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| My stepdad loves this dish. I secretly loved when he bought it from H-mart. |
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| Spicy rice cake or ddukbokki (떡볶이). It came out well, but I made it wayyy too spicy. Burned my mouth. I'm sure Resa would have loved it. :P |
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| Beef and quail eggs in soy sauce or jangjorim (장조림). It also has garlic, peppers, honey, and kelp. I believe I've had this dish before back home, but I never realized how much I liked it until I bought some from a butcher's shop in Korea. It's sooooo tasty and a new favorite. |
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| Already fighting over a man (*shaking my head). Actually those two girls are always fighting over something. |
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| Alex is feeding Brody one of the ghosts we made out of a dum dum, tape, and tissue. |
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| We made chocolate muffin crumb dirt and sour worms the kids ate. |
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| The little one hanging on my neck is Ted. He's my favorite pre kinder student and I wish my future son will be just like him. He's so sweet and has such personality! He brings me a sticker or candy every morning. He often carries my basket to the classroom when I teach his class. He always tries so hard to read and remember what I teach him. He also tries to punch or molest me at least once a day, but he's 5...all is forgiven after a stern look is returned with a smile and a giggle. He's obviously not afraid of me. I'm in love...sigh. |
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| I was a twin for my Halloween costume. I know, very cheap. LOL. We had matching headbands! |
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| There's my darling again! I <3 Ted. |
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| We had at least 3 different Snow Whites. They were all adorable. |
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| Check out the video below. We had a mummy contest...it was intense. |
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| Longest day and week ever! My desk space hasn't looked this bad at work in a minute. |
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| First we hung out at Naksan Beach. It was the first time I saw pine trees at the beach. |
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| Naksan Beach is on the west coast of Korea, which is where the best beaches are supposed to be because they're blue and much clearer than the east coast beaches. Naksan Beach had really big waves because the water is very deep. |
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| I made new friends, Laura and Lia, who took this fun photo. |
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| Right next to the beach was a Buddhist temple. Can't remember the name, but it had beautiful views of the sea. |
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| There were several fountains like this one of fresh mountain water. I tried some and it tasted clean, nothing spectacular though. |
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| I guess every temple has to have some kind of water feature. |
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| Traditional Korean building designs are beautiful. |
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| And everything is handmade and handpainted. |
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| I learned the Nazi's copied the Buddhist symbol for peace and made it into the swastika. |
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| This temple was more like a complex. There were a lot of buildings and pathways. |
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| Afterward, I bought toasted dried squid and dried fish, both of which I hadn't had in awhile. It was just as chewy and yummy as I remembered. |
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| We ate a late lunch, I ordered a variation of one of my favorite seafood dishes - raw squid mixed with rice, vegetables, and hot sauce. Also known as hwedubbap (회덮밥). It was so fresh tasting because the cook fished the squid straight from the tank in front of our table. |
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| Sunday, we went to Seorak Mountain! I believe it's the largest and most well-known mountain in Korea. |
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| Beautiful waterscapes and landscapes left and right. I took so many photos. |
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| AFT - apparently it's a tourist acronym for Another Farting Temple. Well, I'm still enjoying them. The same fellow hiker that told me about AFT said Buddhist temples are all tucked away in Korea (in mountains or at beaches) because originally Buddhism was not well accepted in Korea. Other Asian countries often have as many temples in the cities as they do in the country, but Korea is different. |
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| About halfway up. |
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| My sore legs are in payment for these beautiful Kodak moments. |
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| We were hiking up the Ulsan Boulder trail. If you look closely, there were many rock climbers too, which was amazing because those boulders were really smooth. They were using the crevices of the rock to climb up. |
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| Toward the end of the trail there was a mad number of people on the trail and we had to form lines. Traffic while hiking! |
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| I was actually happy for once in traffic, maybe because I wasn't confined to a vehicle. |
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| We made it to the top!!!! |
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| You can't escape the couple's traditions in Korea even many thousands of meters up in a mountain. Each lock represents a couple that climbed the mountain together and it means that their relationship will last forever. They carve or write messages on their locks. So adorable! |
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| Next day, we went to an even better beach called Jumunjin Beach. The water was more shallow and the waves more reasonable. I could see through the clear water and I was looooving it. <3 |
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| Couples and families dress alike in Korea. I used to think my mom was weird for buying us matching shoes or clothes, but now it makes sense. Sorry mom, I'll wear matching outfits with you, but only in Korea. LOL |
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| Our final meal before we returned to Seoul was fresh sea snails or whelk (골뱅이). I love whelk. Yumyum. |
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| I attended a workshop for my school in Incheon today (on a Saturday 0_o). Incheon is supposed to be the up and coming business district of Korea. There is a lot of fancy new construction going on, including this towering building. |
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| After several delays and getting confused making a transfer on the subway, I was able to meet up with Jihye for dinner. We were supposed to catch a drum festival but that didn't work out, darn my job's workshop. I got a very fulfilling dinner though in good company. |
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| One of my stepfather's favorite dishes and one I have to agree is delicious is the one on the right, soondubu jjigae (순두부 찌개). I tried making it a long time ago with little success. On the left is the burnt rice dish that I LOVE called nooroongji (누룽지). I might try to make both dishes later this week. |
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| I finally got to see my First soju tent (basically a plastic tent/tarp structure that covers a small number of people getting drunk and sitting on plastic furniture...a temporary bar of a sort). I've been hankering to see one after all the Korean dramas I've watched...that orange thing in the back is it. LOL. Jihye thought it was funny I was so interested in taking a picture of such a commonplace thing. I wonder if Korea requires liquor licenses... |
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| I also bought a handmade, mini-wood Othello game in Insadong! I am soooooooo happy about this purchase. Best thing I've bought in Korea so far. My pieces are dark blue and orange, which is an interesting difference from the traditional white and black. I taught Jihye all the tricks and strategies I know, and we giggled away as we had fun playing. I can't wait to play this with EVERYONE haha. |
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| This dish has lots of veggies. |
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| Seriously, it was soooo good! |
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| I made about half of the side dishes, my aunt gave me the rest. Lauren and Daniesha brought dessert, ice cream and Asian pear. |
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| I bought a simple Korean cookbook with Lauren's help. Hopefully it helps me learn Korean and how to cook at the same time. I'm excited :) |