My Not-So Secret Love Affair with Korean Food

Korean food is different from what I expected but oh my gawd I am in love.

My favorite is bulgogi. Bulgogi is a Korean beef dish and it's usually served with mushrooms, green onions, clear noodles, sweet potatoes, and carrots. I'm not sure exactly what it's marinated with but I know for sure it has soy sauce and sesame oil and lots of deliciousness. Traditionally, it's cooked on an open flame in the middle of the table right in front of you, and you stir it while it cooks. The server just puts the raw ingredients in the pan for you and you turn down the heat when your meal is cooked. Bulgogi has a very distinct, deliciously sweet flavor that I just can't get enough of.

Raw bulgogi

Cooked bulgogi with rice. Nom.

My second favorite is bibimbap, also the namesake for my blog. It means "mixed meal" which it is. It's served in a big bowl, with rice on the bottom, some sort of spicy paste, various vegetables like soy beans, lettuce, cucumbers, seaweed and various vegetables that I don't recognize, then it is topped with a fried egg. Then right before you eat it, you mixed up everything in the bowl so the spicy paste and veggies are evenly distributed and every bite is delicious and nomful.

Delicious bibimbap at Andrew's favorite restaurant

Dakgalbi is something I have eaten my fair share of and I surprisingly haven't gotten sick of. Yet. I mentioned dakgalbi in an earlier post but as a recap, it's a spicy stir fry with chicken, cabbage, onions, and rice cakes. It's cooked traditionally in a pot in the middle of the table and sometimes it can be incredibly spicy depending on how much of the spicy paste they use. One time when we went out for dinner at school, I could barely eat it because it was so flippin' spicy.

Johnlyn and Fathima at my first time eating dakgalbi

A Korean cuisine that I am actually not too fond of is samgyeopsal. Samgyeopsal literally means "back fat". It's pork and it looks like fat, thick slices of raw bacon. When I first tried it, instead of the usual frying pan in the middle, there was a hot plate that was over the flame and you grill the meat yourself on the hot plate and then fat and grease slide off into the bowl underneath. It was tasty, but not something I choose to eat if I had the option. This was served with raw onions and mushrooms that we also grilled. Samgyeopsal, along with dakgalbi is served with lettuce, and you can use the lettuce to make a little burrito.

Grilling the pork and vegetables

Another Korean food that you grill yourself is Kalbisal. It's very similar to samgyeopsal but instead of pork, it's slices of beef. When we went out for kalbisal, instead of a hot plate it was a metal grate so all the fat would drip down into the hot coals underneath.

Johnlyn grilling kalbisal

Every time you go out to eat there are always side dishes. There is always kimchi, and some sort of other pickled vegetable, and there can be anything from peppers, pickles to sweet potatoes and anchovies. Another thing that is always served with Korea food is rice. Lots and lots of rice. It's amazing how much rice a restaurant goes through in a day. Once I find out this ginormous amount I will let you know. Eating out in Korea is pretty much self service. There's usually a bell on the table that you push if you need anything. I feel weird using the "bing-bong" because as a former server I think it's kind of rude, but I guess it's completely normal in Korea and they don't seem to think it's as needy or rude as you'd think.

All the side dishes that came with kalbisal

So far, I love Korean food. Don't get me wrong, some of the food I still struggle with to get down (like kimchi), and they eat a lot of pork, which I also don't like but so far I am doing just fine. I think my emergency box of macaroni and cheese might gather some dust before I break into it.

Nom nom nom.

K-Pop

K-pop is irritating, catchy, repetitive, annoying and everywhere. It's played in convenience stores, restaurant, bars, the grocery store, everywhere.

K pop groups can have a couple of members, or around a dozen. They're usually "fashionable", they love using their hands when they sing, and the girls look like creepy dolls, especially the blonde ones. (I think that Asians should never have blonde hair. It's unnatural and it gives me the creeps.) The songs are in Korean, but every now and then they whip out a word in English (usually the title of the song) so you think you know what they're saying, but then you realize you don't. What tricksters.

Here's a treat from Super Junior, a boy band with 13 members. This is them performing their song called "Mr. Simple". It gets real at 1:42, the rapping starts.

I think I hear Girls' Generation literally everywhere, but I'm not 100% because everything sounds the same. Girls Generation is also known as SNSD, which I think is an acronym for their Korean name. This one is called "Oh!"

Luckily, I've heard Seoul has a great underground music scene, so I won't have to rip my ears off from the infinite amount of k-pop.

K Water Field Trip In Chuncheon II

This past weekend we had to go to Chuncheon again for the last batch of kids. Even though I noticed there were kids that had gone before and some kids that weren't even students at our school. Here's a link to my post about my first field trip: K Water Field Trip in Chuncheon.

Tiffany with her new Hello Kitty earmuffs

Cute boy who doesn't even go to our school, but I love him

 We pretty much did the same things as before, met with Mr. Bang, sang the same song for him, but this time the CEO of K Water showed up and we got to meet him, so that was pretty cool. After the ecological park (which was pretty much all dead at this time of the year), we went to eat dakgalbi at the same place, went to the museum, and even saw the same drum group as last time. This time, Andrew and some of our students got call up to play which was really entertaining.

One of the drummers helping Andrew

We rode a boat on the river again, but this time the boat took us to Yanggu, instead of circles on the river. When we docked in Yanggu, we took the bus back to Inje. The boat ride was much more enjoyable this time because I slept the entire time. It was awesome.

Brother and sister, Luigi and Mary, with matching sweatshirts. Their mom had one too

The Soyang River with Fall colors

I'm actually a little sad that we won't have anymore field trips to Chuncheon. I've had a lot of fun on them, and they are much more enjoyable that teaching in the classroom. Some of our students are going to Daejeon in the first weekend of November for some sort of competition so hopefully I can go with them there. Word on the street is that if they win at the competition in Daejeon, then they'll get to go to the U.S. for another competition, so cross your fingers!

My group for the day. Best group ever!

I'll Give You Mine, If You Give Me Yours

Hi friends, family, lovers, random people I don't know but who may read my blog,

First of all, thank you for reading my blog. I'm glad I am able to share my adventure with you and I'm even more glad that you're actually taking the time to read it. I'm sorry if I swear or offend you in any way, but I am using this as not only a blog, but an online journal with my perspective on things.

I miss all of you and want to hear your voice, see your beautiful face, read your emails, and recieve fun mail from you, so I'm giving you all my contact information. And if any of you ever find yourself in Korea or somewhere in Asia, let me know! I may have a break when you're in my area.

email: arazue.foroozan@gmail.com (best way to contact me)
skype: arazue007 (embarassing skype name, I know, it's old, forgive me)
my Korean phone number: 010-851-96009
facebook: Arazue Classy Foroozan (that's my name, pimpin' is my game. Hah)

my Korean address:
Inje English Village
C/O Arazue Foroozan
Hanulnarin Center, 388 Nambuk-ri
Inje-eup, Inje-gun, Gangwon-do
South Korea (252805)

Since I gave you all of my info, I want yours. You don't have to if you don't want to. However, if you want a postcard, a phonecall, a Korean baby, a bottle of Soju, a souvenir, you kind of have to. So please email me your address or phone number or whatever.

I am also very open to any feedback you have to give me on my my blog, and I would also be more than happy to answer any questions you have about anything or give you further details on anything I've written.

I love you and miss you all immensely. Thanks!

My sad, pathetic wall of people and things

P.S. I really miss Cheez-its and my dad's kabob. And I wish I brought more pictures to put on my wall. (Hint hint, wink wink.)

Dr. Kevin's Birthday

Wednesday was Kevin's birthday so all us foreign teachers and some of Kevin's Korean friends all met up at Black and White to celebrate his big day.

Happy Birthday Kevin!

There was lots of cake, a kimchi pizza, lots of beer, and of course my nemesis cojinganmek (the soju-beer bomb) showed up.

Look how much fun everyone's having

Kevin blowing out candles to his second cake

A little background on Doctor Kevin. Kevin is a Korean who has been friends with a lot of the foreign teachers in Inje and surrounding towns for a while. He is currently serving the Korean Army as a doctor and is stationed in Inje on Thursdays to Saturdays and the rest of the time he is in Seoul. After high school all Korean males have to serve in the army for at least two years, so he went to medical school and is now serving his time in Inje. I don't know how true this bio is, I kind of just made it up from what I've heard. Sorry.

Kevin and Ra Ra doing a "love shot" or whatever

Kevin's birthday ended at a norebang (karaoke place) I think it's safe to assume it was a success. I also drank with a mom of two of my students, she's one of Kevin's nurses and I heard she sometimes hangs out with the foreign teachers and Kevin. She was pretty drunk and it was kind of weird drinking with a parent, but I guess that happens a lot in Inje and is kind of normal. We also did a "love drink" as demonstrated above by Kevin and Ra Ra. (I don't actually know if it's called that, but I think the actual name is similar enough.)

The End.

Seoul Searching

I finally went to Seoul last Saturday! It was not what I expected. I had always pictured Seoul to be a big metropolitan city with big skyscrapers, but was just all apartment buildings. Everywhere.

After a 2 hour bus ride, and a 30 minute subway ride, we found ourselves in Insadong. Insadong was a really cool arts district with cobblestone roads and lots of shops with traditional Korean paintings, pottery, and sculptures, along with tourists traps with "I Love Korea" t-shirts and key chains. When we reached the main shopping street on Insadong it started pouring so we took cover in a small hole-in-the-wall restaurant, where we both enjoyed jigae, a Korean stew.

Umbrellas everywhere in Insadong

When the rain calmed down we ventured back out to the main street.  We stopped at this really cool shop with scrolls that the shop owner hand painted, they varied from landscape paintings, to paintings of flowers or birds, to sayings written in Korean script.

There were also a lot of street vendors making and selling various foods. We stopped at one stand with two Koreans guys who were making a desert called kkultarae. They started with a big block of honey, then put a hole through it so it was like a donut of honey, then the guy continued to wrap the honey in loops so he ended up with thousands of strands of hardened honey that were dipped in flour. With those strands, they stuffed jam or chocolate and nuts inside so it was like a little pocket with the filling. They were so cute and friendly and had such a cute song to go along with their demonstration that I had to buy it. For my fellow Persians, it tasted a bit like Pashmak, but slightly thicker and sweeter.

The Korean vendors making KKultarae

After Insadong we went back on the subway to check out Myeong-dong. Myeongdong is a shopping district in Seoul with lots of local shops and international shops. They had a Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, Zara, Puma, and get this: a four-story Forever 21! It was like heaven's gates opened right in front of me. Myeongdong was incredibly crowded and had random people dancing and dressed up in animal costumes, a 'magician' who blew bubbles to the crowd, and a group of old people singing songs. There were a lot of foreigners here too, which was a big change from Inje.

Creepy pig who scared me

Umbrellas and people everywhere in Myeongdong

Overall, Seoul was pretty cool, but a little dissapointing. There's still so much more to see in Seoul so I can't really judge it now, and the rain and miserable weather put a damper on everything.

The Forever 21 with four floors!

My Sweet Little Town of Inje

Inje, the town I am living in is much smaller than I expected. It has roughly 10,000 people, 9 of them are foreign English teachers. I live about a 10-15 minute walk away from the town area. The "Town" area in Inje is made up of a couple of intersections with lots of small shops and restaurants.

 

View of Inje from the beginning of our hike

Last Monday, Andrew and I hiked up one of the mountains right next to Inje. There are a couple different paths you can take; either a paved path or a strenuous trail. We took the trail. It was rough.

Pointing us to the right direction

Even the pine needles were changing colors

Fall is in full force in the Inje mountains

The hike was beautiful. It was a little creepy though, because when we first started the hike, there was an army post, then when we continued on the paved road before the trail you could see the army base within the mountains and I guess if they see you taking pictures of it you'd be in biiiiiiiiiiiig trouble.

the Naerincheon River that runs right next to Inje

Beautiful little Inje. This isn't even from the top yet.

The highest point that we went to is where paragliders can jump off and soar through the mountains. You could see everything! We were even able to see Wontong, the city just down the highway from Inje. Along the hike to the top we passed a lot of fox holes for the army guys. I don't know if they are used, or when they would be used, but I can be certain that I would probably poop my pants if I saw a soldier in one.

Andrew jumping from the top. This is in the area where paragliders can jump off

Part of the hike down

This little blue seal thing is Inje's mascot (I think) and it's everywhere

So far I love Inje. It's really small and quiet, but safe, and you usually have to go to a bigger town to find simple things like fabric softener, face paint, sweatpants, or bedsheets but it's definitely a learning experience.

Rugby Sunday

Most of you probably don't know this or just don't care, but the Rugby World Cup is happening right now (in New Zealand), and last Sunday, South Africa played Australia, and New Zealand played Argentina. So of course with South Africans, an Australian, and a Kiwi in the area, Rugby Sunday had to happen.

We went over to the EPIK apartment (where all teachers from the EPIK program live) and they had a pretty sweet set up. They brought out furniture and a television from an empty room to the side of the apartment building where a grill was, so it was like we had an outdoor living room with a grill.

Australia won the match against South African, so we had two very crabby South Africans who went to their rooms to cry between games, but they switched over to the All Blacks side for the next game. In the second game, my beloved All Blacks beat Argentina (whoop whoop) so we will see how they do next weekend in the semi-finals.

After barbecuing, we somehow ended up burning Dallas's old clothes (Dallas was a teacher from Tennessee who left the day after I got to Inje). I blame Jasmine and Adrian for their weird, creepy obsession with fire.

Jasmine, Adrian, Bronnie, and Andrew

Burning clothes and fire dancing

I'm scared to see what we'll burn next Rugby Sunday. On a side note, for those that don't know, I studied abroad in New Zealand, that's why anything related to New Zealand is near and dear to my heart. I also might have a slight obsession with anything NZ. Blame the country, it's not my fault.

K Water Field Trip In Chuncheon

K Water, Korea's water company, is the company that funds our school and the company that pays me, so this past Saturday, October 8th, we brought about 40 students and their parents and some siblings to visit their facilities and to check out the Soyanggang Dam that they operate. The Soyanggang Dam is no Hoover Dam that's for sure.

We met Mr. Bang, our K Water liason, who breifly explained to the kids how a dam works and what it does (he spoke in Korean so I am assuming this is what he did), then we waked around the K Water grounds and stopped in their ecological park. Here the kids played a scavenger hunt with the teachers' names then they sang a song for their parents and Mr. Bang.

Lily and Jessica found my name!

After the ecological park we took a lunch break and went to a dak galbi restaurant, which is Chuncheon's specialty food, and is what Chuncheon is famous for. Dak galbi is pretty much a stir fry with chicken, cabbage, green onions, rice cakes, and like almost all Korean food, it is very spicy. The dak galbi was cooked traditionally, in a stir fry pot that's built into the center of the table. Dak galbi is definitely one of my favorite Korean foods so far.

Scraping the last of the Dak Galbi

We headed back to the dam where we got special access to the dam, thanks to our K Water affiliation. We got to actually drive and walk over the dam (which the public does not get to do) and we also got access to this higher look out point where we took a million pictures. All the parents wanted to take pictures of their kids with the foreign teachers, all the kids wanted pictures with us, and I even took pictures with just me and a bunch of moms. Since I was the new teacher, I was the new toy thing, so it was non stop pictures and smiling while we were at the look out.

The beautiful lookout ledge

The Soyang River. You can see the dam on the left

James. One of the smartest kids that I teach 

After taking so many pictures my cheeks hurt, we went to the other side of the dam and went to the dam's museum which was pretty lame, then we went on a boat ride left from right next to the dam, and went in circles on the river back to the dam. Right next to the dam there were performances put on by K Water that we got to watch, which were really entertaining for the kids, and I was really impressed by.

Alex and Sam. They look sweet and innocent now. But they're not.

One of our students, Max, was chosen to perform with the magician

The Drum group

All in all, it was a long, tiring, yet surprisingly fun day. And we get to do it all over again in 2 weeks.

Koreans, all decked out in their hiking gear, even though there were no trails in the area. I love them.

My 1 Week Anniversary

Thursday, October 6th was my one week anniversary of being in Korea. On this day I also became fluent in Korean English.

I taught my second class which definitely went better than the first but it still didn't go as smoothly as I would have hoped. My second class was younger than my first class so it was much easier to keep them entertained with learning games. I think we focus more on memory and vocabulary rather than reading comprehension and listening and writing so I'm having a hard time remembering that and not focusing on reading especially.

My fluency in Korean English is amazing. Using key words and not speaking in complete sentences is pretty much all I do. My first fluent sentence? "Arazue Teacher no class. Arazue Teacher sleepy time. No you." They understood me completely.

On my one week anniversary, Andrew planned a welcome get together in my honor and I got to meet the rest of the crew that lives in Inje. I met Tony (guy from Ontario), Ashley (guy from South Africa), Connor (guy from Tennessee), and Adrian (guy from New Zealand; it was so good to hear a New Zealand accent again, it had been almost 4 years). We started at a place called Shabe Shabe, which like traditional Korean restaurants, you sit on the floor and the food in cooked in front of you while you wait. Afterwards we went to a place called Jokke Jokke, which is technically the only "bar" in Inje. Here I was introduced to a fun little drink that I can't remember the name of, but it's pretty much a Soju-beer bomb, and a bomb it was. It was deadly. Here's an example courtesy of Google:

Looks delicious, right?

All in all, it was a fun night, rough morning, and good to meet everyone in my town.

First Day of Teaching

My director decided to surprise me and have me teach alone without notifying me. I was following Fathima all day, then when we got back from our dinner break, she informed me I would be on my own.

I wasn't given a lesson plan, just a worksheet with no instruction. It was an "introduce yourself" worksheet that I went through way too quickly, so I just had them play games. In all honesty, it was just a little awkward but not as bad as I thought, it's just weird talking to a group of people and knowing that they have no idea what you're saying. After class was over I found out they were being tested on what I just taught them. Whoops, I hope they passed.

On a completely unrelated note, I watched the movie "Friends with Benefits" with Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis and I'm embarrassed to say I really enjoyed it. Solid rom-com. I laughed, developed a girl-crush on Mila Kunis, and I took my bananas out of the refrigerator (you would only understand this if you've seen the movie).

Foundation Day

This last Monday, October 3rd, was Foundation Day which I think is like Korea's Columbus Day, so no school. Wahoo! I celebrated by going on a picnic.

Me, Andrew and Zaaid went to a neighboring town that's just about a 30 minute drive through the mountains (sorry I can't remember the name of the town). We met Bronnie (girl from Australia) and Johanna (girl from Manitoba) and we got our picnic supplies and walked towards the river. Our picnic food consisted of kimbap, which is very similar to sushi, but it's ingredients usually stay the same with ham, egg, and vegetables, and we also had a Korean version of Hawaiian pizza. The Korean version had ham, pineapple, peaches and/or mango, corn and cherries.

Kimbap and Hawaiian pizza

Just down the spot from where we were picnicing there was a group of Korean men who were doing the same, and they were catching their own fish and frying them on the spot. The came over and offered us an offering of their fish and super spicy peppers, even though they told us they weren't.

Our offering of fresh fried fish and peppers

After we gorged ourselves, we napped in the sun. It was quite the relaxing Foundation Day. I don't know if there are actual celebrations of the day, but there definitely weren't any in Inje County.