheesy swan-shaped paddle boats. I'd gush about how fun and exciting these things are if not for the fact that it was on one them that I lost my wallet and everything in it. Now I just want to whack them with a bat.

At least the view of the sun setting from the Swan-on-the-Han is nice.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

You forgot to mention your friends that live with you in that tiny, dirty apartment of yours. Ya know those cute, friendly cockroaches.