Good evening to you all - I'm writing especially to the brave Minnesotans today who are dealing with the Midwest's greatest accomplishment: winter weather. Exhibit A: subzero temperatures and snowdrifts. Exhibit B: the Metrodome's roof collapsing...yikes!
Anyway, Minnesota totally stole my thunder for this week's post, since I have some pictures of my first snowfall in Korea (i
t just had to one up me, didn't it?) On Wednesday it snowed for a couple hours in the morning, but by the evening
it had all melted and then it was back in the 40s for the rest of the week. So I got a taste of winter on Wednesday, but mostly I still feel like I don't deserve Christmas yet because I haven't endured the suffering of the Midwest in December. There's still time I suppose. These are pictures outside my classroom window, by the way - they have an interesting way of pruning the school bushes and trees.
t just had to one up me, didn't it?) On Wednesday it snowed for a couple hours in the morning, but by the evening
it had all melted and then it was back in the 40s for the rest of the week. So I got a taste of winter on Wednesday, but mostly I still feel like I don't deserve Christmas yet because I haven't endured the suffering of the Midwest in December. There's still time I suppose. These are pictures outside my classroom window, by the way - they have an interesting way of pruning the school bushes and trees.
I can't believe I'm writing this, but it's down to my second to last week of the semester -our last day is Christmas Eve. I have been in Korea for almost exactly 4 months now - unbelievable. Remember I told you time seems to work differently in Korea? Still true. Anyway, I have a bunch of Christmas events going on this weekend and next week, so I have been busy baking, shopping, wrapping, and crafting. I must say, it's a lot more fun to prepare for Christmas when I don't have to worry about final papers, exams, swimming, and driving the 6 hour drive home through winter weather. The only thing missing (besides friends and family, of course) is Barnes and Nobles - the best at Christmastime. Someone please go enjoy it for me.
I had a really good weekend - it was a balance of fun and productivity (and a lot of food consumption) that, as usual, went by way too fast. Friday night I studied diligently for my test on Saturday morning (test, not quiz) but when I showed up on Saturday morning with conjugated verbs dancing around in my head, I found out that instead of Korean class all of the students were going on a 'field trip' to put our newly learned language skills to good use. All of the levels were combined together (so I was with some of my other friends in the other classes) and we were walked a few blocks over to Daein Market, one of the largest covered markets in Gwangju. I must say the GIC (the people who put on the lessons - Gwangju International Center) had a pretty great field trip set up for us - our small group task w
as to walk around in the market and buy ingredients that we needed to make a Korean dish. We had fun wandering (more like led around for fear of us getting lost) around the market, and now I know where to go when I need fresh turtles or eels for my next recipe.
as to walk around in the market and buy ingredients that we needed to make a Korean dish. We had fun wandering (more like led around for fear of us getting lost) around the market, and now I know where to go when I need fresh turtles or eels for my next recipe.
hen dipped in flour, egg, and fried in a pan. It was delicio
us.When we were finished cooking we took our creations back to the original room, where the other group was busy making a type of cookie out of melted sugar. We all shared and enjoyed our mini lunch - much better than taking a test.
After Korean 'class' I headed to the orphanage, where we talked about puppets (in preparation for the upcoming puppet show) and did a mini skit with the girls - it was so much fun! There is a little more structure to our orphanage activites these days, with planned activities and topics - a little planning sure goes a long way. The girls always put a smile on my face, especially when they come running over to greet us as we walk in. We have our Adopt a Child Christmas gift event this Saturday, when we will give the girls presents from their wishlist (all through volunteer efforts to put their name on the list and buy presents for the girls) I'm really looking forward to bringing Christmas to the orphanage. There is also a bake sale this weekend to raise money for the orphanage.
After the orphanage Sara and I really had no objectives in mind but we still wanted to hang out downtown. Since it was a little chilly to just wander around, we did some minimal shopping...but ended up bouncing around to different establishments - first for coffee, (oops...twice for coffee) then a few hours later we had a snack, then dinner, followed up with dessert. We concluded that our day had absolutely no productivity, but at least we did what we are best at: sitting, eating, and chatting. It was nice to have a day of nothing.
After Sara went back home to Jangheung I headed back myself to get a head start on Sunday's task: Operation Christmas. I have taken it upon myself to make Christmas cookies for all my students, since they don't really have the concept of baking Christmas cookies over here (Korea has never really been a traditional baking society - many Korean homes don't have ovens.) Can you imagine? Anyway, I decided to bake all the cutouts this weekend (thanks to Mom for mailing me Christmas cookie cutters) so that I could freeze them and decorate them when the time came to distribute them in class next week. So I got busy. By dinnertime on Sunday I had accomplished most of my tasks, so I figured I deserved the night off. I had been invited out for seafood at a traditional Korean seafood restaurant, so I showed up ready for a new experience, since eating seafood in Korea is quite different than the way we eat at home.
And an experience was what I got. Our friend Eddie (his actual name is Hyun Seok...but we call him Eddie) took us to a shellfish restaurant, where we were seated at a round metal table with a huge hole in the middle. Inside the hole was a fire thing (I'm not sure how they lit the fire...I just know it was burning...) with a grill on top. What did 
we do with this grill, you might ask? Grilled a basketful of oysters, that's what. We got a huge basket overflowing with fresh oysters, and with our metal tongs and special gloves, we roasted and grilled our oysters to perfection. I had actually never eaten an oyster out of the shell before (to be honest, I didn't even really know what one looked like...) but I learned that you have to wait until it starts to crack open on its own, and then you have to pry it open with your knife and check to see if it's ready to eat. It turned out Sokhom (pictured - happily prying open an oyster family of five...) liked hers pr
etty raw, I liked mine well done, and Eddie was somewhere in the middle, so the three of us had a good system down of opening them up, then passing them over to whomever would enjoy it the most, depending on how much it was cooked or not. It worked well. We had a great time cracking, chatting, and munching.
we do with this grill, you might ask? Grilled a basketful of oysters, that's what. We got a huge basket overflowing with fresh oysters, and with our metal tongs and special gloves, we roasted and grilled our oysters to perfection. I had actually never eaten an oyster out of the shell before (to be honest, I didn't even really know what one looked like...) but I learned that you have to wait until it starts to crack open on its own, and then you have to pry it open with your knife and check to see if it's ready to eat. It turned out Sokhom (pictured - happily prying open an oyster family of five...) liked hers pr
etty raw, I liked mine well done, and Eddie was somewhere in the middle, so the three of us had a good system down of opening them up, then passing them over to whomever would enjoy it the most, depending on how much it was cooked or not. It worked well. We had a great time cracking, chatting, and munching.
We had some side dishes with our oysters (soup and kimchi, of course) so I was pretty sa
tisfied by the time we finished our basket...but then I learned that we had ordered the unlimited oysters...and my dinner companions weren't full yet. So, we got another basketful and I continued to enjoy perfecting my oyster skills. I ended up getting more practice than I bargained for...because Sokhom and Eddie still weren't full! Three hours and three baskets later, we finally decided we were pretty oystered out, so we paid a mere eight dollars each and headed out.
tisfied by the time we finished our basket...but then I learned that we had ordered the unlimited oysters...and my dinner companions weren't full yet. So, we got another basketful and I continued to enjoy perfecting my oyster skills. I ended up getting more practice than I bargained for...because Sokhom and Eddie still weren't full! Three hours and three baskets later, we finally decided we were pretty oystered out, so we paid a mere eight dollars each and headed out.This past week I've noticed how much more settled in I feel - I don't feel like I need to run myself down by jam packing my schedule and making sure I don't miss any 'Korea experiences' - I have an actual life here, and living includes working in some time to just stop and enjoy life around you. There is rarely a day when I don't think to myself 'hey, you're in Korea right now!' especially as I walk to the bus stop from school and admire the beautiful mountain scenery along the one street village. Korea is continually surprising me, and I'm learning to just settle in and take it as it comes, one day at a time.
I hope you all have a great week - you are probably all snowed in right now if you're in Minnesota - enjoy a cozy day at home. You know you wanted to stay home instead of go shopping at the mall anyways. Happy almost Christmas week!
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