Saturday, August 15, 2009

This morning I had a few hours before we needed to leave for the airport so I packed and then walked into Sinchon to do a little more shopping. I also got some sandwiches and pastries from Paris Baguette cafe. I got back to the dorm (after a sweaty walk uphill in 90 degree, humid weather) around 1:00. We had already checked out of our rooms so I hung out with my fellow Simmons classmates in the lobby until 2:00 when one of the Yonsei students arrived to bring us to the bus stop. While I was waiting I had my sandwich and pastry and bought one last ice cream cone novelty at the convenience store.

There was a lot of traffic so it took about 15 minutes to get to the bus stop even though it's only about a 1/2 mile outside the school gate. We waited about 10 minutes until the airport shuttle arrived. It made a couple more stops and then went straight to the airport, which is about 45 minutes away. We checked in, went through customs, etc. and waited for our 6:15 flight. The Incheon airport is brand new and really nice. There were a ton of seats near the gate and the terminal had high ceilings and glass walls.

Our flight back was actually quite pleasant. The in-flight entertainment system was working this time so I watched 3 movies and listened to some music. Like the flight out we got 2 full meals and a big snack. We got to Atlanta around 6:00, which was the same time we had left Seoul. Our flight to Boston then left at 9:50 and we got to Boston a little after midnight. In total I think we experienced 37 hours of "Saturday." That made up for the Friday night we lost on the way over.

Friday, August 14, 2009

Today was my last class! Prior to class I had my wonderful cafeteria breakfast. The main course was mini hot dogs in a sweet sauce with onions. Kind of like the Flo's sauce, only not as good. Sausage is popular here, as is spam, cabbage, seaweed, tofu, bean paste (for desserts) various types of kimchi, rice, noodles and all kinds of fish and meat. For treats, frozen yogurt, ice cream, waffles, and donuts are becoming very popular. Often times they are topped with chocolate or fruit. Yummy.

Anyway, we had two guest speakers from the Yonsei Library at the end of class who talked about their experiences as librarians. It was very interesting and a good way to end class. In Korea, many librarians just have a BA (you can major in library science as an undergrad) and once you get a job out of college, you almost always work at that library your entire life. It's like that in many fields, though I suspect people in technology and biomedical fields have more opportunities to move around.

After class I took the subway to city hall station and got a waffle topped with chocolate from a vendor. The vendor made the waffles right there and then he spread a nutella-likes substance on it and some other syrup, folded it in half, and then warmed it in the waffle maker. They give you the folded waffle in a little wrapper so you can eat it easily. I ate mine on my walk to Seoul Plaza. Along the way I spotted Mr. Donut and stopped to try one. Mine looked like a regular plain donut on the outside, but the inside was bright red (strawberry flavored) and doughy. The outside was coated with dehydrated strawberry flakes. It was really good and I can't figure out how the inside was soft and red and the outside was golden colored and firmer.

Seoul Plaza has a ton of fountains and since it was nearly 90 degrees and sunny there were a ton of kids running through them. I felt liking getting wet too since it was so hot. There are also beautiful flower gardens at the plaza so I took a bunch of pictures of those. I then continued walking to one of the palaces and walked all over the palace grounds. I chose that palace because it is supposed to be the best architecturally, however there is almost no shade and it was so hot out. I stayed for an hour, but would have stayed longer if I wasn't so hot. There is a smaller palace near city hall that seems to have a lot of trees so I wished that I had stopped by that one instead.

After siteseeing at the palace I walked a block to Insadong shopping area. I had visited that area a week ago, but went back to buy a few more things. I also got kiwi smoothie that was really good. It was fresh kiwi and yogurt. They have good smoothies here - they're almost always made with fresh fruit instead of a mix. I headed back to Sichon (the area near school) after shopping and did a little more shopping there and then hung out at a coffee shop/cafe called A Twosome Place, which is a local chain. I had iced green tea and frozen yogurt with green tea syrup. They were both very refreshing and just what I needed after walking around all day. I read a book there for about an hour and then met my classmates across the street for our goodbye dinner.

We had the dinner at a restaurant near campus and ate roasted pork belly, the assorted side dishes, and two buckwheat noodle dishes. We also had the usual Cass (popular Korean beer) and soju (not sure if that's spelled right), a Korean liquor that tastes like vodka. I had drank Cass several times before, but it was my first time trying soju. It was quite strong, but people love it over here...it's really the only thing you see people drinking.

After dinner we went upstairs to the Oktoberfest restaurant/bar and everyone got a beer and talked for a few hours. We didn't order anymore food, but they brought out some bar food, which was breadsticks with a really good sweet, whipped butter, and then an assortment of dried octopus, dried squid, pistachios, and banana chips. I liked all the dried fish, but it was really chewy so my jaw hurt by the end of the night. It was sad saying goodbye to everyone because we really have all become very comfortable with each other. At least if I ever come back to Korea I'll have some people to visit!

Thursday, August 13, 2009

This morning I brought the pastries I had purchased yesterday to class to try them out for breakfast. The first was filled with bean paste that had actual chunks of bean in it. It was good and I liked how it was more filling than a plain pastry. The second, which was purple colored, was blueberry flavored. It had a mild blueberry flavor and was nice and light and flaky. We had a typical class and then I had noodles with a fried vegetable cake in the food court at the Student Union.

At 2:00 was our visit to KERIS - an educational research institute in Seoul that is government funded. They provide electronic resources, such as grade management systems, databases, full-text articles, ebooks, interlibrary loan delivery etc. to K-12 schools and universities. We have similar services in the US, but nothing is centralized.

After our visit, Kate and I met her finance, Pete, at one of the subway stops on the other side of Seoul to search for a bbq restaurant that was supposed to be really good. We tried to take 2 cabs there and neither would take us, so walked around a bit and found guy who was working in a convenience store who spoke engligh well. He was really helpful and called the restaurant for directions and then persuaded a cab driver to take us there. It's about 15 minutes away from the subway stop on the outskirts of town which is probably why no cabs wanted to go there. On the way we drove through hundreds of flower farms - I guess they must supply all the flowers in Seoul.

At the bbq restaurant we sat at picnic tables outside under a huge tent. Apparently the restaurant is very famous because a sign outside highlighted how some pro american golfers had eaten there and a man we met while eating said that David Beckham had come as well. Each table was equipped with a metal box in the middle for holding hot coals. We ordered ribs and pork belly. They were already cooked, but we grilled them over the coals for a few minutes before eating. We also had all the usual side dishes - kimchi, cabbage, salad, etc. There was one dish that seemed to be dried vegetables in a spicy/sweet red sauce. I ate a ton of it. I loved that the veggies were very chewy, which is why I assume they had been dried or dehydrated in some way.

The man at the other end of our picnic table took a liking to us and gave us a ton of his duck, which seemed to be the specialty of the restaurant. He also showed us how to eat it - dip it on the bbq sauce (which was a semi-sweet brown sauce) and then top if with a slice of jalepeno before eating. You could also add some cabbage on top for extra flavor. The combination was quite good - savory, salty, tart, and sweet. The man kept giving us more and more duck and we felt obligated to eat it to be polite so we were all stuffed by the time we left. He also ended up paying half our bill. In general, the people in Korea are really nice and helpful and on this outing we ended up having great experiences with the nice guy at the convenience store and the guy at the bbq restaurant.

We took a taxi back to the subway station and then the subway back to the university. I convinced Kate to walk back to the dorm so at least we burned off some of the calories we consumed. We arrived at our room smelling of smoke and bbq and very full, but also very happy from our bbq adventure.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

This morning was a typical cafeteria breakfast. I can't remember exactly what we had, but it involved a little fatty beef and the usual spicy side dishes. Class was mostly lecture, which was somewhat painful, but we only have two left at this point.

For lunch we ate in the academic building where I have class. They mostly have spaghetti so I got chicken alfredo spaghetti. It was salty, of course, but good and I was starving so I ate the whole thing. After lunch we went to the Mapo Lifelong Learning Center, which is a huge community center that also has a library. The library was similar to a public library and they also offer all sorts of classes. We got to see a couple painting classes and all the women who were painting were really, really good - of profesional quality. I guess if you don't work you can spend your days painting and get really good like them. Perhaps if I don't find a job that's what I'll do...

After the visit I took the subway back to school and picked up some pastries for breakfast tomorrow morning. I did school work and ate in the cafeteria. We had the usual kimchi, some mixed veggies with a brown gelatin substance (not sure what that was...), rice with bean sprouts, seaweed wrappers and a fried egg. They use eggs a lot in cooking here. They also don't refrigerate them, which is interesting.

After dinner was more school work, but we finished our group paper so tomorrow night I'll hopefully be able to go out to dinner.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

This morning's breakfast included a potato pancake, which was pretty good and what appeared to be imitation crab meat salad. The "crab" seemed thicker and not as sweet or fishy as the crab I've had in the US so I think it may have been soy based. The soup today had a couple dumplings in it, which was new.

In class we did presentations and then had time to work on our group projects. Today was the first rainy day in Seoul. Light rain when we walked to class and heavy rain when we got out. After class I stopped by the post office and then grabbed a roll and pre-made sandwich at the convenience store and took the shuttle back to my room to eat. The sandwich had egg, pickles, lettuce, ham and what I think was honey mustard and regular mustard. I've only seen ketchup and mustard for condiments (besides all the salty and spicy Korean sauces) so I assume there was mustard mixed in with the egg, rather than mayo. For dessert I got an ice cream cone novelty.

I had wanted to see another palace, but since it was pouring out I spent the afternoon reading and doing school work. At 5:00 I took the shuttle down to the subway station and met up with my roommate Kate and her fiance, Pete, for dinner. They wanted to try grilled eel and of course I was game since I'll eat almost anything. We had directions to a certain restaurant, there are no street signs in Seoul and we couldn't find it. We went down another side street and found a restaurant that had a picture of an eel on the sign so we ate there. Everything was in Korean, but the owner spoke a little English and suggested a sushi dish and two sauteed fish dishes in addition to the eel.

I had the sushi dish, which was some mixed greens, herbs, scallions, onions and spicy sauce topped with various raw fishes. The other two dishes just had mixed greens and a women came and cooked some sort of white fish at the table in a electric saute pan. Of course there was spicy sauce on that. We were instructed to put the rice in the bowls and mix everything together. Apparently I didn't mix mine enough because the woman took my spoon and spent a few minutes mixing mine before she would let me eat it. Each table also had a built in grill and the eel was grilled on that and we could take pieces whenever we wanted.

The eel was really good - not too fishy in taste, just nice and buttery because of all the fish oils. The mixture in our bowls was also quite good, but very oniony due to the scallions and onions. We also got a ton of side dishes: some sort of egg custard, sweet cabbage leaves, various sauces, potato and cabbage kimchi, acorn squash, green peppers, salad, and octopus. Everything I tried was great. I especially loved the octopus - it was like squid - firm and not too chewy. We also liked the sweet acorn squash which was a nice contrast to the spicy food.

We took a cab back to the dorm since it was still raining and changed right away because our clothing reeked of eel and our breath smelled like onion. The cab driver must have been glad to get rid of us. To help mask the taste of onion I got a peach drink from the vending machine. It seemed to be coconut water with peach flavoring and some sort of sweet, white chunks in it - peach I think, but who knows. It was quite refreshing, though, after all the other foods I ate tonight.

Monday, August 10, 2009

This morning's cafeteria meal was rice, cabbage kimchi (in more of a tomato sauce and warm), pieces of hot dog with cabbage and carrots, scallion and onion salad, sauteed tofu and noodle soup. The thing I like the best about the cafeteria certainly isn't the quality of the food, but rather that I never know what's coming. I think the weekly menu is posted, but it's in Korean so every time I eat there it's a little adventure. All the food was good except for the scallion salad, which was a little bit strong for the morning (or really any time of the day). I only had a little of that.

Class #6 met this morning and we mostly had discussions and then time to work on our group projects that are due on Thursday. After class we ate at the food court in the student union and I had noodles in broth. It also had some veggies, like seaweed and cabbage and what I think was two triangles of tofu. After lunch Kate and I bought Yonsei University t-shirts. The student union is currently being renovated so there is a make-shift bookstore in one of the cafeterias that is closed. It has the usual bookstore gifts, except that everything was much cheaper than in the US. My t-shirt was the equivalent of about $8.

After buying our t-shirts we browsed the school stationary store and the book store and bought some postcards. We met at the main gate at 2:30 for our next library visit - Namsan Public Library. Unlike the other libraries we visited, this one wasn't too far away - only about 20 minutes by cab. It was big, but otherwise like most public libraries in the US. In general, the libraries we've visited in Korea have a ton of reading/studying space and fewer stacks of books. Some libraries had books in storage, but it seems like others have only recently developed their collections and just don't have too many books yet. There were a ton of people at the library studying and working on computers. There were coed, all female and all male study rooms - I guess so there are no distractions while studying. There also happened to be a photography exhibit by some students at the women's college which was cool because I like photography exhibits.

Back on campus I've just been doing school work and had dinner in the cafeteria. Tonight's random meal was a thin layer of egg (like a piece of an egg used for an omelet) over white rice, topped with brown sauce. The rice also had some little pieces of pepper and carrots in it. Side dishes were mini spring rolls (filled with what looked to be kimchi), potato kimchi, and a very spicy rice noodle dish with cabbage. The broth today was miso with seaweed. We also got mini bottles of a sweet yogurt drink. It was a nice contrast to the spicy noodles. For dessert I got a red, white and blue ice cream cone novelty. It was berry flavored and the blue ice cream seemed to have pop rocks in it. There are just so many types of ice cream novelties here. I'm hoping to try as many as possible before heading back to the US.

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Today was my free day to explore so after reading for a bit in my room I walked to Tous Les Jour and tried a couple more pastries - a croissant-like pastry with almonds on top and another light, flaky bread with a sweet, crispy top - like the crumbles on coffee cake. I then took the subway to City Hall Plaza and did a walking tour from my travel guidebook. It brought me along the wall of one of the palaces, which was very quaint and tree-lined. I also saw a few of the museums and a palace. Most museums in Seoul are free or very cheap ($1 or less), but many were not open yet since it was Sunday so I just looked at their outsides. I also got to see Seoul Plaza and City Hall Plaza, which are massive, open plazas in the center of the city. You could spend hours just strolling around them and it was quite hot out so I took a few pictures and then kept walking.

I happened to get to the palace in city hall plaza right as the changing of the guards happened outside the entrance gate. About 50 men dressed in traditional costume preformed a ceremony that involved drumming and exchanging a box. I'm not sure what was in it - perhaps the key to the palace?

Next I went to Itaewon for some shopping. It's near a US army base so there are many foreigners in the area. The predominant stores were those selling leather goods, suits, and clothing in big sizes. Every other store advertised "Big Sizes." This is where Rich would have to shop if he lived in Seoul because most of the other shops only offer clothing in one size and that happens to be small. It's good for me because I'm not much bigger than most Korean women, but if you're not small, it's very difficult to find clothing that fits. According to my guide book you can get a custom-made suit for about $250. The shops seemed to have all sorts of fabrics and that's a pretty good deal. Since I was in a somewhat American area, there were mostly American restaurants so I ate at a burger/sandwich shop and had a grilled vegetable sandwich with fries.

After more shopping I headed back to Sinchon, the area where Yonsei is located. Something nice about Korean subways (besides being fast, clean, large, and reliable) is that each station has a bathroom. And it's well-marked, clean and people actually use it. I used subway bathrooms the entire time I was out today. In general, bathrooms are well marked in Seoul. Back at Sinchon I did a little more shopping and then got some frozen yogurt topped with fruit, like I did the other day. This time I had blueberry sauce, strawberry puree, peaches, mangos and coco puffs.

I got back to the dorm around 4:00, drenched in sweat (it was sunny and 90 today, though not very humid) and did some school work until dinner. Tonight the cafeteria was serving rice, cabbage kimche, dumplings and carrots, sweet, pickled radish strips, sweet/spicy chicken stew, and miso broth with seaweed and wide noodles. The radish strips were a light green color, but I can't figure out what was added to them to turn them that color. They were good, though, sweet and tangy at the same time.

After dinner I got an ice cream bar that was like a chocolate elcair bar, except the crunchy outside part seemed to be rice-based and the vanilla ice cream was filled with raspberry flavoring. Quite yummy and only 630 won (about $.50). The food on campus is all very cheap (about $2 to $4 a meal) and much of the food off-campus is under $8 a meal. In general the exchange rate is on our favor and goods and food are cheap to begin with so you can really buy a lot for very little money. I spent about $120 today shopping and got a ton of stuff - about 10 pieces of clothing and a bunch of necklaces, earrings and other accessories. I will definitely miss the shopping when I leave Seoul. I'm hoping to get out one more time during the week.