What do you mean you've dropped 14 pounds since you arrived?

If you couldn't guess for yourself, this blog has been brought to you by none other than FOOD. (see below)

 

So, when I got here, finding food was a big problem. I couldn't read anything on the menus, I didn't know the names of food, and I didn't even know how to ask questions about food! All I knew was hello and thank you. You can get pretty far with that, but not far enough.

People helped me the first few days. The first day I was here, James showed me a good restaurant downstairs. We had something WAY too spicy for me! I didn't finish it. He told me there was a Japanese place too, but when I looked on my own I couldn't find it. He also showed me the convenience store in our building. Since I couldn't figure out which place we had gone to eat, I frequented the convenience store for a few days. I also walked around our building. There are several more restaurants, but I couldn't figure out what they were, or even how to get into some of them. Imagine my delight when I found a grocery store on the basement level! When I mentioned it to someone else, I got the standard "yes, there's a grocery store." Nobody knew how thrilled I was to find it. FYI, I still haven't cooked anything here yet, but I did buy some cat food, cereal, milk, fabric softener, drinks, cookies, and a few other random things. I bought some eggs and chicken wings the other day, but I still haven't cooked them.

But I digress. The first night I was here, we went out to "celebrate my arrival." While I had a really good time, I was exhausted and all I wanted to do was sleep! We went to some place with very spicy fish and some sort of egg and seafood pizza thing. I figured out that night that more than a hint of spicy is a bit much for me, but I think I'm gradually building up a basic tolerance. Koreans love their spicy food (ex. kimchi)! James told me to wait for someone else to pour my drink and not to drink until our big boss did. When they noticed I wasn't eating much, Jeff told me we were going somewhere else. I told him it was okay, that I was full, but we went anyway. I was really thankful we did. I realized I WAS hungry after all. I picked some kind of blackened sesame chicken. When I started to eat it, my stomach opened up! However, the next thing I knew other people were eating it too! I was so confused. I didn't understand why I was getting almost nothing. Then other dishes started to arrive and the director served us parts of each of them. Then I understood... they eat family style. I later read that there is a group mentality here. I get it now! So anyway, I also tried this salmon salad. It had a really great flavor, though I later learned it was raw! I also tried some kind of rice cake thing... and some other things I don't remember, but I liked that restaurant better. I remember a lot of good food and conversation.  I do remember refusing some shrimp. The night was really a blur. I know I was falling asleep at the table. We finally left. Oh, and here I think everyone leaves at the same time. I don't think it's like at home where a couple of people leave if they need to go somewhere...

So the next day (Wednesday) James showed me how to catch the bus. I was on my own that day. I can't remember eating anything other than what I could find at the convenience store. I think it was "epic fail" day. I went somewhere and the guy said chicken and egg, so I thought it had both. It was more of an egg loaf, and not good. I ate what I could and the guy only made me pay half. I was ashamed that he did that. It was my own fault!

Thursday, James and I stopped somewhere before school and had kimbap and I had ramen. Yum!! Of course, I couldn't finish the ramen before work. Too hot and too many noodles.

Friday, Jeff and Luka picked me up for my medical exam. On the way back is when I had the aforementioned octopus soup when I was told they sometimes eat it raw! I realized that day I really like dumplings and new food is not a bad thing.

Saturday, I went to Cheonan ("Chunan") to go shopping. I bought some makeup, a scarf, and met some other expats (that's what foreigners are called when they leave their home country). I ate at Pizza Hut. I ordered bacon potato pizza. It sounded good in theory. It had mayo, corn, onions, peppers, 4 potato wedges, and a sprinkling of bacon. Yeah, uh, I will stick to pepperoni next time.


Sunday, I went to Seoul. I ordered a bacon cheeseburger from TGI Friday's. Surely, I thought, this would be good. Surely I was wrong. I don't know quite what was wrong, but definitely something. The burger tasted undercooked or something. The bacon was limp. The bread was damp.. and I didn't know how to ask for no tomatoes or onions or mayo. However, it's hard to get fries wrong. mmmmm

Monday, I finally figured out where the other place was. James told me the first few things were kimbap, so I ordered two. I like kimbap. Also, I studied hanguel over the weekend, so I could kind of make out some things. I can read the word kimbap. 김밥... The name of the restaurant is Kimbap Heaven (김밥천국), and I just read on wikipedia that it's a chain.

Tuesday was Jay B's last day, so we went out after work. We went to some place on the floor below us and ordered lots of food again. There were some caterpillar larvae that I could not bring myself to try, but I can't remember disliking anything else. I just mostly remember that there was a lot of talking in Korean and when I pretended I understood, I got people laughing. I was told I was funny. I like being told that. I am a ham for attention, lol.

Wednesday, there was testing, so the schedule was different. Luka and I went to the Japanese place. I was having such a good time, I didn't take pictures. Sorry! We has pork and a bunch of sides. Basically, our goal was to eat "not spicy food," as we discovered neither of us like it. Good food, and even better company. Luka asked if Americans eat meat with every meal. I told her it's pretty common, though I personally eat cereal for breakfast.

Sometime in here, James and I went to a chicken place that I didn't like either. C'est la vie! I think there were several kimbap days in there too. Also, I used my newfound hanguel reading skills to order chicken gassa. I've ordered it twice. Yum!





*WARNING* No Christmas weekend pictures. I was uploading a snow vid for you people before I left and left the camera attached to the computer!!***

Friday was the last day before Christmas. Elin went out with me and James so we would have something to do for Christmas. I wanted to order this pepperoni pizza since Steve told me they were good. Bad choice! It was covered in onions and had no sauce! Blech! James wound up taking it to eat for lunch the next day. I should have listened to Elin only. She ordered the good food. I'm so glad Koreans order to feed everyone, because what she got was pretty decent. There were fries and other finger foods. Don't ask what, because I don't remember. However, great company is worth it!

Saturday (Christmas Eve), I went to Daegu. I didn't eat much before I got there. Steve took me to a BK and I got a cheeseburger and fries. Normal food, yay! The important thing to note here is that I NEVER eat at BK at home. lol That evening, Steve and Melissa invited some friends over for Christmas. Melissa had cooked a plethora of food. She made deviled eggs, tacos with all the trimmings, stuffing, homemade apple sauce, some kind of veggies, and so on. It was delicious (a favorite Korean word.. it's on all kind of snack foods, in the grocery stores, and they use it to describe anything that's the least bit tasty)!

Sunday (Christmas), Steve and Melissa took me to an Indian restaurant. We had curry and some interesting fried rice. I honestly don't think I would have tried it at home, but I would have been missing out. It was red, which led me to believe it was spicy. It was sweet, with raisins, maraschino cherries, cashews, etc. VERY tasty. For "dessert" they had chai and I had a yogurt drink. For dinner, we had KFC. Steve mentioned that some Koreans don't seem to know that KFC is an American restaurant.. I don't know where many come from, so I guess we're even!

Monday, kimbap with fish eggs. Can we say whoops?
Tuesday, James and I went to a DIFFERENT chicken place after work. We're pretty sure they fried the entire chicken and gave it to us in chunks. It was pretty good.


Wednesday, James showed me where the dumplings were on the menu at Kimbap Heaven. mmmmm "mondu" is the word for dumpling. "bi bim mondu" is veggie dumplings, and is very tasty.

Today, we went to Alien Registration, so I can get my AR ID card. We ate on the way back. It was some kind of soup with dumplings, onions, mushrooms, beef, noodles, etc. It was mildly spicy, but not too bad. We also had rice. Jeff and Luka both told me I'm getting better with the chopsticks, though I'm still having a bit of trouble. I really enjoy their company. We always have a good time when we go out. (The joke today happened when I left my passport on the counter. I told Luka I almost forgot it, and she told me people will sell passports for a lot of money, so I joked that she wanted to sell my passport. Also, the picture machine gave me 8 copies of my picture, though we only needed one, so I was offering to autograph them. lol) The meal was in a broth, so it was more of a soup. We also boiled it at the table before we ate it. It was very cool. I enjoyed the meal, though again I enjoyed the company more! 


So, that basically ties up my food consumption since I've gotten here, other than gorging myself on yogurt to keep me from getting sick. (It's okay. I like yogurt. ) I've been sick to my stomach several times, but I have been rewarded with weight loss. Whoo hoo! I've kind of leveled off, so I guess I need to forget how to read again....

BTW, AMERICA LISTEN UP: You HAVE TO get these heated cooler type things that give you WARM glass bottles from the store. I have enjoyed the warm tea and Frappuccino here. mmmmm


I have also just been taking random pictures of things I have NOT eaten, like whatever snack food is above.  Enjoy them...


Until next time,
ㅋ ㅡㄹㅣㅅ ㅡㅌㅣ or  크리스ㅌㅣ