Ok so that is still one of three words that I have learned in almost three weeks of me being here. I can't believe it's been that long, yet I feel like I've been here much longer. That is a good thing I suppose- just fell right into place.
So I'll give an update:
Last night I had my first all staff dinner afterwork. I have yet to work for corporate America so I don't know how to compare the two work dinners... but if they're anything like here then sign me up. I'm putting a picture up at the end of this to show our table of people, but for the sake of the story there were about 20 of us all sitting at a traditional Korean table. You would think after all the yoga I've done and the ballet that I would be ok to sit under one of these tables for a long period of time... I was sorely mistaken, emphasis on the sore. I think my feet/legs/but all fell asleep before the first shot of rice wine. By the seventh shot, supplementing with beer of course, I think my face was asleep in addition to my feet/legs/but. That stuff is strong....whewww.
Aside from my minor inebriation the dinner was great. I'm becoming a pro at chopsticks. I eat soup with chopsticks, any kind of noodle and rice dish, and Korean salad. I decided to help myself get better by buying chopsticks instead of silverware for my apartment too. Forks and butter knives are really rare here and when you find them they are all 4 dollars each. To buy a set of 4(fork, knife, spoon) is almost 50 dollars, where you can buy a few spoons and chopsticks for 10. Clearly I haven't gotten my first pay check yet!
The food is growing on me too. I secretly love kimche now- kind of crave it actually. It's been really easy for me to sample lots of different dishes because at Korean dinners you order for the table not just one person, . So I've tried stuff I probably would not dream of ordering. Such as... I tried something that mildly resembled coleslaw last night- hmm it was kind of chewing- tasted pretty good- turns out I was eating shredded dried squid with vinegar on it. So ok, I lived. Would never have ordered it, but hey, not to shabby. I also eat lots of tofu here. There is a really good soup they bring out before your main dish in ready that has a good scallion taste with cubes of tofu soaking in broth, yum.
So this my came as a shock to all of you- but the only thing I'm having severe withdrawal from is Potbelly's. They don't believe in turkey in this country! It's really quite sad. This weekend is Chusok which is the Korean Thanksgiving, and I asked my students what special food they eat for the holiday. They all chanted something I couldn't understand that they explained was rice cake. One little girl promised she would bring some in so I could try it..... should be interesting. Anyway, I was trying to tell them about an American Thanksgiving and the food that we eat and it was like pulling teeth because they have never heard of pumpkins, turkey, or cranberries. You can buy potatoes here, but they don't have any recipes with them in them. I think it's more for westerners.
This is short I know. I have a date with my friend Diana(only American girl I have met in Mok-Dong so far) to go get some ramen for lunch. Yum yum!
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