I didn't have to be here today until 1:30. Well, that's when I had to be here, but I actually got here around ten because my lesson still needed a lot of work. It was nice not having to be here at eight, since I stayed out kind of late last night. I had dinner with one of the other teachers who works at IH Bangkok. Peter was a Classics major, so I learned a lot of fascinating stuff about coins and Greek and fun junk like that.
We walked around the crowded streetsfor a long time trying to find a place to eat, and after about forty-five minutes stopped at a roadside cart cafe. They had English picture menus, which is always nice. Unfortunately, looking back on it, I'm guessing that the English menus also are different prices than the regular menu. All the other outdoor restaurants that I've eaten at only charge thirty baht for a meal like that, whereas we paid a hundred. But oh well. A hundred is still only about $3.35.
After dinner we walked around more, just looking at things and talking. I always like doing that, but I don't always feel safe doing it by myself, at least at night. When passing a restaurant, I saw the weirdest thing ever in one of their outdoor fishtanks! I'm almost at a loss in describing them, but I'll try. At first glance they looked like crawfish, but then I realized that they were more like crawfish/centipede/praying mantis/shrimp dudes. They were swimming and scuttling around the bottom of the tank, and one was even cleaning itself just like a dog or cat. So weird. We watched them until a man in a blue apron holding a fish-net asked us to move. He was extracting one of the creatures for dinner.
Later we saw an outdoor bar. We were going to get a drink, so we sat at a rough, wooden table by some plants. Then we saw the drink menu. The prices were pretty atrocious, so we quietly snuck out of the place.
Then we went to 7-11 and got honey-lemon green teas. Much better, I think. I barely got home, but I had just enough money. I had two hundred and thirty-six baht at the beginning of the night. I paid a hundred for dinner, thirty for the BTS, and a hundred for a taxi. Yes, I had six baht (five cents) left when I got home.
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Friday, June 25, 2010
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Pumpkin Lady
On Sunday I made it to the Pumpkin Lady's restaurant. It's the little hole-in-the-wall eatery that I visited with Mark and his mom a few weeks ago. It was probably the best food I've had since I've been here, so I wanted to go back. I had a map but I'm not that good with maps, so I was a little uneasy. One of the Thai secretaries here helped me practice saying the street name and the name of the food I was going to order until she could understand what I was saying.
It's near Victory Monument, so it's a little out of my way, but I figured it would be worth it. A change of scenery is always nice. I got off the BTS and started walking in the right direction. Or what I thought was the right direction. Unfortunately, it looked totally different from what I remembered. Last time we had walked underneath a huge overpass and then turned left onto the Pumpkin Lady's sidestreet. There were a gang of motorbike drivers all hanging around at the corner, and a truck selling durian on the other side of the road. The street I was on was a busy market with no overpass. When I turned onto what I thought was the main street, it didn't look right at all.
I kept walking and finally spotted a sign for a cross-street that read "Ratchawithi 7." The street Pumpkin Lady's street was "Ratchawithi 6." I was close! The only problem was that I needed to turn left onto the street and I was on the wrong side. Traffic was pretty bad, so there was no way I was going to get across the street. The solution? Walk all the way back to the end of the street and cross on a catwalk. I finally got to the other side, but it still didn't look familiar. I asked a guard for "Ratchawithi 6?" He didn't understand me at first, and I had to repeat a couple of times before he understood. He nodded serenely and pointed me down the street. I finally found the right street, but still no sign of bikers or a durian truck. I walked down the street and then, there! Right in front of me was the giant overpass!
I went under the overpass and saw the bikers. The durian truck was mysteriously missing, but oh well. Probably on some other corner hawking his smelly wares. A little further down on the right stood the smoothie stand. We stopped there after dinner last time to get some delicious banana coconut smoothies. And then, there, further up the street on the left was a green canopy. The Pumpkin Lady's restaurant!
I had been wondering why Mark had called it the Pumpkin Lady's, but I saw why as soon as I entered. The old lady there smiled at me, exposing a mouth of missing teeth with only two survivors hanging from the top. Her smile further wrinkled her brown face as I tried to tell her my order.
"Larb moo."
"Lahb KA moo?" She answered, cocking her head. I nodded, and she shooed me inside.
The building didn't have a front wall, and the green canopy hung over the front steps and the tiny kitchen in the front. Inside the eatery sat five tables, all covered with plastic teddy-bear tablecloths. The wall was graced with a scuffed cuckoo clock, and a tv in the back blared Thai news.
I sat next to the open window, trying to ignore the tv. Outside the window was a garden made up of plants in clay pots, a few hanging from the eaves. I watched people going in and out of the apartment next door, and kids riding by on their bikes. Soon, the Pumpkin Lady was in front of me with a green plastic plate. It held little pieces of meat, green leafy vegetables, onions, and other bits of goodness all drowned in a thick, clear broth. I ate the meal, alternately looking out the window at the apartment building and plants, and out the front wall at the street.
I could barely finish the meal. I really quite full halfway through the dish, but I felt bad about leaving that much food. I made myself eat more, and I could feel my stomach stretching with each swallow. I finally finished enough to not feel disgraceful and paid the Pumpkin Lady. Thirty baht. That's almost a dollar for dinner.
I walked back down the street, dodging motorbikes, cars, and children playing badmitton. I couldn't resist getting a smoothie from the stand, so I stood on a wooden plank while she blended my drink, trying to avoid small children and an overflowing drainage ditch. After I finished the delicious icy drink, I was almost too full to waddle onto the BTS and head back home. But I managed.
It's near Victory Monument, so it's a little out of my way, but I figured it would be worth it. A change of scenery is always nice. I got off the BTS and started walking in the right direction. Or what I thought was the right direction. Unfortunately, it looked totally different from what I remembered. Last time we had walked underneath a huge overpass and then turned left onto the Pumpkin Lady's sidestreet. There were a gang of motorbike drivers all hanging around at the corner, and a truck selling durian on the other side of the road. The street I was on was a busy market with no overpass. When I turned onto what I thought was the main street, it didn't look right at all.
I kept walking and finally spotted a sign for a cross-street that read "Ratchawithi 7." The street Pumpkin Lady's street was "Ratchawithi 6." I was close! The only problem was that I needed to turn left onto the street and I was on the wrong side. Traffic was pretty bad, so there was no way I was going to get across the street. The solution? Walk all the way back to the end of the street and cross on a catwalk. I finally got to the other side, but it still didn't look familiar. I asked a guard for "Ratchawithi 6?" He didn't understand me at first, and I had to repeat a couple of times before he understood. He nodded serenely and pointed me down the street. I finally found the right street, but still no sign of bikers or a durian truck. I walked down the street and then, there! Right in front of me was the giant overpass!
I went under the overpass and saw the bikers. The durian truck was mysteriously missing, but oh well. Probably on some other corner hawking his smelly wares. A little further down on the right stood the smoothie stand. We stopped there after dinner last time to get some delicious banana coconut smoothies. And then, there, further up the street on the left was a green canopy. The Pumpkin Lady's restaurant!
I had been wondering why Mark had called it the Pumpkin Lady's, but I saw why as soon as I entered. The old lady there smiled at me, exposing a mouth of missing teeth with only two survivors hanging from the top. Her smile further wrinkled her brown face as I tried to tell her my order.
"Larb moo."
"Lahb KA moo?" She answered, cocking her head. I nodded, and she shooed me inside.
The building didn't have a front wall, and the green canopy hung over the front steps and the tiny kitchen in the front. Inside the eatery sat five tables, all covered with plastic teddy-bear tablecloths. The wall was graced with a scuffed cuckoo clock, and a tv in the back blared Thai news.
I sat next to the open window, trying to ignore the tv. Outside the window was a garden made up of plants in clay pots, a few hanging from the eaves. I watched people going in and out of the apartment next door, and kids riding by on their bikes. Soon, the Pumpkin Lady was in front of me with a green plastic plate. It held little pieces of meat, green leafy vegetables, onions, and other bits of goodness all drowned in a thick, clear broth. I ate the meal, alternately looking out the window at the apartment building and plants, and out the front wall at the street.
I could barely finish the meal. I really quite full halfway through the dish, but I felt bad about leaving that much food. I made myself eat more, and I could feel my stomach stretching with each swallow. I finally finished enough to not feel disgraceful and paid the Pumpkin Lady. Thirty baht. That's almost a dollar for dinner.
I walked back down the street, dodging motorbikes, cars, and children playing badmitton. I couldn't resist getting a smoothie from the stand, so I stood on a wooden plank while she blended my drink, trying to avoid small children and an overflowing drainage ditch. After I finished the delicious icy drink, I was almost too full to waddle onto the BTS and head back home. But I managed.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
JWs and Hitchhiking
Well, before I actually talk about JWs and hitchhiking, I want to say something about the food. I like most Korean food a lot. It's quite tasty. But I don't really like it for breakfast. Think about eating garlic, chili sauce, fish soup, tofu, and fried zuccini at seven in the morning. I don't eat very much for breakfast anyway; generally a granola bar or a small bowl of cereal is enough. The other day Mrs. Kim was making me breakfast and Sarah wasn't around. First she gave me cereal, which was good, except that the milk had somehow gotten a garlicky taste to it. Then she kept making me more and more food! I kept hoping that the stuff she was making wasn't for me, but then another dish would appear. On top of my cereal, I ate fried fake crab meat, kim-chi, tofu soup, some kind of green stuff, and rice cakes in chili sauce. I was so full! And everywhere you go here, people give you food. Sarah and I went down to the church office to tell them something, and she breaks out chips, fruit, and yogurt cups. There's so much food! I guess I just don't eat enough.
Anyway, yesterday was interesting. Since Sarah and I are both interested in education, we wanted to visit an international school and learn about its system and how it runs. We were going to go to one school, but it was four hours away, which is a little far. Instead, her dad recommended that we visit a Jehovah Witness school that was only two hours away. I called, hoping that my Westernness would soften them to us, and asked them if we could come by sometime that day and visit the school. The lady I talked to said yes, come. So Sarah and I took a train to one city in order to hop a bus to the city where the school was. We missed the bus we were trying to catch because it wasn't marked correctly. Then an old man told us we needed to get on a bus that was leaving. We ran after it and got on, but then Sarah found out that it wasn't the right bus after all. She asked the driver to let us out, but he wouldn't stop until she started yelling at him. She went back inside to ask at the counter. The lady there said she'd look for it and then began making phone calls. Finally we saw the right bus which was also pulling away. We ran after it and made it. The school site said that the bus would stop right in front of the school, so we kept waiting until then. Sarah also asked the driver, and he said that we should wait until the very last stop. The last stop turned out to be a hospital at the top of a very tall hill. Sarah was pissed. One of the men on the bus told us that we should walk down the hill, which we started to do, but a man we ran across told us that the school was too far to walk to, but there was a shuttle we could take. When we looked at the sign, the shuttle didn't arrive for two hours. We finally broke and got a taxi.
When were driving down the hill, we saw a huge white building with a giant dome on top, sitting way up the mountain. We thought that must be the school, but the taxi driver told us no, it was the house of the founder of the JWs. It's crazy to think that that humongous house was for one man. The school ended up being just below the white house, and it was crazy as well.
When we were dropped off, we were a bit awed by the building. This was just a high school, but it had marble-like steps and huge pillars. It was four or five stories tall. Flowers were everywhere. There wasn't an office like most schools. We followed the directions that the lady had given me, climbing up to the fourth floor and going to an office at the end of the hall. The man there, Steve, was the director of study abroad trips. He told us that it was highly irregular to have visitors like us who hadn't gotten written permission from the principal, but since we'd come that far and the person told us wrong on the phone, he'd show us around.
That school is the scariest thing ever! The kids are like super robot kids. It has six hundred kids and is a 7-12. All of the kids have to speak at least conversational English, be musical (they have to take one kind of instrument while at school), take a third language, and achieve a black-belt in Tai-kwon-do before graduating. Between eight and three they have seven classes. From three until six they take electives like music, horse-riding, SAT prep, broadcasting, or research projects. From seven-thirty until nine they have a school-wide study hall (with a special study room with desks), but they can opt to take more night classes if they want to. Middle school students must be in bed by twelve, and high school students must be in bed by two. Oh, and they get up at six-fifteen to have (what we're guessing is) group devotion times. Besides all this, most students travel to conferences, debate tournaments, research councils, mock UNs or congresses, etc. And there are fifty clubs that they participate in.
I just don't understand how they can do it. How can they do all of that? How can they get the homework done for the million classes they take? How can they survive off of such little sleep? That can't be healthy for growing high schoolers. But oh well.
After the tour, Steve told Sarah and I that we could catch a shuttle back to the hospital where we could get another bus. Surprise, surprise, the shuttle didn't get there until five-thirty. It was three-fifteen. We started walking down the mountain, and then Sarah decided we should try hitch-hiking. A car did stop for us. It was one of the staff members at the school. He told Sarah that he was going through the town where we got off the train anyway, so he took us the whole way! My first real time hitch-hiking. Although Sarah's mom wasn't too thrilled when she found out about it later.
Well, tomorrow we go to Seoul. Should be tiring, but fun.
Anyway, yesterday was interesting. Since Sarah and I are both interested in education, we wanted to visit an international school and learn about its system and how it runs. We were going to go to one school, but it was four hours away, which is a little far. Instead, her dad recommended that we visit a Jehovah Witness school that was only two hours away. I called, hoping that my Westernness would soften them to us, and asked them if we could come by sometime that day and visit the school. The lady I talked to said yes, come. So Sarah and I took a train to one city in order to hop a bus to the city where the school was. We missed the bus we were trying to catch because it wasn't marked correctly. Then an old man told us we needed to get on a bus that was leaving. We ran after it and got on, but then Sarah found out that it wasn't the right bus after all. She asked the driver to let us out, but he wouldn't stop until she started yelling at him. She went back inside to ask at the counter. The lady there said she'd look for it and then began making phone calls. Finally we saw the right bus which was also pulling away. We ran after it and made it. The school site said that the bus would stop right in front of the school, so we kept waiting until then. Sarah also asked the driver, and he said that we should wait until the very last stop. The last stop turned out to be a hospital at the top of a very tall hill. Sarah was pissed. One of the men on the bus told us that we should walk down the hill, which we started to do, but a man we ran across told us that the school was too far to walk to, but there was a shuttle we could take. When we looked at the sign, the shuttle didn't arrive for two hours. We finally broke and got a taxi.
When were driving down the hill, we saw a huge white building with a giant dome on top, sitting way up the mountain. We thought that must be the school, but the taxi driver told us no, it was the house of the founder of the JWs. It's crazy to think that that humongous house was for one man. The school ended up being just below the white house, and it was crazy as well.
When we were dropped off, we were a bit awed by the building. This was just a high school, but it had marble-like steps and huge pillars. It was four or five stories tall. Flowers were everywhere. There wasn't an office like most schools. We followed the directions that the lady had given me, climbing up to the fourth floor and going to an office at the end of the hall. The man there, Steve, was the director of study abroad trips. He told us that it was highly irregular to have visitors like us who hadn't gotten written permission from the principal, but since we'd come that far and the person told us wrong on the phone, he'd show us around.
That school is the scariest thing ever! The kids are like super robot kids. It has six hundred kids and is a 7-12. All of the kids have to speak at least conversational English, be musical (they have to take one kind of instrument while at school), take a third language, and achieve a black-belt in Tai-kwon-do before graduating. Between eight and three they have seven classes. From three until six they take electives like music, horse-riding, SAT prep, broadcasting, or research projects. From seven-thirty until nine they have a school-wide study hall (with a special study room with desks), but they can opt to take more night classes if they want to. Middle school students must be in bed by twelve, and high school students must be in bed by two. Oh, and they get up at six-fifteen to have (what we're guessing is) group devotion times. Besides all this, most students travel to conferences, debate tournaments, research councils, mock UNs or congresses, etc. And there are fifty clubs that they participate in.
I just don't understand how they can do it. How can they do all of that? How can they get the homework done for the million classes they take? How can they survive off of such little sleep? That can't be healthy for growing high schoolers. But oh well.
After the tour, Steve told Sarah and I that we could catch a shuttle back to the hospital where we could get another bus. Surprise, surprise, the shuttle didn't get there until five-thirty. It was three-fifteen. We started walking down the mountain, and then Sarah decided we should try hitch-hiking. A car did stop for us. It was one of the staff members at the school. He told Sarah that he was going through the town where we got off the train anyway, so he took us the whole way! My first real time hitch-hiking. Although Sarah's mom wasn't too thrilled when she found out about it later.
Well, tomorrow we go to Seoul. Should be tiring, but fun.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Picnics and Railbikes
So much has happened since I last wrote! I guess I'll just focus on the main things.
On Sunday, we went to church. It's not terribly exciting for me, since I don't understand anything, so I took my Greek bible and tried translating some verses. After church, we all drove to a treeful park for a picnic. They set up picnic mats with small grills (think lidless, round George Foremans) all over. Four to six people would sit around each grill. Older people and families would have thier own mats, but the thirty or so college students all sat together with lots of grills. They would grill this meat that looks like really thick, really fatty bacon that doesn't crisp. When it was cooked, we'd dip it in a red sauce, put it on a leaf, add some rice, and shove it in our mouth. It was pretty tasty.
After eating, they had a bunch of games! I participated in a sack race relay where we had to eat flour-dipped candies at the end! My team lost every game we played until the tug-of-war at the end. We were the smaller team but somehow managed to win! They gave away prizes like tea-pots, kleenex boxes, and giant packages of toilet paper. I won a lunch box.
Then it was time for the married men to play the college guys in "soccer volleyball." It looks really fun! I would like to do that instead of volleyball at my next picnic. I talked to a guy named Sang-no for a long time, which was nice. His English was very good! He wants to be a doctor and maybe go to America, since doctors aren't as respected in Korea. Most of the people don't know very much English. They'll say "hi" and "nice to meet you" and that's about it. A couple of them can say a little more than that, but they're pronunciation is very interesting. I'm not always sure if they're speaking Korean or English, and I have to concentrate very hard.
I'm very impressed with the way the church interacts here. The building seems to be open most of the time, and there's always people running around doing things. A bunch of guys are working on building up the front railing and walkway, and they work all day! We (me, Sarah, and her dad) ate lunch with all the workers one day. They also have a dorm for college guys on the third floor. It's a very active church.
Yesterday (Monday) was a very active day. Sunday night after the picnic we drove two hours to the coast. We went out on the beach that night to take pictures and run around in the sand. A bunch of people were setting off fireworks, and there were several fortune teller booths. We spent the night at Sarah's aunt's house. They are very nice people. For breakfast, they tried to make me special food so they gave me sweet potatoes, apples, milk, and grape juice. I like Korean food, but I don't especially like eating it for breakfast, so I was happy to eat the other stuff.
We first visited a fish market. They have a lot of fish, of course, but my favorites were the octopuses! They have buckets and buckets of octopuses around, ready for sale. I tried to take a picture of one, but the lady stopped me. Sarah didn't know why she wouldn't let me, but another lady did the same thing. Finally, one lady explained that there's a superstition that if someone takes a picture of your products that the store will do badly. She didn't believe in it, so she let me take a picture of her octopi.
After that we drove a couple more hours to this little mountain town. Korea is extremely hilly/mountainy. It reminds me of Colorado sometimes. I haven't seen a single flat place since we've been here. Anyway, a couple that lives there is a friend of Mr. Kim's. They got us a reservation on the Railbike. Apparently you usually have to reserve at least three days in advance, since it's so popular, but the couple called for us and got us tickets.
The railbike was really fun. It runs on an old rail line, and we have to peddle to make the little car go. It winds through the mountains and is pretty great. Just wait for the pictures.
Afterwards we went to a restaurants with the couple and ate some mixed rice wich is a specialty of the region. Mr. Kim and the couple got in a fight over who paid. The old man grabbed Mr. Kim's foot while the old lady ran up to the front to pay. We went down the street to get coffee, and Mr. Kim won that time. Sarah told me that the old lady told her husband that he wasn't being polite because he let Mr. Kim win.
Then it was market time. We drove another forty-five minutes to go to another town where they have a traditional market. Stuff was crammed everywhere, and there were all sorts of interesting things. Dried squid, all sorts of roots, leaves, beans, mandrake roots, fish, etc. We bought some fry-dough with brown sugar in the middle.
After that we went to a free performance. It was a drama about three sisters, and it used the traditional songs to sing a lot of it. The songs are really minor and wailing, and Sarah said that the purpose of them was to help the people forget their sadness or their hunger. Sarah would translate a bit of what was said so I would know what was going on. It was so sad! The main actress was so good that she made me want to cry even though I didn't really know what she was saying. In the end, the two younger sisters were on different sides, North and South Korea. They were fighting each other, and the oldest sister stepped in between them, getting killed in the process. The two sisters hugged each other, and the whole cast sang a song about their longing for reunification. Lots of people were weeping at the end.
Well, that was really long. If you get through all of that, I congratulate you.
On Sunday, we went to church. It's not terribly exciting for me, since I don't understand anything, so I took my Greek bible and tried translating some verses. After church, we all drove to a treeful park for a picnic. They set up picnic mats with small grills (think lidless, round George Foremans) all over. Four to six people would sit around each grill. Older people and families would have thier own mats, but the thirty or so college students all sat together with lots of grills. They would grill this meat that looks like really thick, really fatty bacon that doesn't crisp. When it was cooked, we'd dip it in a red sauce, put it on a leaf, add some rice, and shove it in our mouth. It was pretty tasty.
After eating, they had a bunch of games! I participated in a sack race relay where we had to eat flour-dipped candies at the end! My team lost every game we played until the tug-of-war at the end. We were the smaller team but somehow managed to win! They gave away prizes like tea-pots, kleenex boxes, and giant packages of toilet paper. I won a lunch box.
Then it was time for the married men to play the college guys in "soccer volleyball." It looks really fun! I would like to do that instead of volleyball at my next picnic. I talked to a guy named Sang-no for a long time, which was nice. His English was very good! He wants to be a doctor and maybe go to America, since doctors aren't as respected in Korea. Most of the people don't know very much English. They'll say "hi" and "nice to meet you" and that's about it. A couple of them can say a little more than that, but they're pronunciation is very interesting. I'm not always sure if they're speaking Korean or English, and I have to concentrate very hard.
I'm very impressed with the way the church interacts here. The building seems to be open most of the time, and there's always people running around doing things. A bunch of guys are working on building up the front railing and walkway, and they work all day! We (me, Sarah, and her dad) ate lunch with all the workers one day. They also have a dorm for college guys on the third floor. It's a very active church.
Yesterday (Monday) was a very active day. Sunday night after the picnic we drove two hours to the coast. We went out on the beach that night to take pictures and run around in the sand. A bunch of people were setting off fireworks, and there were several fortune teller booths. We spent the night at Sarah's aunt's house. They are very nice people. For breakfast, they tried to make me special food so they gave me sweet potatoes, apples, milk, and grape juice. I like Korean food, but I don't especially like eating it for breakfast, so I was happy to eat the other stuff.
We first visited a fish market. They have a lot of fish, of course, but my favorites were the octopuses! They have buckets and buckets of octopuses around, ready for sale. I tried to take a picture of one, but the lady stopped me. Sarah didn't know why she wouldn't let me, but another lady did the same thing. Finally, one lady explained that there's a superstition that if someone takes a picture of your products that the store will do badly. She didn't believe in it, so she let me take a picture of her octopi.
After that we drove a couple more hours to this little mountain town. Korea is extremely hilly/mountainy. It reminds me of Colorado sometimes. I haven't seen a single flat place since we've been here. Anyway, a couple that lives there is a friend of Mr. Kim's. They got us a reservation on the Railbike. Apparently you usually have to reserve at least three days in advance, since it's so popular, but the couple called for us and got us tickets.
The railbike was really fun. It runs on an old rail line, and we have to peddle to make the little car go. It winds through the mountains and is pretty great. Just wait for the pictures.
Afterwards we went to a restaurants with the couple and ate some mixed rice wich is a specialty of the region. Mr. Kim and the couple got in a fight over who paid. The old man grabbed Mr. Kim's foot while the old lady ran up to the front to pay. We went down the street to get coffee, and Mr. Kim won that time. Sarah told me that the old lady told her husband that he wasn't being polite because he let Mr. Kim win.
Then it was market time. We drove another forty-five minutes to go to another town where they have a traditional market. Stuff was crammed everywhere, and there were all sorts of interesting things. Dried squid, all sorts of roots, leaves, beans, mandrake roots, fish, etc. We bought some fry-dough with brown sugar in the middle.
After that we went to a free performance. It was a drama about three sisters, and it used the traditional songs to sing a lot of it. The songs are really minor and wailing, and Sarah said that the purpose of them was to help the people forget their sadness or their hunger. Sarah would translate a bit of what was said so I would know what was going on. It was so sad! The main actress was so good that she made me want to cry even though I didn't really know what she was saying. In the end, the two younger sisters were on different sides, North and South Korea. They were fighting each other, and the oldest sister stepped in between them, getting killed in the process. The two sisters hugged each other, and the whole cast sang a song about their longing for reunification. Lots of people were weeping at the end.
Well, that was really long. If you get through all of that, I congratulate you.
Friday, May 14, 2010
Kim-Baps and More
After taking a six hour nap, I was awoken for dinner! Dinner was very delicious. I'm fairly decent with chopsticks, but I definitely could use more practice.
At seven thirty there was a Wednesday night service at the church. I didn't undersatnd any of it, so I just read my Bible mainly. Afterwards, I met a lot of people. The word that I use the most is "anyang ha-se-yo", which means "hello" in a respectful way. Most of them either don't speak any English or are too shy to really talk to me. I understand. I know I'm always a bit shy to try to speak Spanish to someone I don't know.
Yesterday was "explore Chuncheon" day. For a breakfast/morning snack, I got a sweet potato and rice cake croissant at a bakery. Their bakeries are very great. We went to the university, walked around the streets, and went shopping. I didn't by much except for a couple of nail polishes and sweet Nightmare Before Christmas hand mirror.
For lunch, we stopped at a kim-bap (Korean-style sushi) place that was owned by church people. We ordered kim-chi and beef kim-baps, and they were served with yellow radishes and bean paste soup. Very delicious.
That night we went to a musical. I couldn't understand anything, but they were pretty expressive, so it was still interesting. Afterwards, Sarah and I went to a cafe and got shaved ice with fruit, honey, sweet bean sauce, and whipped cream, which was also wonderful. They should seriously sell those in the States. They beat the socks off of snowcones.
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