Touring Seoul and the Lantern Festival

Danny and I really like going to Seould because there is so much to do. Recently we went to the Seoul Lantern Festival which was amazing. Handmade paper lanterns were all over a river that goes through Seoul and we wanted to see what it was all about.

The lanterns were really amazing and really intricate. Below is a latern that depicts an old folk story told in Korea.

This is a lantern showing Koreans traditional wedding clothes. They look so happy on their special day! ; )

And do I have to explain this lantern? Basically this latern represents FREEDOM! Go Mrka! (That is Danny's way of spelling America :)

There were lanterns everywhere and it was really beautiful!

Our friend JP came with Danny and I and explained some of the stories that the lanterns represented. This lantern of a tiger smoking a pipe had the most interesting story I thought. So in America we usually start stories, "Once upon a time..." but our friend JP told us that in Korea they start stories, "A long time ago, when tigers smoked pipes...". Isn't that interesting? There are certain things about your culture that you don't really think about till another culture does things differently so maybe now I will start my stories the Korean way to spice up my bedtime stories! ; )

That weekend we also walked around Insadong which is becoming of of my favorite places in Seoul. Insadong is the artsy, souvenir, and boutique sort of place in Seoul. It's fun to walk around and look at all of the art and there is also plenty more to see.

I had put a picture of this guy walking around. He is playing a traditional Korean symbol that Danny has renamed "the death symbol" basically if you traded this guy out with a 4 year old child banging on a pan, the child would probably sound better. The noise is sooo loud and sooo horrible but somehow Koreans think it makes beautiful music. They really need to rethink their traditional music because let's just say it's not going to get to the top of the music charts.

In winter, you can buy these delicious treats on the street called ho-tduck. They are amazing pancake type things filled with cinnamon and sugar and fried to perfection. Make sure if you are in Korea that you eat one because they are magic.

I loved this scen when we walked by. This is just a perfect picture of old Korean men. They are so cute and they often wear fidora or golf hats. I may be creepy, according to Danny, but I just have fallen in love with watching Korean babies and old men... that does sound a little creepy as I typed it out. ANYWAYS, old Korean men just have a classiness that has been lost in America. I only hope that Danny has a cane and a cute hat one day just like these guys. Good times and Seoul!

Danny and Apples...AGAIN!

Well, hello there friends and family. It's me Danny. Most of the time you get Katy's commmentary on these blogs but Katy really wanted me to give my insights into these pictoral scenes.

It's kind of becoming a running joke that I am becoming the "apple guy" in Andong (and I don't even eat apples) and I would tell you otherwise, but I'm truly afraid that it is actually becoming true.

The following ridiculous situation is proof.

One day a few months ago during the yearly Andong Mask Festival, we were walking around when we saw about a dozen men walking through the grounds dressed to impress and looking like they were on a mission, so of course we followed suit.

They stopped in front of a large apple stand and were being handed white gloves and scissors, obviously for some important

apple ribbon cutting ceremony type thing...?

Katy was joking with me that I should tell them about how I am a local apple model and grab some gloves to join in on the ceremony. After all I am kind of a big deal around here now.

But, I laughed it off telling my wife that she is crazy (and she is).

But just then an older man wearing traditional Korean clothing started to gesture for someone to to come over.

After some confusion (as is usual for me here) I discovered that he was gesturing for me to come over and would not take no for an answer.

So I came over and was handed my gloves and scissors and told to cut the ribbon with the rest of the important men in attendance. Asking why? or what it was for? would have been a silly and unimportant question, so I cut away and smiled for the many cameramen photographing this momentus occassion.

There we all are. Each of us men an apple official in our own respect.

After I cut the ribbon, I shook some hands told everyone thank you for coming and tried to get the heck out of there, before I was forced to eat them all with my new brotherhood of fellow "applelites."

Next came Katy, who was not about to be forgotten in the days honorable roles.

Here is "The Man" choosing her to be a rice cake cutting official.

If I had to do it so did she and let me tell you she performed her role with talent and pride.

It was a cake made of rice (as most things are here). And to say it was a large rice cake would not do it justice...No this thing was huge. Those are whole large apples pressed into it. Look at her. It's like she was born for this moment. Most of those guys aren't actually even doing anything. As you can see their hands aren't really on the knife, but Katy, Katy's holding it full on, like the pro that she is.Yet another adventure in our apple filled lives in south Korea.

It's a Korean Thanksgiving!

This year, because we were away for Thanksgiving, I got it in my head that we should host a large Thanksgiving potluck in Andong. Danny laughed at me because of it, but I thought I would rather have a feast with a bunch of people then no feast at all. So the plan was to invite all the foreign teacher's we knew and have them each bring something and eat...and eat some more. Danny decided to make mashed potatoes for his contribution. I wanted to take this picture because doing anything on the ground is now called "Korean style". So you can see Danny was mashing these potatoes full on "Korean style"... I don't know if that is because we don't have counter space or because he is turning into a Korean. : )

I made grilled pork loin, which if I do say so myself, was delicious. I should have taken an after picture because raw meat isn't quite as appetizing, but oh well, you can imagine. Garlic, spices, garlic...mmmmm.

We hosted the party at our church in a random room. The church was so nice to let us have it there because when I entertained the idea of 20+ people coming to our tiny apartment, I knew that was a bad idea. Below is a picture of our friends Paul and Jennifer who also are in our Bible study:

We had a lot of space and tables so we can get a decent spread. I was really impressed by how much people brought. Here's some of the rare finds that I never expected: deviled eggs, baked ziti, macaroni and cheese, hummus, caprese salad, and pumpkin pie AND whipped cream. (Just a side note that whipped cream is really rare to get because a can of RediWhip is about $14 a can... not exactly affordable) I was surprised that I went for maybe 3 helpings of hummus and 2 slices of pumpkin pie. Oh yeah, I was full.

Danny got a lot... and then went back for more.

We had about 38 foreigners at the dinner and somehow we still didn't run out of food!

This is the after picture of Danny and our friends Seth and Anna:

(I see a food baby in there Danny!)

One thing that I did (that was maybe kinda nerdy but I didn't care) was do Thanksgiving trivia, sort of like a pub quiz. I think I might carry on this tradition because I thought it was great! There were a few random rounds, a fish or fowl round, and "finish this song round". Overall, I thought it was fun to celebrate Thanksgiving with some other Americans and nonAmericans. (And we also got a can of whipped cream out of the deal so that was AWESOME!) Being away for the holidays can be kinda sad, but I am determined to have make some fun Korean holiday memories. Christmas, here we come!

The Visitors from CO!

It took me a while, but I am finally going to tell you about my when my family visited in October. There is much to tell, but I will try to keep it short and give you the highlights. It is official to say that my family has the "travel bug" so I was excited when they told Danny and I they wanted to see what living in Korea was all about. My dad, mom, Abby (sister), Albert (brother-in-law), and Clark (my new nephew) spent about 9 days with Danny and I, living in our 300 square foot apartment, and tried not to admit that they loved the hard mattresses and the one bathroom that we all got to share. A slice of paradise, right here in Korea!

I was particularly excited because this visit would be the first time Danny and I got to meet our new nephew, Clark. We saw him many times on Skype, but there is no way to really be absorbed in his cuteness over the internet. This was our first meeting, and you can tell that Aunt Katy is already a favorite of Clarks, even though Uncle Danny and him had awesome matching hats. (Danny why do you gotta scare babies all the time? ; )

Our apartment is definitely NOT made for 6 adults but we made it work. Clark even got to enjoy leisurly baths in our sink!

Danny and I had taken the week off from work so we tried to cram in as many things as possible with my family. One thing that I really loved was sharing different Korean foods with them and seeing how they liked jimdak, dak albi, shabu shabu, toast, and all the sweet breads they can eat! I am quite impressed with how well they did... well really I'm impressed at how well my Mom did! She made sure to get a picture of her eating so she had proof that she ate Korean food with the best of them. Here she is eating jimdak:

Already being a foreigner in Korea gets you some glances, but let me tell you that having my sister here made us unstoppable. I think it is easy to say that the 6 of us easily blew some Korean minds that week: One tall white guy, 2 blondes, one half asian baby, and Danny and I. You may wonder, "Aren't you forgetting someone?" I am not mentioning Albert, my Chinese brother-in-law, in the crowd of foreigners because he was constantly thought to be a Korean! After about a day, Albert had to memorize the line, "Hangook saram ani aeyo." (which means "I'm not Korean.")

Abby probably got the most attention that week since she was the one carrying Clark most of the time. Who knew that a pretty girl, who is blonde, and who is carrying an adorable baby is the perfect trifecta to draw Korean women from miles around? Really, Drew Barrymore or Nicole Kidman couldn't have done any better.

The "famous" Andong Mask Festival was ending the first weekend the fam arrived so we got to take them and show them a real slice of Korea.

At any festival or event there are always mascot characters walking around. These mascots represent the "traditional Korean" and the "salted mackerel guy" (yes they has mascots for salted fish). For some reason they loved Abby and wouldn't let go of her for a while. It was the first time that I saw her "mama bear" instincts come in and I saw her go from "Haha, this is funny!" to "If you don't let go of me and my child soon, I'm going to deck you!"

At the festival, Danny finally found someone to enjoy bundaegi with him (thanks Albert), which is boiled silkworm larvae. Yuck. They taste just about at bad as they smell and yet somehow Koreans love them! Danny had 3, Albert had 2, Abby and I had 1, and the rest of the cup went to a very pleased old Korean man who started chowing down when we offered them to him. Needless to say, my mom tried none.
Of course, Danny had to pose with Curious George at the festival and try to "outcute" all the other Korean kids... I say he was successful.

One day during the week, we went on a drive to find an "artist colony". It was nice to have a rented van so we could explore a little bit and we found this beautiful lake on our way.

Both of us have missed our family a lot, so it was so great just to be together... now we just have to get the rest of our family out to visit!
Although this isn't really a highlight, I wanted to make sure and show the insane Korean spiders that my family got to see. Huge spider webs are all over, but I think Korea is full of radioactive or mutant spiders because I've never seen them this big! It really was a fear of mine that I would walk through one of these spiders webs because I was sure that they would have a swarm of their friends come attack me, and although spidey-senses would be cool, I like myself the way I am.

The guys found some entertainment for a while seeing how close they could get to the spiders and as you can see they all walked away feeling like men being that not one girly scream came from them. Good job boys.

After driving for a while, we found the artist colony was definitely a bust. There was no art, no colony, and really no one to be seen. We joke that my dad like to go out of his way to take us to non-tourist attractions, where "Ta DA!" there is nothing to see, but it was a beautiful day so this time it wasn't so bad. ; )

Throughout the week we also went to the largest Buddhist temple in Korea, a ceramics village, an apple winery, Emart (twice), a Korean scholar colony, and a bakery about 2 times a day.

Although, it doesn't look it from the good-looking family above, I think we all needed a vacation from our vacation after we were done.

Wait, quick note, did I mention that my nephew is adorable? Ok, I will admit it, I did stay up nights thinking about how I could keep him when Abby and Albert went back to Colorado, but it was no use. Apparently mothers have some sort of obsession about being in the same country as their children. (Do you note the disdain?)
Well, all in all, it was a great time but we had to say goodbye. The family went back to the land of ovens, Chipotle, and shower stalls and Danny and I had to stay in the land of squid jerky, NO BURRITOS, and bbq dog. Oh well. If any other family reads this: please come and visit and YOU TOO can tour crazy Korea!

Dr. Fish Tickles

Now many of are familiar with getting pedicures and exfoliating you feet, but this takes it to a new level. Dr. Fish is one of those experiences that you might say, "only in Asia". I actually think many people might make that "Eeewwwwee" face if they saw this in America. Basically, what you do is you stick your feet in a pool full of little fish and watch as they nibble the dead skin right off. Yeah, that sounds nice right? Right. The funny thing is, though, that if you are even remotely ticklish and the occasional giggle escapes from you when a HUMAN is rubbing your feet, imagine how hundreds of tiny fish feel. Let me show you...


Exibit A: Danny. I knew he makes halarious faces when his feet are being tickled, but the silent scream that came from his mouth as he put his feet in the pool was priceless. Suprisingly, it doesn't hurt to have fish eating skin from your feet, it kind of feels like a mixture between little tiny electric pulses and a massaging machine.
The fish nibble until they find no more skin to eat. I think the funniest feeling is to have little fish swimming in between you toes. Only in Asia.

Exibit B: Dad. His face is also priceless and even though you can't tell, this is his second time doing this! This fun activity was done with my parents when they came out to visit in October (Also my sister, brother-in-law, and adorable nephew Clark Kent came as well). I have many things to share about their trip out here but I thought Dr. Fish would be a good way to start. Koreans are interesting because they like to combine strange things sometimes. Eating dog OBVIOUSLY needs to happen in the summer, taking your shoes off and eating at a restaurant matches perfectly, and flesh eating fish naturally fit with drinking coffee! All you have to do is go to a Coffe Namu in Gangnam, Seoul, order a latte and enjoy a fish pedicure. Perfect! What a way to start your day!


There are actually 2 pools that you can use. There are small fish and then there are the BIG fish. The big fish are about 3-4 inches and they have a stronger nibble for sure (it still doesn't hurt but it does make you more aware that fish are sucking on your toes). My dad said it was best to start small and then go big, but I might say mix and match a bit. Start small, then go big, then go back to small for dessert. The fish will enjoy the feast no matter how you do it.

My feet really did feel smoother when I was done, I got to drink a delicious smoothie, and I got a good laugh from the whole experience, so I might have to insist that America NEEDS to adopt Dr. Fish. No matter what, if you are in Asia, you MUST make this a part of your trip because even though you are leaving a part of your feet behind, you are taking with you some good memories!

Farming in Korea

I didn't think that when I came to Korea I would be getting some farming lessons, but there we were, farming sweet potatoes with one of Danny's coteachers. Danny's teacher who they call "White" took us two weeks ago to his house to gather the crop. I have never farmed sweet potatoes so I didn't really know what I was doing, and I found out some interesting things: Did you know potatoes grow in the ground?! Who knew? (Well probably a lot of people, and I kinda knew but I had never participated in digging them OUT of the ground.) Koreans are ALL about health so just about everyone has some sort of garden or farm, and it's cool because most everything in Korea could be called "organic".

Mr. Lee, Danny's coteacher, gave us a shovel and told us to find some sweet potatoes (gogoomma). I like farming because it's almost like you are going on a treasure hunt, but instead of candy, you are finding delicious potatoes. (No there is nothing wrong with candy but if I had the choice between a lollipop and a potatoe, call me weird, but I would choose the potatoe!)

We got a TON of sweet potatoes, and Mr. Lee even gave us some eggplant and pumpkin. My coteacher supplied us with a ton of vegetables from her garden this summer, which was awesome, but it was still fun getting our hands dirty and finding those potatoes.

Being in Korea has been interesting for many ways, but one reason is that I have gotten to see food in a different way. Everywhere you go you see peppers or cabbage or rice or apples being grown and it makes you feel more connected in a way to the process. Being that I am an official "foodie" I think it has taken my love of food in a new direction. Right now it is rice and APPLE season. Yes, Danny, apples are EVERYWHERE! ; ) I think of all the farms, apple farms are my favorite. You see the trees decorated with the perfect, delicious fruit and if you are in the right place according to the breeze that day, you get to smell what I would consider one of the best smells on Earth. Take in a deep breath of heaven...ahhhhhh.

Another unique site is rice being harvested, which I had never witnessed before. The interesting thing about rice is that you need to let it dry out in the sun and what better place to do it than in the middle of the road!? Apparently this practice is illegal, but this fall I constantly had to take new paths due to all the rice drying on the road. I bet the Korean farmers are saying, "Asphalt is the best place because it is flat and warm, so BACK OFF! ...And don't ride your bike through my rice anymore!" Just kidding, I have never been mean enough to ride my bike on their rice, but I have considered it : ) So watch out if you are ever driving in Korea in the fall because around any corner could be a nice spread of rice... and apparently it is not free to anyone who drives by.

This picture has nothing to do with farming, but Mr. Lee took us to see this house on our way back from the farm. While historical sites are the same worldwide (boring) this one made me think that living in this old house wouldn't be that bad. Again, I say: Korea is beautiful!