Full and Happy

Time flies when you're having fun. Boy is that the truth. I can't believe that we have been living in South Korea for 5 weeks already. Occasionally, I have to remind myself that I am NOT on a perpetual vacation. I have been keeping a running list of places to visit on my phone and when I wake up in the morning and find that Darren has taken off to work, it is a major imposition on my endless vacation. Alas, I suppose there is plenty of time for exploring.  

This past week has been a beautiful one and with the arrival of spring on our doorstep, beauty is popping up everywhere. Within a week or two, I believe everything will be dripping in Cherry Blossoms. I know this is a painful statement for my Colorado friends who seem to be suffering from endless winter. I do not envy you. 

As you know, we live in a sky-rise building that has been built up smack dab in the middle of an "old fashioned" Korean market, as all of our cab drivers refer to it. Since our vehicle just arrived in the country, up to this point we have been walking through the market everyday to get to the Army post. It is very charming and unusual at first, but the more we walked up the road, the more pungent the aromas and the stranger the sights. But with the arrival of spring, the produce is beautiful and the older Korean population seems to carelessly wonder through the market, restoring a bit of the charm. I snapped a few photos of the surroundings.

     

Several weeks ago we signed up to take a USO tour to a local Cherry Blossom Festival. Im not sure what I expected, but it was basically an endless supply of street-food vendors and entertainment, with one lonely Cherry Blossom tree in bloom; however, I do not need flowers to eat, so we dove right in. The street food runs on a scale I have listed below:

TAME -----Interesting. I will give it a go----Maybe next time------ Not happening. . . ever

                      

                          

        

        

A large table of what I assume to be roasted/grilled Octopus. My friend got a free sample, but I will try it next time. I have had Octopus in soups before, but never like this. 

         

Double-fisting his corn and chicken.

 Emmalyn was a delight and took in the sights of the festival from her stroller. At one point in the evening, a man walked up to us and put these lovely little glow lights on her ankles. They are immensely loving and doting to children here and I believe that can only be beneficial. I am learning to adjust my comfort levels with stranger-danger and accept their happy pats and tickles of my child.

                                                     

Spring on the Army post. 

  

We watched an outdoor concert at the park along the Han River.

                                       

There are tanks that line the seafood restaurant fronts for what I imagine would be advertising "Fresh Seafood." Ha, no kidding. I must admit I am unabashedly American when I say, "I like my fish from a large yellow box with a kind-looking fisherman in yellow rain gear." Fresh is good. This fresh, not so good. I would equate this to having a burger restaurant within the confines of a feed-lot in Northeastern Colorado. Am I right?!   

One of the loveliest food experiences we have had during our time here was a visit to a Japanese restaurant. The Japanese are famous for their Panko bread crumbs and deep-fried foods, which were surprisingly light and came in small quantities. Even Emmalyn got in on the Japanese food, eating up the Udon Noodle Soup. One of my more embarrassing cultural experiences to date happened at this restaurant. The lovely server, ever so kind and demure, was kind enough to present me with a pair of scissors. No, not pasta sheers or dainty scissors, the kind you find in your junk draw or office. BIG SCISSORS. She so kindly explained to me what they were for and walked off. . . one problem, she explained in Korean, which did not include either of the words from my two-word Korean vocabulary. So I was left to wonder. Our food arrived and on my plate was a large pile of VERY long Buckwheat noodles. I am fairly proficient with chopsticks; however, these noodles proved to be very difficult for me to eat due to their length. I pulled out a couple of them and put them on Emmalyn's plate to let her sort out. In the meantime, I had an, "AHHA moment." These noodles needed to be cut up for me to more efficiently eat with chopsticks! DING! The scissors!! Right?! I thought, they must use these scissors to cut the unnecessarily long noodles, or maybe she was just being kind to the American. So, I proceeded to snip away at my noodles and behind me I hear the constant giggle of the lovely staff. I definitely got the vibe that I was doing something VERY wrong, but at least now I could eat my noodles. We left and upon arriving home, I decided to do a little research on those scissors. Much to my embarrassment, those pesky sheers were actually intended to cut up food for the baby present at the table. Who knew!? While I happily dined on cut up noodles, Emmalyn played with her two foot long noodle and all the while our Korean servers had a good laugh at the mommy eating, "baby food." Live and learn. :)