5-Day Weekend in Seoul and Daegu!

I took some time off during midterms, which meant that I did not have to attend school on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday this past week. That may seem excessive, but I really needed the break.

Sung Min, seafood pad thai

Snow beer -- like a beer slushie!

On Saturday, I went to Seoul to visit my friend Monica, who is recovering from an accident. She was discharged from the hospital that day and moved in to a new apartment, with the help of her parents. I really enjoyed getting to know her mother and father and tried to be as helpful as I could. Over the weekend I actually visited several times, and we listened to music, played Settlers of Catan (finally!) -- which Monica won her first time playing, naturally, and dreamed of all of the world's most delicious smoothies.

That evening, I visited Sung Min, who is currently in med school in Seoul. It was great to catch up with him again. I haven't seen any fellow Swatties recently, though I know a few are around. Sung Min's just the easiest to get in touch with, because he's not ensconced in the library all day. ;)

We went to a Thai grill restaurant in Wangsimni whose name I forget and won't bother to remember, because the service was crappy and I don't intend to go back. To its credit, the food was good, but in the end, not worth it.

Better, then, was the snow beer and fries at a small bar near the school called Pommes Frites (French for "French fries"). I've never had snow beer before. The head of the bear is actually frozen, like a beer slushie. That's how it gets its ice cream shape. It's really good! And at this particular bar, it was also really cheap.

Sunday morning was Easter. My sixth Easter away from home. I've gone to services in Swarthmore, Philadelphia, Grenoble, Daegu, and now Seoul. A rather large group of Fulbrighters ended up at Jubilee Church in Sinsa-dong, Seoul. This is the church I attended regularly during the month I lived in this city last year.

I was glad to see that it hadn't changed much. Still a very young, hip, fairly diverse congregation, a great worship band, and a very passionate pastor. His message about focusing on death in order to understand the importance of resurrection was on point. To follow the cross, die to yourself and your desires. A lesson I can never hear too often.

Laura and me by the Han River

Galumph about the grass

After church, five of us had an excellent lunch at Deli Heinzburg in Sinsa-dong. This is a neighborhood I've never had a chance to explore. It's near Seoul's 가로수길, which usually means expensive, trendy cafes and such. But dang, there looked to be a feast waiting just inside every door on these streets. Deli Heinzburg lived up to this expectation: delicious paninis and sandwiches, plus a shared pitcher of fruity iced tea. I'll be back.

Lunch was followed by a nice walk in the park. Seoul's famous Han River park system is the real miracle on the Han, in my opinion. The parks are so beautiful and full of activity on a perfect spring day like this. I just wanted to frolic. Cameron and Connor went ahead and frolicked. All the afternoon needed to be perfect was a picnic blanket and a good book. Or a guitar.

Janet and me with delicious Street Churros

On Sunday evening, I met up with a friend from high school, Janet, whom I have not seen in six years. I'm serious; the last time we saw each other was probably the summer of 2008. The funny thing is that though we had both grown up a lot since then, I didn't get the impression that much had changed. We were comfortable friends in high school and went right back to being comfortable, six years and 5000 miles later.

Janet's teaching at a hagwon in Seoul, so we could relate to each other about teaching. I'm about to close this chapter of my life, but she's just begun. I'm glad that she already enjoys it so much ad excited about the opportunities she'll have with her students in the months to come.

We had dinner at Don Charly Taco in Itaewon, which was good for Mexican in Korea, but pretty pricey. I even miss Costco horchata at this point... Oh, and dinner was followed by excellent churros from a streetside stand called Street Churros. Also, chocolate truffle shots. Enough said.

Ashley and me in Daegu

At night, I hung out with Liam, Jake, and Monica and also gave myself a haircut, though you might not be able to tell from the following photos. It was fun -- I've gone to hair salons more times in the past two years than I have in my entire life prior to Korea, but that doesn't mean I'll still have my friends cut my hair any chance I get. I did the sides -- "two-block" is the most trendy style in Korea these days -- and Jake helped with the back.

And that was the weekend proper! I slept well on Sunday night, knowing that I wouldn't have to go to school on Monday morning. Instead, on Monday morning, I made pancakes. Then, I went to Daegu to visit Ashley at her elementary school.

Her school is so colorful and cute! And her students are kind of cute too, I guess. Sixth graders. Some are nearly as tall as me, and others still look like babies. Puberty is a weird thing. Every one of them assumed that I was Ashley's 남친 (boyfriend), which I cheerfully denied. Then, I got to help out with the lesson on giving directions, which was pretty chaotic, but in a good way. I definitely could never be an elementary school teacher. I don't think I have the requisite energy. My students are always half asleep, which makes them easier to control. :)

Lolomiel ice cream sundaes! Honeycomb, chocolate Oreo, and strawberry

After school, we made dinner and then I tagged along as Ashley went downtown to her various hagwon classes, including a dance class where I watched my friend blend into the group of high schoolers doing some pretty awesome jazz dance in a very dark studio. I wish I could dance like that! The treat for an hour and a half of sweating was a big bowl of green tea bingsu from Nunpat, which we will return to soon because it was so darned delicious. 연유 (condensed milk) with green tea ice cream and 떡? Yes, please. The evening ended, of course, with Pirate Scrabble.

Tuesday dawned bright and early, and since I didn't have to go to school (again!), I made it a lazy morning, prepared lunch, Skyped with a friend, and simply enjoyed having nothing to do (while knowing that in
reality, I was merely putting off everything that I had to do). Ashley's school was having its Science Day, which meant a lot of 2nd graders ran around blowing bubbles, the 5th graders launched water bottle rockets, and general chaos reigned, as is the custom at an elementary school.

Sophia and our amazing 팥빙수!

A little after noon, I met up with Sophia, another Daegu ETA, for dessert at a cute cafe called Mary Poppins. Although I didn't know Sophia too well before today, we clicked well and talked about blogging, writing, travel, grad school, and lots of other things. It was pleasant, and our bingsu and melon cream puff were wonderful.

One of my regrets this year is not having taken the time to get to know the batch of ETAs who arrived a year after I did -- the "class of 2013", so to speak. Since I'm the only ETA in my city and I am already very close with other second-year ETAs, I never had many opportunities to get close with the first-years. But through conferences, trips to North Korea, and various meet-ups around the country, I've made many new and close friends out of the "betas", as we affectionately call them, and Sophia is no exception. A pity there's so little time left in the year now...

Ashley got out of school around 3pm, and we went downtown to look for a pie shop we'd wanted to check out. Unfortunately, and strangely, the pie shop was open but closed. Windows open, lights on, music playing, delicious smells emanating... but the door was locked and nobody was inside. Though the owner might have just stepped out for a minute, the situation was off-putting enough that we left and got ice cream at Lolomiel instead. Honeycomb ice cream is the biggest trend in Korean desserts right now, I think, so Ashley got some for the first time, while I settled for chocolate Oreo, and Sophia got strawberry. We filmed ourselves a bit for Sophia's vlog.

I had to leave shortly after that to catch a bus back to Changwon. (Note to future self: West Daegu Bus Terminal has the buses that go to Changwon. East goes only to Masan. Actually, depending on timing, the train might be a better option.) So that was the end of my long weekend travels. I felt refreshed, well-rested, well-fed, and just happy to be where I was at each moment. Just what I needed... before spending all of Wednesday reading, writing, and working from home. Yup, I can only hold off the torrent of to-do's for so long. As pathetic as this sounds, I'm glad the weekend's almost here again!

Sophia, Ashley, and me in the 2.28 memorial park in downtown Daegu.

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...)

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

Happy Lunar New Year!

Yesterday was Seollal, the Korean Lunar New Year! This differs only from "Chinese" New Year in that it is celebrated differently by a different culture; the date, however, is the same.

The word Seollal is 설날 in Korean. If you can read Hangul, the Korean alphabet, then you might notice that the individual syllables are seol (설) and nal (날). Seol refers to the new year, and nal means "day". Hence, New Year's Day. However, in Korean phonology, an syllable-initial "n" that follows a syllable-final "l" becomes elided or assimilated into the "l". Thus, instead of Seolnal, we celebrate Seollal.

To wish someone a Happy New Year in Korean, however, you don't even have to worry about linguistics. The traditional New Year's greeting is 새해 복 많이 받으세요. Let's break this down: 새해 (saehae) is another way to refer to the new year, using the native Korean words for "new" (새/sae) and "year" (해/hae). Next, 복 (bok) means "happiness", and 많이 (man-hee) means "much". Lastly, 받으세요 (padeuseyo) is a respectable way to ask someone to receive something. So, 새해 복 많이 받으세요, or Saehae bok manhee padeuseyo, means, "May you receive lots of new year's happiness (or blessings)!"

So, what did I do for Seollal? Well, the Korean tradition is to travel to see your family, make and eats lots of food, and perform some ancestral rights. In fact, it's very similar to the customs of Chuseok, only with different food and a different vibe. Chuseok is the most important Korean holiday, and pretty much everything shuts down invariably. Seollal is probably holiday number two. It's a bit more festive, less solemn, and also observed less. Maybe this is because I was in Seoul this time, but a lot more businesses and restaurants were open than I'd expected, and the city in general seemed no less empty than on any other Sunday morning.

On Sunday morning, my apartmentmates and I all woke up rather late and straggled to a lunch date at The Flying Pan Blue. This place is arguably one of the most famous restaurants (for tourists) in Seoul. It's located in Itaewon, the international district of the city, and specializes in European-style breakfast and brunch. By European-style breakfast, I mean eggs, pancakes, French toast, and delicious lattes. Although the meal was pricey, I think it was well worth it. Every time one of our dishes was brought out, everyone gasped, oohed, and aahed at how pretty it was, and how wonderful it would feel to have that deliciousness soon in our stomachs. And yes, it was delicious.

Mandu-making. Photo courtesy Jessica.

For dinner that night, we went to a fellow Fulbrighter's apartment for a mandu-making party. Mandu (만두) are Korean dumplings. Well, they're just dumplings. I guess what makes them Korean is that they're made in Korea, and they have kimchi in them.

Anyway, this little New Year's get-together was so much fun! Jessica and Connor got a ton of ingredients (dumpling skins, ground beef, mushrooms, rice noodles, veggies, kimchi, peppers, and more), gave us the low-down on how to properly fold a dumpling, and we all sat down on the ground to make them together. I've only made dumplings once before in my life, so mine weren't great.

They say that if your dumplings are ugly, then your future daughters are doomed to the same fate. We had a lot of fun predicting the various levels of misery we were all going to inflict on our progeny.

In the end, our company produced over six dozen lumpy, floury, misshapen, and delicious dumplings that we then cooked with 딱국 (rice cake soup) or pan-fried to crispy perfection. Then, we ate them all. And we also had wine and cake. Now if that doesn't make for a great dinner party, I don't know what does.

Our first batch of mandu!

And that was New Year's Day. But as is typical for Korean holidays, it stretches out over some time. My host family actually traveled from Changwon to Seoul for the new year, and this morning (Monday), they were still around. So, they invited me over to my host mother's mother's apartment in the northern part of the city for lunch. We had 만두떡국 (manu ddeokguk/dumpling rice cake soup), which is a traditional new year dish and other stuff. It was nice to see them on the holiday again. And now, I've met the extended family of my homestay family on both sides!

Happy New Year! 운수대통합니다! It's the year of the snake on the Chinese zodiac. So hiss a bit when you greet your Korean friends: ㅆ~새해 복 많이 받으ㅆ~세요! Okay, that was lame, I know.

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!

미국 음식 - American Food (Seoul Weekend pt. 4)

저는 벌써 한국에서 일곱주일 동안 살고있는데, 한국음식 아직 좋아해요. 중원대학교의 식당에도 음식을 불평 없이 먹었어요. 그래도, 서울시를 방문할 때 미국 음식을 보고싶는지 마침내 깨달았어요.

You see, I never actively missed food from home. This is partly because I'm very used to Asian food: duck, squid, weird spicy things, mystery soup, mystery meat, and tons of rice. What bugged me most about Jungwon University food was that it was so repetitive, not that it was inedible. So I never complained. And discovering new things from time to time like 짜장면 or 김밥 were all the more exciting.

That said, when eighty Americans were finally set loose in Seoul to eat whatever they could find for two days, I decided that I'd try to find an American diner for Saturday morning brunch. I wasn't craving anything in particular, but I thought it would be nice to see pancakes and scrambled eggs for a change.

Katelyn and Jason at Richard Copycat's in Itaewon.

Richard Copycat's facade, + Starbucks, in Itaewon.

Our plan was to take the subway to Itaewon (이태원), the neighborhood that caters to the international crowd, expatriates, tourists, and the like, and just wander around from there until we found a place that looked good.

Fortunately, after meandering down the length of a long shop-filled street for a while, we found Richard Copycat's, a promising-looking restaurant with a sign that said, "EAT HERE".

In we went!

And oh, was that food glorious. I had an American-style waffle with whipped cream! And hash browns! And fried eggs and breakfast meat, to boot. It was amazing, especially that waffle. And the hash browns. I'd go back just to get another pair of those...

Beautiful waffle with a dollop of whipped cream! They also had French toast, biscuits and gravy, omelettes, and a menu written entirely in English.

So nommable! 맛있네요! What I'm getting at with this post is that, while I was extremely satisfied with my brunch with friends, I realized that I didn't realize how much I'd missed American food until I actually had some. There were those among us who scoffed at the idea of eating American food while in Korea, especially as it was fairly expensive compared to a Korean breakfast (about 13,000원 -- which is like $12 -- and that includes tax... Korean restaurants never charge tax...). But to them I say, some of us needed the comfort food after six weeks of deprivation, and those of us who didn't need it benefited from it anyway.

I think that brunch at Richard Copycat's gave me my fix of American food for at least a few months. I'm not one to crave certain foods often, but I will admit that that meal really lifted my spirits and helped carry me through (an enjoyable but) long and rainy day.

Knife and fork ready to dig into my American brunch! I fleetingly thought of Black Bear Diner... (taken by Cody)

Amber & Elaine at Taco Amigo in Itaewon.

While I'm at it, I have to write about my most memorable meal while in Seoul: Taco Amigo, also in Itaewon! This was on Sunday evening, when I had no concrete plans and just tagged along with Amber and Elaine on their quest to find the best Mexican food (멕시코 음식) in Seoul.

Mexican food isn't American food, of course, but the chimichanga (치미 창가) may have originated in the U.S., and that is what I ordered. I have never actually had one before, so it's kind of funny that my first chimichanga was made by a Canadian who owns a Mexican restaurant in Korea. Nevertheless, it was made to perfection. It was absolutely delicious; I savored every last bite.

Add to that Mexican rice and Chipotle sauce and you have... a meal that literally kept me smiling for hours. (When I burped later that evening and it tasted like a deep-fried burrito, I was happy. TMI?) Also, conversing with Amber and Elaine as we satisfied cravings and downed that food like it was our last was just so wonderful. I won't forget it soon.

Again, the idea that I may have missed Mexican food (and by Mexican I'll admit that I mostly mean Chipotle burritos and horchata) never crossed my mind until after I'd finished and declared that Taco Amigo was the best restaurant in the universe. It's funny what a good meal can do to you, especially after weeks of rice and kimchi. I highly recommend Richard Copycat's and Taco Amigo for the American who is (not on a shoestring budget and) desirous of these kinds of foods that are readily available in the States, and taken for granted, as well.

Taco Amigo's chimichanga meal set: 14,500원 -- about $13. Quite expensive but hey, I'm in South Korea. And it was delicious.

I'll conclude by saying that Seoul really is an international city in terms of the kinds of food you can find. McDonald's, Pizza Hut, and other fast food chains are everywhere. There was even an Outback Steakhouse right outside of the subway station exit in Itaewon. I had American brunch, Mexican dinner, and Korean-style hot pot/shabu shabu; my friends and I also ate our way through Gwangjang Market's famous street food (post on that coming soon!). I also heard of my peers' adventures with Indian food, Thai food, and ordering a Subway sandwich (harder than expected). My stomach and I had a great weekend in Seoul. I hope to go back to eat more, soon!

Cheese! Did I mention they had cheese?