We had our 2nd quizzes in both my language classes on Friday (P.S. I aced my first quizzes in both classes, I'm not sure how), and I think I did pretty well, but there was one part of the dictation I question, so we will see how that went on Monday. So no homework all weekend for me! We went to a b-boy performance that night in place of culture class, so we got out of class at 1:00 - we had 6 hrs until we had to meet to go to the show, plenty of time to explore another part of Seoul! But first, we feast:
This little number is called 팥빙수 (patbingsoo), which is a shaved ice, ice cream, and sweet red bean dessert - it's soooo good, but definitely made for sharing, if you can catch the size of that sucker. So we did. For lunch. Nobody can stop us! And yes, those are fake trees behind us at a restaurant whose windows are plastered with huge pictures of a boy band called Infinite. Seriously, idols are EVERYWHERE. I'll have to take pictures and make a montage sometime. It wouldn't be hard.
Alejandra and I wanted to go to a touristy area just once to find a few souvenirs, so we went by Insadong just to check it off our list, and boy was it ever touristy. 
This plaza is just full of different shops, but you go around and around to go up to the next level, if you see the slight slope of the floors. We HAD to try something called "dragon's beard", which is made from honey and cornstarch right before your eyes. They take a lump of stiff honey, and stretch it into strands, dip it in cornstarch, fold it over, stretch it again, etc., until the strands are as thin as hairs, and they don't stick together, so it really looks like hair. All the time they're doing this, they're reciting these lines (they know them in several languages), like times tables as they're pulling more strands (4 strands, then 8 strands, then 16 strands, etc.), and saying things like "little by little" with a thick Korean accent until "OMG, I made 1000 strands!". Yep, they said the letters OMG. Then "lolling, lolling, lolling" (rolling), they roll up the strands with candied nuts in the middle - so yummy! Here's the finished ones:
The vendors could be pretty aggressive, but they were mostly older women, so it was hard to be rude. One ajumma (older lady) was trying to sell us handkerchiefs with some old-fashioned, but still somewhat inappropriate, pictures of gisaeng (Korean version of geishas), so that was awesome to try to get away. We made a few ajummas super happy by saying in Korean the appropriate form of "goodbye" and telling them to "sell a lot", which is polite. We knew when they said, "Aigoo!", we did well.
Probably only Mom will appreciate this: We stumbled upon a restaurant that was used in the filming of a show Lee Seung Gi was in, called Brilliant Legacy. I liked the top sign the best: I am SinPo Woori Mandoo (it's a dumpling shop).
Speaking of dumplings, we found a great hidden restaurant where there were no other foreigners, only old people, so we knew it would be good. We shared a bunch of big fat mandu (dumplings) and a mung bean jeon (pancake). We already want to go back, it was so good!
I have to say, even if my Korean stinks, my chopsticking skills always impress, whether it be Korean restaurant workers, my other Asian classmates, etc., so I feel a little legit despite my lackings.
We had to rush back to meet our classmates and TAs in time for the show. Apparently there are a lot of non-verbal shows in Seoul, and the one we went to was one of them. It was called Marionette and was put together by a b-boy group who have won a few awards at international b-boy competitions. The break dancing was crazy amazing, and they told a series of stories surrounding the marionettes or puppeteer. I couldn't take any pictures, so just take my word for it.
The show was at a really famous place called the 63 Building on Yeouido, which is an island in the Han River that has a lot of rich people, office buildings, and the major television station buildings. Just outside the subway station to go home, there were the banks of the Han River, where seemingly everyone in Seoul goes to relax day or night. After being there for a few minutes, I can totally see why:
What you don't see are huge grassy areas behind the concrete banks where hundreds of people are sitting on blankets with food, etc., just chilling out. A few of my classmates and I spent about 20-30 min there, but we want to go back soon. Some guy behind me was playing a song from one of my favorite Korean bands, 10cm, so the moment was pretty close to perfect.
I had a pretty busy day today too, but that will have to wait until my next post...
4 comments:
Wow!! I have been anxiously awaiting the next installment of your adventures and I must say that you sure didn't disappoint. I want to try the "dragon's beard" candy. Can't believe the size of those dumplings! The river scene pictures are beautiful. Can hardly wait for the next adventure installment. Congratulations on aceing your quizes! Knew that you would be good at the language once you got some instruction and practice.
Do they ever do decent hair on Lee Seung Gi?
I forgot to mention that we were interviewed by some Korean college students in English. Alejandra's student knew English pretty well and interviewed her on her opinion of smartphones, whereas my student was not so proficient and asked me what my favorite things about Korea were.
And Mom, the answer is a resounding NO. I don't understand how someone who is talented, good-looking, and universally well-liked always gets shafted by his stylists when it comes to hair.
How good does that patbingsoo look! I could have eaten it all by myself probably. The dragon's beard looks really good too. Actually all the food you posted today looks really good-maybe I should go eat breakfast! The banks of the river look really pretty and relaxing. I'm glad you are having so much fun.
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