August Round-Up

Again, sorry with the lack of updates. Mainly it's because I am lazy, but it's also because I don't really have time to sit and write some of the posts that need to go before other posts, so I end up with a backlog. Here's some of the things I've done since the last round-up that don't really deserve their own posts.

First, the month of August was our "Summer Intensive course". Where other schools have camps and/or vacation, we had daily classes. So instead of 3ish to 9:30ish, I worked from 9 am to 5:30 everyday and had 8 classes. The kids came everyday (M-F) instead of 2 or 3 times a week. It was actually kind of nice because there were less students in each class so I think we got a lot covered and they got some practice. It sucked because I was so tired everyday as soon as I got home that I really didn't want to do much of anything except sleep. I did ride my bike a couple of times and I met some people for dinner once or twice, but everyone's schedule was messed up, so we saved most things for weekends.

On the last day of school one kid's mom brought all the teachers walnut cakes which are tiny donut-like things with a walnut and red bean paste inside. Another student's parents gave us rice cakes with gross dried fruit in them. I don't really like rice cakes anyways because they taste like glue and are all sticky.

One day during lunch, Carolina and I had ice cream at the Jinju bookstore. They built the ice cream shop in about 3 days. I had chocolate pretzel which was good, but the best part was the cone. It was a sugar cone, but it had little salty bits in it that just made it taste awesome.

One day after class I met a group of people at a place called "Mom's touch". It's sort of a fast food place and I had a chicken sandwich. It was good, but I don't think I'll go back soon. Just the name is pretty funny. Especially since Koreans tend to add "y" to words that end in "ch", so it actually sounds like "mom's touchy".

One night, an Irish guy named Eion (Owen) had a date with his "language exchange partner" and her sister. After the date, he met up with us and told us about it. It's pretty typical for a friend or sibling to go out with a couple when they first meet, almost like a chaperon. Eion said it was pretty awkward at times, but he was planning to "launch a charm offensive" on the sister so that she would like him. That made me laugh hysterically for like 20 minutes.

Two Sundays ago, I went with Liezle, Ilani and other church people to get bulgogi. It was the best bulgogi I've had. It was soup with glass noodles and veggies and then they give you a chunk of ramen to add yourself. They also gave us tons of sides and then coffee and sweet potatoes for free or "service" at the end.

Dumplings, ramen, noodles, veggies and bulgogi (thinly sliced beef) in broth

Heejin and Liezle with all our sides

Last Friday and Saturday, Cindy and I did repeat meals. On Friday we went to a little Japanese place with Spencer, Christina, and Chris. We had some really good food including a rice, beef and egg dish that was a little sweet, spicy oodong noodles and tofu sushi (which tastes much better than it sounds). After dinner we went to Canmore (a patbingsoo place). The 5 of us shared this huge bowl (the bowl was probably 8 inches across - at least) which had various ice cream, cereal, toppings and fruit (including tomato, which Koreans consider fruit, which I guess technically it is, but eww).

Huge bingsoo and toast

Then on Saturday, we met a bunch of people at the river for a sort of going away party. We left early and Cindy, Liezle, Kyle and I went back to the Japanese place. We didn't know how to order what we'd eaten the night before, so we just guessed. Epic fail. We got oodong noodles, but in a fishy broth, and then cold noodles with a cold soup that, as Kyle said, "tasted like grass". We did redeem ourselves by going back to Canmore and sharing 2 smaller bowls of bingsoo - fruit (with strawberry ice cream) and chocolate.

To the left is cold buckwheat noodles, in front is the "grass soup" and to the left is fishy oodong noodles. I did like the chopsticks though. Very pretty.

Chocolate banana and fruits

Told you it was a weird mix of events/things. I will try to update more often. This weekend I am going to Oe-do (a botanical garden/island) and maybe somewhere else, so you'll have to wait until next week to get an update.