Hodgepodge

So one thing that interests me is when you have foreign food being "famous" in a country. The natives seem to have never heard of a good deal of the food, or it's something "rare" in their country, or it's similar to another dish but with certain twists from the country itself. Yeah, that was really vague, but I'll use America as a good example.

Egg Foo Young, Chop Suey--these are supposedly American Chinese creations. Lo Mein is in China too, but my Chinese friend here says he hasn't heard that name, "Lo Mein" very often. That reason might be more the fact that it's more Southern food though. Then there's also California Roll, Philadelphia Roll, etc. which are good sushi rolls! But not Japanese (well, obvious from the name too ^^). Then Pad Thai is very different in Thailand, and not as popular as it is in America.

Anyway, I was just bringing this around to *Korean Chinese food*, which is very different from American Chinese food. Most famous is probably 자장면 jajangmyeon, which is cheap and delicious. It's noodles with onions, pork, and black soybean sauce, and is a dish in China, but rather different according to my friend. Very delicious but nonexistent in America (as far as I know) and everywhere in Korea but a completely different style in China.

Next is 짬뽕 jjamppong, a spicy soup with noodles similar to 자장면 and lots of seafood. Delicious as well, at least the one time I tried it :). Unlike jajangmyeon which is Chinese (zha jiang mian) jjampong doesn't have corresponding Chinese characters. Min Jie told me he's never seen anything like it in Chinese cuisine--and it doesn't seem very Chinese to me either. If anything, it'd be more of the Southeast Asian type of cuisine in my opinion.

Last is 탕수육, Korean sweet and sour pork. Yummy yummy! But a pretty different style from Chinese or American sweet and sour pork.

Regardless of differences though, adaptations of native foods tend to be delicious anyway--I mean, there must be a reason why they're popular :). I'd have pictures of these delicious dishes but sadly I didn't bring my camera to any of the meals in which I've had them. Maybe later :).

Okay picture summary time!
So Friday, the day after getting back from Jeju, I head to Myeongdong to meet Jonathan and Min Jie. Here's my first picture using the tripod I bought--I know, it took me forever to start using it haha.
We take the cable car up to the top and I snap a picture of Namsan Tower. Unfortunately it starts to rain ;\.
Pretty pagoda at the top as well.
Ahh unfortunately the rain causes some fog, but the city lights still shine brightly and strongly :).
Jonathan (with a ridiculous expression), Min Jie, myself, Jonathan's German friend, and his German friend's Korean friends. Phew, what a mix haha. And that umbrella is an indication of how strong the wind was too.
Ah Seoul, I'll miss all those pretty lights, though I have my own set of pretty lights to head back to haha.
On Saturday I hung out with my classmate Rie, Andrew, and her friend Mun Ik who is Korean and spent 4 years at Pratt Institute doing graphic design in New York and has now been studying in Japan for 2 years. Mun Ik, a total 부자 (puja, the Korean word for a rich person) was also an awesome 형 (hyeong, Korean word for an older brother of a guy--used metaphorically for friends too). He covered everything, refusing to let us pay, and took us to really nice places. It's pretty crazy how well seniors treat their younger peers in Asian culture--it's a very warm feeling that sets up a nice cycle of receiving and giving.
The Indian restaurant, Dal, Mun Ik brought us too.
Portions were pretty small for the price, but that's what happens with foreign food in Korea ^^, but it was mmmm delicious! Because Mun Ik had a car, he pretty much drove us around all day--both super generous and very comfortable. Not having been in a car (taxis aren't the same) since the beginning of my trip, it was quite relaxing to just be able to sit back in a (really sweet) car and just wait for the destination ^^.
Because karaoke is just so ridiculously staple, we ended up doing some. What is this, time number 5? Haha
Andy sings 너를 사랑해, a classic Korean pop song.
Not sure what Mun Ik's singing here, may have been 팥빙수 haha. Unfortunately, the karaoke place was a bit cheap and gave us only 10 minutes of service for our hour ;\, unlike Sinchon's amazing 30-40 minute karaoke place! It's ironic, though, that I'm complaining, considering America doesn't give service at all and it's ridiculous how much free stuff comes along in Korea--반찬 (the side dishes at every meal), service, etc. ^^

Now this part of summary lacks pictures because unfortunately I didn't bring my camera, but Sunday I hung out at a café with a friend I met in my level, Patchrin, or 린 씨 (Rin). She's from Thailand, and because my mom is Thai I know Thai to a somewhat competent level and we decided to meet up and hang out. So Rin, her friend Tanichat, and I hung out in a café and just talked in Thai. Not having used Thai casually for about a year, it was a nice experience to speak it again :). Also a different experience because the only people I've spoken to in a conversation in Thai are my parents, their friends, or my cousins, so it was the first time I was really making Thai friends--a nice experience ^^.

Monday was a bit ridiculous. Min Jie and I intended to take a bus to Jonathan's place to eat dinner. However, the bus we took ended up taking us all the way to 인천 INCHEON, where the airport is and about a 50 minute trip away from Seoul. Now how did that happen? Well, Min Jie thought the bus was going to 백석동 Baekseok-dong, where Jonathan lives. Well it did...only after asking a few people did we realize there was a Baekseok-dong in Incheon as well as one in Ilsan, where Jonathan lives--what a bad mix-up T_T. Ended up spending what, three to four hours doing NOTHING...at least Incheon had fresh air...hahaha.

So Tuesday, taking the bus with Jonathan this time, we headed to his place. Not only was it a great loft that had nice amenities, but it's the SAME price as my hasukjip--pretty depressing thing to find out haha. But now I know where to look for housing if and when I come back to Korea :P. After having delicious Korean Chinese food--my first time trying 짬뽕--we headed to the park, which was a really pretty one, reminding me of Battery Park near my own home, to play badminton. After not playing for a long time, it was pretty refreshing and fun to play it again ^^.

After a nice little workout, we headed back to Jonathan's place and shortly after I took the bus back to Seoul to meet up with Ryan and Andy to see nothing other than The Dark Knight, or 다크 나이트 (Dakuh Naituh) on opening day in Korea--yes, opening day in Korea was about 2 or 3 weeks after it came out in the US :P. The movie was great! No less than I expected after hearing so many people raving about it haha and of course the theatre was *packed*. Something that Andrew noticed too, when I found myself reading some of the subtitles, I realized that a lot of translation strays a lot from the original line, as well as how hard it is to translate some of those lines. Real shame but what can you do right? It reminded me of how much shorter our translators' English lines were than the Korean speaker's lines on the trips we'd gone on (Gyeongju, DMZ). Another reason to learn the language! Haha, that's the lover of languages in me speaking ;p.
Yesterday we decided to have a traditional American-style dinner of pizza (okay, pizza isn't really dinner, but...:p). Our first time having pizza in Korea (well my second because my ajumma had given me some early on), the experience was amazing! Who knew Pizza Hut would be a real restaurant with reservations and whatnot instead of a fast food store? Unfortunately the two pies were rather small, expensive, and hardly fed the six of us, but was just so delicious. Above is the BBQ chicken pizza with a cheese crust (ahh the cheese crust was HEAVENLY) and below pizza with fries hehe. Satisfying meal for the taste, but not so much for filling us ;p.
After that was, yes, another trip to Namsan, the reason being that most of us hadn't gone and this time it was actually not raining. When we reached the top they were actually doing this odd light show that caused some wonky effects.
I also found out this time, thanks to my high school friend Unikora who we met up with along with her brother, that these locks are actually put on by couples. Apparently, couples will write messages on the locks, lock them to this, and throw away the key, representing that they'll stay chained to each other forever. Very romantic notions lol.
Some people were PRETTY hardcore, like these guys--check out those HUMONGOUS locks with ENGRAVINGS on them. Eesh!
Of course playing around with slow shutter speed can create some pretty cool effects :).
I'll wrap up this entry with the remaining pretty pictures of the city I took from Namsan--this time without clouds and rain :).

Alas, I have 15 days left in this city. Wow, does time move by fast! Upcoming are our finals, eesh!