So Alejandra and I visited some cosmetics shops while we were in Myungdong last weekend - there are seriously so many, even of the same brand. You can't go 2 blocks without seeing another Etude House, Missha, Nature Republic, and my personal favorite, "It's Skin". Don't get me wrong, these places all have great quality make-up for not as much money as it would be in the States, but most of them use male actors and singers as their spokesmodels - weird. However, they also give you a boatload of free samples. Among our haul this time, we got some moisturizing and whitening paper face masks. Because if there's one thing I need, it's to be paler...oh wait...
Anyhow, this type of mask is really popular here, and neither of us have tried it before, so we decided to give it a shot in the name of science. Science, I tell you!
Disclaimer: the following picture may scare small children. And probably adults. So everyone beware.
You can barely see our eyebrows, and once you put it on, you can't really move your face or it might start coming off. Hence the creepy stares.
On Monday, I met with my language exchange partner Sunmi again, this time for Korean shabu shabu. You dip vegetables and thinly sliced beef into this flavorful boiling broth to cook it, then dip it in a choice of sauces. Then they gave us some ddeok (rice cake) filled with sweet potato, and fat mandu (dumplings) to cook in the remaining broth. THEN you cook some fresh knife-cut noodles in the broth, and finally, with the little bit of intense broth, a worker comes and stirs rice and other magical stuff to make a jook (rice porridge) that blows your mind. I didn't take pictures again because we were so busy eating it, and I can't stress how good it was!
Afterwards, we stopped at a cafe and I finally snuck in a picture of Sunmi:
She's so beautiful! But she's also shy, so she doesn't like pictures. Neither do I, but I had to get one before I left. I got an iced herbal tea, which doesn't sound tasty in retrospect, and was even less delicious that what you're imagining. Oh well.
I was coming home from that when I ran into some friends from the dorm, Anjani, Francis, and Rachel, who twisted my arm (I was pretty easy to persuade) to come hang out with them for a little bit before I went back to study. Here's where we ended up:
Here's the inside:
Pretty much all of the desserts looked something like this:
I got a cookie frappe, which is just a fancy name for a cookies 'n cream milkshake, but cuter:
On Monday in culture class, we went to a Taekwondo studio. I didn't get pictures because that's just embarrassing, but we wore uniforms and I broke a board with my hand, whatever. I also realized that nothing about me in any way is made to do Taekwondo.
On Wednesday in culture class, we went to a cooking school and learned how to make 3 Korean dishes: bulgogi (marinated, thinly sliced beef), japchae (glass noodles with beef and vegetables), and kimbap (rice rolls with meat, vegetables, etc., wrapped in seaweed). Then we got to eat it all! I'd made kimbap and japchae before, so I was excited to make the bulgogi, which was way easier than I thought. Yes, don't worry, I have the recipes!
Melinda, Michelle, and Chackie
Some girl I just met, and Veronique, who I met on the fieldtrip a few weeks ago
So there's more to come, but I have to go finish my laundry. Until next time...
2 comments:
So what did your faces look like after you washed the "masks" off? Sunmi is really pretty--glad you were able to sneak in the pic--you need it for your memories of Korea.Was that a "Hello Kitty" cake? I so wanted to see you in the Taekwondo uniform! And you broke a board with your hand--way to go!! So I bet that the cooking class was one of your favorite culture classes. The food looks so good. Not sure I'd like the kimbap because of the seaweed but I'm sure I'd like the rest of it. Wasn't it glass noodles that I had in the soup at the Provo Korean Restaurant? They were so good.
Love the mask-are you bringing some free samples home of those to try?!:) How much fun would my girls have at the Hello Kitty Cafe-that is such a creative place! And I hope you are going to be cooking for us when you get home-that looks good!
Post a Comment