Christmas in Bucheon and K-Pop

Well guys, it's Christmas time! Sorry for the delay in the posting, but the season got busy, and promises to be get even busier with the start of intensives (winter classes during the day) next week. I'll do my best to keep pictures and stories coming.

On Christmas, I had to teach, but I stayed up late the night before because I got myself all excited for opening presents and couldn't go to sleep. That being said, it meant I was up late enough to see the snow begin to fall around midnight in Bucheon, so we had a white Christmas!!!

On Christmas we went out with everyone from work for a Chinese and did a Secret Santa. Then we went to Noraebang, the Korean version of Karaoke, and sang. The original plan had been to sing Christmas songs, but that degenerated into group songs and musicals, where we serenaded one another with all sorts of nonsense before hurrying off home.

We got to sleep in on Boxing day, so this was all okay. Thank you everyone for my presents!!!

This week we also went into Seoul to Myeongdong, the shopping district. We went to several K-pop shops to buy cds and posters of favorite bands (K-Pop is massive here, all the kids know it, and its hard not to get into some of it, since it's not like it's bad music. It's also a good way to start learning Korean words, because many people have already translated the songs). Then we met up with some of the others for food in the D-Cube shopping center, which is a really cool place. There are waterfalls that start at the top of the building, then run through the middle of each floor as rivers with glass bottoms before dropping to the next floor. Fish live in the water, so you can watch them from above or from below through the ceiling on the lower floors.

Then we headed home in time for the end of year concert where the current stars perform their best hits in celebration of the New Year! So, happy New Year everyone!

-Sam

Myeong-dong snow, outside Forever21!

Brooke and I at Myeong-dong.

Amy and Brooke at Myeong-dong.

Amy and Brooke with a mascot walking in Myeong-dong.

Myeong-dong.

Brooke and Rebekah at the Chinese on Christmas Day.

Everyone during Secret Santa at the Chinese.

Amy at the Chinese.

Amy and I at the Chinese on Christmas Day.

Language Cafes, Bank Accounts, and New Gloves

Sorry for the delay in this week's update. I've been busy with a great many things.

Sometime the other week we went to KBStar and set up our bank accounts, meaning we can finally get flight reimbursements and be paid. I've got paid for a week of teaching I did for November, and that was nice, since I was started to run low on money. My very first paycheck will be split between the Arrival Store and monthly living expenses, so I won't be able to start properly saving up until my paycheck arrives in February, but that's okay. For now I'm feeling comfortable. I have a plan to pay off my credit card (which I've been using recently to pay for meals and such as I originally had planned) and to save up.

I've had to buy myself some new gloves. Korean winters are indeed cold, and mine were really thin. These ones cost me a pretty penny, but that's because they're lined with fur. Yay for fur-lined mittens! Best investment so far. I love them already.

My place is now mostly furnished, so those expenses are done for the most part. I'm just looking at finding some curtains now so I have a bit more privacy in my loft (right now you can see up into it if you wanted to) and to block out the light since my teaching schedule is a bit funny at the moment.

Last Sunday I went with Scott to a language cafe in Hapjeong in Seoul. It was at a little cafe where you paid 10,000 won and they gave you a drink and sorted you into groups to speak in different languages. Most of the English speakers there are Koreans learning to speak English or who have spent time abroad, or else English teachers. Its a good way to meet some friends, and I already made a couple. It takes awhile to get there on the subway, but it was a fairly straightforward trip, and on the way I got the chance to buy myself a new iphone case.

The language cafe was round the corner from Hapjeong station exit 2 (for those readers in Korea itself). Anyone can go, no limits, and its a good place to practice. Scott usually goes to learn Korean, but most English speakers end up speaking English there anyway to help Koreans improve their English. Apparently the English speaking crowd is fairly regular, but the Korean speaking groups tend to shift each time, so you're always meeting new Korean friends, and seeing your old English teaching friends again time after time.

I won't go next week, since I don't have the money to do it again yet, but I'm looking forward to going again sometime and meeting up with people again. I've made a few friends from it already, like I said, and it was nice getting out of Bucheon for once, which is a lovely place, but quite small. I'm trying to expand my social circle to include those who don't teach at Chungdahm with me. For that it's time I started properly and seriously studying Korean.

Which leads me to my next point. There's a great online free textbook that's helpful with the grammar called Basic Korean A Grammar and Workbook by Andrew Sangpil Byon. Obviously the hardcopy costs money, but a pdf version has been made available for free for anyone's use. It's quite grammar heavy, and comes with exercises and full answer keys for testing yourself after each chapter. If you're looking to learn Korean (properly learn, not just pick up some phrases) it's a good thing to get your hands on. A simple google search for the title and author comes up with multiple different sites to download. I got my version from Scott, so I don't know which downloads to recommend to you.

That's all for the moment, but more coming next Sunday.

Best,
Sam

First Week of Teaching, Making Friends, and Visiting the Royal Palaces

So it's been a rather long week. We began teaching this week, so I've now officially become a teacher. I have about 60 different kids to keep track of and learn names for. Some of my classes are quite loud and silly and others are really quiet and I'd love for them to speak up more, but on the whole I'm feeling fairly confident and I know at least some of the kids like me and learn from me (they're already stopping to tell me goodbye). As a joke I've told almost all my kids that Amy Teacher is from Scotland where Hogwarts is, and she used to teach there before coming to teach them. Some of them believe me, others know it's complete rubbish. We all got a laugh out it anyway. These kids need a break from intensive classes on occasion.

Earlier in the week we planned a night out for Brynn and Austin, who have since returned back from America. Brynn was loads of fun, and despite only just having met her, we already miss her.

Above: Brynn, Rebekah, Amy, and I.

On Saturday, we got up early to take a trip to two of the palaces in Seoul. There are pictures below of all that.

The first palace was Gyeongbokgung Palace, which was the bigger of the two. That's the one that attracts the most tourists. You can walk through tons of back-alleys and gates and whatnot for hours, and in the middle where one of the large towers sits is the National History Museum of Korea, featuring artifacts from all walks of life. The capital was moved to Seoul in the 1300s, and this was the palace built to house the famous King Seojong, whose picture you can see below. He's something of a hero to all Koreans, and he's famous for the creation of the Korean alphabet that made 99% of the Korean population literate in the 1400s.

While we were there, we also ended up keeping sidetracked by a film crew for a Korean television show that comes on in the mornings at 6:00am here for kids. They wanted to interview some of us, so Amy and Scott ended up under the watchful eye of the camera answering all sorts of questions about bank overdrafts and credit card debt. It was fairly amusing watching them try and answer seriously. By the time we were done, it was almost time to get a move on to the next palace, but we arrived at the gate just in time to see the changing of the guard. Amy, of course, needed a picture of herself with the guards, who are similar to those at Buckingham Palace in that they never ever smile or move except on ceremony.

The second palace, Deoksugung, was far smaller, but more entertaining, because you could actually go into the buildings, and here there were signs translated to English telling you what happened where. I think, if I had to pick, I'd prefer the smaller one. It seemed far more cozy and secluded than the bigger Gyeongboksung Palace. One of the buildings at Deoksugung had served as a prison to one of the old Queens during civil war for five years, but later became a nursery for one of the little Princesses of a later dynasty. It was also cheaper entry to this palace (approx. $1, though the other was only $3), which was nice. We wandered around that, going into the buildings (you have to take your shoes off when you do) and taking our pictures before deciding at long last to head on home.

Here are the pictures:

Deoksugung Palace main throne room. The ceiling in here was carved into the shape of dragons and painted green and gold and red.

One of the gates leading up to the main throne room in Deoksugung.

The juxtaposition of old and new in Seoul.

Amy and Rebekah at Deoksugung.

The main throne room building again.

Changing of the guard at the Gyeongbokgung Palace main gate.

One of Gyeongbokgung's walkways surrounding massive paved courtyards in the main buildings.

The perfect place in Korea for a city is between a mountain and a river. Gyeongbokgung Palace goes almost all the way to the mountain range in the distance, and Seoul is spread out before the main gate in the other direction, with high-rises and such all about. This picture is actually of Deoksugung Palace, but it was prettier.

The main lake and overlooking pagoda at Gyeongbokgung Palace.

Amy, Rebekah, and Scott posing like the Koreans do for pictures.

Scott during his interview for Korean TV.

These posts used to stand at the entrances to villages to mark the village territory and to welcome visitors.

The pagoda, and below it the National History Museum of Korea.

The stone zodiac circle. We all got our pictures taken with our animal.

Me at the stone zodiac circle.

The height of the gates separating different courtyards at Gyeongbokgung Palace.

Gyeongbokgung Palace first courtyard.

Gyeongbokgung Palace inner courtyards. The guy in the red and the blue Doctor Who Tardis hat is Van, who refused to smile for pictures, so I only have ones of the back of his head or him refusing to smile.

Statue of King Seojong, who inventing Hangul, the Korean alphabet. On either side of the roads are the City Hall, the U.S. embassy, and the U.K. embassy.

View from inside Gyeongbokgung Palace.

The interior of the first of Gyeongbokgung Palace's throne rooms.

The main gate to Gyeongbokgung Palace with the hills beyond.

Scott, Van, Amy, and Rebekah under the statue of King Seojong. The Korean on the statue says "Seojong Taewang".

One of the sundials near the statue, and one of a few we saw within the palaces. The Koreans used sundials starting at about the 1300s, and they were located around audience chambers so they could keep track of scheduled time.

Me in the main gate courtyard of Gyeongbokgung where the changing of the guard ceremony begins and the palace starts.

Hope you all enjoyed the pictures! Sorry there were so many! Next post due next week.

Bucheon - Day Before New Term Begins

Since there wasn't much to post for awhile, I haven't been in touch for half a week, so now I'm going to make up for it with a grand tale of not much happening.

Everything's very new and exciting still. Van and Rebekah arrived late friday from passing Training and tomorrow we all start teaching. I think I've got the books I need (the schedule changes like the wind, so I won't know for positive until tomorrow when my first class starts).

Yesterday we had a big CDI Thanksgiving, where we all got together (about 25 of us in one apartment) and had turkey and cranberry sauce and gravy, and dumplings in soup and Korean stir fry and dutch biscuits and macadamia nuts and vodka and soju and wine. It made for quite the ethnic holiday, all while watching a subtitled Hell's Kitchen on Bryan's big television. We ate this with chopsticks of course, and that made it an adventure, but the best part was getting to spend time with everyone (like Brooke from Australia and Amy from Scotland who haven't ever done Thanksgiving before) and just having a laugh and some fun.

We were meant to go to Seoul on Saturday but got distracted by other things, so that didn't end up happening. We did, however, get to see the CDI kids performing in the Expression Contest, where they all practice for ages to give presentations about their favorite Critical Thinking Projects, and win prizes for how well they do. Some of them were really good, and others were just really cute.

Anyway, next week I start teaching my own kids, and then next weekend we're planning on going into Seoul now we have the chance, so until next weekend!

-Sam

Teacher Training at Bucheon - Substitute Teaching (11/20/12)

Tomorrow we start formal training in the new topics we'll be teaching this term, but for the time being we've been doing observations. Joseph had to substitute in for a class (the teacher left last week but the term doesn't end until after this week). He let us sit in and then during the Critical Thinking Projects to join in and work with the kids a bit. They were really funny, and you could tell they were trying, but they also really liked speaking in Korean in class, so all three of us were having issues dealing with them by the end of the three hours.

Anyway, it was actually a lot of fun, and I liked getting involved. Joseph said maybe thursday when he teaches the class again that Amy and I can try teaching part of the class for the day as a bit of practice. We shall see how that goes.

Also this morning, Evan (who is my new favorite person, he does so much for me like getting me an apartment, helping work out bills, doing all the immigration forms for us, making sure we know where we live in relation to the school, taking us out for McDonald's the first night we arrived, and many many more) drove us to Incheon to the immigration office to submit out ARCs. That's going to take about a week to process, maybe two, and they'll deliver it straight to the school when its finished, so I'm almost a card-carrying resident alien of South Korea.

Just a shot post today, as I've got many things to think about and I'm tired and want to go to sleep. I'll not post until later in the week, as I'm going to get back on learning Korean the next few nights while I do more training, so when I get into a classroom I can tell when kids are being rude or saying bad words to me. :D

Also on the list of things to do tomorrow: buy myself a Christmas tree.

Best, Sam.

Bucheon - 11/19/12

So today we started observing classes. This is a really helpful step as part of training, because it puts you right in the environment. I've always learned better by seeing things and doing them, so sitting there in a run-through is really helpful. Thanks Joseph and Anne for letting Amy and I sit in and watch today.

I've finally got my apartment how I want it, so below are some pictures of it with furniture. It's nice and cozy to come home to now.

My Arrival Store mattress pad was too big for my mattress, and it really did very little for me the first time I tried to use it, but I've found a better use for it. After looking around at seating options, I realized that my furniture or the height of my ceiling require that people mostly sit about on the floor anyway. This is really hard on your bottom. I've now cut up my mattress pad and put it under the carpets where you'd sit, so now I have a nice little living room and table to sit and work at either by myself or with other people. Amy bought me a little plant as a housewarming gift, so that's there too.

Anyway, pictures are below.

After the initial training session with Joseph on Saturday, Amy and I ended up going out and drinking with Joseph and his friend Anne. That was a lot of fun, but Monday is the big going out night, and now a lot of the people who were in Busan over the weekend are back again, so we're doing a proper night out now with a bunch of the teachers at CDI (Chungdahm for those of you who just went "Huh? What's that?"). We're looking forward to that a lot, since we've not had the chance to spend too much time with the Bucheon crowd here yet. There's a great deal of sociability at the Bucheon branch, so it should be a lot of fun. I really like the atmosphere, and I'm feeling much more at home.

We've also crossed paths with a few of the Chungdahm April teachers in the area, thought not a lot. They seem really nice, and from what I can tell the CDI and April teachers tend to stay mostly separate, but we met a nice guy downstairs on our way back up who was carrying a little Christmas tree.

Christmas isn't too big in Korea. It's more of a couple's holiday. You can still buy trees and things, and cakes, but it's less about friends and family and more about the couple. That being said, I'm sure the CDI folks do something for Christmas, since they had a big Halloween party when that came around, and Halloween isn't celebrated here either.

Anyway, finally settled in a bit and going about learning the place. Soon it will be time to start visiting new places and blogging about more touristy things.

-Sam

My bedroom - made my bed this time before taking the picture :P

Sitting room looking back towards the door.

The little sitting room. My mattress pad seats are underneath that carpet on either side of the table. I've discovered a way to get internet downstairs for the moment as well. I can't wait until I can get my own, but for now, I can sit here and do my work.

The bathroom with stuff in it now. Those planks on the floor are there so when you've had a shower and later need to go back into the room, your feet don't get wet from the remaining puddles of water. You walk on them like stepping stones instead.

Tips for Preparing for Mock Teaching - in answer to a request by Joe

Hey Joe and all the rest. I'm answering a question I received from Joe here, since it may be helpful to all sorts of people.

Joe is going into Chungdahm Training and asked me for advice on preparing for the mock teaching you do during the training week. Here's my reply:

1) Don't overthink it. I know many people who stayed up until all hours preparing for the next day. They got little sleep and panicked about it too much. I recommend you do a simple prep, and know the information you're going to teach, but don't write yourself a script. Being natural in the classroom is important.

2) Take it seriously, since you're preparing an actual lesson that will translate directly into the classroom. Do as much work as you think you will realistically do in preparing for a real class.

3) Chill out and breathe. Its easier to do the mocks if you've not worked yourself into a nervous breakdown. Just remember that the trainers are there to help you improve.

4) Listen to the advice of the trainers. Remember they do know what they're talking about, and they are the ones who ultimately decide if you pass or fail. They're there to help you get better, so hear what they are trying to say.

5) Run through the exercise as if you were a student. This is perhaps the easiest way to prep. When I prepared, all I had was the outline I'd be using for the day. Circle things in the book if you want, write out the outlines you'd like the kids to get to, and just go through it once as if you were a student. That way you know what problems you might face, what sorts of topics you'll be discussing, and content beforehand.

I think that's all I can give you. Top on my list is don't panic about it. You should be comfortable with the level of work you do to prepare, and you should remember there is -always- room for improvement in this. That's the whole point of training week. Be prepared to take criticism and use it.

Hope that helps, Joe. If you or anyone else needs to contact me at all for any reason, remember there is a "Send Sam an Email!" section on my site for anyone to use.

Good luck and best wishes,
Sam

Bucheon - Day One

After arriving in Bucheon and getting a bit of sleep, Amy and I went off in search of furniture to kit out our apartments. As it turns out, someone had left some on the side of the road, so a table and a cupboard later and we were off to find other things like cleaning supplies and food instead.

We're located right near a homeplus and a savezone, both which function like big superstores, one of which is affiliated with Tesco from the UK. We ended up hitting one, then the other, because we had to carry everything back. We're still not entirely done getting things, but the place looks a bit more like home now.

After the shopping, we headed off to work for some additional training, where we met one of the Head Instructors Joseph. He introduced us to some of the really bright students and gave us the tour. One the girls we met has been with the school for years, and she's really really good at speaking English. She asked where Amy was from, and then listed a big long list of places she's travelled, ending with "...and Cambodia, and China, and Japan, and so one and so forth. Goodbye." at which point she proceeded to duck out in to the hall and close the door behind her. We thought it was pretty funny, and Joseph was delighted since he'd apparently taught her to use "so on and so forth" just the week before.

Apparently it's general practice to greet new teachers on saturdays by taking them out, but a lot of the other teachers had gone off to Busan for the weekend (every term they do one big trip together), so it ended up just Joseph and his friend Annie taking us around the place and showing us where to eat and shop and see movies. Over dinner we broke out the soju and beer, and then moved along to the local foreigner's bar, Rhythm and Booze (R&B from here on out), where a bunch of high school students were putting on a brilliant show. Some of them sang and played better than current professional musicians, and they were better than the band that was on stage before their show started.

We then moved along to a sit down bar where Amy and I were now drunk enough to eat fried squid without complaint. Apparently we like squid. We also had more soju and beer, and so the rest of the night got quite blurry after that. But thanks Joseph for a good welcome into Bucheon.

Below, as promised are some pictures I've taken of my studio apartment.

This is the bathroom that also doubles as a shower. I've put a coat rack over the door, so my coat's in the shot as well. It was pretty horrible when I arrived, because in Korea you don't clean your apartment before you leave. In fact, most Koreans set aside an entire day when they move in to clean their new place. Anyway, I think I finally managed to get it clean, and it doesn't smell weird anymore, so hurrah!

This is the entrance and kitchen area. The bathroom's off to the right in that little corridor. The photos are a bit of a mess, because I took them before I'd finished putting things away and while I was still trying to get furniture and move things around.

This is my living room space. I've got suitcases and a cardboard box as a bin for a moment. The shot is taken from the top of the stairs to the loft where my bedroom is. My wardrobe is down there, and that window stretches floor to ceiling. My view isn't brilliant, but at night when the lights are on its pretty cool, and at least I can keep my eye on the Indian restaurant.

This is my bedroom. It came with the mattress and the school had given me some new bedding, but the quilt was really thin and it's cold in the winters here, so I'm using my own duvet as well. Sorry the bed's not made, I didn't think about it until later. The little cubby holes on the wall are really handy. It saves buying bookcases or things, and I'm using one of the shelves as a bit of a computer desk, since I only have internet up in the loft at the moment. This is because I can't get my own until I have my Alien Resident Card, so I'm logged into wifi from a cafe down the road. The signal doesn't exist in the rest of my house.

This is the view from my window. That motel sign moves, like raindrops falling, and the city's big and bright all around, this is just one of the little areas. This is actually the place where we were dropped off by the taxi originally. Our work is up the road that goes along the left side of the picture, then turning left after the Indian food restaurant and crossing over two streets, so not far at all.

Final Day of Training - Bucheon

Given that we'd already prepped for the final day of training, and that we'd been going over it all week, last night became a time to relax. That was, at least, until I remembered I was meant to pack up all my stuff to go the next day. Well lucky me, I condensed three suitcases and three boxes into just two suitcases and a box, and then found that people are very helpful and generous in Korea. Christine left me to move everything on me own, abandoning me with the job of getting the key to reception and returning our LAN cable as well, so I ended up almost missing the bus. A man who spoke only Korean saw me struggling in the hall and helped me to the elevator, and then two of the other girls in training got on the elevator halfway down and helped me out to the bus. We had to move everything back out again into the training center after arriving there, but Mickey (who looks like Thor and has heard it so many times he's changed his facebook name to include "Thor") took half my stuff in without my asking for help or anything. So I now have a new best friend.

When we came back down the stairs, Tatiana helped, since she was staying at the Coatel a little longer and therefore had no suitcases. So thank you very much Tatiana, Mickey, and the Korean man on floor seven of the Coatel Hotel in Gangnam for all your assistance.

Well, I passed my training, and that meant I didn't pack for nothing, because immediately after training we were piled into a taxi to head to the Bucheon branch. At first we were so tired and hungry and it was such a long drive through the traffic that we weren't very impressed with Bucheon. But apparently that's just because we're blind, because as it turns out the place is pretty amazing.

Bucheon has a different feel than Gangnam in Seoul, because Gangnam is really cool, but it comes across as really aloof and expensive. Bucheon is the sort of place where families are moving about in the streets, and people are looking for cheaper options to spend money.

The Bucheon folks were great. They paid for the ride to the branch, which we had expected because some of the people headed further south on trains said their train tickets were paid for. They didn't stop there, though. We were show to apartments, already reserved especially for us, where half the other teachers live, and we were then taken to the branch on foot and shown how to get to work. Evan, the man who met us, is a native of Bucheon, so he told us all the little secrets of the areas as we went around. Apparently last week they finished a new subway extension that's just been opened quite literally round the corner from the apartment building. The subway at Sangdong Station (ours) runs directly to the original Chungdahm branch in Gangnam, meaning its really easy to visit. That also means all you guys from training on the Seoul subway lines can come to see Bucheon whenever you might like.

Evan took us about the shops as well, telling us where the cheap places were and what to avoid, why we shouldn't visit the local bar or night club, and advising us on the best way to find our apartment. He walked us through one of the shops, pointing out where in the shop we could find different types of food or things like cleaning supplies. He then took us for dinner, and since he's one of the school administration guys he bought us our food courtesy of the branch.

The branch guys already had apartments reserved for us, which we were immediately shown to when we first got out of the van. They'd bought bottled water and ramen for us to eat as a welcome present and left that for us. At the school, they seemed like quite a lively bunch, and they've got quite a friendly atmosphere for poking fun at one another. Apaprently the Bucheon branch is quite diverse, with people from all over the English speaking world working as teachers, so we're quite looking forward to starting a week from Monday. Until then, we're back to more training, where we will learn a third type of class for the following week.

The apartments are really cool, but I might just be saying that because mine wasn't too dirty when we arrived (previous tenants are not required to clean before leaving) or because I'm really tired. It's a studio. My shower is indeed my entire bathroom, and my bedroom is up some little wooden stairs in a low-ceilinged balcony.

There's no pictures for now, but I'll take some later and do it in another post.
-Sam

Training Week Day Four - Nearly Done and Cheap Eats

Once again, more food pictures. These ones are courtesy of the resident Scot, Amy, who has been gracious enough to give me her pictures because she "can't be bothered to start her own blog".

Today was the second day of mocking the main lessons. Everyone's doing much better today after the initial dash of the first half the week, mostly because its almost over, and mostly because we have a much better idea of how to teach now. I myself feel confident going in that I'll be able to teach a class and handle misbehaving children, keep their attention, and prepare each lesson every week.

Now, some of you may remember from my last entry that I was running short on money. When I first tried getting money out this morning, however, I was having a lot of problems. I am now happy to announce that this problem is now fixed. I tried several ATMs today, and most said card not valid, and then one said the card was locked and to contact my bank. This of course induced panic, because if one card was locked, was the other? How could I reach my bank since that involved international calling, and I had no international calling card? Who could I contact at that hour to work things out? After several frantic skype calls and attempts to get through on my Korean cell phone and the one I've brought from the U.S. (says its roaming over here, so apparently it's piggy-backing service from somewhere -- sorry Mum if you have to pay a bigger bill; I will pay you back), I eventually managed to buy some Skype credit using my credit card (this was my last resort for money), and used it to contact my bank, which then checked and said there was no hold on my atm card, it's not locked, and "it must have something wrong with the atm machine". Someone tell that woman the 'm' in ATM stands for machine.

Anyway, after that I went out and found a citibank atm in the subway station, and that ended up after a few times working. There is a really low limit on the amount you can get out because it's a subway station, but even so, I can survive with $100 for awhile, especially since our dinner today was wonderfully cheap.

And that brings me to the fun topic for the day: my dinner.

Since we were all feeling much better at the end of the day today, we decided to go out. Amy and I ran into Jill, a teacher headed for Daegu south of Seoul, coming back from the ATM at the subway, and we convinced her to come along. So Amy, Rebekah, Jill, and I headed out down Gangnam-daero (the main street of Gangnam) to find ourselves something cheap and delicious.

Rebekah found a cart that was selling pancake-things for approximately $0.70 each. We each got one of these because it smelled amazing and because In-Jee, our trainer, had said the street food is perfectly safe in Korea and in fact the best way to eat on the cheap. Most Koreans themselves eat the street food over restaurant food. These pancakes were a bit like Indian Naan bread with cinnamon in the middle. They were fresh-cooked, and lovely and warm while we ate them.

We then headed on down the road in search of a more filling meal, and Jill recommended a dumpling place she'd seen. Though technically Chinese, the food style remained Korean, so we got a big plate of dumplings (Mandoo) to share and a Bibimbap (that stone-cooked rice bowl we had with the barbecue).

A lot of Korean foods come with little dishes of simple sides, like Kimchi or pickled vegetables (parsnips yesterday, radishes today - though today they tasted like pickled pineapple). The pickled stuff is definitely my favorite.

The Bibimbap was really good yet again, and the dumplings was something like a sampler tray, so we had several different types to try. A lot of the things were really spicy, or they started out bland and grew to be spicy, and they were all spicy in different ways. Some burned in your tummy, others at the tip of your tongue, some along the back of the throat. Either way it was all amazingly delicious and we left really happy and mostly full.

So then we made our way back looking for street vendor fish. By this I don't mean the Kimbap, which is Korean seafood. Instead, there are pastries filled with red bean paste and some sort of nuts (maybe peanuts?) that are always shaped into molds like fish. We found some, and the man said it was 3 for 1000 won, or $1, which was a brilliant deal, so we all ate more than we needed to and felt quite happy and full.

We're now packing, because it's our last night in Gangnam. Tomorrow, Amy, Rebekah, and I will go straight from training to Bucheon and more adventures. But never fear, lovely readers, we'll be back. After all, Bucheon's not so far away by subway, and it's been really fun living it up Gangnam Style.

At the dumpling place.

Amy and Rebekah eating Kimchi and taking pictures.

Our dumpling assortment. The little round ones and the reddish ones were really really spicy.

Jill and I at the dumpling place.

The woman cooking the dumplings in the open kitchen.

The street vendor cooking the pastry fish for us.

Amy and Rebekah eating the pastry fish.

More pastry fish cooking.