Here's the last meal I will eat off the floor: dwenjang chigae. This particular restaurant delivers the food in the plastic bin you see there. It's a really good idea, if you ask me, and I'd like to see more restaurants do it. Instead of piling all the individual dishes outside your door, you just toss them all back in here. I even put a thank you letter in the box once, thanking the ajumma for her delcious cooking. It paid off. Now my sidedishes have gotten much bigger.
Here's people waiting in line at E-mart. I'm getting better at just taking my camera out and photographing people. Just kidding - I asked Julie to take it for me while I pretended not to know her. Thanks, Julie! I really hate going to these mega-centers - the chaos, the screaming kids, the long checkout lines, the cutting ahead, pushing, shoving. Argh! I think I've become accustomed to the quiet country life too much. At first I disliked it here. Now I've grown to relish the silence.
Well, here it is. Julie helped me pick it out. It cost me a mere 10,800 won, that's less that $10! Whoo hoo! I made a delicious mandu guk (dumpling soup) last night to celebrate but I was so excited about my new table I forgot to take a picture of the food. To make up for it, you can see a couple of my DVDs there in the background. Yes, that's the ever enjoyable Sanford and Son series and Slingblade, one of my favorite movies. Other ones not shown include Pink Floyd The Wall, Shawshank Redemption, Unforgiven, Driving Miss Daisy, The Andy Griffin Show 16 episodes, Iron Maiden: Live After Death, my all time favorite Rocky 1. The collection is complete. I need nothing more.
The same day we went to Haehwa-dong, we looked around Dongdaemun. The idea was to buy an imitation brand name backpack, but I was unable to find a decent one and ended up getting a real Puma bag later.
Here's Migliore. The bottom floor is totally made up of fake name brand items. There's one of these places in Suwon where I got my new US 55 winter coat for a mere 60,000 Won. However, in Suwon the salespeople seem much more desperate. One lady annoyed me so badly that I pulled out my wallet and said "FBI, imitation Nike!" I swear she almost passed out cold. I'm not sure how a franchise like this can get away with selling so many bogus goods. There must be some payoffs going on.
Ah, Christmas is in the air. Look at all the decorations. Look at all the people!
I'm not sure what all these people are in line for. What, is Iron Maiden getting back together for a reunion tour? I want tickets too!
Across the street is Dongdaemun stadium. I really don't have anything to say about it except that it reminds me of the World Cup. It also makes me think about all the expensive new stadiums they built in 2002 that have no purpose anymore. Do they even use them at all?
People were literally everywhere bumping and pushing. We decided to leave before we got crushed to death by shopping crazy ajummas. I just noticed another Starbucks style coffee shop sign there: Sugar Happy Espresso. No wonder why everyone is moving so quickly.
By the way, Julie is here. We're both to lazy to cook so we ordered pizza again. This happens every time. I think I need to hire a part time ajumma.
One of my adult students gave me a cookbook which she stole from her office. I want to learn how to cook more Korean foods so I was thankful.
Here's a shot. The book is all in Korean, but it's not hard with all the photos to figure out most of the recipes. I guess the book is devoted entirely to chigaes, Korean soups. The book is huge. I didn't know there were that many different kinds of chigae.
This simple dish is one of my favorites. I don't know what to call it in English - I guess just bean sprout soup. I don't think I ever ate bean sprouts before I came to Korea. I don't know why not. They are really delicious and now one of my favorite vegetables.
Julie is coming over later tonight. We're supposed to cook kimchi chigae. Hopefully I'll get some pictures for you, but I think she's still a little shocked about the previous ones I posted. At least I should be able to photograph the food...I hope.
Here are the last of the pictures I took last weekend in Haehwa-dong:
There are some monstrous coffee shops here. Look at this place. It looks more like a Hollywood mansion than a cafe. I can't believe they could sell enough coffee and "fusion" food to pay for it, considering the sky-high cost of property in Seoul.
I thought that was some kind of weird Osama bin Laden information tent, but I guess that's a drawing of some famous psychic Chinese guy from the past. Check out the hangul written in black. Don't tell me this little tent is called the Psychic Department Store? If you look closely you can see someone getting their palm read. "This line here is too short. You will die next year. That'll be 10,000 won, please." I once visited a psychic when I was in Geoje-do. She told me I would travel and have many adventures and then write about them. Man, was she way off. What a scam!
Here's the outside of another booth. It's typical for Koreans to set up identical businesses right next to each other. I guess it's to make it more convenient to get service without waiting, but there was hardly anyone around here. Anyway, this place has a huge poster outlining the various psychic points on the body. I guess there's really no point going in now.
There are a few other booths where you can get you portrait drawn. I don't know how anyone can draw this well. I can barely draw stick figures. The picture on top is making me wonder. For some reason I just can't imagine a Korean woman flying an airplane and especially then stopping off for a quick self portrait. Hmm... The women on the bottom however looks more realistic and damn good.
You know, a few years ago this would have surprised me, but nowadays things like this seem to blend into the scenery. I wouldn't have noticed it if Julie hadn't pointed it out. What it is (a toaster van?) and why it's here is anyone's guess.
I thought these people were singing Christmas songs and sharing the joy of the season until I looked closely. It's yet another anti-war demonstration with gory war photos on display.
I guess these are The Christmas Trees United Against the War in Iraq. Apparently if your against the war, you sign a decoration and hang it up. I'm not really sure how that helps anything, but if it makes people feel better then carry on. Ironically I took this picture just a few hours before it was revealed Saddam was captured. I'm not a proponent of the war, I'd rather see all that money used to help the millions of people suffering in our own country, but I must say I am happy that guy won't be putting anymore people feet first through a wood-chipper. By the way, for Christmas I want one of those Captured Saddam Dolls or any of the other overpriced villain dolls for that matter. (Play the Talking Baghdad Bob audio clip, hahaha.) Please feel free to send me one anytime. :D
I was busy tonight ordering Christmas gifts online for my sister and her darling little girl, my niece, so I didn't have time to update here. I got $30 worth of free stuff when I signed up for the Amazon.com credit card, so I was able to save the shipping costs and got my sister a copy of my favorite couple of books in the process. What did I get? A Strawberry Shortcake set for Sierra, and for my sister an Oprah Club best seller, a copy of my favorite book, Quiet Days in Clichy by Henry Miller, and a newbie user guide to Windows XP.
Here she is, my niece, back in NY, being a mischief maker by playing with the computer when she knows better. Her smile says it all.
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Enjoy reading about my experiences living and teaching in South Korea.
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