The Market in the city on Jeju 
They eat a small variety of foods, but many varieties of each food itself. So the market carries: Fish, kimchi, radish, cabbage, carrots, ginger, onions, broccoli, apples, pears, bananas, oranges and rice. Most importantly, the hot peppers and red pepper paste of all sorts!
Fish, fish and more fish at the market. Old women sitting on upside down buckets and rapidly chopping off fish heads, stuff flying all over, slippery floors, and not the best smell in the world
Lots of this at the market - organs galore!
KIMCHI 
I love you Jeju!
I ventured out into the city on my 2nd day here. It really is crazy when you cannot understand a single sign, or store name, or name on a package of anything. Conversations are even more interesting!
They are really into their cake decorating! I think Karissa did a whole posting on her blog about it
Traditional Korean meal. Many side dishes and then a soup of some sort (to be shared) and/or noodle/rice dish
Karissa's apartment - all the stuff on the floor is spillage over from my side of the room and my emptying of backpack mess. I have found it kind of funny trying to use things like the hot water thing, microwave, dishwasher....anything that has buttons on it, because they're all in Korean! It's all worked out so far though. KOREA
After a night stop over in Honolulu (life is rough), I made it to Korea on March 1st. Culture shock for sure, but having travelled a bit before, I'm quickly getting acclimated to this lifestyle and language barrier. In fact, I'm almost fluent in Korean and can already read and write the characters.
Just kidding.
First of all, it's awesome to see Karissa again and get to live with her in her little apartment. She started back at school on Monday so I'm having the days to myself to either lounge in the apartment and get caught up on things like uploading photos, sleep, rest, yoga, etc. Again, tough life, but I'm getting through it :) We're getting up at 6am for morning yoga and meditation which is beautiful because the sun rises just outside her huge sliding class doors over Mt. Halla (which is covered in snow).
The first day I took the bus all by myself into the city and Karissa, because she does actually read and write in Korean, gives me very detailed instructions on things like riding the bus, finding a coffee shop, ordering lunch, etc. It's like being in Kindergarten, or even like having a social disorder where I have to really prepare for leaving the apartment. Every social encounter the first couple days (and continues to be) a little daunting. I screw up simple (ha) words like "thank you" kam-sa-ham-ni-da. Easy to say slowly, but when you're a little nervous and out of place, and then trying to say it a little faster so you don't sound too retarded, it's easy to screw up.
We've been to the Korean Sauna (like the spa at home but without all the extra heated energy rooms and with the addition of children playing in the tepid pools and A LOT more people). I went to Karissa's school and yoga class yesterday, there's no central heating here and it's extremely cold, so we stay bundled up. The food is CRAZY spicy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Loads of fermented foods, the best fresh (much less processed) tofu, amazingly tasty teas, and really cool decorated cakes.
It is really cheap here, which is great for me having just dwindled my bank accounts down down down the past 4 months. When we go out for dinner (all meals are shared, you don't see Koreans having a meal alone, only foreigners like myself), we get a main dish like a soup or noodle dish to share, and maybe a sushi roll type thing, and then about 5-6 side dishes (fermented radish, kimchi, more fermented radish, little baby fishes and peanuts maybe, seaweed, a sweet potato dish with spicy red spicyness, etc). You're not expected to eat it all, but you are expected to eat a lot!
I went to the Market yesterday, which seemed to go on for like 20 blocks! Underground market of shops, outside market with clothing, fresh fruit and veg, fish market.....they eat a limited amount of foods so you tend to just see the same things everywhere. You can also bargain for food at the markets (if you speak Korean). People are really friendly, esp to me because I am light skinned and I just smile at everyone and laugh with them since I can't speak the lang. They will just give you some fruit, or hot tea or coffee when it's cold out.
And this is just the beginning...........
No comments:
Post a Comment