Our First Bulgogi Experience

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We'd been at the village less than fourteen days when we heard rumors about a Costco in Ilsan and how wonderful it was because they stocked brands we would know, they had cheese and other assorted foods foreigners couldn't find elsewhere. The problem with Costco as everyone knows is you must be a member. Our mission was to find someone with a Costco card willing to go with us so we could explore the possibilities?

On Tuesday we started our search for a Costco member by inquiring to other teacher's during our development time inside the teacher's workroom. During our search for someone with a membership card, Andrea explained that we only needed to borrow a card because we all looked the same! With this information rattling around in my head, I thought she was screwing with me, playing me for the "newbie" around campus. Soon enough I bumped into Jacquelyne just outside the Media Madness building before lunch. In my best persuasive voice, I asked her "when are you going to Costco?" "Costco? I went there on Sunday, why?" She replied. "Damn it! I was hoping I could persuade you into taking us there because we've been hearing rumors about what is there." "The rumors are all correct! You can get all sorts of goodies from Costco! But you don't need me to come with, you can just borrow my card!" "Borrow your card? How is that possible?" I inquired "They wont think twice because we all look the same to them! Just have Shauna present the card when you go. There's one in Ilsan, you can just catch the staff bus to Daewha Station and then grab the subway a couple of stops. It's that simple," she declared.

Hysterical laughter erupted inside me stumbling out all around us people's heads turned looking at me with fright! How could this be possible? Jacquelyne is five-foot four, shoulder length dark hair, brown eyes and voluptuous figure. On the other hand, Shauna is five-foot ten, long wavy strawberry blonde hair, blue eyes and an athletically lean shape. The two were completely different in every characteristic except somehow the cashier wouldn't recognize this because "we all look the same!" "Seriously, they wont even look twice at the card. I don't need the card until Saturday so just return it once you have used it. Thanks" She replied handing me her Costco card. Shrugging I thanked her again and we went our separate ways.

During the hunt for the Costco card, Shauna ended up in a rapidly topic expanding conversation with Abby and Evelyn. When I spotted the trio I ventured over to let Shauna know we had a Costco card and just needed to get to Ilsan to use it. As I slowly pulled Shauna's attention away from the bizarre topic of world farming practices and the price of makeup conversation, she said "Abby and Evelyn want to invite us out on Thursday after work for Bulgogi dinner on "Meat Street" next to La Festa in Ilsan. I thought if we had a Costco card then we could eat dinner and then go to Costco because they are going cellphone shopping after dinner." "Perfect! Jacquelyne lent us her Costco card, I'll explain later and dinner outside of the village sounds awesome, too!" If only we didn't have to wait those next two days before going out? Oh well.

By the time Thursday arrived the plans were to clock out at ten minutes to six then walk the five minutes home put our bags away grab a change of clothing and our shopping bags then walk back down to the back-gate by 6:15 pm in order to catch the Free Staff Shuttle Bus to Daehwa Station in Ilsan. The staff shuttle bus leaves English Village every night; Monday to Friday at exactly 6:20 pm and if you aren't on it by the time the driver shuts the doors then you aren't getting the Free Ride into Ilsan.

Taking the free bus is a direct A ---> B route and takes less time on the roadway then the 200 Express Bus around the village. The four of us jumped on the bus; Abby, Evelyn, Shauna and myself grabbing up empty seats and taking up our conversations in pairs. Over the course of the trip, I crashed out for a nice
thirty-five minute nap. I awoke to the gitters of the flowing traffic as we passed the KINTEX convention center on our left, the twenty-two foot neon sign blazing through the windows on the tiny EV bus! Rising, I grabbed my bag, in search of a piece of gum to get rid of the sleepy breath I was now aware of inside my mouth!

The three girls were idly chatting about nothing as we pulled up to the curb at the drop off location. Jumping from the bus everyone replied to the driver "thank you" in korean; gum sam nee da. Disengaging from the bus Abby stated the easiest way to get to La Festa and "meat street" was to grab a taxi. Evelyn suggested we walk, Abby said "no way bro! It'll take thirty minutes to walk there!" Shauna and I smiled, "what about the subway then?" we spoke at the same time in stereo. Everyone burst out laughing! "You've been asleep this whole time and now you speak in 'stereo' now thats' funny!" Evelyn sang out as we climbed into the awaiting line of taxi cabs. Abby spoke quickly to the driver telling him where we wanted to go. The normally quick assertive cab ride took twenty-four minutes along a five minute stretch of roadway! Traffic snarled this way and that.

"Sorry bros! I didn't think about it being 6:33 in the evening! Freaking traffic! Oh well, it wont be much farther," Abby stated to the rest of us knowing traffic was stalled through every window around us! Another five minutes and our tab breached the 6,000 won mark! Definitely not the fastest nor the cheapest route to La Festa today! Oh well.. win some, lose some! We jumped out of the street after Abby began chattering at the driver "yogi" (here), pointing to the sidewalk. We all climbed out, leaving behind 7,500 won! WOW!

Walking along "meat street" made every portion of my stomach turn as the smells wafted out from every single restaurants outdoor venue! The place was crammed with people, every store had people sitting around tables cooking various thinly sliced meats in front of them with ban chans filled to the brims with a variety of assorted items! My eyes began to bulge out of their sockets! There goes my ten percent vegetarian system! I was going to stuff my face with delicious meat! I didn't care what it was but it was going to be cooked on one of those open faced grittles and I was going to enjoy the moment! "Hey! Let's eat at this one, I've never seen one with a ring thing before," excitedly Abby pointed towards a red awning.
"Why not? It's our first time. We have zero expectations!" stated Shauna as we strolled to an open table sitting down.

The waiter arrived thirty-six seconds after we sat down. "An yan ha sey o," he stated, we all replied the same quick "hello." "Du-gee Mek-ju (2-beer), Han-nah So ju (1-rice wine), Du-gee Cid-er (2-sprite),
je'say-yo (I'd like)," Evelyn spoke to the waiter. I sat smiling like a bafoon! Looking around and around me as the three women deliberated over the menu. Pulling out my camera I began snapping off a few pictures of our surroundings. Everything was moving around us, the people eating, the waiters and waitresses, the guy who kept going around the corner for hot coals to drop into the center of the tables. The whole thing was a whirlwind of commotion and I began to enjoy its steady pace.

"Aaron," someone said snapping me out of my daydream state. "Um yea?" "What do you want to eat?" I still wasn't paying enough attention to see who was speaking. "Tasty delicious food like that there!" pointing to the table off to the right. "Thanks smart guy! Do you care?" Evelyn's mouth was moving but I still didn't grasp what they wanted my answer to be? "Not at all, I trust you. I think?"

Moments later the beer arrived, followed by several dishes of ban chans, a buffet of small dishes sitting in front of us. Everything looked amazing. There was a bowl with bean sprout, delicious go-chu-jung (red hot pepper paste) mixed into it. One bowl had lettuce leaves with a bit of go-chu-jung splashed on top, a bowl of potatoes soaked in a light brown sauce, a square platte of sliced garlic, another serving bowl of lettuce leaves, stacked twenty high next to another stack of green leaf, I didn't recognize. The other bowls were spread out all over the table when a random water came by with a tea kettle. Setting the kettle down, he picked up a pair of tongs and started spreading the ban chans goodness into the two inch deep two inch wide grill ring around the outside edge of the grill mesh then picking up the kettle he poured out a yellow liquid into the vacant ring, it began to bubble as the liquid began to be cooked. At first we were all amazed by what it was, then the mound of meat arrived at our table! We started tossing thinly sliced slabs of meat onto the grill. We poked and prodded at the yellow ring as it cooked and the meat, too! Eventually, the meat was ready to eat.

Abby's directions came in out in a mixture of smiles and giggles as she prepared the first Bulgogi wrap, "Okay, bros, here's what you do. You take a lettuce leaf placing it in your palm, then take a piece of meat setting it in the middle, add some of your favorite ban chans, roll it and shove this deliciousness into your mouth! Got it? Good, enjoy!"

Every single one of us grabbed up a leaf of lettuce and began piling up the food onto our lettuce, I started out with grilled garlic, beef, bean sprout mixture, then took a picture and shoved it into my mouth. "WOW! that was freaking hot!" Forgetting it had just come off a grill. Burning my tongue and sizzling my throat as I swallowed. Quickly I grabbed the bottle of Mek-ju (beer) in front of me and swallowed three long pulls putting out the singeing throat! Next I grabbed more lettuce, more ban chan bits and more meat plus I picked through the ring of yellow which was finally cooked adding a chunk of this strange material. Blowing on the meat prior to shoving it in my mouth this time, I took precautions taking a picture then simply biting half way through. Lovely! It was egg! Holly Mackerel, this is freaking Awesome! I thought to myself. Everyone's face was lit up with the lovely tastes bursting inside their mouths. The talk elevated around us as we ordered more Mek-ju and Cid-er.

We laughed, talked and joked about our jobs. The conversation was terrific, the food delicious, the beer tasty and now we had to go shopping for food at COSTCO. What a strange way to end a fabulous meal but we needed a few things for our apartment refrigerator and were told COSTCO was the place to buy those things: Coffee, Peanut Butter, Oil, TP, and "North American" supplies. Evelyn and Abby were off to the local T-World phone shop to look at cellphones and buy up what they needed. Shauna and I discussed our shopping trip and what they were up to after the cellphone shopping? "Oh we will probably have a beer at one of the local hof's (pubs) then return to EV," Abby replied. "Beer. I could use another beer! Do we really need these groceries tonight?" I asked Shauna. "No but we did tell Jacquelyne we would return her card to her soon." "Sure, but we could always come back down here and by the time we get there we will probably have an hour to look through the entire place!" I retorted. "Your right, we should just hang out, while they look at cellphones, make up their minds and then go for a beer, instead," Shauna stated the obvious delay in drinking another beer!

"Well, what would you like to do?" I simply wanted her opinion. "We can do whatever you want to?" She replied leaving the decision upon my shoulders. "What time is it?" "It's 7:55pm!" "Well, by the time we get to the correct subway station, find the COSTCO and learn when the close, probably 10pm like the website said. We will have maybe an hour and a half. Will we find everything inside that time frame? Maybe. But we shop awfully slow when we've never been someplace. We should wait for another day, when we have more time to explore the place," I responded concluding we would be hanging with Evelyn and Abby. "Fine but my eyes are beginning to hurt, I really need to find a pharmacy or eye drops from someplace?" Shauna spoke back to me. The one thing we desperately needed to find where those damn eye drops!

The four of us paid, grabbed a cab back to Daehwa station, jumped out paying 2,000 won for the five minute cab ride hopped out of the cab in front of the T-World cellphone shop. We approached the doors as Abby and Evelyn discussed if this were the correct cellphone shop? Neither of them really knew where they were going but knew they needed a cellphone. They were given poor directions to the shop by another EV teacher. Eventually, we found the shop by going into several and asking for a guy, what's his name. The lady in her broken English told us it was her husband and called him to come back to the shop.

He returned ten minutes later after we all had looked at the phones on display. Shauna and I stood around for fifteen minutes looking at phones and listening in on the prices of phones. His bottom of the line phone was 75,000 won about $75 USD, top of the line 300,000 won!!! "Seriously, did he say $300.00 for a cellphone! Outrageous! WOW! People actually pay that?" I couldn't help saying out loud. Abby replied, "you yanks are always causing trouble!" "Shiiiit," I blurted out as my come back line.

Another twenty minutes passed with all of us hunched over the displays, browsing through books we couldn't read but could view the pretty cellphone pictures of accessories and crap Koreans hung from their mobiles! I started to become fidgety when I leaned over Shauna's shoulder who was eyeing a 150,000 won cellphone with Evelyn, "I'm going for a walk. I'll be back in a bit. I need some fresh air," I gently whispered to her. "Okay, see you in a few," Shauna replied. The other two didn't phase an eye towards me as I opened the door and left the cellphone shop in search of nothing.

Wondering down the block, I found random clothing shops for kids, a shoe store, a dunkin' doughnuts coffee shop, a GS25, a Buy the way convenience store, a couple of hofs, a packed bus stop with an electronic digital read out board displaying the next arriving buses, how far away the buses were and what their pick up times were? I strolled past a rent-a-bicycle lock up station. I tried to figure it out but there wasn't enough English on the system for me to understand what the price was per hour, per minute, per day? I turned around spotting a strange little courtyard of shops. Moving into the area, I spotted what appeared to be a pharmacy. I moved closer peaking into the windows. Checking for store hours, I looked around on both doors but didn't spot anything, quickly I moved inside. The proprietor stating the ever so easy going informal greeting of "A-nee-o." Shit, how do I ask what I am looking for? I peaked around the counter looking for something not finding it. I played a quick game of charades and the guy laughed. Then in broken English asked what I needed? I stated "Refresh Tears?" He looked strangely at me without a clue as to what I was searching for. "Close? Time?" I asked trying to get any answer from him. Pointing to his watch he pointed to 9:30pm, which was in ten minutes. I nodded, thanked him, gam-sam-nee-da, and sprinted out the door! Running down the short courtyard I hung a right running past dunkin' doughnuts, past the shoe shop, the two kids stores and the other three cellphone shops, barely stopping before the door as I swung it open grabbing Shauna in a spare moment, everyone startled turn to look at the commotion but I had already drug her out of the doors leaving Abby sitting at the counter with the little lady in front of her and Evelyn scoping out case covers as the man was walking into the back room.

"What do you want?" Shauna asked as we fell back out onto the sidewalk! 'Hurry, we must hurry, don't think, don't ask, just come with me!" I jogged with her hand as I dragged her down the sidewalk. "Aaron, quit it. What is wrong with you?" I didn't stop until we were in front of the pharmacy shop. "He has tears!"
I said in a frantic motion to get her inside the doors before the guy closed up his shop. Stepping through the doors, the pharmacist recognized my face again stating "A-nee-yo," to us both. "Shauna, give him your eye bottle. He didn't understand my request earlier. I just found this shop. He closes at 9:30pm, in four minutes. That's why I didn't stop long enough to tell you."

Digging through her purse, she pulled out the bottle of Refresh Tears. The guy smiled turned around, walked over to the counter behind him to our left went through the two shelves pulling out three boxes and walked back. Shauna looked at them all. They were slightly different then the one she had. "Same?" She asked. "Neee," the guy replied. "Really? Refresh Tears?" Shauna asked again, worried they weren't the same. The pharmacist turned around again, walking to his left, reaching the same spot he looked through the shelves one more time, reaching up to his right, he pulled down a different colored box then the ones in front of us. Walking back the two and a half steps to reach the counter he set the correct, identical looking package in front of us.

"How much?" Shauna asked in English. Damn, I thought where is the phrase book when you need it? "Shauna, did you bring your phrase book?" I inquired. "It might make asking for the price easier." "No, I didn't think of putting it into my purse." "Sam Cheon," he stated. We looked at him dumbfounded. Not understanding what he said he showed us his pinkie, ring and middle fingers. "Does that mean, 3,000 or 30,000? This sucks! We need to learn Korean or at least numbers," the obvious came out of my mouth. "I don't know. But I am going to give him 3,000 and hope for the best." Shauna dug into her purse grabbing her wallet, unlocking the snap, digging through her pockets finding a 5,000 won note. She began to pull it out hoping their would be change coming back her way. The pharmacist smiled picking up the box revealing the 3,000 won price on the bottom of the package! Smiling, he handed us the change, we thanked him, "Gam-sam-nee-da," as we went through the door back out into the courtyard. "I'm so happy you found this shop. How did you know it was a pharmacy?" "Honestly, I didn't, I just happened to be looking into all the shops and this one looked familiar. Then I came over looked inside, tried playing charades for 'Refresh Tears' it didn't make sense, figured out when he closed and came to get you." "Your the best!" Shauna replied as we walked back towards the T-World shop. "Are those two close to being done? What's it been two hours? We could have gone to COSTCO and been back by now. Should have gone. This was boring to wait. I'm too fidgety," I said. "That's why I said, we should just go to COSTCO but you didn't want to listen to me. All you wanted was another beer. And you've had to wait this long. Oh well, we know for next time when we are around those two."

Walking down the road, we stopped at the shoe shop. "Shauna, I think these would look great on you? Too bad they are size small." I stated laughing with a wicked smile on my face. "Nah, these nice leopard print ones would be much better for my fashion sense!" Laughing we walked over to the T-World shop, two doors down, opening the door both Evelyn and Abby were sitting in front of the counter going over the extras they received in their boxes. "Hey, are you two going to be finished before the last bus, or what?" I stated in an obviously sarcastic tone! "Shut your mouth yankee boy! We are almost done here," Evelyn responded before Abby's mouth opened. Laughing we all waited another eight minutes. "We are ready but we cannot use our phones until Monday when they will upload our software into the system," Evelyn started to say as we left the shop. "Lets go grab a beer! That was the longest cellphone experience I have ever had. It was worse then the first time I lived in Korea!" Abby stated. "At least they gave us service and a small discount for being friends with Mary," Evelyn replied.

"Where did you go off to, Aaron?" Evelyn inquired about my disappearance earlier. "I needed fresh air. The shopping was getting to me. I tend to leave places when I am not involved in the conversation because I like to explore places. Shauna knows this and just leaves me be because I will return eventually."

"Let's go up to that one there," Abby pointed up to the fifth floor above the pharmacy. We went into the building searching for a stair case or an elevator. Finding the elevator everyone felt uncomfortable with its abilities to go up, so we continued to search for the stairs. Walking up the stairs two at a time, we finally reached the correct floor moving through the strange door out into a very small hallway with five doors all leading into various establishments. "This is the one," Abby said walking through the door. As I entered through the doors the first thing I noticed was the wafting cloud of cigarette smoke. Coughing twice and trying to catch my breath, I excused myself to go find the bathroom. Hopefully dinner stayed where it was in the digestive system but I wasn't so sure of myself at this point. Hitting the door button, I exited the hof in search of the restroom. Thinking aloud to myself I wondered why people called it a "restroom." I never took a rest while peeing or using the toilet. And it seemed like an unfamiliar way to describe what goes on inside a "bathroom"? But come to think of it, bathroom doesn't really do it justice either unless there are baths in the room and there never are unless you are at someone's house or a bath house? So, how did the English come up with the term "Loo"? And why would anyone call it the "powder room" or "comfort station"? My favorites I've heard of in the past were "commode," "WC (water closet)," and "hit the head."

By the time I returned there was a gigantic jug of Hite-beer sitting at the table. The thing was larger then Evelyn! It must have had two-hundred ounces in it! It was a beautiful sight. Sitting down, I fumbled around inside my messenger bag digging out my camera and at once started snapping off pictures once again of the place we were sitting in, the gigantic jug of beer and the people around me! Laughing at the jokes going around the table, we poured out glasses of beer when the strange dessert was set onto the table by the proprietor. Undiscribable objects floated inside a slightly colored liquid with a few cornflakes resting on the very top, she placed four spoons down as well. "What the hell is that?" I asked snapping off a couple of pictures awaiting Evelyn to dig into her weird dessert bowl. Picking up a spoon, she scooped out a bit of orange chunk along with a couple cornflakes and the clear liquid. Placing it into her mouth a wide arcing smile broke out across her face as she chewed the dessert. Her facial expression explained it all. Immediately everyone grabbed a spoon scooping out various odd chunks, a couple cornflakes and the liquid shoveling into our mouths and savoring the sugary flavor of the liquid. My round chunk turned out to taste a lot like lychee and the cornflakes added substance to the taste! It was beautiful whatever the hell it was! Then we pulled on our beers at the same time! "Delicious! What a great compliment this strange dessert is to the surrounding items on the table!" Delighted with the progression of the evening, I stated.

We rambled onward buying up another gigantic jug of beer, eating through the snacks on the table and checking the time. Enjoying the conversation none of us wanted to leave the pub but realizing the last bus was approaching we thought better of our situation with the lack of money since the two sitting across from us just dropped a combined 350,000 on cellphone equipment which still wasn't working, yet! Asking for the check, we rang the table bell and asked for the check. The bill arrived we split it four ways paying about 16,000 won each! Amazingly cheap and delicious the entire assortment.

Headed out the door we thanked everyone inside for the wonderful atmosphere "gam-sam-nee-da," turning left we made our way to the stairs, taking them two at a time until we reached the main floor. Out the side door we were in an alley way. Back tracking, we went around the building on my assumption of knowing where we ended up and knowing the bus stop was in front of the courtyard around the corner to the right. Walking down the short block turning right, I was correct. There on our right was the pharmacy I had discovered earlier. We scrambled across the courtyard to the bus stop checking for the bus we had eight minutes. "I'm going to grab a kim-bap roll, be back in a moment," Abby said disappearing into an orange shop with Korean lettering in the window.

Returning with her bag of three Kim-bap rolls (Korean Sushi Rolls) the rest of us realized after looking over the electronic bus scheduler that the last bus of the day unfortunately had already gone by which left us with the options of using the subway or grabbing a cab. At this point using the subway would be a lot of effort and yield us about the same amount of money spent. Therefore we opted for a cab ride home. Thankfully there was a nine que taxi line up in front of us. We imparted our broken Korean on the driver and climbed into his ride. After climbing in Abby said, "did you tell him where we are going?" Looking at her dumbfounded I simple stated, "no." "Yon-ga Ma-hul, Paju, Jje'say-yo" (English Village, Paju Take us).

One of the fantastic things about South Korea is cheap transportation! I love it. No more $10.00 cab rides for five minutes of travel time! No more $2.50 for one way fares on the bus line! No more $2.50 train line tickets. Everything here that dealt with transportation was cheap, cheap, cheap. Evelyn and Abby said it'd cost us all around 5,000 won for the half-hour ride back to English Village, incredible!

As soon as the back of my head felt the headrest my eyes slowly closed as Shauna lay her head onto my shoulder her arm intertwining with mine and our eyes closed immediately. Thirty-one minutes later we were jostled into consciousness by the sound of the brakes and Evelyn telling the driver "yogi, yogi, yogi," then the car came to a halt. Stopping we all handed over our 5,000 won to the driver, climbing out the same side of the car into the dark black of the night. Thankfully, the moon light was a pleasant surprise along with the thousands of stars you could see because we were in the countryside!

"Oh bugger, we will have to climb over the fence since its nearly one in the morning!" Abby exclaimed. "It's that or we go through the back gate and the security guards are always strange about people coming into the village late at night," Evelyn explained. "Well, then lead us on through the fence hopping session!" I blurted out followed by a long yawn.

We walked around the immigration office over to a white picket fence. Abby, Evelyn and Shauna all began to climb over the pointed pickets as I laughed hysterically as they climbed on over. Having the knowledge that Shauna once imparted upon me via Jacquelyne, I walked another hundred meters to the main gate, jumped over a shorter brown fence climbed through the shrubs and over another very short gate meeting the others around in front of EV Mart. As I stood in the moonlight watching them make their way through the six-foot weeds around the once used trolley tracks.

"Finally, we are home!" Evelyn stated as she set her two feet onto the red brick street. "Thank you for the adventurous dinner. I had a good time," I stated. "Me too! Bulgogi was delicious! And the gigantic beer, sooo good, too!" Shauna imparted. "Sorry, you two didn't go to Costco," Abby returned. "Never mind that, it's Costco, we know what its like," Shauna retorted. "Alls good that ends swell," I said then everyone began to laugh! "Good night, have a grand weekend!" Shauna and I declared as Abby and Evelyn strolled off into the darkness back towards their apartments on the other side of campus.

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Photos

Free Bus
English Village Tour Bus

First Views
Ilsan

Snack Stick
Food for 2,000 won or less.

Hot Coals
Abby pouring beer

The Main Meal
Bulgogi with egg ring, lettuce wraps and ban chans

Pre-Wrap
A mix of ban chan vegetables and rice before wrapping in lettuce for consumption

How To...
Rent a bike by the hour?

The Hof
Exterior in the hallway on the 5th floor

The Proprietor
Taking our order from Evelyn

Dessert...
Eating with chopsticks? Of course!

Bar Snacks
Quail Eggs, Kimchi and Corn/Rice Snacks

Round Two
And I am a HAPPY Man!

Comments

[mom]

Hi, Sounds like a S. Korean adventure!! Take care, Mom