A Korean take on Chinese food

After a strenous hike up Mount Anma, we ordered a little feast at Homeplus's food court before hitting the store for some groceries. Michael was feeling adventures and ambitious and decided Chinese was in order. Usually we go with Japanese fare: a cutlet for him, some soba noodles for me. This day was a little different.

Behold, the gigantic feast for 11,000 won (about 9.85 USD). Starting clockwise from top left: fried and battered pork in a sweet glaze, fried and battered shrimp in a sweet and sour sauce, noodles and seafood in a spicy broth, and jajangmyeon (pork and vegetables in a black bean sauce over noodles). In the center was some fried rice and three dumplings on top.

 We miss Chinese food. It's just not the same here.

Why I continue to dream about moving closer to the equator

Just another day in Korea, children playing on top of a frozen stream.

Hoping a taxi will pass by soon so we won't freeze before getting our groceries home.

It's been declared that this is the coldest winter Korea has seen in decades. Seoul broke records from the early 1900s. Chuncheon had a low of -8 degrees Fahrenheit! 

To sum up: It's cold and miserable here and has been for 7 weeks, we walk nearly two miles each day to and from school, our school still hasn't been able to find replacement teachers, and Michael's getting his wisdom teeth out in about two weeks.

I have some other posts I haven't bothered to finish yet. Give me some time, I think I have a little SAD kicking in due to this horrific weather. 10 weeks left.

Catching Up

With less than 12 weeks left in Korea, Michael and I are pumped to do some stuff before we leave! We've had a blast in our temporary home and are planning some more things before March, I swear! Last month was our surprise vacation and we didn't do much. A lot was planned, but there were some set backs. We were going to go to an ice fishing festival, but it was cancelled due to Hoof and Mouth Disease scares. We were planning on skiing, but we couldn't figure out how to get a shuttle in Chuncheon to a ski resort. Oh well.

So let's back up and I'll tell you what were up to the week of our winter vacation.

We worked Christmas Eve until about 8:30 and were too hungry to wait to make dinner so we hit up Yumsem, our favorite fast food restaurant. Pork Cutlet with Omelet for Michael and some Dwenjang Chiggae (tofu and seafood stew) for me. We went to Paris Baguette and bought a cake, because they are just too cute.

Christmas came and we went to Dunkin Donuts for breakfast and took them to the movie theatre with us. Yup, here in Korea, you can bring your own snacks to the movies. We saw this movie, which was pretty good.

When we got home, we pretty much became bums for the day. We gave each other presents: a headset for Michael, leggings and wristies for me. We watched such holiday classics as A Christmas Story and Trading Places. We ate an egg drop soup hybrid that we like to call corn soup. It's a classic at our place.

Michael and Gizmo testing out the new headset.

We stayed up late to talk to family and watch everyone open presents. Thanks parents and siblings, for your gifts and your willingness to open each present in front of the camera for us to see. We missed everyone, but we were glad to see some familiar faces. I gotta say, it didn't really feel like Christmas this year.

On the 28th, we headed to Seoul. We were excited to take the new train, which connected Chuncheon to Seoul's subway system. It's pretty awesome. On an express train, we can arrive in Seoul in only 50 minutes. Unfortunately, we can't yet figure out which trains are express or standard, so we take a chance of having to make 15 stops, therefore extending the ride time to an hour and 25 minutes. Either way, it's still shorter than the slow train! The other thing about the change is that reserved seats are not available. It works just like the subway - the first one to the seat gets to sit in it. We were lucky enough to have a seat both coming and going.

We headed to just outside Itaewon for some burgers at Jacoby's but we didn't realize they were closed for lunch during the week. Bummer. We walked down the street and ate at Le Vert instead. It was okay, slightly disappointing since Jacoby's is ranked #1 in Seoul for their burgers and Michael was expecting a delicious hamburger.

After that, we went over to the National Palace. I'm not sure if it was because of the holidays or the weather, but the palace was closed. The museum was still open and so we checked that out. We got to see some old relics from Korea's imperial days and even some random Vietnam stuff. We also got to see some Royal cars from back in the day.

This is some sort of self-propelled water clock.

This was a pretty good museum, although a bit too much for Michael and I to take in. There were rows and rows of royal seals and documents (all in Korean, of course) and about 1/4 of the things were just replicas. We enjoyed the stamp making station at the end and ended up with a couple of neat postcards for my collection.

Our last stop was to Myeongdong, Korea's famous shopping district. Can you believe we have been here almost a year and just now are getting to some of the more touristy parts of Korea? It was starting to get dark and it was a pretty cold day so after taking in the sites a little bit (and stopping to shop at H&M), we decided to eat at Mr. Pizza.

A four-story Dunkin' Donuts

I was surprised to see that Mr. Pizza operated the exact same way as Pizza Hut. There's a salad bar and the pizzas are nearly as expensive as Pizza Hut's. One nice thing about restaurants here is that they let you share. When Michael ordered a Coke Zero (specifically saying one), the waitress brought it out with two straws, fully expecting both of us to drink for the price of one!
Their motto is a little weird.

"Love for Women"

On the second of this year, we went to our own Myeongdong in Chuncheon. We did a little shopping and saw Tron at Primus. It was our first experience at Primus Theaters and will probably be our last. The screens are smaller and the seating is not as nice. The 1000 won discount doesn't really make up for the lack of awesomeness. We are CGV whores.

Gizmo "re-enacting" Tron.

All in all it was a nice, relaxing vacation filled with chocolate and heated floors. I was going a little stir-crazy in the end and I don't think I can handle any more "stay-cations". I was actually excited to go back to work on the third. Time off is meant for adventure! We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and we'll be seeing many of you in only a couple of months!

Returning to the U.S.A.

We just learned today that our possible replacements will be expected to arrive in mid-March. That means we will probably be coming home sometime between March 21 and March 31. So if everything goes well, we will be able to return in about 11 weeks. It seems odd that we don't have a ending date, but things around here are just done spur of the moment. We won't know the exact date possibly until the day before our flight.

As excited we are to go home, we are also sad to be leaving behind some things. Michael got his first Kimchi craving today and I will really miss BBQ cheetos. I love being able to walk to work everyday and be so close to a large city. I will miss seeing mountains everyday. Reserved seating needs to be implemented into American movie theaters. There are also many things we still have to do before we go. Even though many festivals have been cancelled lately, we will definitely have some adventures between now and March.

Just 77 days and we are finished! Start the countdown!

Sorry for the lack of postage. We are having a bit of a struggle doing anything besides our usual hike, school and lounging routine right now. We learned that all of the festivals this winter were cancelled due to a Hoof and Mouth Disease scare and skiing is more expensive than we'd like. Oh, and we're also working on getting our girl, Gizmo, vaccinated and planning out the rest of our time here in good old Korea. Stay tuned, I will have some of our winter vacation adventures posted soon.

Baking Frenzy

This holiday season, I decided I wanted to go all out. I couldn't just pick one Christmas favorite, I had to pick several. These are clearly the musings of a crazy woman with one tiny toaster oven and one tiny baking sheet. I rolled out cookie dough onto the back of a dry erase board (cleaned of course!) because we have no counter space. I washed the same large pot over and over because we have no bowls big enough to mix cookie dough in. I lost all feeling in my back after standing huddled over the low counter tops in the kitchen for two days straight. I definitely lost my mind, but was rewarded with some delicious treats!

My previous job was just as low hours and low responsibility (the same pay even) as the one I have now with one exception: my new employers and coworkers are not Jehovah's Witnesses who bah humbug at the holiday season. While they don't really celebrate Christmas, I know they will be excited to receive these awesome holiday tins.

I originally wanted to make little goody bags for the co-teachers and boss but I didn't realize I had made so many things. There wasn't enough room in the bags unless I wanted to give each person several bags. So I looked around our apartment and found two cookie tins that were eaten up long ago.

The head teacher and boss received the big tin with nearly twice as many goodies.

The small tin was for our coworker. She teaches the other half of the classes.

My holiday goodie collection includes Christmas tree sugar cookies, raspberry star cookies, snickerdoodles, chocolate crinkles, magic bars, peanut butter balls, and chocolate dipped pretzels. Each one is amazing since they contain a little bit of America in each bite. It's unfortunate that Koreans have not quite attached themselves to baked goods as desserts yet. Maybe someday there will be ovens in all Korean kitchens (probably not).

For the kids, my mommy was generous enough to send treats and goodie bags for them. They all received a pencil, candy cane, chocolates and stickers. Most were thrilled to get Christmas presents although a few wanted to "trade" their pencils in for different ones.

I can't believe it is Christmas Eve already! Our students had their last day of school until February and we had our last day of work until January! We are officially on winter vacation as of 8:45 pm today. We'll keep you all posted on our vacation activities.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone!
Love, Lisa, Michael and Gizmo

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas...

How quickly the time flies in December! Michael and I went to Seoul on December 7th in search of some cultural familiarity. Chuncheon does not decorate for the holidays. This saddens Michael and I because all we have to look at is our tiny Chistmas tree, which kind of resembles Charlie Brown's.

We accidentally slept in Saturday morning, but were fortunate to make it to the train station at 11:17; the train's departure being at 11:20. We rushed to the ticket counter, impatiently waiting behind an older couple purchasing what felt like 20 tickets. We had to wait for them to count out the money and put their tickets away before they finally walked off. I ran to the counter, told the clerk "Cheongnyangni" and fingered 2. He took my money, thrust the tickets in my hand and we flew to the train. We got onto car six and walked across cars to get to ours: car 3. As we walked in to our car, the train started moving.

Cheongnyangni was decorated with trees inside and out. I couldn't help but smile. We looked around for a couple of minutes and then hit the subway. Our first destination was the Wolfhound Pub for some much needed western food. Michael got the burger, I got the veggie burger. Both were served with fries. They had Strongbow!

Who serves beer on ice? The Wolfhound Pub does.

After stuffing ourselves silly, we went over to Dongdaemun market. I was in search of some baking products and heard they could be found here. We arrived to find several tiny shops filled to the brim with flour, chocolate chips, cookie cutters, sprinkles, cute little boxes, you name it. My favorite shops were bread garden (the best supplies, but the most expensive!) and Bake King. I am really excited to try out my new cookie cutters, chocolate and food stampers this weekend!

Finally, we went to the electronics market in I-Park mall. We have been to Yongsan countless times now, but had never checked out this area of the mall. It was filled with salesmen trying to sell us cameras, computers, and TVs. There were also some game stations where I picked up a new Sims game.

While at the mall, we hit up Baskin Robins for some ice cream. The flavor of the month is Santa's Cookie Crunch and it is fantastic. I was overwhelmed with cookie bits and chocolate chunks. Michael got his usual standby: Love Struck Stawberry which has stawberries, cheesecake bits and chocolate chunks. We were in ice cream heaven.

By then we were ready to go. Its nice to go to Seoul even for just a few hours. On December 21st, Chuncheon will be opening a new train line that connect with the Seoul Metropolitan Subway. This means that we will be able to go to Seoul for Subway prices (2,600 Won) and we will be able to get there in just 89 minutes. Shaving an hour off of our total train time will definitely encourage to travel to Seoul more in our last few months here.

Snowy Day

There was an ominous chill in the air as we walked to work this afternoon. It had rained a couple hours before, and the roads were wet and the air was damp. Despite the humidity, it seemed blisteringly cold. I had to take out my gloves and bundle up tight in my coat.

It rarely snows here, because it's not supposed to get very cold (we're pretty close to a coast). Yet, this is the second time it has snowed already this season. These pictures are from the last snow two weeks ago. We enjoyed feeling the soft flakes fall on our hair and shoes and coat us in a thick layer of snow. The snow won't last more than a day, but the kiddies will try to cling to the snow for all it's worth. They will attempt to make snowballs and miniature snowmen out of the centimeter of snow that manages to stick to the ground.

I'm glad to be inside and see the snow falling, because it is cold out there. At the same time, it makes me oddly nostalgic of Iowa winters and blizzards of years past. As much as I hate the cold and winter (thanks to upbringings in the warm, dry desert and moderate climate of northern Texas), there is something magical about snow and I get excited whenever I see it. I think I've pointed out the window for Michael to look at the snow falling three times now, and I will continue to do so until it stops falling.

One Fish, Two Fish...

Six fish!

One of the perks of living on Seumasup-gil is being in Chuncheon's "Food Alley." There are restaurants flooding the streets and there are three food stalls lining the sidewalk on our way to and from work. We actually have only been to two of the restaurants in our area because I'm a pescatarian that cannot read Korean (bad move in a country whose national language is Korean, I know) and Michael, who does read Korean, albeit very slowly, cannot translate anything that he reads into English. When the menus don't have pictures on them, we get into a scary situation. We either order something that we think we might like, or we end up leaving the restaurant, embarrassed.

So yeah, nights out aren't too common for us. We are discovering the food stalls though. In Korea, the food stalls are only open during cold months. They serve soup, fish on a stick, sweet egg bread, ddeokbokki (a spicy ricecake dish), delicious pancakes and what I like to refer to as fish.

These cuties are shaped like fish but do not contain any fish at all. They are made with pancake/waffle batter and filled with either custard or red beans. I've been wanting to try one since they first set up the food stalls in October.

Last night we were super hungry coming home from work. Luckily the food stalls are available for instant satisfaction. We pulled up the the stall and pointed to the fish. I asked for one, thinking Michael and I could share and since he does not like red beans (I must be the only foreigner to like these in sweets) I asked for a creme-filled one. The man started filling a bag with 3 fish. I was shocked. I only asked for one! Confused, I figured it must be 3 fish for 2,000 won. I try to hand me the money and then he filled up another bag! Ahh! Fish overload! It turns out that you get 3 fish for a dollar. Oops.

Not wanting to cause anymore miscommunication with the poor vendor, we took off with our six fish. We happily indulged in two fish on our way home. They're delicious! Much tastier than real fish and now we have some left for dessert tonight!

A Gizmo Post

Michael's parents so generously sent Gizmo a present in the mail this week. The contents: a hollowed-out mouse to put catnip in and like a year's supply of catnip. Our cat has apparently developed the taste for the buds over the past year. Maybe because she hasn't had any for 9 months or so she's having a surprising reaction to it. I'm not sure. What I do know is that she is a crack head now.

She could smell the catnip before we even opened the package. Michael had to keep pushing her back while he tried to open it up and stuff the mouse. She wasn't liking the waiting part of presents. Surprisingly, Michael does not either. So, we presented the catnip to her in pure form sprinkled on the floor and also stuffed in the mouse. She licked up every morsel she could get her tongue on and then proceeded to go nuts with the mouse for about an hour. She is officially in love.

After her little romp, she was in a state of ecstasy causing Michael to worry that she was overdosing. She contentedly napped on the edge of the bed with her mouse carefully tucked under her belly for safekeeping. Every so often, she would wake up and attack her mouse for a while.

I have never seen her react like this, so it was quite funny for us and we had to take a zillion pictures. Enjoy!