Finally!

So, as it is Chuseok here in Korea, we thought there wouldn't be a better time to start up our blog.  We are very lucky to have this whole week off in celebration of South Korea's version of thanksgiving - Chuseok.  Here in Korea, they spend their holiday visiting their families and paying respect to their ancestors.  They also eat disgusting amounts of Songpyeon.  Now, this might sound intriguing, however, I warn you now, it is not very tasty! Imagine eating round globs of slightly sweetened, thick and chewy noodles.  The Koreans then decided to throw in a little sweet surprise in the middle, be it red beans, a watery sweet liquid, or something sesame.  Now, maybe we just have had the right songpyeon.  Maybe this Chuseok we will be lucky! Oh, and for those of you who were wondering, Songpyeon is actually made out of rice.  The koreans call it a rice cake.

SONGPYEON

So, aside from eating Songpyeon, we've been lucky enough to try a lot of different Korean dishes! We've had bibimbop, Korean barbeque, or gogi gui, Korean medicine soup, Japchae (a vegetable noodle dish) and Bulgogi (grilled, marinated beef). There are still so many different types of food to try, but so far, the bibimbop is my favourite - maybe because it has the smallest amount of meat in it haha.  Aside from the main courses, we haven't really found a wide selection of desserts.  For me, this was a problem. That was until Svein informed me of the ultimate dessert dish.  I have yet to try it, but I believe it consists of ice, some sort of ice cream/whip cream, berries and other fruit and red beans.  Svein tried it with his coteachers and he said it was amazing.  So, my goal in regards to food this Chuseok, is to try this ice bean dessert.  The Koreans are really good at providing other sweet alternatives.  For example, there's Baskin Robbins, Dunkin Donuts, Mr. Donut, Paris Baguette and Coldstone Creamery.  Those are just a few.  It's funny too that they also like to place these stores right next to each other.  So, for example, you may be walking down the street and see a Baskin Robbins and think, oh wow, that's nice. Then, as you look next door their's a Coldstone Creamery.  The same goes with coffee shops, street vendors, food vendors, etc.  Either they are all trying to compete with each other or, they're thinking that well, if someone hasn't given in by the seventh deep fried squid stand, their's something wrong with them.


NAMPO DONG STREET VENDOR (There were at least six of these stands in  a row haha).

So, aside from eating a lot of food, we plan on doing a lot of hiking during Chuseok.  Today we are planning to head up Mount Geumjeong.  This mountain has a total elevation of 801m (the highest in Busan) and it is located right in our backyard (Svein and I have been living in Geumjeong-gu)! So, along with a few of our wonderful new friends, we will check out Beomeosa temple and then spend the rest of the day hiking the trails. We also hope to hike Mount Jangsan later in the week, so, stay tuned for more details of our hikes!

On Saturday, Svein and I are lucky enough to travel to the Andong Mask Dance Festival with a bunch of other EPIK teachers. We are not entirely sure what will be happening at this festival, other than the obvious mask dancing, but we are very excited!! We will be taking a 4 hour bus ride up into the northern area of South Korea for this event.

So for now, as we get ready to head out for our hike, I must figure out whether we have indeed been washing our clothing in fabric softener.  I guess this just goes with the sometimes frustrating but always challenging language barrier that we are faced with! 
-SM