Galbi : Their First Korean Meal

Last night after we got back to my apartment from the airport, dropped of all the bags and settled down a little bit the four of us decided to go out for a bite to eat at a local Korean barbeque restaurant that is located right behind my apartment.

You can read about Korean barbeque, or Galbi here.

Mom really liked the way that you cook the food yourself in the middle of the table, and everyone eats from the same place, wrapping the meat in lettuce. She also loved the way we cooked up some garlic with the meat. They also had their first taste of Kimchi... as far as I'm concerned it was a success. Everyone ate some, and no one was sick. Although Ricki did end up going back to the apartment a little early.

Look at the happy couple, just off the plane and enjoying their first Korean meal.

And, here is Ricki... enjoying her first Korean beer! **gasp!** Ricki! How could you do something like that.

**Disclaimer: Ricki was framed. This picture was only posing. No minors consumed
any alcohol for the purpose of taking this picture. **

Mmm... the critics agree. Galbi is delicious!

1 + 3 = 4

My parents and my little sister are coming to visit me for 2 1/2 weeks today and I am so excited!!

The last pictures I have of them are the pictures I took at the airport when they came with me as I was departing on this 'trip of a lifetime.'

It was early in the morning, and it was winter... and I think we look accordingly; like people who are up a little too early in the winter. So early in fact, that in all my preparations I left my passport at home in the rush, and my father had to go back and get it! Actually.... he wasn't too pleased about that, so let's all forget about it, shall we?

The day so far has started out as a usual Wednesday, albeit with a little extra Wednesday morning cleaning, but my last two classes are being covered and at 6pm I'll be off to the airport! Whoo hoo!

*** UPDATE ***

They're here!

And they look happy to be here too!

I was so excited that I couldn't stop taking pictures of them.

Here's an airport picture of me and Ricki to match the picture at the beginning of this post.

Yay!! They're here!!!

Escape from Routine Life with an Experience in Mud

This weekend, the majority of our Gangseo SLP crew packed up our bags and headed about two hours south west Seoul to the biggest party in the country, Boryeong Mud Festival. It is a huge festival that takes place every year to promote tourism and to raise awareness of the skin care properties that the mud near Boryeong Beach is famous for. This year marks the festival's 11th year, and it grows in popularity with each passing year. The festivals slogan for this year was Escape from Routine Life with an Experience in Mud, and that's exactly what we planned to do.

Saturday was our main event, and we planned to look as much like these MudFest Mascots as was humanly possible. I think we did a fairly good job, but so you don't have to take my word for it, here's a little bit of photo evidence.

As far as I'm concerned, that is mission accomplished. Due to the muddy nature of the event, the only pictures that I have of us are once we arrived back at the hotel once everything was all over. Pictures of the actual goings on would have been amazing, but not worth ruining my camera. Some of the other girls had the foresight to bring disposable cameras however, so more pictures will be coming.

Apparently Koreans also thought that we were doing a fairly decent job of covering ourselves in mud, because people were snapping our pictures left, right and center. We were even interviewed on Korean TV!

There was a lot of this to be seen:

As well as a lot of this:

There were mud slides, mud wrestling, mud baths, coloured mud for painting, and even stalls selling beauty products made from mud. We only got to really experience it all on Sunday due to the torrential rains that kept us inside the hotel on Sunday until we could go home, but it was a great weekend experience.

Friends and Coworkers: Lindsay

Lindsay is a patriotic, jolly old soul who hails from Maryland, and loves to give kisses to Janique when she's had a few glasses of soju cocktail. I also love to give kisses to Janique, so I can't say that I blame Lindsay an ounce.

Occasionally, Lindsay also likes to cover herself from head to toe in multi-coloured mud at mud festivals. It may be a more reasonable assessment, that I like to cover Lindsay from head to toe in multi-coloured mud at mud festivals.... I can neither confirm nor deny those rumours.

Most of the time however, Lindsay is just another one of the girls in the office who doesn't really enjoy it when I take out my camera at work, and tell her that its time for her appearance on the Friends and Coworkers segment of my blog. She puts up with me though, and puts on her best face. I think she secretly enjoys the attention! (Don't you Lindsay? I knew it!)

Lindsay is also at least mostly responsible for my continued efforts at the gym since I started going in May. Recently Meghan has been giving us a bit of a boost as well, but Lindsay is the one true original. She is a great girl to have around, and a fabulous addition to the Friends and Coworkers segment of this blog!

See Lindsay, that wasn't so painful now... was it?

Jongmyo Shrine and Gyeongbokgung Palace

On Sunday, the little Amanda and I decided that the day should not be wasted, and so we got our little buns on the subway and headed into the city to take in one of the palaces and a Confucian shrine.

According to Wikipedia, Jongmyo Shrine is a Confucian shrine dedicated to the memorial services for the deceased kings and queens of the Korean Joseon Dynasty. The site is said to the oldest royal Confucian shrine preserved in all of Korea. It has been on the UNESCO World Heritage list since 1995.

Gyeongbokgung Palace was originally constructed during the same year, 1394 by by King Taejo, the first king and founder of the Joseon Dynasty.

Both Jongmyo Shrine and Gyeongbokgung Palace have been heavily damaged by Japanese occupation but as of 2009, have been restored much to their original state.

Its now home to verdant pools, and thousands upon thousands of tourists each year.

Hello Ms. Tourist. How is your touristing going today? Is it all very touristy?

Amanda: I live here, stupid.

Me: Oh, yeah...

I dunno, she looks like a tourist to me...

A traditional Korean throne. Cool.

New angle...

Good bye.

Author's note: Apparently I got bored while writing this post...

Monsters Inc... its real!

Monsters Inc. is real! I know this because I found where the keep the closet doors that they go through in the night time to scare unsuspecting little children. It's in Seoul!

Boy, am I glad now that I didn't really have a closet door when I was a kid, now that the truth is out! Just look at all those closet doors with unsuspecting children behind them. Its a good thing that since the movie came out then monsters have discovered that laughing works way better to power the monster city than screams do! It helps me to sleep easy a night. (Thank goodness I don't have real closet doors here either! -- oh wait... I'm no longer a child, shoot!)

In all reality if you really twist my arm -- ouch, that hurt! I didn't mean it! -- I'm willing to admit that this may not actually be the doors from Monsters Inc. I mean I don't think they would leave them unattended like that in the middle of the city. It's a pretty fabulous impression though. This entire building was covered in doors.

I was in awe. Amanda just laughed at me. How cruel.

I hope one of those monsters uses one of these doors to sneak into her room and tickle her until she turns blue and wets the bed. How do you like them apples, Amanda?

An Independant Haircutting Adventure

Today was Independence day in Seoul and we celebrated with haircuts, shopping, more shopping and going out for dinner to a restaurant in Itaewon that sells American food. It was a great day -- although, not quite as great as Canada day if we're being honest.

Lindsay and I got up bright and early to head to a place called Idae where we both had hair appointments for 10 o'clock. Lindsay laughed at me for not knowing how to get my hair cut, but the rest of you probably aren't at all surprised at my general incompetence in that area.

Here's a picture of my new do!

Aren't I dashingly handsome... erm... beautiful? I'm happy with it, and Lindsay was happy with her new hair, so we headed outside for some celebratory shopping, seeing as we were already in the neighbourhood.

One of the thins we saw was this pattern of dust on a window, that we agreed looked like Abrahan Lincoln or George Washington or some such... we thought it was a fitting sign for independence day, so we took a picture before we headed on our way.

The rest of the day was not incredibly noteworthy. We spent most of it ducking in and out of stores to avoid scattered showers throughout the day, and then joined the other girls in Itaewon for dinner, heading home early, because we were all a little tired. There was a little red, white and blue around, but considering Itaewon is considered foreigner central, I was a little surprised at the lack of festivities there in the evening. I guess everyone was still recovering from their awesome Canada Day celebrations!