Time Flies When You're Having Midterms

It's hard to believe that we have already been in Korea for two months! Everything seems to move so quickly here. Especially the time. It's been a while since I've last written a blogpost, so let me bring you up to speed.

Last week marked the midterm of the semester. It felt more like finals. I dreaded those exams and am so glad to have them behind me! Luke had four exams and finished Tuesday. I had five and finished on Wednesday. We then had ourselves a nice little break from classes.

On that Wednesday night, I went to dinner with my friend Sardor from Uzbekistan. He's one of the first friends that I made at Korea University. I met him in my Operations Management course on the first day. I've really enjoyed our discussions about Korea and cultural differences between our home countries. I think I might almost have him convinced to study abroad in the US. Other than that it was Indian food and it was pretty good. I didn't take a picture. I devoured it.

On Thursday I went with some friends to see a Korean baseball game. It was a blast! Completely different from a ballgame in the US. Instead of peanuts, popcorn, and cracker jacks (as my grandpa would say), Koreans eat fried chicken during games. I went for a hot dog instead. It tasted like America.

Friday we went to Gangnam! You know, from the song! It was a little different than Psy made it out to be, but I really enjoyed it. We walked down a street lined with trees and shops. It reminded me a lot of Gatlinburg for some reason. Then we turned the corner to have a drink at a cafe. It was all great fun, so we decided to go for dinner at a fancy Chinese restaurant that Huyen liked. Just between you and me, it all tastes the same to me, but it was good nonetheless. 10/10 would eat again.

This part of the city did have some really cool looking buildings though!

On our way home that night, the temple near our dorm had lit up a bunch of lanterns. It was beautiful in the dark. It was like the hillside was alive. There was also a friendly cat that was playing with people underneath them. I really wanted to play with it, but the Europeans were hogging it so I let it go. The lanterns are for some kind of festival. I don't really know much about it, but they're pretty cool.

Saturday we went to watch The Amazing Spiderman 2. I didn't take any pictures, but Luke did pick up about 50 Korean posters for it. Don't be surprised if you get one as a souvenir when we get back home. It was an alright movie. Not my favorite, but I'm glad I went. Huyen cried.

We watched it in a special theater with big comfy chairs. They were soft and big enough so that everyone had two armrests. I wish there was a theater like that back home! 10/10 would sit again.

Today I woke up early to go into the countryside to pick strawberries. It was quite an adventure as well as being my first time out of Seoul since my arrival! We took a bus with a spectacularly aggressive driver. Thankfully we survived the trip and I got to see a real Korean farm!

We first sat down inside to make dumplings. I wish they were Chicken & Dumplings, but they were full of spicy stuff and wrapped in some kind of strawberry dough. Surprisingly good though! Mine turned out pretty ugly, but I guess they all taste the same.

Mine is the one that looks like a burrito in the back!

After that, they must've thought we smelled bad, so they had us make some strawberry soap. It was a lot easier to do than the dumplings. Plus it smelled good. The lady giving the instructions also said it was good for your skin, so win-win.

This is the soap cooling.

While the soap cooled, they gave us some cartons and told us to get picking. I won't divulge how many strawberries I ate, but let's just say that I got my money's worth. And quite possibly the entire group's money's worth.

I even brought some back!

That's about it.

It's been a great time thus far in Korea. I hope that the next two months are half as fun and twice as long as the first two! I'll try to write more posts. Thanks for reading!

A Very Rare Meal

Colby has been busy studying. I should be busy studying as well, but this has become my form of procrastination. Midterms are next week, so stress levels are pretty high.

Again, last week was pretty average. I went with my friends to HomePlus, a Korean version of Walmart. I didn't take my camera, so I will have to take another trip.

This weekend, we headed to Gwangjang Market. There were many...interesting things there.

Martin told us we had to have dinner while we were there, and he knew just the place to take us. We stood in line for a section of benches to clear. A lady rushed us to our seats as soon as one group got up. We were told before what we would be eating, so Colby and I were pretty nervous...

We forgot to take a picture before we broke the yolk. Oops! This is pretty much what it looked like

After we mixed it all up.

Open up the tunnel, here comes the train! Choo choo!

This was a dish called "Yukhoe." Why were we nervous? Yukhoe is raw beef topped with a raw egg yolk with slices of pears. Eating raw beef in a market was not what I would call an ideal meal. I tried it. I can say I tried it. I would be lying if I said "dang, I am really in the mood for some yukohe tonight!" Don't get me wrong, it was actually quite delicious! It was just hard to get past the fact I was eating raw beef and egg, as well as the tough texture of the meat.

After that, we had some pretty good dumplings at some other vendor in the market. They were about average. From there, we headed out to the river just outside the market. I say river, but it is more like a creek. They had stepping stones to cross the river, so we couldn't pass up a nice photo op!

From there, we went back to Anam to a restaurant for some flavored soju and another special surprise...

The booths of the restaurant were in little rooms. We joked that it felt like the Hogwarts Express

First, let's talk soju. Soju is an alcoholic beverage that contains about 20% alcohol by volume. A lot of other people who are studying here find it very strong and nasty, but I think it kind of grows on you. A bottle of it costs about $1. Drinking is a very big part of Korean culture, and it's no surprise since a bottle of the stuff is nearly half the price of a coke! What we had that night was more expensive since we got the flavored kind. The pitcher on the left was peach and on the right was yoghurt. Both were really good, but the yoghurt was by far the best!

That dish in the middle dish was chicken feet. I will say the sauce was great! I ate all the onions and other stuff. I tried a foot, but the texture was just too weird. It was chewy and...just wrong. I think I actually preferred yukhoe. Again, great taste, but strange texture. I'm glad I tried it nonetheless!

The next evening we headed to Myeongdong. Forgot the camera again...whoops! Anyway, we spent about 10 billion and a half hours trying to find a place that served some great dumplings. We believe it was knocked down. Oh well! We found another place that served them as well. We also got some kind of noodle dish. Everything was absolutely fantastic!

Yesterday, Colby took us to a place that served food from Uzbekistan. No pictures again. I need to start remembering a camera. We had lamb and french fries as well as some bread. It was absolutely amazing! The french fries...oh my goodness they were better than just about any fries I have ever had! The bread was incredible as well! You don't get bread too often around here since everything seems to come with rice, so it was a really nice treat!

Today we went back to Dos Mas, a very Korean take on an American take of a Mexican food. I guess that is like 2 degrees of Mexican. An older woman who worked there was pulling up a chair so she could stand on it to change a lightbulb. Colby changed it for her since he could reach it. She paid for his drink and was very thankful.

It's pretty much the same routine every week: school monday-thursday, go out with friends thrusday-sunday, and do nothing but relax every other moment. The food is really the only thing that changes, so I guess that's why I talk about it so much on here! I guess I will change the pace a little bit.

So, we are about at midterms. I guess I can talk about what we miss the most from home!

Me: I miss being able to understand the most basic conversation between two people or even the most inane of advertisements. I tried to learn Korean before I came here, but it was incredibly difficult to teach myself. Languages have never been my strong suit. I also miss the food every now and then. Colby did find a place that sold Dr. Pepper just a few days ago, which was a godsend! Sometimes you just want some Saul Good Chicken and Waffles, a Wendy's spicy chicken sandwich, or a Doritos Locos Taco®. It's also nice to have food served to you every now and then rather than cooking it yourself. Oh...yeah...family. Yeah, I miss you guys too! I totally think about you sometimes all the time! Yeah! Honestly though, it's just like being back in Lexington. I hardly came home last spring semester, so it's not really that bad. I'm just thankful to be living in a time where I can quickly and cheaply communicate with my mother. There's none of that writing a letter and waiting a few weeks for it to get home. I also don't have to worry about international calling fees (I have a cellphone, but it's more for emergencies or if I get lost in the city.) The internet is a wonderful thing!

Colby: Pizza Stop...and pizza without corn in general. I miss food. Like Luke said, I miss being able to hear what random people are saying. Also, people don't really do sarcasm here. At least I have Luke, the coolest guy in the world, to be sarcastic to. Man, he is a really cool guy!

What don't we miss from home?

Me: It's bound to change, but I don't miss Kentucky weather at all! It's been consistently warm for the past few weeks with highs in the 60's or 70's and very little rain. From what I read, the rainy season starts in June, but doesn't really get going until July. Thankfully we won't have to put up with that for long since we leave toward the end of June.

Colby: The restroom stalls here are amazing! You get like a whole little room to yourself. It's a lot more private here and I absolutely love it! I also really like that I can get on a subway and go anywhere. At the same time, I kind of miss the act of driving. It's very liberating to just get in your car and go wherever you want to go! The subways are really nice here though.

Thanks to Huyen for taking all these pictures. I kind of stole them from you since I am so forgetful and don't take my camera when we head out!

War and Peace

I need a break after this weekend!

On Friday evening, we headed out to Itaewon again. This time we enjoyed some Italian food. Itaewon really has just about everything! If you are missing your home-country's food, that is where you go! It is pretty pricy though compared to everything else here. It was worth it though. Sadly, we were unable to find Dr. Pepper, a drink that we have been craving since we got here.

On Saturday, Colby went with his group to the river. His experience was a little...subpar. Meanwhile I trekked 30 miles north to visit the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) where the South meets the North. It was a pretty great trip! When we left, the sun was shining and everything was warm, but as we approached the border clouds began to roll in and rain pelted the bus windows. It was eerily symbolic. We passed along Highway 23. This was not the Country Music Highway I was used to. On my right, there were houses, businesses, and forests. On my left, there was a large fence topped with razor wire with guard shacks placed every now and then. Beyond that was the Imjin River. Across that river was a barren wasteland. That wasteland was North Korea. They chopped down all of their trees. Since the country has such a hard time keeping power on, many homes still use wood to heat their homes and their water. Our tour guide also said they probably chopped them down to give them a clearer view of South Korea, mentioning the North's thirst to see everything. It was bizarre and a bit sad.

But not everything was depressing. For instance, when you first enter the DMZ area, you are greeted with this:

Yeah, that's an amusement park. It was not at all what I was expecting! The DMZ has become a very large tourist attraction. It just seems a bit dark to me. Just a few miles away is a country that has people living in prison camps that have been compared to Nazi Germany during WWII. I'm not saying I wanted to be miserable this entire trip, but I sure didn't expect a place of so much happiness. It just seemed...wrong I guess.

Anyway, from here, we went to a checkpoint where a member of the Korean military boarded the bus and checked our passports. There is a significant gap in my pictures. We were not allowed to take photos while in transit to our next stop. A little bit disappointing, but oh well.

Our first stop was to a theater where we watched historical footage from the war while a narrator explained how the war started and how it "ended" (it is considered to be ended with the ceasefire, but no treaty has ever been formed.) The buddy assistant took pictures of us outside by the DMZ sign, but has yet to post them. 

Across the parking lot was another building. This was the entrance to a North Korean "coal mine." In 1978, a North Korean defector told the South Koreans about infiltration tunnels being dug out by the north. They found these tunnels, but North Korea denied they had any part of this. After more investigating done by the UN, North Korea claimed it was a peaceful coal mining operation. They proceeded to paint the walls black and abandoned the "mine." They dug a giant hole down to intercept the tunnel. This intercepting tunnel was a fairly steep, long, tunnel. It probably took a good 5 minutes to climb down. The tunnel was wide enough for 4 people to walk comfortably beside each other and tall enough to comfortably fit even the tallest of NBA players. It was obviously dug by a large bore. The "coal mine" was much different. This tunnel could hardly fit 2 people side-by-side. I had to stay crouched almost the whole way, and I'm pretty short! I hit my head a few times on the ceiling, so it was a good thing I had a hard hat (then again I would have probably been more careful if I wasn't wearing one.) Along the tunnel walls were holes that they would shove dynamite into to create the tunnel. The sides were rough and you could easily tell it was dug by hand and explosives rather than drill. The tunnel ended at a huge wall of concrete placed there by the UN to prevent anyone from using the tunnel again.

After a tiring walk back up, we boarded the bus and headed to the Dora Observatory. Picture time! From here, we could get a better view of North Korea, but there was a downside.

This was the line we had to stand behind. Yeah, getting a picture of North Korea was going to be difficult. I did manage to snag a picture of the North Korean flag...as well as some man. It is a pretty hilarious picture.

That flag post is in the city of Kijong-dong. First, the story of the city itself. Officially (if you can call reports made by North Korea "official") it is home to 200 farmers. Well, it's not. There are no people, and the interiors of the buildings are completely empty. When the war ended, North Korea was very rich, especially compared to the south. They made this city as a form of propaganda (the city is now referred to as "Propaganda Village") to show South Korea how nice it was and to try and get them to defect. I have conflicting thoughts on why they wouldn't at least make it look occupied. At first glance, it seems silly, but if you were in a struggling nation and saw that your neighbor just built a city for the fun of it, you might have second thoughts. Anyway, now the story of the flagpole itself. It has been dubbed "The Flagpole War". In the 80's, South Korea built a flagpole at the DMZ that was nearly 100 meters tall. Not to be outdone, the North Koreans built this massive flagpole that stands at a whopping 162 meters tall. At the time, it was the second-largest flagpole in the world. 

From there, we went to Dorasan Station.

From there, we went to Dorasan Station. This train station was completed in 2007 and currently runs 4 trains a day to and from the Kaesong Industrial Region (where South Korea has some manufacturing facilities in North Korea to employ very cheap labor.) It was completely vacant save for the tourists, military, a few people at the ticket counter. The station was absolutely massive though! There was the large station, then huge warehouses and parking lots all over. Strange for a station that just runs 4 trains, right? Well, they are trying to be prepared for the reunification. Currently, South Korea has no way of transporting goods by rail to places outside of South Korea. This makes transportation costs big. These warehouses are prepared for these goods, as well as the goods coming in from other countries. They are pretty serious and optimistic about reunification, which is just another reason to love this country and its people.

Oh, and here is a picture of the gate that someone will take to go to Pyongyang (the capital of North Korea) when reunification does happen. I hope to see the day that this station is put to use.

So...that was my Saturday. Colby was completely jealous of my time. It was a very interesting trip. I was a bit disappointed we didn't go to the Joint Security Area (where you can actually see North Korean soldiers), but maybe I will go back there in a few months. Who knows? 

And then there was today. We woke up bright and early to watch UK play yet another amazing game with a last-second three see some cherry blossoms. Yeah, we missed the game. Even Caroline, the other girl from UK, missed the game. We walked with her so we could get some live updates. We were prepared for defeat when we fouled at the 3. We were walking and she just stopped, mouth agape. "No...way...." I might have missed that game, but I was still shaking from the excitement. It was a moment that I will not forget (it's right up there with rushing out of the dorm with my friend Austin when we beat Louisville in the tournament 2 years ago). I was actually shaking from excitement. Let's finish out this tournament, cats! The Return of the Kings!

Oh, and here's some pictures from the walk. 

Long update, but wow it has been some kind of weekend! Lots of quizzes this week, so I better get some studying done and get to bed soon!

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