Wednesday, August 5, 2009

I started my day with my usual breakfast of white rice and kimche. This morning we also had a cabbage/tofu slaw with sesame dressing, sausage and cabbage, spicy broth with bean sprouts and cabbage, and onion pancakes. During class today we mostly had lectures, but the professor from Yonsei lectured for part of the time which mixed things up a little. The AC in our classroom doesn't come on until 9am, which is when we start, and since if never cools down much the room is really warm unless you sit near the AC blowers, in which case you freeze. Today the humidity had actually dropped quite a bit and there was blue sky instead of haze and smog. During one of our breaks I bought "beauty" snacks from the shop in the bottom of the library science building. They were like bite-sized puff pastries filled with banana-flavored filling. They apparently affect your beauty in 3 ways, but I couldn't figure out how since the explanation was in Korean.

We ate lunch at the food court in the Student Union and I had kimche pasta - spaghetti with a spicy tomato sauce and kimche (of course), peppers, spam, and onions. It was a nice mix between Italian and Korean. After lunch I got a walnut ice cream bar that was really good and then we sat outside for a bit before our next library visit. We went to the children's library, which was across town and took about an hour in the taxi due to all the traffic. The library itself was cool and much like the others we have seen so far - lots of light, glass, nature, and technology. There was also an exhibit sponsored by the US Embassy that featured various American books and huge wall displays about American landmarks, the 50 states, and our presidents. President Obama had his own kiosk too.

We got back to Yonsei around 6pm and ate dinner in the cafeteria downstairs - white rice, kimche, steamed potatoes and carrots, spicy yellow beans, and a stew of thinly sliced beef with onions and carrots. It was a typical meal - salty and spicy. Afterward I bought an ice cream nugot bar in the convenience store. It was basically vanilla ice cream covered in caramely chocolate - a nice contrast to the spicy, salty food. I don't like the salty very much, but I'm loving the spicy.

Since dinner I've just been working on my paper, which is due tomorrow. I've finished writing it and just need to do another read through tomorrow morning.