On Friday, we went on another field trip with the interns. We spent most of the day below the river in the Gangnam area. First stop was a 'how to' session; you could choose between making a paper flower or traditional dance. We first thought we'd just watch the dance, not participate, so we chose the dance. Whoops! Kraig did a great job trying (muffled giggle) and I opted to learn from my seat while taking pictures and video. I'll admit the pictures are pretty bad. I want a new camera so badly!
Anyway, Kraig is in there, somewhere.
After two people did the dance in the costume, Kraig donned the sweaty thing for a quick picture.
After the dance, we headed to Seven Springs, a delicious and wonderful buffet. Kraig told me that it had vegetables, but I was wary since Korean's usual vegetables only include mushrooms, onions, and some gross tree leaf. But to my delight, it was wonder bell peppers, squash, tofu, shrimp, pasta, fresh fruit, breads, rice, fruit juice, salad (salad!!!) and so much more! I guess all the foods that are regular in our diets we take for granted. Fruit here is so expensive and lettuce and bell peppers are very rare. I had a great time at this buffet and wish we could go back, but it's about 30,000 won a person ($25).
Happy after lunch, me with Chomi (Japanese), Jin Jing (Chinese), and Mehmet (attends IU, Turkish)
After a great lunch, we headed over to the Kimchi Museum in the Coex Mall. We went there a few weeks ago with Adam and it was packed, but I guess since it wasn't the evening or weekend yet, it was very deserted. The Kimchi Museum was a hoot. We got a quick tour, showing the history and many types of kimchi (but we didn't really listen since the lady was speaking in Korean and the translator was quiet) We then crowded around tables in their kimchi-making lab. They did the first 2 steps for us; salt and soak the cabbage for 4 hours and make some paste with all sorts of spices. Then we chopped up the radish and spring onions and mixed those into the paste.
Making a mess:
Then you stuff the mix into the cabbage, layer by layer.
And when that's all done, you take the long, bottom layer of the cabbage and wrap it around to keep it together. Then you wrap it in seran wrap, or something, and store it in the fridge for a week. They gave us cute packages that keep the smell in the bag, along with a 'kimchi museum' bag with treats inside. We ended up giving both our kimchis to Wang from Kraig's group. He loves to eat!
After kimchi, we took a long bus trip back to Myeongdong for Nanta. It's the number one attraction for Seoul on Trip Advisor, so we thought it would blow us away. It was exciting for the first 20 minutes, but then got pretty old with it's slapstick humor and banging on pots. But we endured and were glad we hadn't paid $50 to see it.
Oops, not supposed to take a picture, but we did!
And then the field trip was over! Kraig's group of interns decided to all grab dinner together. We hadn't tried a place that cooks the food in front of you, so we thought it'd be a great time to take advantage of our Korean-speaking companions and give it a try. On the menu there are about 10 different dishes to try from, but they all look pretty much the same. All 4 of us girls opted for the seafood, while the boys tried the chicken. We were sitting at a table with 2 skillets, so they cooked all the seafood in one skillet and the chicken in the other. Pretty much like every fried rice dish, they cooked the meat and 'veggies' first and then added the rice and weird sauce.
Excited for a new experience!
Using butter to cook, what a surprise since they are so health conscious.
The boy's chicken, which wasn't enough for them. But they finished off our seafood dish.
It was good for the first 2 small servings, but got old once I wasn't starving and took time to notice the flavor. So, a good one-time experience.
Friday was so much fun, we all had a great time and were pooped by the end of the day!
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