School Lunch

Everyday, I eat lunch in the cafeteria with Sun Jung and a few other teacher. The lunch is very cheap (less than 2,000won per meal) and it comes directly out of my paycheck; not to mention that it beats the hastle of figuring out what to eat everyday.

We eat on tin trays that get sterilized everyday and we always grab a metal spoon and chopsticks for utensils. In the tray, there are 2 big, deep bowls (if you will) and 2 small ones along with one shallow, small bowl. One big bowl area is for soup, the other is for rice. The small shallow one is where I always put my kimchi, and the other 2 small areas I use for whatever meat/vegetable side options there are. Sometimes there's fruit or a yogurt drink, etc.

No one ever drinks with there meal. There is a water fountain area near the door where you can drink after you put your un-eaten food in the food trash and separate your chopsticks, spoon and tray in the bins provided.

Usually the food is pretty good. I've grown fond of Korean food and it's not bad for you. They think food should be like medicine and everything they eat, for the most part, they believe is good for our bodies. The soups are always delicious, except there's one spicy and sour cabbage soup that I don't like, but other than that, I can always count on the soup and rice. The kimchi they make at the school is not up to my standards, and that goes for most of the students as well. I've had some really good kimchi at restaurants and Sun Jung's mom makes some pretty spectacular kimchi as well. And the sides are usually pretty good as well. I always eat what ever vegetable or additional type of kimchi side that is made for lunch. This ranges from flavored bean sprouts to radishes or even fruit. The "meat" sides include chicken, duck, pork, beef, seafood, and other things that I'm not so sure of...

Which brings me to today's lunch:

된장찌게 - one of my favorite soups; basically a salty bean soup (almost like Japanese miso soup) with cubed tofu and chopped zucchini and cabbage and, today, potatoes.

밥 - rice, today it was a greenish color; this could be food coloring to make it look pretty or maybe some kind of her or sauce added for a little flavor.

김치 - always kimchi

Bean Sprout side dish - I don't know the Korean name, but I love this salty bean sprout salad dish.

순대볶음 - this side dish is the inspiration of my blog today. Soondae is pig intestines stuffed with clear noodles and this particular kind is mixed with cabbage, peppers, and a red pepper paste.

Usually, I don't ask what anything is. By lunchtime, I'm hungry, and fully prepared to eat whatever is ready and waiting for me. But today, I wasn't starving, and my stomach was a bit upset to begin with. I scooped a few pieces of Soondae onto my tray along with everything else and sat down without thinking as I do everyday. The students all say hi to me everyday at lunch so I'm usually distracted by them. I was excited about the soup and the sprouts that it took me awhile to contemplate the rest of my tray. After noticing, then examining the Soondae, I had a hunch that it was probably some part of an animal I'm not accustomed to eating. I decided to ask the school nurse what it was, thinking she knows body part in English and would tell me if it was that. She only replied with the Korean name and smiled and added that there were noodles in it. I decided to man up and just try it. And I didn't like it one bit. So I scooped the rest of it onto SunJung's tray while she wasn't paying attention and the school nurse saw and nodded approvingly and I excused myself. Don't worry. I didn't puke or anything. But I did call my Korean friend, Lee, and asked him about 순대. He laughed, of course, and told me that I just ate pig intestine and then said he was envious because he loves that dish.

So there you have it, my pig intestine tasting. I'm sure I've eaten other "weird" things, things that we might consider weird, that is, but I never wanted to ask about it before. Now I just figure, what the hell, might as well know what I'm eating so if ever asked, I can say, "yes, I've tried it." And to peak your curiosity, here's a pic I found on the internet of it:

찜질방 JJim Jil Bang: Dragon Hill Spa

Last Sunday, I met up with Erin and 3 other teachers in Bucheon (Mel, Moira, and Jamie). The plan was to check out Dragon Hill Spa(jjim jil bang), which Erin and I have been planning to go to for months but never did...

What's a JJim Jil Bang you say? Well it's basically a Korean bath house. It has saunas, and steam rooms, and usually a common (co-ed) area with a heated floor that you can sleep on or just hang out and watch TV, etc. There are sleeping rooms too, and these places are abundant around Korea and very cheap. We're talking 12,000 Won at the most, and that's for 12 hours.

Erin and I stayed at a JJimJilBang when we first got to Korea and took a trip to Itaewon in Seoul. Which reminds me, I never wrote about our Homo Hill/Hooker Hill experience there. The point is, we slept at a jjimjilbang in Itaewon at 4:00a.m. when we were drunk and didn't want to wait for the subway system to open up. I think we paid 10,000 that time and they gave us an orange t-shirt/shorts outfit and we slept in a warm TV room on a bench because we weren't comfortable sleeping on the floor.

Getting back to Dragon Hill Jjim Jil Bang--it's amazing! I'm willing to wager that it's the best one in Korea.

So, we met on Sunday around 2:30 at Yongsan station and grabbed some lunch at Papa John's. (Yes, there is a papa john's pizza here and it was delicious--we got the spinach, alfredo, meaty, thin crust pizza and devoured it). After stuffing ourselves silly, we made way to Dragon Hill.

For only 12,000won on weekends and you can spend 12 hours there. You get a comfy pair of long shorts (which somehow ended up in my backpack ;) and a t-shirt; you know the really soft, worn and washed 1,000 times kind. There are 10 floors of things to do, including: a fitness center, an outdoor heated pool, a garden theatre, men and women only floors, a couple restaurants, and a common area. Anywho, we payed, and got our locker keys. The locker key is a plastic bracelet with key attached and a number disc that you scan on a turnstile to get in and use it as a charge card for any extra services or food you want while inside the spa. You pay for any charges you accrue before you leave the building. We put our shoes in the shoe locker, then made our way up to the 3rd floor-for women only-and proceeded to strip down to nothing and put everything in our big lockers.
(This is truly the Korean way, every woman of every shape, age, and type, walks around naked on the women's floor...I however, chose to wear my underwear and a top for reasons not worth mentioning. I actually felt more awkward wearing underwear around all the nakedness. Next time, I'll do it the Korean way...like Erin said, it's part of the whole experience.)

First, all the ladies wanted to hit a few hot baths/whirl pool spa type things. There were probably 10-12 different hot pools. Some were really really hot, and some weren't as scalding as the others. We started off in one that was around 40 degrees Celsius (they all have a temp. displayed above). Then I tried to move into the next one beside it that was maybe 45 C, but I couldn't do it. It burned and tingled.

Next, we decided to go to the outdoor section, which had a ginseng bath, a pine wood bath, and heated "walking pool" with jet currents that we swam in. I liked the ginseng bath. Maybe just because I like ginseng and the idea of bathing in it was titillating. It was chilly outside, so the hot spas felt nice.

We went back inside and tried out the 80C dry sauna. I couldn't stay in it more than 10 seconds, it's like sitting in your car in Florida during the summer with your windows up and no air. Why would anyone do it? Beside the dry sauna, however, there was an aroma-therapy steammy sauna and that was nice, but you instantly drip with sweat when you go in it. In front of the saunas there is a (freezing) cold swimming pool and there are 3 lines of sit-down shower stalls were you can scrub yourself with body scrub and whatnot. Additionally, you can pay to have a Korean woman in her bra and underwear, scrub you down from face to foot. Erin and Moira paid for this service and Erin said the amount of dirt and dead skin they get off of you is disgusting, but good. I'm definitely getting the scrub-down next time I go.

Erin and I wandered over to the other side of the floor and found more hot baths. We sat in a sea salt water bath for a bit, which is where we saw the scrub-down services--including a placenta massage...whatever that means ;P

I really wanted to get a facial, so I went back upstairs to the Orchid Spa and decided on getting the 2nd facial on the list. The first one was a basic facial and it seemed like it wouldn't be worth the money, judging only by the English translation. The 2nd was called a "Face Reduction" and I thought maybe it would be like a pore reduction type thing. It lasted for about 1 hour. First, she used this electric scraper thing on my face, which didn't hurt, it just sounded intimidating. Then, she massaged my face (really hard) with multiple gels/lotions. It kinda hurt at times, but I figured it was to really get deep down into my skin or something. She also massaged my neck and shoulders, which was nice. There was a little bit of face scrub, and then something like an ultra-sound, and more massaging and laying for a while with some kind of warm mask applied over a thin layer of tissue on my face, which hardened and was then removed. I felt good about the facial afterwards, like I got my money's worth. Later on though, my face was sore from the rough massaging. I asked my friend Lee about it and told him what it was called. Apparently, it's called a face reduction to help make your face smaller by massaging your facial muscles deeply. Most Korean/Japanese women desire a smaller face, so this is what they do to get it, well, this and plastic surgery. 3 days later, I don't think my face looks much smaller, but I think whatever she did is bringing everything to the surface because my skin has broken out a bit. Maybe I'll just go for the regular facial next time...or just shoot for the body scrub.

I came out of the room to see the girls laying in massage chairs. I put my Dragon Hill outfit on and we all went to the 1st floor/common area. The floor is heated everywhere and people are just hanging out. You can lay on the warm floor and watch Korean TV shows on a big flat screen, or you can go into one of the many warm sauna-type rooms all around the big room. There was a jade sauna, where the floor is made of Jade and I think there was some aroma-therapy happening in there, but we were finished sweating so we decided against it. Instead, we went ino an ice room and took a picture on Jamie's camera ;) There were also rooms that burned with charcoal and smelled like barbeque. We peaked inside a few and people were mostly laying down on the floor and resting, as the rooms were kinda dark. After a few more pictures, everyone was ready for dinner...except me, I just wanted a beer. And that beer hit the spot.

All in all, the Dragon Hill spa is the best place to go and relax. We want to make it a bi-monthly activity. Once I get the pics from Jamie, I'll post them ;)

July 19, 2009: From the Muddy Banks of Boryeong

Over the summer, Erin and I went to the Boryeong Mud Festival with Sun Jung, her neice and nephew, Hyun June. I didn't get many pictures of the actual muddiness because I didn't want to ruin my camera, but here's what happened and what I did catch:

I woke up at 5:15 a.m. this Sunday morning to get ready to leave for Boryeong. Waking up that early sucks, but once I got ready and left my apartment, I began to enjoy the dawn. The walk to Yeokgok station was pleasant; there weren't many people up yet. I like cities, but sometimes I hate crowds...unless I'm drunk.

Anywho, I met up with Erin, Sun Jung and co. at City Hall in time to catch our bus to the South East coast of S.Korea. Sun Jung made baked sweet potatos for all of us and we ate them on the bus for breakfast. She also gave Erin and I straw hats--which we never wore.

First stop, a miner museum of some sort in the outskirts of Boryeong in the mountains. At first I thought it was pretty boring. It was just about the land the was mined a long time ago and anyhow, everything was written in Korean. But then, we get in an elevator to go to another floor, and the lights go out and then the numbers on the elevator start go (down?) to floor, like 400 or something, and there's a stobe light effect and it was awesome because we were in there with some random Koreans who looked freaked out at first...but it was obviously a gimick, I wasn't scared at all, nope. Yeah. So we emerge into a "mine shaft" and there were dummies mimicking mining and whatnot. Now for some pictures...

We hopped back on the bus and headed to the beach! The weather was nice, and by nice I mean it wasn't humid and it didn't rain. First, we were famished, so we had a nice, traditional Korean lunch with Sun Jung and the kids.

Then, Erin and I split and let them do their thing while we walked around and to check out what this mud fest was all about. Apparently, the mud from Boryeong is famous for it's skin beautifying properties and the city has spas and world renowned mud products. (We got some free mud soap for being foreingers.) The mud fest started as a way to advertise their mud and once all these foreigners starting teaching English over here, it took off and is now a huge event. There were mud games, mud slides, mud painting booths and a stage for entertainment. Oh, and beer ;)

Erin and I layed out on the beach, wadded up to our waists in the Yellow Sea, painted some mud on our bodies and talked to a few foreigners. And then had more beer. All in all, a good day, worth the 3 hour bus ride. Next time, we'll go for the weekend!

Snow!

I woke up early-ish saturday morning to "volunteer" in Songnae. My room felt rather chilly and it had been raining all night, so I decided to pile the layers onto my body and wear my rain boots just in case it was wet outside. I walk down the stairs and out of my apartment building, and saw some stuff floating in the air, which I first thought was trash or some kind of flower pollen. Then I realized it was snow! I had to take off my mittens and feel it to make sure it was real. It looked like little clumps of fluffy, shaved ice. It changed my morning mood to a pleasant one, even sans coffee, and I became distracted from the harsh cold weather and delighted to be walking in the big snow flurries. I know it sounds cheesey, but it was exciting to me--being from Florida and all.

Yes, it was magical and beautiful the whole way to the neighborhood I was due to teach at...that is until I got off the bus and had to walk to their apartment in it. The wind picked up and the snow began pelting me in the face and I was completely covered from head to foot in it by the time I got to my tutoree's apartment. It stopped snowing during my class, but I got to admire it from their balcony window for a little while longer at least. I didn't get any pictures of it, but next time, I'll try to be more prepared.

Korean Style American Pizza

I just finished eating pizza with the 5th grade teachers (for some reason Sun Jung and I are grouped as 5th grade teachers) and since I'm on a blog kick, I thought I'd share the experience.

What's so special about the Korean version of pizza you ask? Well here are the toppings on the 2 slices I just ate:

cheese (of course)

mushrooms

red and yellow peppers

onions

bacon

...sounds normal so far, but wait, there's more...

potato wedges

corn

crab meat

shrimp

crumbled up nacho chips

something that tasted like salsa perhaps

yogurt sauce drizzled around the pizza near the crust

and speaking of crust, it was stuffed with sweet potatos

그래요? 네.

This probably sounds completely disgusting and extravagant to you, but being a girl who loves to mix all of my food together, I thought it was pretty good. Maybe I'm just getting used to Korea. Who knows. But I'm sure if these Koreans ever had American pizza in America, they would probably think it to be pretty boring.

In-ploo-en-ja chim (flu shot)--침'chim' actually means needle...I don't know the word for shot.

This has been the most chill week ever at school!

Monday--I taught the adorable, little 3rd graders, that I love so much because they actually pay attention in class and do everything I say.

Tuesday--I was under the weather, the cold weather that is, and got sent home to "take a rest" in hopes that my cold wouldn't turn into the Swine flu, or H1N1.

Wednesday--Still not feeling spectacular, but it didn't matter because the 6th graders had to study for another upcoming test so no English classes that day. (Not to mention the Pepero I received from some students who I encourage to suck up to me ;)

Thursday--Had a very light English class for the 5th graders, half of which revolved around a game that they played by themselves in pairs.

Today--Friday! I love Fridays and all the students know it. So I was already in a good mood when I got here (and the Cappucino from Paris Baguette also helped). Then I just found out that ALL of the students have to get their Flu Shots today. And it just so happens that the English room is next to the Nurse's room, so English classes are cancelled today. Why? I'm not exactly sure, but I think the kids all get to leave after lunch, too. I kinda feel bad for Sun Jung; she's running around crazy out there helping with this flu shot distribution while I get to sit in here and blog. But I don't think there's much I can do. And I offered to help.

In other news, I'm flying home for Christmas and New Years! The tickets basically cost me a whole month's salary, so you guys better plan an awesome New Years Eve celebration, and not just because it happens to fall on a Blue Moon this year, but also because I'm coming all the way from Korea to be there for it! I will get to celebrate 2 New Years this year because in Asia they celebrate the Lunar New Year. Jealous? ;P

Pepero(배배로) Day

Today is Pepero day. A holiday this huge company called Lotte invented to sell their chocolate covered cracker/cookie sticks. Usually they are long and thin and come in a box of about 20, I think. But today I've received 2 big Pepero sticks from 2 of my good students. I didn't have to teach any classes today because the 6th graders were reviewing and preparing for some more tests. So it was sweet of these students to come into my office after lunch and present me with the gift of Pepero. I'm sure Lotte is banking this week. Damn corporate giants and their cute holiday schemes. They are pretty tasty though...pictures to come.

So I seem to have caught some kind of cold and my school, being paranoid of H1N1 and all that jazz, sent me home yesterday. And today I had no classes; holiday for me! I am a little worried ab0ut my lungs though. I don't know how my asthma will react to the winter here and I don't want a stupid cold to make them weak ;( But alas, I have Albuterol, so I'll be fine.

Anywho, I hope that this decreasing temperature allows (forces) me to blog more, because there are so many things I want you to know. "You," as in whomever happens to be reading this. Anybody out there?

Stranger Encounters

The Subway Platform
So, I'm waiting on the train at Yeokgok station to go to Erin's house late one evening. There aren't many people around. I sit on one of the many empty benches to wait for the last train of the night. Then I hear this shuffling sound and I look over to see this very old Korean man slowly making his way toward me. I mean, very slowly. He's shuffling his feet and taking very small baby steps to advance. He finally stops right in front of where I'm sitting. He tries to mumble some Korean words to me and he looks like he's foaming at the mouth with spit. I was so afraid he would accidentally spit or drool on me I immediately got up and told him that I don't speak Korean (hanguk mal motayo) and motioned for him to sit down at my bench. He tried to baby step close to me and I backed away and just said "I don't speak Korean!" one more time before I hauled ass to the other side of the platform where there were some other people. I stand over near a bench with a couple sitting on it and then I hear that foot shuffling sound again. The little old man is pushing his feet in my direction! I start getting annoyed and wonder if any of the other people think it's strange that I am circling around these benches and he's slowly following me. Finally, I walk down around this vending machine, and when I hear him get to the side of it to go around behind it, I take off to way down the other end of the platform just as the announcement for the next train fills the air. I lost him. There's no way he could catch up with me before the train leaves. It's like a really cheesy horror movie, I feel like any second while I'm sitting on the train, I'll hear that shuffling sound and the scary old rabies man will come to get me...

The Crying Boy
This time I'm on my way to Itaewon to play pool on my pool league. I decide to get off at Yongsan station and take a cab from there to save time, not thinking about the potential traffic jam caused by the Korean Thanksgiving(Chuseok) weekend travelers. Yongsan is a pretty big subway station with a huge electronics mall attached to it. I'm not too familiar with this station, though, I thought I was when I decided to get off at that stop. So I get lost trying to find my way out and I start walking around the outside perimeter of the 3rd floor looking for a way down and head towards a parking garage. I get the feeling I'm being followed by this Korean boy behind me. It seems like he's trying to make it obvious because when I stopped to look down and see what's below me, he stopped and did the same in a mimicking way. After walking toward an obvious dead-end for pedestrians, I decide to turn around away from the parking garage and head back to the crowd inside. The boy turns around and does the same. So I stop, turn back and call him out.

"Are you following me?"

"Oh, I, uhhh, I just thought you were so beautiful I couldn't take my eyes off of you."

Not knowing what to do from that point, and trying to assess the situation and possibility of fighting with a potential cereal killer, I decide to ask him to show me to the taxi stand while picking up a rapid pace back inside. He asks me if I'm a tourist. I say no. Am I a student? No. But he is. So I turn the questioning towards him. What are you studying? What school are you going to? What are you doing hanging around the subway station stalking pretty girls on a Wednesday night?

He seems really nervous. He tells me how black my hair is, and other obvious comments. He thinks I'm half Korean. But I'm not. We walk down the crowded stairs and toward the taxi area while more small talk ensues. He assumes I have a boyfriend; I comply. I ask him his name.

"I, uh, um...I don't know."

"You don't know your own name!"

"I, I, can't remember it...I think I'm going to cry."

And with that, tears start rolling down his face. I didn't know what to do. He wasn't sobbing, but he obviously had issues. I try to ignore the crying to not make him feel more embarrassed. I say that I should cross the street and catch a cab on the other side. He walks with me, wipes his tears away, and he says, "What's your name?"

"Jessica."

"That means wealthy."

"How do you know that?"

"I know a half Korean girl named Jessica."

"Interesting. Well thanks for your help. I'm gonna catch this cab."

He tells the cab driver where I'm going, in Korean, and then he remembers his name. I've forgotten it. Something that sounds like thank you, but not thank you.

"Nice to meet you and thanks for your help."

And that was that. Stalker averted.

June---School Dinner Outing

My school's principal, Dong Hee, decided we should all have a dinner outing at one of his favorite restaurants, Jangwong Garden. Not all of the teachers here are fond of him, so not everyone came, but I'm always up for new experiences so I decided to go (but mainly because Sun Jung was going). We had Korean bbq, also known as Sam Gyup Sal, which means 3 layers of pork. They bring the marinated slabs of meat out raw and cook it in front of you and then cut it up with scissors in small pieces. With your chopsticks in one hand and a lettuce leaf wrap in the other, you take a couple pieces of meat and place it in the center of your leaf. Then you can add some of the condiments they have already brought out to your table, including: garlic slices, kimchi, red pepper paste, onion salad, or any other house specialty side items. Then wrap it up and enjoy. This particular restaurant was one of the best places I've been for Sam Gyup Sal so far. Their meat must have been marinated differently, not to mention the great outdoor atmosphere. We sat on raised, covered wooden platforms. You have to take your shoes off first and sit Indian style (or Korean style, rather) on the floor. It was very beautiful outside and I enjoyed the natural setting closer to the mountains. If I knew where this place was, I'd take Erin there. But we all went by carpooling.

Sun Jung, flipping the meat, and Young Joo observing.

I like to sit next to Hyun Joon, he has no idea what's going on too.

Some of the teachers at my school that I talk to.

The principal is standing on the left and giving a speech in Korean. He doesn't speak English and he's very peculiar.

Foods

Street vendor stuff: I'm not sure what it is, but I think it's balls of dough with squid and some veggies in it and then he put some fish flakes and sauce on top of it and wrapped it up for me. They weren't bad, but I coulda done without the fish flakes or whatever it was...

MMMM. Chicken skewer/kabob things that we get from the open market acrossed the street from my apartment. They're pretty tasty, if you don't think about how long they might be left out for and if they really are made with chicken meat or not.

Some breakfast options from Paris Baguette. They have lots of breads and pastries and cakes and coffee, etc. I frequent the place quite a bit as there aren't many breakfast options in Korea. I think she had a glazed pastry of sorts with almond slivers on it along with a cheesy onion stuffed bread.



Um, yeah...I hope you realllllly like zucchini.



Free waffles with apple jam and whipped cream and some coffee or tea at the Star Billiards pool hall---one of our top 5 hangouts, especially since we became friends with the owner and his family.

Korean style Japanese restaurant near Yeokgok Station (where I live). We think it's pretty delicious. Some would say it's too salty...but we like it that way. Erin and I usually share one dish, because as you can see, it comes with plenty of food. We had a chicken cutlet with cheese on it, rice, cabbage salad, kimchi, and delicious miso-type soup. Oh, and each table has a morter and pestle and they grind up some kind of seeds and squirt some sauce in a bowl with the grinds and you dip your chicken in it. I've yet to determine what it actually is, but I'll find out eventually...

Before.................................................... After