Showing posts with label teaching English. Show all posts
Showing posts with label teaching English. Show all posts

Monday, May 10, 2010

Heart (or should I say Intestines) and Seoul

You may already be a little worried about this post because of the title of it, but fear not, it's not that gross... or most of it isn't gross. Danny and I went and spent the weekend in Seoul last weekend, and honestly I could probably go back to that city 10 more times to see it all (and eat more food)! It's huge! So we got to Seoul Friday night and started the trip out right... by eating some delicious food. We went to Din Tai Fung, which is actually Chinese, but oh my oh my was it good. We met up with our friend JP who is so awesome to show us around Seoul a little bit and so we went to the busiest shopping area where I made my momma proud and found the only H&M in Korea. The next day I broke down and bought a few things, but let's just say it is good that store is a 3 hour bus ride away!

Now on to the gross part! So Saturday was great filled with a traditional Korean village, more shopping, etc. but as we were walking through Namdaemun Market, we decided to eat some street food for lunch. Most of it was excellent like duckalbee (which is rice cake in a bright red sauce, croquettes (but that isn't the Korean name, I just can't remember it) filled with stir fry pork and vegetables, and hoto ( pronounced "hohtoe" which is the most amazing fried dough thing that looks like a pupusa but is filled with cinnamon and sugar). Then JP brings out the plate of craziness! On the plate we had liver (yuck), pig's lung (eww), and pig intestines stuffed with glass noodles which where soaking in pig's blood(what?!). WOW. Now honestly, I tried them all an they weren't that bad, but often when it comes to some Korean food, it's not that bad, but it's not GOOD either. So why waste the time when I could be eating delicious hoto till I puke?


Now, no more gross stuff... on to the rest of our time in Seoul. So in Namdaemun Market you can find probably anything you could ever imagine from matching guy/girl underwear to a ridiculous amount of shoes. We even saw groups of older women all over the place rummaging through a pile of clothes on the ground as a man was yelling something like "EVERYTHING MUST GO!" or something like that in Korean. Seoul is the place where I have litterally never seen that many people. You feel like nothing because there are thousands of people walking around you at all times!

Caption: "I must have this pink striped sweater!" "Get out of my way, I see khakis that may or may not fit me!" "Maybe I will just stick some of this stuff in my purse and no one will know... haha!"

In the evening we went to the Seoul Tower, which is an awesome place to see. It has an amazing view and apparently it is the place to take a date...rrrRRaarRRR. The highlight, as Danny said, though was being able to pee at a urinal with the best view in the world.


We also saw a sign on the window that told us how far away we were from Denver! 9,927 km or 6,168 miles away from family, friends, Chipotle, Five Guys Burgers, and so much more! Oh how we miss it!
When we got down from the tower, we walked through the crazy shopping area again to get to our bus, and you would litterally be pushing into the backs of people because the streets were so crowded. That didn't stop me from purchasing the tallest swirl cone I had ever seen though. If only more icecream was served to be the height of your face! (I think I must be hungry because most of this blog is about food ; )

The trip concluded with the best experience ever!!!!!! This is where your eyes tear up when you think of the joy that Danny and I went through when we ate supper at a MEXICAN restaurant called Dos Tacos. It was fresh and delicious and all of us on the trip, even the Scottish, gorged themselves on mexican food. We had 2 burritos, 2 orders of chips and salsa, 2 margaritas, 1 quesadilla, and 1 taco and I could have done more. There was avacadoes and sour cream and limes and I'm pretty sure that God created that restaurant just for me!


I wanted to lick the plate but I didn't know how that would go down, so I refrained. Oh Dos Tacos, how I love thee!

We ended up walking out of that place with a proper "food baby" and I wouldn't have had it any other way.
Our trip to Seoul was a sucess and we hope that some of you will come visit us so we can have more excuses to go up there! Today's Korean word for the day: Mashisoyo! (delicious)









Thursday, March 4, 2010

Livin' the Andong Life

Our days have been full since we got here…mostly with trying to wrap our head around the fact that we live in Korea. Crazy. But, we have been more than lucky, though to end up where we are and let me tell you why…
1. There is a great group of people here, even a few Christians, who have gone out of there way to welcome us. One in particular, Andrew, has made us feel so welcome by taking us on a walking tour to get to know Andong and to his Korean church. We have been able to hang out with them a few nights already and it really has kept us from getting lonely.
2. We have both got good schools to go to…everyone seems really nice, even though we can’t understand anything.(haha)
3. We live about 20 minutes walking distance from downtown where there are…drumroll…a PIZZA HUT, DUNKIN DONUTS, a few coffee shops, a MOVIE THEATER, a bunch of shops, and so much more! (you can tell what I’m excited about right?)
4. We know where the hospital is, just in case…don’t freak out mom.
5. We live above a convenience store that is in fact very convenient.
6. Any I’m sure many other reasons…YEAH!Andong is a great city to be in so just keep that in mind when you think about coming to visit. (wink, wink, nudge, nudge) Another word for the day: Ohl my yeh yo? (How much is it?)


The awesome Andrew, another EPIK teacher from America, giving us newbies a walking tour of Andong.


Yes, you are seeing the delicious delicasies of Andong's market, dried fish in buckets as far as the eye can see!



Another site at the market...maybe we'll have to try cooking a ridiculously large octopus sometime.


Right before we had the most awesome pizza EVER!! It was still Pizza Hut but somehow it just tastes so much better here ; )


Walking around Downtown Andong.