8-12-2010
Day 161 of 365: Picking up where I left off from my last blog entry, this is a summary of the last 5 days of Uriah and Philip's visit to South Korea:
Monday 7/26 - Today we visited South Korea's largest outdoor seafood market, located at the Noryangin subway stop in Seoul. It had every kind of fish, clam, oyster, squid or octopus you could ask for. My first impression was the overwhelming smell of fish as you approach and enter the market. For that reason alone I could never see myself in this type of business.
For lunch we ate the infamous living octopus, which I had avoided until now, but it was at the top of Philip and Uriah's list of things to try in SK thanks to the Food Network. When I say, "living", I mean that even after it's killed and chopped up, the pieces keep moving for a period of time. This includes the suction cups on the tentacles being active and sticking to everything from the plate and chopsticks, all the way to your lips and tongue. The trick is to chew fast and often before swallowing. People have DIED from eating this. I'm not sure if that makes us brave, adventurous, or just stupid, but Koreans love this dish.
Later we met a Korean friend who took us on a tour of the most famous palace in Seoul, Gyeongbukgung. It was very beautiful and scenic, but it covered a lot of land and we were tired of walking by the end. This took us to one of my favorite neighborhoods in Seoul, Samcheong dong. Samcheong is full of shops, restaurants and small, interesting museums, but it doesn't have the tall buildings and foot traffic of other popular spots in Seoul. We rested here before going back to Itaewon to do some more shopping. We got home later that night and I made my mom's famous taco salad. It was for me as much as it was for them. Philip moment of the day: P loses his SD card to his camera in my apartment twice in the same night. It got to the point where he was offering rewards for it's safe return. Uriah and I each found it once, but we never cashed in on our prize.
Tuesday 7/27: We woke up at 530am so that we could catch a 5 hour bus to Busan, which is on the southern tip of South Korea. Busan is the 2nd largest city in SK and has the most famous beach in all of Korea, Haeundae. The highlights of this trip were many. It started with us renting a motel room near the beach, but off the beaten path. The room was $60 a night, and when Uriah famously asked, "How many beds are there? 1 or 2?", as I walked into the room, I found that there were zero. Sleeping on the floor is common in Korea as I've learned over my 5 months, and they were now experiencing it first hand.
The next pertinent piece of information is that Philip bought some swimming trunks on the street for $5. This is only important because of today's Philip moment: Within hours of buying them, P ripped a gaping hole in his shorts where you don't want a hole to be. It was classic Philip, and though we were laughing hysterically, neither Uriah or I were surprised.
Other moments include us losing money at the local casino (giving us a record of 1-2 for the trip), a fire-breathing bartender, and football on the beach in which I got yelled at by a Korean lifeguard for swimming at night. This brings us to the end of the night, which instead of turning in, the guys decide that they'd rather take the midnight bus back to Ansan and lose our money for the room than sleep on the floor. So after 12 hours in Busan, the craziest taxi ride of our lives to the bus terminal (the guy was a maniac, but we didn't die) and a 5 hour bus trip, we arrived home at 5am.
Wednesday 7/28: Today was busy even though we stayed local the whole day. We slept in and went to the Ansan station street market sometime after lunch. It turned out to not be busy during the weekdays, so we buzzed through it quickly and eventually went to a Korean pool hall. We had the place to ourselves and played for almost 2 hours even though we only payed for 1. The guy at the counter was cool. Next we went to an arcade where we each took a couple of turns at shooting air rifles for prizes, winning a cute doll for Uriah's daughter. Later we went back home and actually got some exercise by playing soccer at one of the nearby schools. Everyone still had some lingering World Cup fever, so we had fun shooting penalty kicks and attempting shots on goal that were beyond our skill level.
After dinner we decided to indulge P in his request to go to a Korean night club. Having never been to one, I didn't know what to expect, but they almost denied us entry right off the bat because we were all under-dressed. I think the fact that we were Americans gave us our way in. The night club was a very large, dark and spacious room with many tables, a stage and a dance floor. On stage was a sort of variety show, rotating every 15 minutes with DJs, dancers, singers and bands. Being the only non-Koreans in the room, the 3 of us all felt very out of place at first, but many people in the club were speaking (or trying to speak) and attending to us, so it kept things interesting. Toward the end of the night, I was amazed to see the roof of the club open up to reveal the night sky. Overall it was a unique experience.
Thursday 7/29: We kept things simple, did a little shopping and went to a Korean league baseball game in the evening. Games here only cost $8 for general admission, there's a home and away side for fans, there are cheerleaders, and you can even bring your own food in. The fans are always cheering, which gives the stadium more of a college football feel than professional baseball. Americans could learn a thing or two from Korean fans.
Friday 7/30: Going home. It was great having these guys visit for 8 days. The only downside was that as they were preparing to leave, I felt more homesick than before they had come. It was worth it though. We'll see each other again soon enough. We did lunch one more time, then the guys packed their things. We hugged it out and took our pictures, then they caught a ride to the airport. Just like Don Henley sang in that song, "The boys of summer are gone".
Monday 7/26 - Today we visited South Korea's largest outdoor seafood market, located at the Noryangin subway stop in Seoul. It had every kind of fish, clam, oyster, squid or octopus you could ask for. My first impression was the overwhelming smell of fish as you approach and enter the market. For that reason alone I could never see myself in this type of business.
For lunch we ate the infamous living octopus, which I had avoided until now, but it was at the top of Philip and Uriah's list of things to try in SK thanks to the Food Network. When I say, "living", I mean that even after it's killed and chopped up, the pieces keep moving for a period of time. This includes the suction cups on the tentacles being active and sticking to everything from the plate and chopsticks, all the way to your lips and tongue. The trick is to chew fast and often before swallowing. People have DIED from eating this. I'm not sure if that makes us brave, adventurous, or just stupid, but Koreans love this dish.
Later we met a Korean friend who took us on a tour of the most famous palace in Seoul, Gyeongbukgung. It was very beautiful and scenic, but it covered a lot of land and we were tired of walking by the end. This took us to one of my favorite neighborhoods in Seoul, Samcheong dong. Samcheong is full of shops, restaurants and small, interesting museums, but it doesn't have the tall buildings and foot traffic of other popular spots in Seoul. We rested here before going back to Itaewon to do some more shopping. We got home later that night and I made my mom's famous taco salad. It was for me as much as it was for them. Philip moment of the day: P loses his SD card to his camera in my apartment twice in the same night. It got to the point where he was offering rewards for it's safe return. Uriah and I each found it once, but we never cashed in on our prize.
Tuesday 7/27: We woke up at 530am so that we could catch a 5 hour bus to Busan, which is on the southern tip of South Korea. Busan is the 2nd largest city in SK and has the most famous beach in all of Korea, Haeundae. The highlights of this trip were many. It started with us renting a motel room near the beach, but off the beaten path. The room was $60 a night, and when Uriah famously asked, "How many beds are there? 1 or 2?", as I walked into the room, I found that there were zero. Sleeping on the floor is common in Korea as I've learned over my 5 months, and they were now experiencing it first hand.
The next pertinent piece of information is that Philip bought some swimming trunks on the street for $5. This is only important because of today's Philip moment: Within hours of buying them, P ripped a gaping hole in his shorts where you don't want a hole to be. It was classic Philip, and though we were laughing hysterically, neither Uriah or I were surprised.
Other moments include us losing money at the local casino (giving us a record of 1-2 for the trip), a fire-breathing bartender, and football on the beach in which I got yelled at by a Korean lifeguard for swimming at night. This brings us to the end of the night, which instead of turning in, the guys decide that they'd rather take the midnight bus back to Ansan and lose our money for the room than sleep on the floor. So after 12 hours in Busan, the craziest taxi ride of our lives to the bus terminal (the guy was a maniac, but we didn't die) and a 5 hour bus trip, we arrived home at 5am.
Wednesday 7/28: Today was busy even though we stayed local the whole day. We slept in and went to the Ansan station street market sometime after lunch. It turned out to not be busy during the weekdays, so we buzzed through it quickly and eventually went to a Korean pool hall. We had the place to ourselves and played for almost 2 hours even though we only payed for 1. The guy at the counter was cool. Next we went to an arcade where we each took a couple of turns at shooting air rifles for prizes, winning a cute doll for Uriah's daughter. Later we went back home and actually got some exercise by playing soccer at one of the nearby schools. Everyone still had some lingering World Cup fever, so we had fun shooting penalty kicks and attempting shots on goal that were beyond our skill level.
After dinner we decided to indulge P in his request to go to a Korean night club. Having never been to one, I didn't know what to expect, but they almost denied us entry right off the bat because we were all under-dressed. I think the fact that we were Americans gave us our way in. The night club was a very large, dark and spacious room with many tables, a stage and a dance floor. On stage was a sort of variety show, rotating every 15 minutes with DJs, dancers, singers and bands. Being the only non-Koreans in the room, the 3 of us all felt very out of place at first, but many people in the club were speaking (or trying to speak) and attending to us, so it kept things interesting. Toward the end of the night, I was amazed to see the roof of the club open up to reveal the night sky. Overall it was a unique experience.
Thursday 7/29: We kept things simple, did a little shopping and went to a Korean league baseball game in the evening. Games here only cost $8 for general admission, there's a home and away side for fans, there are cheerleaders, and you can even bring your own food in. The fans are always cheering, which gives the stadium more of a college football feel than professional baseball. Americans could learn a thing or two from Korean fans.
Friday 7/30: Going home. It was great having these guys visit for 8 days. The only downside was that as they were preparing to leave, I felt more homesick than before they had come. It was worth it though. We'll see each other again soon enough. We did lunch one more time, then the guys packed their things. We hugged it out and took our pictures, then they caught a ride to the airport. Just like Don Henley sang in that song, "The boys of summer are gone".
And as Thin Lizzy put it,The boys are back in town.
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