Korean Cooking

I took my first stab at cooking a Korean dish last week.  After a trip to Homeplus to pick up all the essentials needed to make Doenjang Jjigae (soybean soup served at pretty much every typical Korean joint), I searched the store for at least 20 minutes in search of rice.

Yes, you heard right..rice..in a Korean grocery store.  I couldn't find it.  I'll admit it, I've lived here for over 5 months, and I have never bought rice even though it is a staple in the Korean home.  I always felt that I eat rice every day for school lunch so why make it at home??  Well, when I finally found the rice aisle (oddly placed next to the fruits, hence not being able to find it), I discovered the smallest bag of rice I could purchase was a 3kg monster.  I guess I'll be eating more rice at home now.

Ingredients and my large bag of rice

Finished product!

A Day at the Jimjilbang.

Last Sunday, I went to my first jimjilbang here in Korea.  Jimjilbangs are basically public bath houses where people can go sit in hot tubs, saunas, or take a rest on the heated floor for a while.  All of the main bath areas where the hot tubs, showers, and massage tables are are gender segregated because everyone walks around completely naked in these areas.  I knew people would be naked, but I honestly had no idea they literally just walk naked from one section to another without covering themselves up.

The other areas in the jimjilbang are unisex so a lot of people actually go on dates here, and families bring their kids to just hang out in the main common room for a day or weekend outing.  In all the unisex rooms, including the hot and cold saunas, people are wearing the uniform given to them by the jimjilbang.  Just like the gyms here, there is one uniform for women and a slightly different color shirt for men.  Because you can sleep in these places, sometimes people go there specifically for a cheap place to sleep rather than paying for an expensive taxi home or a motel in the middle of the night.  I think they generally cost between 8,000 and 12,000 won and you are allowed to stay for something like 12 hours under that entrance fee.

I went with 3 of my friends to Dragon Hill Spa at Yongsan Station.  You go in, pay the fee, and they give you 2 small towels, a uniform, and a bracelet with a number on it.  Then you go find your bracelet number on a tiny locker meant just for your shoes so you don't walk around with your shoes on inside the spa.  Then, you go through to the male or female sections to find another larger locker with your number where you can store the rest of your clothes and things.  We got naked right away and headed to the hot tubs.  At first, I was totally not comfortable with this, but the longer we were there, the more I got used to it.  When in Rome...  I guess.

There are a bunch of different hot tubs with varying temperatures, jets, and minerals.  We wandered around to a few different tubs, and then Kristen and I got a scrub down by ajummas wearing black bras and panties. This ajumma was no joke.  She sloughed my body of a boat load of dead skin.  It was absolutely disgusting and wonderful.  It's also kind of weird because you're laying naked on a table, being twisted into all sorts of awkward positions by a middle aged woman.
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After the hot tubs, we put on our uniform and went out into the unisex area where there are multiple snack bars and crowds of people just lounging around.  We went into some of the saunas of different degrees and materials, where I felt like I was going to suffocate.  Korean people were just in these pyramid saunas reading books, relaxing, and not sweating at all.  Typical.  My first jimjilbang experience was a perfect escape from the freezing cold winter, and I will definitely be going back for some relaxation.

A new year..and my trip to HK

Well, it's been a while since I've updated.  I'm back from vacation, and I have been working at winter camp for the past 2 weeks.  It's not bad so far.  I only teach 4 classes per day, and I get to leave when they are over at 12:10pm.  Needless to say, I've been taking a nap every single afternoon.  I also accomplished watching all 25 episodes of Boys Before Flowers, a K-drama, in just about 6 days total.  Each episode is at least 1 hour long.  You do the math.  If anyone has some time on their hands to read a lot of subtitles, I highly recommend.

I'll take the rest of this blog entry to talk about Hong Kong and Macau.  (It's more for me to remember what we did..sorry, I know this kind of blog is boring)  First of all, the weather is absolutely amazing.  We left Seoul, with record low temperatures and negative wind chills.   We landed in Hong Kong on December 26th to be greeted with temperatures in the 60's. ^^

The first night we got in really late so we just went to bed.  We stayed at Hong Kong Hostel in Causeway Bay for the first 2 nights and got our own room.  Hostels in HK aren't the best, but it was good for what it was.  Our first full day in Hong Kong, we walked from Causeway Bay to Central.  We stopped to eat lunch at a pretty seedy looking "cooked food" market, but we got rice and noodle dishes for around $3 each.  After that, we took the Peak tram up to the top of the Peak and saw some sick views of HK and Victoria Harbor.  We wandered to East Tsim Sha Tsui to the Avenue of the Stars and saw the Symphony of Lights show on the harbor.

Future Self.

Another one from Reverb 10.  December 21:  Future Self.  Imagine yourself 5 years from now.  What advice would you give your current self for the year ahead?  (Author:  Jenny Blake)


Dear Self,


The year ahead of you will be one of the most exciting, greatest, challenging years of your entire life.  Don't be scared.  Go out into this strange, new world and experience as much as you possibly can.  Keep an open mind.  Don't be so quick to judge others and the way they live.