Hye-Ran and Min-Young listen to the food cooking. mmmm .... spicy rice!!
Well. The Fulbright troupe has reached Seoul. Our stay in Chuncheon is over, and we're here in the world's third biggest city until Thursday. Apparently it's not a great idea to pack your suitcase (or in my case, backpacker's bag) well before you leave for someplace. Repacking it is a disaster. I should have taken a picture of this thing, it was this drooping, overstuffed monstrosity. Well at any rate, I'll be able to shift things around with my other suitcase, so all is well. Today Becky Rose and I went exploring Dungdaemun, one of Seoul's premier shopping districts. My school's dress code is "business professional" - the highest out of a possible "business casual" or "casual". I'm not sure if my all-Express wardrobe's gonna be legit enough. Sooo... I bought a suit! I'll try and get pictures up soon, but it's a almost-black suit with subtle pinstripes which was of course a black-market Seoul bargain. Got a professional looking briefcase, some gray trousers, and some more gifts (Korean ginseng tea!) for my homestay parents and principal (Korea is nuts on the gifts, which is kind of endearing).
Anyway, my apologies for being lax on the blog thus far. My stay in Chuncheon has been packed - literally every day is an adventure, and every experience is full of just ... Korea. It's hard to explain, there isn't just one thing I could write about that stood out from all the rest, it's more that everything I've experienced has been in the context of Korea, and that's what's made it so rich. That said, here's my top ten list of Chuncheon memories anyhow ;)
10. Theresa-shee, the ajjima (Korean word for aunt) that ran the convenience store under the dining hall. I don't know how, but she learned my name in the first week, and would always tell me the greatest things like how many mosquito bites she's gotten lately. Plus she spoke maybe 10 words of English. Lovable. :)
9. The green stairs on the side of our dorm. It's monsoon season, and they're ... what's the word ... shalacked? That sounds right. Yeah, I definitely hit my tailbone twice in one week in one of those banana-peel type falls.
8. Jackie's little skit about cold showers, stingy lunch ladies, and the bring-your-own-toilet-paper policy so popular in Korea. I've never really been an actor but ... I was in a talent show! The Fulbright ETAs hold one every year. This year one guy did that dance from the end of Napoleon Dynamite ... classic.
7. The over-eager English Club members at Kangwon National Uni. Without them, we'd still be wandering aimlessly around Chuncheon, wondering where the cool kids hang out.
6. Tak-al-bi (sauted chicken and veggies), bib-im-bap (egg and vegetable mix), patbingsu (fresh fruit, condensed milk, sweet beans and ice all mixed together), and MANDU (korean dumpings)
5. The fact that Koreans always feast when they drink. A night out will never again be complete without fruit baskets and squid pancakes at the pub.
4. Making up lame drinks like "kimchi on the beach" outside of FamilyMart.
3. The weekend spent hiking and visiting mountain temples at Songnisan. Hopefully I'll be visiting a lot more temples on Jeju!
2. Great new friends and too many laughs to count.
1. Okay this one's easy. In the convenience stores here they have this freshly made triangle of rice with spicy sauce inside, all wrapped up in seaweed. In other words, the best fast food ever conceived by man. :D
Well, I hope that gives you guys something of a cross-section of my time here so far. It's really hard to convey. We're off to the Demilitarized Zone tomorrow ... and I hear we get to step foot into North Korea! (but not if we're planning on keeping the foot) Haha, just kidding. They just take the toes. Take it easy guys, miss you all !!!
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