Blogs from Gyeonggi-do, South Korea, Asia
May 18th 2012
So far this spring, I’ve been enjoying my classes pretty well. I started teaching a class on Thursdays for beginners were we watch cartoons (mostly classic stories, Rapunzel, the Frog Prince, etc.) and then learn some of the vocabulary and do some activities. That’s been a lot of fun since I like teaching the beginning learners a lot but my one regular class of beginning learners is a bit of a handful. This class has some of my favorite students from last year in it, as well as some other good kids from our beginner classes. Next month I’ll be picking up a third grade class that went through one year of our kindergarten program. I taught one of the students for several months last year and I absolutely love him. And I think it’s a ... read more
April 30th 2012
This blog encompasses some of the meatiest and best meals that Korea has to offer. Two of them are staples in Korean society and one is a little more unusual out here. The first meaty meal that I’m going to talk about is called Sam Gye Tang. Sam Gye Tang is a meal made from heaven and is one of the best meals I've ever had. Basically, you take white and brown rice, ginseng, chestnuts, jujubes, garlic, and "19 various medicinal substances" (quote taken from the menu) and stuff it all into a chicken. Then you put the chicken into a bowl of thick boiling chicken broth. This is like chicken soup for kings. Not only is this meal incredibly tasty, it's also incredibly fun to eat. Since it's boiled, the meat comes clean ... read more
Food Story #3: A Little Less Basic - Noodles
Published: April 21st 2012Asia » South Korea » Gyeonggi-do
April 21st 2012
I’m back with three more dishes to tell you guys about. There are two soups and one non soup, all noodle meal. The first one is actually a very famous Vietnamese dish called pho. Pho is incredible. It’s a soup with thin noodles, various vegetables, most predominantly marinated onions, sprouts, and sliced peppers, a heavenly broth (maybe chicken or beef stock), and your choice of protein. I usually choose chicken, but I’ve had it with beef and seafood before. Even though I found all of them to be good, I find myself going back to chicken more regularly. The game changer for this dish, however, is the spicy red sauce that you can mix in. It’s incredible. But beware, if you put too much in, you run the risk of turning your bowl into something ... read more
April 11th 2012
Here is another round of some of my favorite and not so favorite foods that I've eaten quite a bit of out here. I'm going to post the pictures in order of when I write about them, so it's easy to reference. The first one that I'm going to talk about is just plain old gogi mandu. In my last blog I talked about mandu soup, which is a really great soup. This is the mandu nix the soup. Once again, it's basically a dumpling filled with pork meat and various vegetables. You can order them steamed or fried. Both preparations are very good, but I'd imagine that fried has to be substantially worse for you. You can also order kimchi mandu, which is completely vegetarian and has a nice spicy bite to it. Depending on ... read more
First Month, Second Year: Here We Go Again
Published: April 3rd 2012Asia » South Korea » Gyeonggi-do » DongtanApril 3rd 2012
I’ve been back in Korea for a month and I have been informed that it’s time for a blog update. So here it goes: The flight back went really smoothly. Absolutely no issues getting back to the country and back to my apartment. Despite being in America for what seemed like forever (2 months), my town seems almost exactly the same (there’s a new hair salon that caters to foreigners, though I’ll never use it due to my loyalty to Helena. She cuts my bangs for free and gives me fries sometimes. Can’t beat that service. Also, my favorite chicken galbi place was pulled out. Luckily there’s another location of the same chain in town. It’s just much farther away, unfortunately.) I enjoy most of my classes. I have to teach kindergarten now. It’s only twice ... read more
April 2nd 2012
I decided that I want to talk about and show some of the food that I like to get on a pretty regular basis. In Gwangju, I've yet to find much western-style restaurants, so I'm going to be trying a lot of different Korean dishes throughout my time here, which I'm really excited about. For now, however, I'm going to present to you the basics. The first meal that I'm going to talk about is called kimbop. Kimbop looks a lot like a sushi roll, but it's not. Kimbop is a roll made up of Kim (dried seaweed paper), rice, assorted vegetables, egg, ham, and any other protein you want (I get mine with tuna). It also has assorted sauces, but the most distinguishable tastes like mayonnaise. It's a great meal or snack, and it's easy ... read more
April 1st 2012
This is my flagship blog for my new travelblog. Hello everyone! As you know I'm back in Korea after a 6 month hiatus. I spent my first two years in Bundang, and now I'm in Gwangju. Not the Gwanju in Jeolla-do, but the Gwangju in Gyeonggi-do. So far, so good. The area is nice enough. It doesn't have that fast paced feel of Seoul or that pretentious, but still exciting, feel of Bundang. Gwangju is more laid back. The populous seems to take it's time getting from one destination to another. There's no overcrowded bus stations or train stations. It's quite nice. But still, after coming from a relatively small city, I really like the fast paced, over-crowded metropolis that is Seoul, and I find my way on the 1113 bus into Seoul at least two ... read more
December 5th 2011
My mother has requested a special blog on something we call “Family Dinners” here at SLP. Essentially, for about 3 months or so, I have been planning and shopping for one meal a week, eaten by the majority of the foreign teachers at my school, as well as a few stragglers here and there. Our theme is to eat a meal from a different country each week and we go alphabetically. We recently finished the A-countries and begin with the Bs this month with the Bahamas. We had been talking about doing weekly dinners for a while and, with my parents visit, I had access to my country coffee table books which include a lot of information on what sort of food you should eat when you visit. Using that information, as well as additional information ... read more
Final Night at EV goes Boom Boom Boom
Published: November 22nd 2011Asia » South Korea » Gyeonggi-do » Paju » Heyri Art Village
November 22nd 2011
Shortly we are off to our final dinner next door in the beautiful little village called Heyri Art Village. We have grown found of the art villages numerous cafe choices, art galleries and restaurants. As well as the gorgeous and unique architecture. Ironically, we were taken to the Farmer's Table for Tanner's going away dinner. We had only been on campus for a few weeks but had become good friends. Thus it is only fair that we depart our English Village lifestyle by indulging from this fine menu once again. Tonight however it will only be the two of us, sharing a romantic dinner before blowing off fireworks and kicking back with a couple of close friends. A time for reflection is always the best thing when you are departing one place and beginning the next ... read more
October 27th 2011
Over a recent long weekend we decided to capitalize on one of the last warm(ish) weekends of the season and we took a trip down to Busan (Pusan? Your choice), Korea’s second largest city and largest seaport. We took the slow train (about 5 hours) down from Suwon on Saturday morning. It was nice because we went in a boys group and a girls group so we could see the things we were all the most interested in, but come together as well. In the girl’s group, our first stop was the Busan Aquarium, the country’s largest aquarium (so many superlatives in Busan!). The coolest part was a pretty large tank with a sea turtle and sharks that you could take a tour in with a glass-bottomed boat. The tour was all in Korean, but it ... read more
