On Saturday after work, much like every Saturday after work, I was super excited to go home and lounge around. However, Ben said Suzie, Minnie and Peter were just around the corner lookin at some bikes. Peter and Ben have recently taken up bike riding every Saturday after work, so I was thinking about getting a cheap bike and joining them. We met them at a coffee shop and were just hanging out. Ben and Peter were about to start their journey and Suzie and Minnie were talking about going to the East coast to a beach, so I immediately dropped all plans to purchase a bike and less than an hour later I was on a bus heading East. The destination was the northeast part of Korea called Gangneung, nicknamed Pine City. This is pretty much what all of Korea looks like that isn't a city. It reminded me much of Pennsylvania. All mountains and farmland.
It was only a 2 1/2 hour bus ride but by the time we got there it was dark. We headed straight to the beach to scope out some crab restaurants. The only time I tried crab was only a bite at my aunts house, and I wasn't very fond of it. But Suzie and Minnie were super excited, so I figured why not try some new things. These were the side dishes we got with the crab. I was a little afraid of the snails and a lot afraid of the mussel things. It was raw, three or four different colors, and slimy as ever. They told me to just tilt my head back and suck it out.. It was actually pretty good.
Our 2kg feast of King Crab. All I could think about was the guys on Deadliest Catch. I've spent countless hours watching them catch these crabs, and now I'm finally eating one! I'm not sure how it works in the States, but in Korea they also give you the guts pureed into a soup that you eventually mix with rice. I was a little grossed out because it looked like (and probably was) diarrhea, but I tried a spoonful anyway. Not my favorite.
The whole restaurant was covered in decorated crab shells, so Minnie decorated one for us.
This little guy was trying to escape the whole night and he finally made it! We were so proud, but the Ajjuma who ran the shop just threw him back in.
We spent an hour or so on the beach just lighting fireworks and having some beers.
We stayed at a Minbak, which literally translates as "homestay / Bed & Breakfast", although it was anything but. When we got in the taxi the driver laughed at us and asked us why we weren't staying at a hotel. Minnie said it was because the minbak was cheaper and the taxi said it would be a memory. And memory it was. When we got there we had to go meet the Ajjuma who owned the joint. We knocked on her door and she opened it sitting there in her PJ's with quail egg shells caked around her mouth, almost like she couldn't bother to peel them. The room we stayed in was more like a closet, and you traditionally sleep on the floor, which was dusty and covered in unimaginable things. After cleaning it and sharing a bottle of wine we finally passed out. We each woke up about 15 times during the night, but it was only $30 total so we couldn't really complain.
The beach was bare cause it wasn't the time for tourists but it as a gorgeous day out. The water was a brilliant shade of blue. But before we settled down on the beach we decided to do some sight seeing.
We first visited the house of Yi I, who was a Korean scholar and is now on the 5,000 won bill and his mother Shin Saimdan, who was an artist and a poet and is now on the 50,000 won bill. This was the statue of Yi I
And this was a statue of Shin Saimdang.
This was the building that she gave birth to Yi I.
The place was called Ojukheon, which I guess in Chinese means surrounded by black bamboo, because all around the village was this strange looking black bamboo. I didn't even know such a thing existed.
After Ojukheon we headed for some coffee at a shop on the beach. There was a little pine forest in between the beach and the road.
Every five minutes or so a horse drawn carriage would come careening down the road.
And we finally made it to the beach! The water was freezing but the sun was beating down full force.
This is how I spent the majority of my afternoon, with my Kindle and a Cass Light.
It was this little girls first day at the beach! She spent a half hour just picked up sand and letting it fall between her fingers.
After the beach we went to a Hanok village that is supposedly one of the most beautiful ones in Korea. Hanok is the traditional Korean houses.
I'm guessing this is were they cooked, or heated their floors. Korean floors are set off of the ground. Wood would be burned and the heat would be funneled under the floor to heat large slabs of stone that would hold the heat and warm the room! It's called Ondol if you are interested in Googling it.
Behind the Hanok was a little pine forest, and all around the pine forest were rice paddies.
After the Hanok we went and grabbed some more coffee to wind down before heading home. No one wanted to leave, it was such a perfect weekend!
On Monday night we went out with three of our coworkers. None of my teachers came out :/ it was only grade 7 teachers. We started things off with a soju-filled pineapple.
Here are the three teachers and Alan. The one in the middle is the grade 7 team leader. I snapped a candid of them and immediately got yelled at! They said "Mario! We are Korean! We need a warning before you start taking pictures! And no flash!"
After the first round of food we went and got another round of food at a different place. The drinking culture in Korea is so fun! You go from place to place and get alcohol and anju (alcohol food) at each place. After this place we went to a karaoke room. By the time we left the karaoke room the sun was in full force in the sky! It made for a semi-miserable next day at work but it was well worth it.
At cooking class today we made Gimbap, which means seaweed rice. Its just rice and veggies and possibly meat if you want it wrapped in seaweed, kind of what we call sushi, but they don't put raw fish in it. We made all different kinds of Gimbap. It was so easy and delicious!
Cecily and I decided to plate our Gimbap in a tower of Gimbap fashion, although it didn't really turn out like how we imagined in our heads. We made one kinds of Gimbap that when cut and arranged it was supposed to look like a flower, but we didn't bother making a flower because there wasn't enough room.
The chef's looked so much better!
The chef walked around and poured honey mustard and chili sauce on our Gimbaps. Unfortunately Cecily and I were the first to get sauce, so before he finished pouring sauce on everyones food we were already finished.
I spent the rest of the afternoon at Olympic Park, lying on a bench and reading my book. Fortunately, the old man didn't call me once today, so I got to go to Taco Bell worry free.
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