The Flag Cake and the Fourth

I MADE AN AMERICAN FLAG CAKE HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY

I baked a chocolate cake last night and woke up a bit earlier than usual this morning to decorate it with vanilla frosting, strawberry jam, frozen blueberries, and white chocolate chips. The result was the delicious Pan of Patriotism pictured above. Well, I don't actually know if it was delicious or not, since I didn't taste any of it. 왜?!

왜냐면, This American flag cake was for the teachers at my school, in celebration of American Independence Day. They all told me the cake and the chocolate chip cookies I made were 진짜 맛있어요, so that's good enough for me! I also brought two huge watermelons in a suitcase, because they are in season right now, and because, as I tried to explain in Korean, "In America, on Independence Day, people get together with friends and family and barbecue outside and eat watermelon... and there are fireworks..." It's quite different from the somewhat solemn Korean Independence Day (August 15th), and actually in comparison it seems rather frivolous.

But the point is that my job is to share American culture in a positive way, and in Korea, food is one's best bet for building relationships. All of my school's faculty are amazed that I made the cake and cookies from scratch. Literally, they have a hard time believing that a cake can come from anywhere other than the corner bakery (ovens are rare in Korean households). But tasting is believing in this case. I'm happy to have helped everyone start their day right: with sugar and a healthy dose of red, white, and blue.

A great morning continued with a great day. I was productive during my desk-warming hours, preparing for some workshops I'll run at the 2014 Fulbright Orientation (which begins, incidentally, tomorrow!) later this month and taking care of some errands. My "Before I Leave" to-do list seems to get longer every day, and I'm a bit worried. But I'll take things one step at a time.

My students finished their final exams today, so everyone I met in the hallways and at lunch was quite happy. Also, more alumni came back to visit! Well, they didn't come to visit me this time, as this particular group of boys was... well, they were my sleepers, so I didn't have the opportunity to get very close to them. Still nice to see them, though.

And in the evening, all the faculty celebrated the end of finals and the approaching end of the semester with dinner at a wonderful barbecue restaurant by the Junam Reservoir called 호수에 그림 하난 ("One Picture at the Lake"?). We ate outdoors and watched the sun set over the mountains and the lake. Everything was lit golden, and large cranes flew by on occasion. It really was lovely. Even though I didn't get my fireworks or pool party, I am still grateful that I got to spend this Fourth of July in good company and in a beautiful place.

Junam Reservoir at sunset. The water is covered with hundreds of thousands of lotus plants.

Even indoor soccer at taekgyeon tonight couldn't ruin my good mood. Actually, soccer was saved by the middle school taekgyeon students, who stuck around to join us for our game. These kids are so full of energy, it's hard not to enjoy anything when they bring their game on at full volume. The best part was that the kids on the sidelines would yell out a constant live commentary, a skill they'd picked up from World Cup announcers. They also referred to me as 박지성 since I was scoring the most goals (not terribly difficult to do when you're a head taller than all your opponents). The only time I'll ever be compared to a professional athlete is when I'm playing indoor soccer with the taekgyeon kids...

Well, a very happy Fourth of July to all of you Americans! Celebrate your good luck and your liberty, crack some jokes, and then remember to support ongoing efforts to secure freedom around the world.

The Second Final Dinner

One year ago, Fulbright held the closing ceremony for the 2012-2013 grant year. I wrote in my blog then that the event was nice, but didn't feel so much like the end of everything for a few reasons: it was still a few weeks before the actual end of the grant, the programming was filled with talks and performances, which left little time to reminisce with friends, and, most importantly, it wasn't actually the end. Last year's "final dinner" was actually just the midpoint of my Fulbright grant period. I left the event knowing that although I was saying goodbye to some of my friends, I certainly wasn't leaving Korea: this country and I still had a whole entire year ahead of us

And now that year is over.

This past weekend was my second Fulbright Final Dinner, and it was also the last. Was it different? Surprisingly, I think it was a bit less nostalgic and emotional. I mean, it was largely the same as last year's ceremony, but I knew even fewer people. Still, as always, I enjoyed seeing my friends and having a blast in Seoul for a short weekend.

I was foolish enough to bring my camera but not my battery, so I couldn't take any nice photos over the weekend! I guess I'll have to use thousands of words instead. Haha, kidding, here are some highlights:

1. Volume 7, issue 2 of the Fulbright Infusion was released at the dinner! It is a beautiful magazine, and I'm excited to share it with my students and colleagues. Check out the website, too, to see some of my photos and pieces that were published!

2. A Fulbright Korea alumnus who did his grant year about twenty years ago was a guest at the final dinner, and even though he is a complete stranger, he came up to me and asked, "Hey, you write a blog, don't you?" Apparently, I have some dedicated readers who aren't just my Facebook friends! This little surprise made me very happy.

3. I went back to Acousticholic! Unfortunately, we only caught the tail end of my friend's performance that night, but it was great to catch up with him afterward. This guy is working for JYP Entertainment as a songwriter. I swear he's going to be really big one day...

Food from The Beastro in Hongdae (#6). Also, I'm about to stab my 삼겹살 sliders. Photo courtesy Neal Singleton!

4. A fundraising organization called Running 4 Resettlement, which was founded by a group of current Fulbrighters, held an event at a new restaurant in Hongdae called The Beastro. Donating money to help North Korean defectors adjust comfortably to life in South Korea? Check. Good drinks and company? Check. Chilling in on an open rooftop terrace in Hongdae on a cool summer night? Check.

5. That night, I stayed at a 24-hour sauna called Siloam (신로암), near Seoul Station. It's an amazing sauna, far better than any I've been to (though I haven't yet paid a visit to SpaLand in Busan...). I tried all the different hot baths and steam rooms, including one with walls made of charcoal and one that was like a pit of heated salt rocks. My friends and I chatted in the steam rooms and played Contact until three in the morning! (I may write more about this sauna at a later date, although it's too bad I didn't take any pictures!)

6. Lunch at The Beastro on Sunday morning. This restaurant is amazing! Need proof? Check hungryinhongdae. Also, more ice cream at Fell+Cole, where I finally redeemed the stamp card I've been using for a whole year. 

Katelyn, Clara, and me at Fell+Cole.

7. Followed by shopping -- I got a new shirt (and am now worried about what I'm going to do with all the clothes I've accumulated in this country over the past two years) and a nice afternoon 노래방 (karaoke room) session with friends.

And just like that, a too-short weekend came to an end. Final exams at my school begin tomorrow, which means I will still have nothing to do all day besides input grades, take care of administrative stuff, and... get things ready for the Fulbright teacher who will replace me next semester. Whoever they are, they will say hello to South Korea in one week. (Orientation begins for the new Fulbright class next Monday.) And one month after that, I will say goodbye!

개학 - School's beginning!

Winter break is finally over. It's been a long two months, and I'm restless to get back to teaching! I wouldn't say I'm ready for 개학 (gaehak, the start of classes), though, since I've left a lot of my curriculum planning undone. Yeah, I really tried to make the most of my vacation this year, and that meant that I traveled and hung out with friends a ton but left all my work for the last minute. But as a last hurrah before I buckle down and hit the road running tomorrow morning, let us recap!

December 2013: I stayed at school during the week of Christmas, even though I'm contractually allowed to take off earlier, because I wanted to watch my students perform at their school festival. I baked a ton and then went to Seoul to visit friends, which always means eating a ton of food. Year-end festivities were put on hold so that I could finish my grad school apps.

January 2014: I reconnected with my homestay family, began a linguistics research project that took me to Jeju Island, then passed through Busan on my way to Japan for a five-day trip around Kyushu with my friend Erik! I took the hydrofoil ferry from Busan to Fukuoka, visited the Atomic Bomb Museum in Nagasaki, saw a volcano, dipped in a natural hot spring, and ate a lot of amazing food. After ten days at home, I was off again to backpack through Thailand and Laos for two weeks.

February 2014: After visiting the protest sites in Bangkok and riding elephants in Chiang Mai, I crossed the northern border of Thailand into Laos and cruised down the Mekong while enjoying the amazing views of a virtually untouched landscape. I spent one night in a rural Lao village, then traipsed around Luang Prabang and Vang Vieng, exploring waterfalls and caves. In two weeks, I made a dozen new friends and decided that backpacking is the best way to travel when you're young. Lastly, I came back full circle to Bangkok via Vientiane and flew back to Korea, just in time for my school's second graduation ceremony. One week of writing for Changwonderful, biking with Changwon Bike Party, and blogging as much as I could passed by too quickly, and then I found myself on a plane bound for Pyongyang. North Korea was weird and unforgettable, and you'll hear all about it soon.

I've been back in South Korea for a little over a week. I got a new haircut, went to a pizza party with friends in Seoul, baked banana bread and Nutella muffins, tried out a ton of cafes and restaurants in Changwon, visited Tongyeong on a whim, volunteered with North Korean defectors, and went to my first ever K-pop concert: K.Will in Busan!

Okay, it's too late. I can't write anymore. Here are photos of my winter break!

Graduation day; new haircut; Tongyeong mural village; Cafe Olympic in Nagasaki; brunch in Changwon; hanging out in Seoul; hanging out in Bangkok; Changwon Bike Party; hanging out in Pyongyang; elephant ride in Chiang Mai; canoe ride in Laos; K.Will concert; chilling in Vang Vieng; chilling in Luang Prabang; and 친구들~

Some of the things I've made and/or eaten: Nutella banana walnut muffins, honey toast at Ogada, Japanese hambagu steak in Changwon, homemade pancakes, citron tea at Cafe Hau, orange French toast at Flying Pan Blue, Sulbing, more Sulbing, raw horsemeat (basashi) in Nagasaki, and peanut butter jalapeno burger at Sharky's in Busan!

Happy March! I saw cherry blossoms in bloom today in Tongyeong. Spring is coming! And goodnight.

Food for the Seoul

Ice cream in Iksan, Bananagrams at Belgium Chocolatier, Ben's Cookies, Myeongdong Kyoja, Monster Pizza, listening to Tim Be Told, chilling at AcousticHolic, shopping at Ssamziegil in Insadong.

My wallet has been relieved of the army of King Sejongs who have been living in it undisturbed for quite some time. In their place, a wad of receipts. A weekend in Seoul always means money spent left and right, but I had a great time and ate a lot of amazing food; it was all well worth it.

Friday Food: MEAT and a quarter gallon of ice cream
So, last Friday after school, I took a two-leg bus trip to Iksan (익산) to visit Katelyn, who welcomed me with dinner at 종로상회, an amazing barbecue restaurant with generous portions, and the traditional Iksan Initiation: a quarter-gallon of Baskin Robbins, to be eaten in one sitting. At BR, we ran into two of her students, and I was sorely tempted to pretend to be Katelyn's boyfriend. We then pigged out on ice cream and cookies we had both baked while watching Monsters University, which I fairly enjoyed despite its predictability.

Saturday Food: street food and super-spicy vindaloo
Late Saturday morning, we took a bus to Seoul for our weekend adventure. Most of this adventure consisted of shopping and eating. Our first stop was Insadong (인사동), the neighborhood best known for souvenirs and traditional Korean crafts that are made in China. Eh, some of them are made in China, but honestly I wasn't able to tell what was really authentic and what wasn't. However, I was especially enamored with Ssamziegil (쌈지길), a four-story building crammed to bursting with little shops for everything from jewelry and clothes to phone accessories and toys. Everything looked handmade, and just walking around and taking in the sights was as much a pleasure as the shopping itself. I will certainly come back to Insadong in the future, this time armed with my camera.

As for good eats, well, there's nothing like a $1 hotteok (호떡) in a cup from a street vendor on a below-freezing night. After snacking in Insadong, Katelyn, Ashley, and I joined Liam in Hongdae for dinner at an exellent Indian/Nepalese restaurant called Yeti (예티), which I featured in hungryinhongdae a while back. The lamb vindaloo was extremely spicy and caused me to sweat, but I couldn't stop eating it (and should have ordered another mango lassi to calm my tongue...) Also, bottomless naan baskets! What a deal! Following that, we hurried to AcousticHolic to watch our friends perform. I hadn't been in at least six months, but everyone still remembered me! And their performances were excellent, as usual.

Sunday Food: chopped noodle soup, cookies, egg tart, fro-yo, American pizza and a burger
In an attempt to beat the crowds at the famous Myeongdong Kyoja (명동교자), Katelyn, Jessica and I aimed to arrive at Myeongdong, Seoul's famous upscale shopping district, at 11:30am. We actually got to the restaurant at noon, and the place was as busy as a beehive. The three of us were promptly seated at a table for two, ordered three bowls of 칼국수 (delicious noodle soup that warms your soul) and paid up front in cash (8,000KRW), and within two minutes three bowls of soup and sides of kimchi appeared on our table. It was faster than fast food! I was dumbfounded. But the restaurant was extremely busy; people kept coming in, eating, and leaving in the blink of an eye. Still, the ladies and I had the time to talk and catch up, and we also got second helpings of the delicious (and bottomless/free refill) noodles.

After lunch, Katelyn and I hopped in and out of shops in the midst of post-Christmas sales, but I exercised some restraint and bought only one thing: a divinely delicious orange-milk chocolate cookie from Ben's Cookies, a chain that does one thing and does it well, with six locations in Seoul. At three bucks, it's one-third of a nice scarf from Spau, but I'd take the cookie any day!

Katelyn then had to leave for the airport, and I hung out with Liam for the afternoon (i.e. read a book and napped in his apartment). We chilled at a small cafe in Hongdae called Cafe Omao that has egg tarts from Lord Stow's, which explains why a sign for the various tarts (not just egg, but also sweet potato tarts, pumpkin tarts, red bean tarts, and apple cinnamon tarts) read, "Andrew's Egg Tarts & Coffee". 2,200KRW for a small egg tart is extremely pricey in my opinion, but it was good, and the atmosphere of the place is perfect for what Liam calls "a good cafe session", which basically means we talked at length about our various experiences in Korea over the past 18 months, how our viewpoints have changed, and what we're expecting from the nebulous and uncertain future.

For dinner, we met up with Monica, on her way back from her sixth (or six-hundredth, who knows) K-pop concert of the semester, and dined at Burger B, another hungryinhongdae favorite. The gorgonzola burger (9,000KRW) here is great, but it's not something that will fill you up after a full day of halfhearted shopping (i.e. walking around), so we hit up Monster Pizza for some legit American-style pizza. It's not your Korean Mr. Pizza or Pizza Etang, nope, this is a huge slice of cheese, pepperoni, or ham with peppers -- no sweet potato, corn, mayo, or bulgogi on this baby -- for 3,500KRW. It was amazing. I'll be back (with my camera).

We ended our evening with fro-yo from Snow Spoon Cafe, which features macarons, gelato, standard cafe fare, and, of course, frozen yogurt in a number of crazy flavors on rotation. These include: milk tea, red wine, squid ink, rice, and something called "blue" (not "blueberry", mind you, just "blue"). I got red wine and blackberry, and Monica chose milk tea with original tart. Price is based on weight in grams at 26KRW/g, which is nearly 70 cents per ounce. Extremely pricey compared to Californian fro-yo shops. Still... it's fro-yo! I quite enjoyed it. At Monica's apartment, we watched Bridesmaids, which I thought was funny albeit a bit overhyped. Still, Kristen Wiig is fantastic. Also, pomegranates are fantastic. Hanging out with friends and eating pomegranates is fantastic.

Monday Food: brunch and Belgian hot chocolate
I had originally intended to return to Changwon on Sunday evening, but decided that I'd rather spend more time (and money) in Seoul with my friends, so on Monday morning, I met up with Ashley for brunch at The Flying Pan Blue in Itaewon. My egg/ham/avocado/pesto thing on toasted French bread was amazing, and Ashley got a delicious panini. Most Americans will attest that it's difficult to get a good sandwich in Seoul (let alone Korea), so this was quite a treat. Most breakfasts, which are served all day, run from 15-18,000KRW.

Following that, we went to a cafe called... Well, to tell the truth I'm not sure what it's called. Jubilee Chocolatier, I think, but my receipt tells me 벨지움쇼콜라띠에 (Belgium Chocolatier). I should have taken photos! Anyway, raspberry hot chocolate at this joint is pricey (5.800KRW) but delicious. The tiramisu tart is pricey (7,000KRW) and not quite as delicious, or perhaps my sweet tooth was finally running out after a weekend chock-full of desserts. In any case, the best part of this cafe was that Ashley and I got to play Bananagrams and Pirate Scrabble in peace, and this is part of why I love cafe culture in Korea.

Before I finally left for Changwon, I met a friend of a friend who is in Seoul visiting family -- and we chatted as I waited for my bus. He's also a fan of Tim Be Told, aka my favorite band in the universe! Everyone go buy their newest album, Mighty Sound.

Whew!
What a weekend. I was so happy to see my friends again and also to make new ones. It's a bit tough on my penny-pinching mentality to splurge the way I did, but the good times are worth it. I'm fortunate to have a job where I make enough not to have to worry about finances. That said, I should continue to be frugal, since I have two months of vacation and ahead of me, and travel isn't cheap.

On another note, how silly of me not to bring my camera to Seoul. I claimed I was trying to travel lightly, but seriously, I missed out on a lot of great photos of interesting architecture in Insadong, friends having a good time in Hongdae, and beautiful food everywhere. I had to struggle with the poor camera in my phone, and the result is the collage you see above. Lesson duly noted: bring your camera with you wherever you go, Andrew.

- - -
Just for my own future reference, bus times and fares!
Changwon to Jeonju: 2.5 hrs, 14,400KRW
Jeonju to Iksan: 45min, 3,300KRW
Iksan to Seoul: 3.5 hrs, 17,500KRW
Seoul to Changwon: 4.5 hrs, 30,900KRW (man, that price seems to go up every time I check it...)

What I'm Thankful For

It's Thanksgiving once again! Last year, I was thankful for friends, family, Fulbright, food, faith, and a lot of other things, not all of which begin with the letter F.

This year, I didn't think about Thanksgiving very much, in part due to being so busy these past few weeks. I don't get to work this little tidbit of American culture into any of my lessons, since most of my students are doing their speech tests now, and I spend every extra minute of every day correcting drafts or journals.

But it's only appropriate that I take some time now and list at least a few of the very many things for which I am grateful this year.

1. A healthy and active body. I'm thankful that I'm surviving (so far) a winter in Korea without unlimited heating. (On that note, it snowed in Changwon today! But it didn't stick.) I'm happy to be doing taekgyeon to keep myself fit even though I bake cookies and eat them all by myself every weekend... Here's a photo of my taekgyeon performance in Seoul during Fulbright Thanksgiving the weekend before last.

I'm performing with 장봉, but it's moving too fast for you to really see ;) Photo taken by Vinnie Flores.

2. I'm thankful for all of my friends, new and old. I love Skyping home to chat with people after going months or even years without seeing them. I'm also lucky that folks in Changwon are really friendly, so even though I'm basically a hermit, I have friends here in my city. Last Sunday, I ran into Nadia, a friend I met at church but hadn't seen in a few months. Ever the hospitable host, Nadia promptly invited me to dinner at her place that night, where she and some of her friends were celebrating an early Thanksgiving. She had gone to the army base in Jinhae to get all the proper food: an enormous turkey, stuffing, pumpkin pie, mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberry sauce, and even candied yams with marshmallows, roasted in a 된장찌개 pot! My second Thanksgiving this year was very spontaneous and simply fantastic.

Romi and part of our Thanksgiving feast, prepared by Nadia. Look at that turkey! I helped carve it. :)

New friends who live in Jangyu/Gimhae, which means I don't know how often I'll get to see them, but they're awesome all the same!

3. I'm thankful for my family, even though I haven't seen them for a while and won't for an even longer while. My parents went on a vacation to New Zealand recently, so that put them in the same hemisphere as me, but they were actually 600 miles farther away from Seoul than the Bay Area is. Also, my cousin Johanna got engaged last weekend! Congratulations, Johanna! I know you're reading this. I love my family and I love that it keeps getting bigger literally every year.

As many of you know, my grandfather passed away a few months ago. I miss him, but I'm also thankful that this event was able to bring my large family and my even larger church family together in September. I could clearly see how God used him to bless hundreds, of not thousands, of people in his long and well-lived life.

My grandparents, with A-kong sporting some killer snorkel gear, in a video hangout last year.

4. I'm thankful for my job and for the excellent Fulbright community. I'm lucky to be a part of it! My fellow teachers inspire me; they make me laugh; they keep me sane; they take my money to fund amazing progressive educational initiatives. I would be a lost and lonely 외국인 in Korea if it weren't for them.

Fulbright at the 2013 Thanksgiving dinner with the US Embassy in Seoul. I'm the one in the shirt. Taken by Vinnie Flores.

5. Last, but not least (maybe even most), I'm thankful for my students. I love 'em, and though sometimes they bring me grief, most of the time they make my life complete. I don't spend twelve hours at school every day because I like my desk, folks.

And sometimes, I find out that my students are thankful for me, too, and that just makes me melt.

A student's answer to the last journal question of the semester: What have you learned in my class?

So, Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Enjoy your turducken and your parade, while I enjoy an endless feast of blessings from above. 추수감사절 축하합니다!

베이킹을 사랑해! I Love Baking!

Fulbright Fall Conference was last weekend, and one of the events was a bake sale as part of a fundraising effort for various Fulbrighter-led initiatives. My contribution was a batch of persimmon cupcakes (with persimmon frosting!) and Oreo brownies! My friend Katelyn, who baked peanut butter-chocolate chip cookies, and I together raised about $70 for the North Korea Defector tutoring program in Daegu.

I documented my uber-baking process, which began at 6am the morning before I was to leave for Gyeongju. I got up before sunrise, baked for three hours straight, cleaned for one hour, packed, and was out the door by 10:30am.

The set-up: some new baking pans, a new muffin tin! And all the ingredients up top: peanut butter, persimmons, Oreos, chocolate... Dang, seeing this makes me excited to bake again.

Oreo brownies: one layer of cookie dough, one layer of Oreos, and one layer of brownies. Recipe from here.

The finished product! It was very sweet, but not as melty or moist as I'd have liked. Still, not bad for the first try.

Persimmon cupcakes, just out of the oven! I mostly followed this recipe from the Cupcake Project, but used cinnamon instead of pumpkin pie spice and also added crushed walnuts per a recipe I got from my aunt. (The idea was inspired by her own persimmon cake, so thanks, A-koh!)

Here's the first batch! Persimmon cupcakes, with persimmon. :) Cute, but a bit flat. Perhaps more baking powder next time to help them rise. Also, more flour to counteract too much juice from the fruit.

I also made persimmon frosting! Without powdered sugar (confectioner's sugar), I had to go with a recipe that used granulated sugar, but it turned out better than I could have imagined, anyway. Butter, sugar, milk, flour (?!), and one persimmon, whipped together like mad and refrigerated for a few hours. I frosted them just before the bake sale, so that it wouldn't melt. They were a hit. I even sold cups of extra frosting for a buck each; I'm not kidding.

Oh and here's another thing I did a few weeks ago: cinnamon sugar sweet potato fries. Yum!

I love baking and I will try to get better at it throughout the year. Fall is definitely here. How do I know? The weather is chillier and I've caught a cold. Time to try recipes with pumpkins (Korean pumpkins, 호박, are quite different from American ones) and Korean pears!

Pesto Grilled Cheese Sandwich Recipe (조리법)

Pesto Grilled Cheese! 페스토 그릴드 치즈!

Ingredients/재료
- sliced bread/빵

- Tillamook pepperjack cheese/치즈

- mushrooms/버섯

- pesto/페스토

- butter/버터

Steps/요리법

1. Dice the mushrooms and fry them in butter. 버섯을 깍둑썰기를 하고 버터에 튀기다.

2. Spread pesto on one slice of bread and top with all of the cheese you desire. 빵에서 페스토를 바르고 치즈를 원하는 만큼 놓다.

3. Generously coat a skillet with butter and place the half-sandwich in it. Add the mushrooms, more cheese, and the second slice of bread to complete the sandwich. 프라이팬에 버터를 많이 놓고 샌드위치도 놓다. 버섯, 치즈와 빵 또한 조각을 놓도록 샌드위치를 만들다.

4. Flip once. 한 번 뒤집다.

5. Eat deliciously. 맛있게 드세요!

Good food is good for friendships. Last weekend in Seoul, I had the chance to get dinner with Jake, except we didn't get dinner but decided to make it ourselves. I'd been craving cheese for some reason, so we went simple and did grilled cheese sandwiches. I was quite content. Not only was dinner absolutely delicious and absolutely the kind of comfort food that I needed, I really appreciated getting to catch up with Jake and have some 친구 time, as well as with some other Fulbrighters whom we ran into and chilled with for the evening.

I also made a date with another Swattie! I love how so many of us can be found in Korea, working, studying, living, visiting, or just passing through. I've met up with over two dozen in less than two years; considering how small my college was, I'd say that's a decently high number! Steph had been employed in Shanghai but moved to Seoul less than a month ago for a change of pace. I caught her during the conference lunch break, and we got some good Vietnamese pho, spring rolls, and pineapple fried rice (!) at a small restaurant close to the university campus. Although we only had an hour, it was enough to catch up -- I hadn't seen her in two years -- and talk excitedly about how awesome Korea is. I'm sure she's going to love Seoul. But come visit Changwon, too, Steph!

July Fourth

Cookies and sparklers!

July 4th didn't happen last year, at least for the eighty of us Fulbrighters. Our plane left Los Angeles on the evening of the third and arrived in Seoul on the fifth. Crossing the International Date Line going west caused us to lose a day, and that day happened to be Independence Day.

My family's usual July 4th tradition is a backyard barbecue at my cousin's place, the one with the swimming pool. Even though I call it a tradition, I realized today from looking back through my Facebook timeline that I haven't celebrated the holiday with my family in many years. In fact, I have not even been in the United States for Independence Day since 2009. That was four years ago. I feel mighty unpatriotic. Ha!

Hanna and Traylor roll out dough with... jars of Skippy. Ha!

This year, I decided to use the holiday as an excuse to give back to my school community. Although I'm not very close with all the teachers, I wanted to show my appreciation for their having taken care of me, given me rides to school, and shown willingness to converse in English, even though it's difficult for most of them. So, yesterday evening, I invited myself over to my friends' place and we had a cookie-baking party! (My homestay does not have an oven.)

Three and a half hours of mixing, cookie-cutting, decorating, and sneaking dough (and spoonfuls of peanut butter and Nutella) later, we had over a hundred cookies. We then ate them. We also lit sparklers! Indoors. Smart, right? One wayward spark burned the new linoleum floor, but it wasn't such a disaster. The cookies were really delicious, and I had a great time with Hannah, Traylor, Tiana, Amy, and Saerom.

Choco-chip, choco-dipped, sprinkles, and 똥 cookies (the Hershey Kiss ones)!

Then, I went to school this morning armed with two giant tupperware containers of cookies and left them in the main 교무실 (teachers' office/lounge) along with a note: 맛있게 드세요! (Eat a lot!) Happy American Independence Day! I also personally left some cookies for the vice principal and two teachers who have been exceptionally kind to me.

I don't mean to brag, but they were a hit. The teachers who were in the office when I left the cookies came over and wondered where they had come from. When I told them that I'd made them myself, they looked shocked. And they all ate quite a few each. When my co-teacher sent out a message to the staff inviting them to the office for cookies, she had to mention "양이 많지는 않으니 선착순..." which means, "There aren't a whole lot, so first come, first served."

Actually, here is the rest of her message; I'm reproducing it because it amuses me: 앤드류샘이 맛있는 쿠키를 구워 오셨습니다. 오늘이 바로 그 유명한 July, the fourth!라고 미국독립기념일이라. 인디언들에게는 슬펐을지 모르나 암튼 좋은 날입니다.^^ 직접 만들었다는데 맛이 좋습니다. 허나...

Translation: "Teacher Andrew brought some tasty cookies he baked, as today is the famous "July, the fourth!", or American Independence Day. Perhaps the Indians were sad, but anyway, it's a great day. [happy emoticon] He made them himself, so they're delicious. (But... first come, first served)"

I got several messages from teachers later, kindly thanking me for the cookies. Later, I intimated to my co-teacher that if there's enough money in the budget next semester, I'd like a convection oven for my apartment so that I can bake tons more cookies for everyone. If I could, I would totally be that guy.

Happy Fourth of July! 미국 독립 기념일 축하합니다! (Mi-guk Tongnip Kinyeom-il chukha-hamnida)

On that note, it has now been one year since I left the States to begin my Fulbright adventure in South Korea. Look, two blog posts from one year ago: July 4th and July 5th, 2012. My, how time flows like running water. (시간이 유수와 같이 빠르다!)

Food and Friends

Recently, I found myself trying to recall the lyrics of a silly song I heard from Spongebob Squarepants. It goes, "F is for Friends who do stuff together, U is for U and me, N is for aNytime and anywhere at all, down here in the deep blue sea." In the next verse, Plankton sings, "F is for Fire that burns down the whole down, U is for Uranium bombs! N is for No survivors --" But then, Spongebob interrupts him, and at a later point, both sing of happy things once more: "F is for Frolic through all the flowers, U is for Ukulele, N is for Nose-picking..."

And that's where I drew a blank. I couldn't bring up the very end of the song, and it bothered me so much that I Googled it to find out.

Anyway, I'd like to propose my own verse. Here goes: "F is for Food with Friends from Fulbright and Faraway homes, U is for the Urban culinary landscape, N is for No regrets whatsoever, after a fun weekend in Seoul!"

I'm really creative, can't you tell?

T is for Tacos. V is for Vatos.

Ashley and Kelly and our mouthwatering Nutella nachos with ice cream.

My first stop when I arrived in Seoul on Saturday (having departed Changwon at 7:00am sharp and sleeping the entire way through a four-hour bus ride) was a famous Mexican restaurant in Itaewon called Vatos Urban Tacos. The super-hip eatery was begun in 2011 by two Korean-Americans from California. They brought their love and knowledge of Mexican cuisine to Seoul, where it is still not as popular as you might hope. But Vatos is paving the way for Koreans to embrace the deliciousness of concoctions like galbi short rib tacos, kimchi carnitas fries, and carne asada quesadillas.

I'd heard nothing but good things about the restaurant, so I was psyched to visit it with Fulbright friends Ashley and Kelly, along with Justin, a friend from Fremont. When we walked in, I was taken aback. I think I was expecting a sort of hole-in-the-wall place, like Tacos Amigos, which is also in Itaewon. But this restaurant is huge, spacious, and bustling with activity. Tons of chefs work busily in the open kitchen, and waiters and bartenders try to keep up with a steady flow of customers both Korean and international. It felt very much like an American restaurant; even our waiter was American, and he was just as friendly and persuasive as a guy at your local Chili's.

Justin and me at Vatos. I had a bit of a glow going on, I'll admit.

The menu was tantalizing: nachos, tacos, burritos, quesadillas: everything you'd want in a Mexican restaurant, with the sad exception of guacamole since they had run out. The only disappointment -- though it was not a surprise -- was the portion sizes. For ₩11,000, those are three minuscule tacos. Yes, they were delicious. Filling, even. But still shockingly small. All of us gave in to ordering more appetizers even after we'd finished our main courses. We also got dessert, at our waiter's insistence: cinnamon nachos drizzled in Nutella, topped with ice cream. It was a good call.

So the five of us enjoyed our meal and our drinks (Giant frozen margaritas at noon? Sure, why not!), gritted our teeth when the bill came, and paid our compliments to one of the manager-owners, who was working the register. Vatos Urban Tacos was a success! I won't strain my wallet with frequent trips to the restaurant, but I would certainly go again. Here is their contact information/website.

Patbingsu with watermelon, ice cream, sliced almonds, and Corn Flakes

P is for Patbingsu. J is for Joenill.

It was great to see Jenny again!

Patbingsu (팥빙수) is a Korean dessert made of shaved ice topped with sweet red bean and a ton of other delicious things, including fruits, ice cream, nuts, rice cake, and sometimes chocolate. On Saturday evening, my friends and I replaced dinner with giant bowls of patbingsu from Cafe Joenill. There were six of us, and we wanted to order three, but the barista told us that two would actually be enough, and he was right. They were huge, and well worth ₩8,000.

Catching up with old friends and making new ones is a wonderful thing to do on a warm summery day, especially if you have a shaved ice dessert to dig into while doing so. Come July, I will probably want to eat one of these a day. And when I go to Taiwan this summer, you bet I'll have my fair share of 挫冰.

B is for Burrito. G is for Grill5.

Grill5 galbi burrito with guacamole! Note clever use of foreshortening...

It was a tiny burrito, so could I call it a burrito-ito? Burrititico? Just like at Vatos, the serving sizes at Grill5 Tacos were much smaller than I am used to. (I kind of grew up on Chipotle, just so you have a frame of reference.) Despite its smallness, however, this burrito was made with love, and it was incredible. I got a galbi burrito and splurged on guacamole and shoestring fries, neither of which I have even seen for months. It was a great way to start Sunday morning: more Mexican food, plus conversation and catching up with Jake, Di-hoa, and Stephanie. A burrito set costs ₩10,000. It was great, but I can't deny it also made me miss Chipotle and some of the more authentic Mexican food places around the Bay Area. Grill5 even matched the Chipotle aesthetic 

in its decor: corrugated steel, cement, wood, lots of light and space. Once again, a Korean-owned

Jake at Grill5.

establishment succeeded in making me forget that I was in Korea.

Grill5 Tacos is located in Hongdae (another branch is in Gangnam), but it's a part of the neighborhood that I've never been to. It's actually closer to Sangsu Station than either Hongdae or Hapjeong Station, and the area is overflowing with interesting bars, small restaurants, and art gallery cafes. I must go back to visit. On another note, apparently Grill5 is also apparently a food truck. I wonder which came first? Here are a ton of photos of Grill5 from someone else's Naver blog review.

I is for Ice Cream. F is for Fell+Cole.

The last wonderful new food experience I had last weekend was at a small "gastronomic ice cream" shop, also located in this cute area near Sangsu Station in Hongdae, named Fell+Cole after two streets in San Francisco. It's artisanal ice cream: all the flavors are handmade and homemade, organic when possible, with a different lineup every single day. They're quite creative, too, with flavors like blue cheese, Guinness chocolate milk, olive oil, blueberry makgeolli, and burnt caramel with sea salt. Wild. I tried a cup of agave sweetened chocolate, which just tasted like plain old chocolate, because my taste buds are naive. My friends got milkflower, blueberry cream cheese, and "Just Boring Vanilla". We all shared.

A scoop of agave chocolate ice cream from Fell + Cole.

One scoop was ₩5-6,000, which I think would have been more worth it if I'd tried something more adventurous. But I know I'll be back, because I got a stamp card already half-filled from just that afternoon. Also, the owner's a nice guy and fun to talk to. I wonder if/when he lived in San Francisco. I miss the Bay.

Yup, this weekend I certainly splurged on food. But N is for No regrets, right? It was just as much about spending time with my friends as it was about discovering new great places to eat in Seoul. I just wrote a lot about food in particular here, because to recount everything my friends and I talked about (fantasy novels, Arrested Development, LGBTQ rights, classroom horror stories, movies, future plans -- the end of the grant year is so terrifyingly close) would be nowhere near as satisfying as pictures of food. This is the Internet, after all.

Anyway, despite how awed I am at my capacity to blow through hundreds in two days whenever I visit the capital, I'd do it all again. It's just that I'm only going to be in Seoul two more times before summer vacation, so the seconds are ticking!

Di-hoa and Stephanie taking on summer heat with ice cream from Fell+Cole.

Oh, by the way: "N is for Nose-picking, chewing gum, and sand-licking, here with my best buddy!"

- - -

tl;dr contact information

Vatos Urban Tacos (Itaewon)
181-8 Itaewon-dong, Yongsan-gu
(T) 02-797-8226

Hours: 10:30AM ~ 10/11PM

Cafe Joenill (Hongdae)
169-11 Donggyodong, Mapogu
(T) 02-326-3476
Hours: open 24 hours

Grill5 Taco (Hongdae)
409-8 Seogyodong, Mapogu
(T) 02-3144-2549
Hours: 11AM ~ midnight

Fell+Cole (Hongdae)
310-11 Sangsudong, Mapogu
(T) 070-4411-1434
Hours: 12PM ~ 10PM

Stopover in Seoul

On the morning of the 12th, all of us who had enjoyed the Ice Fishing Festival came back down from the winter wonderland and returned to Seoul. We played a lot of Contact on the subway.

In the capital, we met up with Jonathan and Liam, two fellow ETAs. It was Jonathan's birthday, and he was going to celebrate by watching a Korean basketball game. I didn't go (but if you want an idea of what that was like, you can read Maggie's blog or Ammy's blog), having planned instead to visit the Yongsan Electronics Market to buy a replacement lens cap. I had lost mine at the festival when I gave my camera to a kind stranger to take photos of me going nuts in a pool of freezing water. He gave the camera back, of course, but both of us forgot about the lens cap; doubtless it is still in his pocket.

A heaven of cameras at I'Park Mall. Photo from this Korea blog.

Anyway, I went with Adam and Katelyn to Yongsan, and upon entering the market (I'Park Mall), I was flabbergasted by the sight before me. There must have been thousands of cameras of all different kinds, and tons of sellers who immediately started calling out to me to try out whatever they had. I'd done my research, though, I knew that these guys on the first floor were the ones most likely to try to rip off customers, especially foreigners. To check, I asked the first merchant I saw how much it would be for a lens cap. He punched some numbers into a calculator and showed me 23,000₩ ($21.50). Heck no! I quickly left that area of the market, even though it was beautiful to behold... and we found a different market.

There are actually several different markets (more like department stores) in the neighborhood, and I decided to try Electronics Land (전자렌드). Luckily, I found my lens cap without too much trouble there. I was looking for anything below ten bucks, and a guy working a videography shop dug in some drawers and found a Canon lens of the right size for me, for 10,000₩ ($9.50). I took his offer.

Later, I saw another camera merchant downstairs and wondered if I'd be able to bargain down. I tried using Korean with limited and awkward success. (Koreal life, people!) So, when this second merchant offered 10,000₩, I said that it was too expensive and asked for 8,000. He didn't miss a beat and lowered the price. I was caught by surprise, because I'd already bought my other lens cap, and obviously I had to find a way out of buying this one, too. So, I said that that was still too expensive and said that I could find it elsewhere for 5,000₩. Then the merchant snapped at me and said that I should just order it online if I wanted it that cheap. (When I checked later, Amazon does indeed have my lens cap for cheaper. Whatever, though!)

At Baskin Robbins

Adam and Katelyn and I went to get ice cream at Baskin Robbins, partly to celebrate and partly because, well, I think that if you don't go to the Yongsan Electronics Market specifically to get a certain item (having done price comparison research beforehand), then it's really too overwhelming for simply browsing. So we weren't interested in looking for anything else. Not even all of the bootleg DVDs being sold on street corners!

The next part of our adventure took place in the mall connected to the Yongsan Train Terminal. With about an hour to kill before Katelyn's train back to Iksan, we decided to do a spontaneous photo scavenger hunt with our handy smart phones. Items to be photographed included: PSY, Engrish, other foreigners, the Korean flag, and groups of people standing in a circle but all on their phones. It was such a perfect time-killer.

At Ho (好) Bar in Hongdae. Photo courtesy Maggie.

Then, Adam and I traveled to Itaewon, Seoul's international neighborhood, to meet up with the others for dinner. For Jonathan's birthday, he wanted to go to a Nigerian restaurant called Mama Africa (he is of Nigerian descent). When we arrived, we discovered that the owner of the restaurant had the same first and last name as Jonathan. It was pretty hilarious. For dinner, I had jollof rice, which was my first taste of Nigerian food.

After dinner, we hung out in the hostel for a bit before going out to some bars in Hongdae. I'm not much of a bar person myself (too much noise and smoke), but I still had a good time with Jonathan, Liam, Maggie, and Ammy. One of the bars we went to had some pool tables, and it was fun! Even though I suck at pool. Like, I'm really, really bad. But that is unimportant when you're having fun with friends, right?

Not only was this a fantastic omelet, they had COLORING PLACEMATS!

The next morning, Ammy and I went to Jubilee Church, a church with English services that I hadn't been to since last summer. I enjoyed the service a lot, mostly because it closely resembled the church services that I was accustomed to growing up and in college. It's been so long since I've sung worship songs with such gusto.

After the service, we headed back to Itaewon for lunch with the rest of them at Suji's. Suji's is an American restaurant with several locations in Asia, and it's very popular with Fulbrighters as the place to get American "diner food" while in Seoul. This was my first time going, and it was well worth the 45-minute wait.

The food was good, as was the birthday cake that Ammy and I got for Jonathan, and the five of us had a great time enjoying a slow afternoon with delicious food and wonderful company. Also, the placemats were colorable and we got crayons. Simply sublime. I tell you.

Birthday boy Jonathan (left) and Liam (right) at Suji's.

I wished that that afternoon could have stretched on longer (and especially that the food could have magically reappeared to be eaten again...), but Ammy and I needed to get to Cheongju that afternoon, so we peaced out and went to the express bus terminal to begin the next part of our adventure: skiing!

Korean(-American) Food

Tonight, my parents, brother, sister-in-law, and I went to a Korean restaurant in Hayward called Korea House, or 한국의집. I was rather pleased when I picked up the menu and could read and understand most of what was written on it in Korean. I daresay I would have been able to order for my family even without the English translations. But this was in California, and the restaurant owners were more than used to non-Korean Asian families patronizing their humble 집, so we used English.

I ordered 낙지국수볶음, which should have been a dish of sauteed mini octopus with soup noodles. However, the 아줌마 definitely gave me a sauteed dish with squid in it first. I went ahead and started eating it, and then she rushed back to the table and took it away, replacing it with the octopus. I swear she then gave the plate I had just eaten out of to the table next to ours. Poor frazzled 아줌마!

Otherwise, it was a great meal, exactly what I've come to expect from a Korean restaurant in the States. In Korea, restaurants usually specialize in only a few kinds of dishes, but here, you need to be able to provide "something for everyone". That's why this place was part-barbecue (galbi), part-tofu soup (sundubu), part-sauteed stuff (bokkeum), part-soups (jjigae/tang), part-pancakes (jeon), and on top of that, they gave us the full spread of banchan, or side dishes. There was tons of food, in both the American style (huge portions) and the Korean style (lots and lots of dishes).

It's odd to get a taste of Korea while out of Korea for this short while. Yet, hard to believe that in just a week, I'll be back!

Poutine (Gwangju pt. 4)

First of all, happy 12/12/12! Nine days until the world ends, eleven days until I go home, and thirteen until Christmas.

Okay, so regarding The First Alleyway, the foreigner haven that blew my mind when I visited for a short half hour on Saturday: there is most certainly a reason why people who love Western-style food flock to this restaurant and bar. Several reasons, actually. And one of them is that its breakfast/brunch menu is fantastic.

I had poutine, for what I think is the first time ever, at The First Alleyway. Adam encouraged me to try it, and my couchsurfing host Jordan, who is Canadian, also recommended it. Oh, let me backtrack: on Saturday night, Adam and I spent the night with a couchsurfing host. We got to his place pretty late, but stayed up for a bit talking about travel, fiction, writing, and life in Korea. In the morning, he went to church while Adam and I wandered around the downtown and the deserted Art Street on another quiet Sunday. Then, we met up again for lunch.

Katelyn, Adam, my couchsurfing host Jordan, and his girlfriend, at The First Alleyway in Gwangju. Look, French toast!

Coincidentally, we ran into Jessica and Taxi again, whom we had just seen the evening prior. Anyway, I ordered poutine, which is French fries with gravy and cheese (mozarella, in this restaurant's iteration). Hm... I smell a heart attack. Oh, and as a brunch meal, this also came with French toast and bacon. Dang. Well, it was good. And slow going. But I made it through, and I probably could have eaten more! As I've mentioned before, my wintertime eat-all-of-the-fatty/delicious-foods mode is kicking in. I am so going to Black Bear Diner when I get home.

So this is what poutine looks like. Nom nom nom! How many calories do you think it packs? My guess is somewhere around 1,000?

Pretty much every brunch meal on the menu (French toast, huevos rancheros, biscuits and gravy, and more) was 10,000₩, which is not terribly priced. The service was a little wonky, but my couchsurfing host and his girlfriend happened to be very frequent patrons of this restaurant (as in, they go almost every other day) and helped speed things along.

My third (or second official) couchsurfing experience was another great one! One note to self: I need to be more careful about cat dander, because, as I like to conveniently forget sometimes, I'm allergic. But otherwise, the company was good, and the food was good, and I tried something new.

I'm going to leave you now with a photo of my travel buddy Adam prancing on some snow-covered stepping stones that we used to cross the Gwangju River.

Prance, Adam, prance!

And then we ate a lot of food. (Gwangju pt. 3)

It was one of those three-restaurant kinds of evenings, know what I mean? No? Okay, I don't really know myself. But Fulbright 친구 and I did end up getting pre-dinner, dinner, and dessert at three different places around Gwangju on Saturday evening, and I had a fantastic time of it.

The first place was a "foreigner bar" and restaurant called The First Alleyway which I will talk about in further detail tomorrow, since I didn't actually stay for long on Saturday but ended up eating there for Sunday brunch. The only thing of note was that the sheer number of non-Koreans at the restaurant in the evening took me completely by surprise. I'm not even kidding; when I walked in the door and saw, essentially, a room full of white people, I was simply shocked. I felt like I'd somehow stepped through the door and back into America. It was bizarre and slightly disconcerting.

It's not like I've been completely surrounded by Koreans; even in Korea, I see a non-Asian foreigner every few days. Heck, I even came to Gwangju for the express purpose of seeing my foreigner friends. But the atmosphere in this foreigner-owned-and-promoted establishment was really... like nothing else I've experienced so far here. All of my Fulbright friends expressed the same sentiment, to varying degrees. It was kind of funny!

After a light snack at the bar, we did some shopping and wandering around the streets of Gwangju's labyrinthine downtown. Then, when we were hungry again, we went to 민속촌갈비 (Minsokchon Galbi), a fantastic barbecue place. There was only floor seating, but the floors were heated! How awesome. The restaurant's interior was very warm and rustic. It gave me good vibes. And the food was just as excellent as I could have imagined. A barbecue meal (with tons of 반찬, including salad, and taking into account some people who ordered different dishes) came out to about 9,000₩ per person for seven people, if I remember correctly.

Look at how excited Adam is about his galbi! And he had an entire table to himself... before Jessica and Taxi joined us.

Our group in front of the restaurant (minus Julia, who snapped the photo). Left to right: Adam, Taxi, Jessica, Jason, Katelyn, and me.

After dinner, we decided on dessert at a stealthily hidden-away wine and cheese (cheese!) bar that some of the Gwangju locals (Taxi, Jessica, and Julia) had gone to just the day before. It turns out that they've frequented this particular bar quite often in the past semester, and have earned the rights to some on-the-house desserts...! Not that we knew this for sure upon setting out. In the cold, we got lost in the maze of streets and tossed little snowballs at each other, and then we found it, tucked away on a quieter street: Big Apple.

Big Apple, in downtown Gwangju. A coffee and wine bar THAT SERVES CHEESE TOO DON'T FORGET.

Cheese platter: Pesto Parmesan! Brie(?)! Raisins! (Raisins?)

We ordered the "wine and cheese platter" set that made us feel like classy, urban adults instead of young expats fresh out of college, told stories, cracked jokes, and took photos. I loved it.

I've said this a hundred times before but I'll say it again now: the company of other Fulbright teachers is really special, because it's not just the connection of being American or being English teachers in Korea, it's the connection of friendship and of having been through a long and adventurous experience together (i.e. that six-week Orientation) and thus of understanding each other on a deeper level.

And seriously? There was wine and cheese. This always helps.

Although I sometimes feel isolated from most of the other hundred twenty-something Fulbright ETAs (because I am), this makes it all the more worthwhile when I do get a chance to see them and catch up on life. Although this involves making the trip to another city on the opposite side of the country, on the bright side, it also means I can turn "I want to see you!" into an excuse for a full-blown weekend excursion. Sadly, Gwangju was the last one of the year for me. This coming weekend, I'll spend time with my host family, and the weekend after that, well, I'll be flying home for the holidays! Cheonan, Chungju, Jeju, Mokpo, Naju, and Hwacheon, you're still on my list. 2013 is going to be jam-packed with adventure.

Classy Fulbrighters at Big Apple in Gwangju.

Aw, they wrote "welcom ㅂig [apple]" with chocolate. Cute!

Oh, and one last thing:

There.

Was.

Cheesecake.

New York cheesecake (very dense), organic cheesecake (miraculously creamy), and an on-the-house tiramisu (what a pleasant surprise!), five slices shared by eight.

Total bill came out to 12,000₩ per person. Expensive? Yes, but still worth every won. Highly recommend this place.

The U.S. Embassy's Thanksgiving Dinner

So festive!

Who: Fulbright ETAs, members of the Korean American Educational Commission (including the director, the all-powerful Mrs. Shim), and important people from the U.S. Embassy in Seoul (including the ambassador, Sung Kim).

What: An early Thanksgiving dinner, with food and performances. There was tons of food, traditional Korean songs (Arirang) and instruments (gayageum), more food, and more performances, some by current ETAs: hip hop, Irish step dance, poetry, poi, and more.

The performance of gayageum, Korean zithers, at the National Folk Museum of Korea.

Where: The National Folk Museum of Korea, after hours! It was after closing time, but some of the galleries were left open for us to wander through on our own, which was excellent. Also, the museum itself is gorgeous and is located in a beautiful, historic part of the city.

Why: The embassy and the KAEC wanted to keep everyone's minds off of the fact that, this coming Thursday, we will actually be spending Thanksgiving away from our families and friends, which is kind of sad. On the bright side, we have our Fulbright family, our Korean families, and that fighting American spirit that will get us through. Plus, they happened to have tons of American food lying around that they needed people to consume. ;) Turkey and ham, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, baked pasta, pumpkin pie, and so much more... yum!

It was great to catch up with Fulbright friends, a whole month after our Fall Conference.

So in the spirit of Thanksgiving, what are a few things I'm thankful for? Let's see... I'm thankful, first and foremost, that I am healthy, active, and alive. I'm thankful that I have a loving family spread out across two continents and friends who are just a few Facebook clicks away. I'm thankful to have a stable job that I absolutely love. Discovering a thirst for teaching has been a real joy over the past few months; I'm glad that I get to do it in the context of Fulbright. I'm grateful for the friends I've made in Korea and for my host family's generosity. My life here could have been a heck of a lot more difficult than it has been, so even though it's not perfect, I actually have nothing to complain about.

I acknowledge, further, my privileges as an American and a native speaker of English, as these are statuses that come equipped with rights I never had to earn, respect that I don't always deserve, and job skills that I didn't have to pay for. As long as I am in Asia, I should be aware that being Asian and being male are also privileges of their own. These are good things that I should not take for granted.

I'm thankful that I own a camera and can take photos of beautiful things. I'm thankful that I can take the GRE while abroad (even though I'm dreading it...) and that I have a say in my own education. I'm thankful for books and for writing and for the ability to create stories out of my mere imagination. I'm grateful that Koreans keep complimenting me on my Korean ability even though I know it's still not very good. I'm thankful for chocolate, tangerines, yogurt, persimmons, and Korean street food. I'm thankful for the bad TV shows I watch, the good music I listen to, and the fun and interesting blogs I read. I am grateful even for my ability to watch, listen, and read.

And lastly, I must accredit my utmost gratefulness to God for being a provider and a source of love who will never leave me. Thanks, God! Happy Thanksgiving!