Let The Good Times Roll

Enjoying a bit of Mumford & Sons (great band!) as I contemplate the day that was....I opted to sleep in after a bit of domestic disturbance at about 4a.m. outside my window last night or it could have been as simple as drunken revelry to celebrate the record lows & unprecedented snowfall we've been having, either way it resulted in my snoozing later than usual.  Regardless, here's the loose replay of how things went down:

I had just wandered back from the neighborhood Big Mart to pick up a few essentials & was delighted to not only have received my first mail, holiday cards from my good friends the Conrad's & another Iowa Stater, Teri Williams!  Alas, more excitement was to be had as a notice had been posted to my apartment door at some time in the 45 minutes I had spent milling around the grocery store. 

Unfortunately my understanding of the Korean language is still quite lacking but am going to be a little presumptuous that I have a package waiting for me.  Looks like I'll have to hang around tomorrow & see if the Korea Postal service comes bearing good tidings! 

That's actually all the excitement I've been fortunate enough to absorb today but it's been a rather eventful week what with the 'work outing' Tues & James showing up with goodies on Wed!  A little background info before I get into the nonsense - so I'm splitting time between two separate schools/academies.  I'm at Sangmo-dong (which is about a four block walk from my apt) on M/W/F & Daeng-dong T/Th.  James is the director at Sangmo & has really been the man in terms of making sure I've had a smooth transition, have everything I need for the apartment & is the one I am essentially working for & getting paid by but am apparently on loan to the other school for awhile (my guess is for the duration) which is fine by me as the Daeng crew seems to be the more foot loose fun loving types; whereas James & the Sangmo gang are very serious & focused.

So, as it should happen, the Daeng crew inquired as to my availability to join them for dinner & drinks after work on Tues night.  Obviously I had to check my social calendar & make sure I had no prior obligations & as luck would have it, I was wide open! 

Unfortunately, there was a significant snowfall throughout the day, which led to much smaller classes than usual & the cancellation of my final group of eager learners; so after a rigorous four hours & change of dropping serious knowledge, the workday was officially over & it was go time, Korea!  The crew wandered seven blocks as fat flakes of snow lapped our faces & the Gumi winds whirled all around.  Finally making it to the restaurant, the appropriate shoe removal occurred & we were then led to the soon to be rowdy section of the joint. 

The discussion was mostly in Korean as the crew scoured the menu on the wall (which is apparently how they roll here), coming to a final decision of pork being the tastiest, most economically viable option.  As I've discovered with any time you're paying for restaurant food, it's not just the meat you ordered but a surprisingly delicious assortment of veggies to throw into the mix as well as rice on most occasions.  Oddly, however, rice wasn't included on this night but it certainly wasn't necessary.  Rather, we were treated to various sprouts, spring onions, fried onions, some crazy mozzarella cheese corn concoction, two different types of soup (a runny/watery bean option as well as a thicker, spicier bean variation), garlic, spicy peppers, sesame & lettuce leaves used to wrap the food  & finally, a third thick ginger soup accompanied by the hometown favorite Kim chi (cabbage).

Basically, here's how it went down.  The sprout/onion/spring onion combo was the first item delivered & I could only assume it was our 'salad,' which I suppose it was but found out later that it could also be mixed with the pork & shrimp (somehow they ordered that, too, which was good by me) that we cooked ourselves in a sort of submersed cooking pit with our waitress swapping out the cooking surface three or four times throughout the duration of the meal.  Not to be simply a dine & dash scenario but more of a 'team building' exercise, we obviously threw a little booze into the mix, why wouldn't we, right? 

I had a couple liter bottles of a Korean beer called Hite, which seemed like a tastier version of Coors Light, weighing in at 4.5% alcohol, so nothing potent but the three girls & the directors friend insisted on the traditional Korean dinner liquor, Soju, which is essentially their version of Sake.  Obviously, I was able to sneak in a couple shots of the 19% liquor as I'm pretty sure we toasted every time somebody didn't understand what I was saying or vise versa.  At some point, someone pointed out that it was also customary to mix the beer & Soju together, which made perfect sense to me, so why not!

Side note, after dinner when I went to relieve myself, the friend of the director wound up in the bathroom, smoking a cigarette, offered me one & continued on as this is commonplace over here....I guess this must be what it was like in the States back in the 1940's - 1970's when it didn't matter where you smoked.  Thought it was funny & a little bizarre, considering how tremendously healthy most everyone seems to be over here.  They do love smoking, though!

Of course the evening couldn't end at such an early hour, especially considering we were able to get an hour head start due to the weather AND one of the student's fathers owns a little bar/eatery just a few blocks from the restaurant we were already at.  Bring it!

We made our way back out into the cold & snow & headed off for some Patun or traditional Korean Sea Pizza (obviously the theme of the night was thrown as much 'traditional Korean whatever' at this kid).  When we arrived, Joe's father set down a few munchies & took our drink orders.  As I eyed the snacks, I detected what look like an exoskeleton on a couple of the bowls of goodies.  Lacking the better judgment to not say anything, I pointed out to the group that those looked a lot like bugs; they confirmed my assessment & filled me in on the fact they were relatively raw silkworms like the brown critter in the picture (which just happens to be the life cycle of said silkworm):

                                                 I ate the brown version


Apparently not many native Koreans eat many of the silkworms but I was able to put down seven of them, the first three or four simply out of fascination & the last few as mere bar bets that I wasn't dumb enough to devour another but I showed them....

So, anyway, back to the Sea Pizza, basically it consists of squid, clam, spring onions, eggs & some sort of leafy things all mixed together on a basic flour/water/salt crust.  I wouldn't really say it was baked in an over but more cooked a little bit.  Either way, it wasn't bad; kind of a spinachy/fishy taste, which was expected, although you could kick it up a notch by dipping it in a sauce of vinegar, sugar, hot pepper paste, soda water & sesame - needless to say it was tasty. 

Given the fact we had just finished gorging ourselves, we felt obligated to have some cocktails & enjoy the pizza, which we did.  Decided to wash it down with a 'traditional' rice liquor, which tasted like coconut milk served really cold out of a coffee mug.  Anyway, by the time we'd finished off the pizza & a few vats of the rice booze, Joe's father wanted to show his appreciation for our efforts as teachers & brought us a huge bowl of boiled clams & more sauce for dipping....surprisingly (never having been much of an oyster type of guy) the clams & the sauce were really, really good. 

That pretty much sums up the night.  By this time it was nearly midnight & I had a cab to attempt to catch, plus the rest of the gang had to teach the next day but not this guy!  The director was nice enough to allow me to hang on to her as she escorted me the five blocks to a main intersection, hailed me a cab & gave me 10,000 won (basically $10) for the ride home.  Now remember, kids, lots of snow, followed by freezing temps followed by more snow made for not only a tricky bit of maneuvering down the sidewalk holding up my psuedo-intoxicated director but this ain't Iowa, these people aren't really used to lots of snow & ice but the cabby did a spectacular job sliding the car the few kilometers (1 mile=1.6km) back to my neighborhood, picked up a couple partially sober girls who were anxious to practice their English & subsequently dropped me off about four blocks down the road, right near the apartment.

As I've discovered, bringing paper & something to write with certainly helps in the communication barriers I've faced so far.  In fact, the director's friend, a guy named, Kim Suk Dong (seriously) and I had quite a conversation writing things on the paper & having the two girls who speak English loosely interpret what we were saying as well.  I do find it odd that the director of this school can't speak a bit of English.  Anyway, good times were had by all, I was able to sample a few more 'traditional' items & made it home safely!

Of course this whole night happened, the one time I didn't bring the camera with to document but one of the girls took some pics & there is verification that I was consuming silkworms.  I always thought it would be disgusting but it really didn't taste like much at all but remember, there was a fair bit of liquid courage happening, too!

To top off all the other fun & excitement, just yesterday I witnessed a tiny old man spend what seemed like 30 minutes attempting to make his way up a very slight incline that had been covered in snow the previous night, poor guy was holding onto the wall with one hand, using the other to balance himself & kept churning his right foot like a bull ready to charge the taunting matador.  Poor old dude kept at it, despite his lack of progress until it must have dawned on him to give the other foot a shot & whoa-la, the left foot made mediocre progress followed by the slightest forward progress from the right.  Literally, I wanted to go help the guy but there was no way I could have imagined it would have taken him as long as it did.  Plus, I was pretty hung over & really comfy in my pajamas but it's one of those things you witness in life & have a tremendous amount of difficulty making the realization that the event really just happened. 

Anyway, he eventually made it the 10 feet to the little community 'reclamation' pile, where he proceeded to pillage for the best in discarded items the neighbors had tossed out.  Here's hoping the little guy found himself something real nice! 

Big day planned for New Years; thinking about shaving, probably take a shower (not to worry, I've perfected the cold shower, it's all about timing the two bursts of hot water just right) & mozy on down to one of the local watering holes for a tasty beverage, maybe see if they have some silk worms to munch on & see how awesome I can be, Korean style!

Here's hoping everyone had a delightful little Christmas & enjoys a mildly productive, slightly contemplative & ridiculously inexpensive New Years Eve....here's to a 2011 filled with a whole lot of livin', joy, happiness, prosperity, love, laughter, good friends, great memories & a whole bunch of whatever it is you want most! 

Be well, people....that is all!