Turkeys

Sunday Treasure

Guess what I found.....





There's a shop called the, "Underground Grocers", in Gwangju. It's tiny, a real hole in the wall place - just big enough for a few shelves and a small freezer section. This shop carries a number of food items found back home. I think most of the items are purchased from Costco - lots of Kirkland brand stuff. I can't say that anything from that store is cheap - however since I have no knowledge of what the shipping and handling costs are I also can't say that it's unreasonable. That being said, I'd like to shock and awe some of our readers by listing some of the prices.

1156 won = 1 US dollar
-Block of cheese (baby loaf): 19,000won
-Can of beans: 5500won
-3lb bag of ravioli: 24,000won
-costco size box of oatmeal: 36,000won

It may not seem SO extravagant - but since food is so cheap here we have a hard time justifying a 19,000won block of pepper jack cheese. V and I can eat a cheap, delicious meal (sit down) for about 6,000won. So, that block of cheese is really three dinners for both of us.

And, yes we did give up three dinners. We couldn't pass up the baby loaf - it was either that or the 3lb bag of ravioli. It was delicious and worth it.

Guest blogger

DB Visits V & N
I rolled into town from Beijing, after a one week China trip, to visit V & N, 2 of the best English teachers in the Yangsan residential area of Korea. My English speaking skills had regressed after a week in China and I found myself telling V that they had “a no very much apartment” and asking N, “Do we have to go far and far to the Kim Chee Festival?” But my English interpretation and listening skills were enhanced as I was able to determine that “Stoll is Los” means that “the store is to the north” and that “low lain,frying” means that “it is not raining those are insects hitting the windshield”.

It was great to see N & V in their new digs in the north end of Gwangju. I got into Seoul Saturday afternoon and they met me downtown in time to watch the Gwangju Kia Tigers win the Korean Baseball World Series with a dramatic 9th inning, game 7 walk-off homer. We watched the game in a small diner while having some Korean food (imagine that!?).
We then met Anne, Amanda and Billy, some teacher friends, downtown Gwangju after a KTX train ride at up to 200 mph from Seoul. We toured some of the night clubs in Old-Gwangju and drank some varieties of the local cocktail called soju (kind of a weak vodka).

Sunday morning, Vann made some ham, garlic & eggs, garnished with some Korean pepper paste and N got a variety of pastries from the local bakery and we fueled up. We then cabbed it down to the World Cup Stadium to partake of the Gwangju Kim Chee Festival. We sampled all kinds of Kim Chee and its accessories, including kim (seaweed), SamPong (honey-filled rice balls), dried squid and other scary stuff. There were hundreds of vendors and many, many, more, very much kinds of Kim Chee. We met some local Koreans and V & N practiced their conversational Korean. It was the best Kim Chee Festival EVER!!

(DB sorry about the late post - V only just sent to this to me and only b/c he saw that I was halfway through a post about the kimchi festival...duh)

the list

Top Ten things I miss about Seattle!
(in no particular order)

1. Whole Foods grocery store - overpriced and over organized, a lonely college student's best friend, the best salad bar for vegans, vegetarians and carnivores
2. driving a car - jeepy how I miss you.
3. my mom and dad - thank god for skype
4. being able to eavesdrop on people ... weird right?
5. John in the Morning - I'm never awake to stream you!
6. Seattle Transit - with the calmest drivers where riders can almost always find a comfy seat
7. Campbells tomato soup (it like, doesn't exist here)
8. the rain - really I promise I do
9. Trophy Cupcake/Cupcake Royale - I miss you overfrosted pumpkin and devil's food cake!
10. you! - you know who you are.

Halloween with 호박

호박 = pumpkin

Ji Sook (the lovely lady who takes me across scary bridges and feeds me delicious Korean food) presented me with the cutest little pumpkin in all of Gwangju. The students in my after school class had a design contest for the carving and helped me scoop out the insides (I did the carving). We celebrated with candy and the phrase "Trick-or-Treat!".

*(picture by Soo Jin)