A week of Korean school lunches

I like my school for a lot of reasons. One of them is the great school lunches that I get to eat. Come with me on a week's tour of lunch!

This is where I get my lunch from.

And this is where the kids get their lunch.

Self-service woohoo! (dangerous)

Monday

Top left: 시금치 Boiled spinach with salt and sesame oil 

Top middle: 깍두기 Radish kimchi, quite sour and crunchy!

Top left: 닭갈비 Marinated chicken with vegetables and chewy rice cakes

Bottom left: 보리밥 Barley rice

Bottom right: 부대찌개 Budae jjigae or army soup. People aren't 100% certain how it came about, but the prevailing idea is that American soldiers gave SPAM, hot dogs and macaroni to Korean civilians during the Korean war, who then mixed it with Kimchi, beansprouts  and spices to make a soup. This is a school version, however and isn't spicy.

Tuesday

Top left: 열무된장무침 Soybean paste marinated radish leaves

Top middle: 포기김치 Cabbage Kimchi (fermented cabbage)

Top right: 잡채 Glass noodles with vegetables and oil.

Bottom left: 율무밥 Plain white rice

Bottom right: 쇠고기낙지전골 Beef and squid soup (I didn't put any squid in mine, however) 

Wednesday

Top left: 오이지무침 Pickled cucumber. It was a little bit sweet.

Top middle: 파인애플 Pineapple

 Top right: 깍두기 Radish kimchi

Bottom left: 치킨텐더/머스터드소스 Chicken tender with honey mustard sauce. Quite a treat because at first I thought it might have been battered octopus. The batter had these crispy little things on the outside too. Delish!

Bottom right: White rice with beef and vegetable curry!

Thursday

Top left: 깍두기 That radish kimchi from Monday and Wednesday.

Top middle: 게살크림납작파스타 Brocolli and unidentified pink thing (google says crab) cream pasta.

 Top right: 도라지오이생채 Cucumber and bellflower root (Literally just found this out!)

Bottom left: 찰흑미밥 Erm.... purple rice.

Bottom right: 돈육김치찌개 Tofu, kimchi and pork casserole.

Friday

Top left: 도토리목무침 Acorn jelly with lettuce, carrot and red chilli pepper. Yum!

Top middle: 포기김치

 Top right: 등심탕수육 Sweet and sour pork

Bottom left: 서리태밥 Rice with beans

Bottom right: 콩가루배추국 Cabbage and beansprout soup

On the side: 뿌요파티 Apple, white grape, pumpkin, lettuce, orange, celery, brocolli and spinach juice. Surprisingly tasty!

...and for afters

a little treat from one of my co-workers.

Gamsahapnida for reading,

Full up!

P.S. Not techically K-music as she is Korean American, but I like it. TOKiMONSTA: Go With It (Feat. MNDR)

Sokcho

Sokcho is a seaside town in the most rural of Korea’s provinces. Fifteen friends and I visited for the long weekend made up of Saturday, Sunday, Children’s Day Monday and Buddha’s Birthday Tuesday. The eight hour bus journey (usually three and a quarter hours) was made worse by Wine Friday but made better by a little friend I made on the bus.

Jaemo was a little toddler chappy who showed me his transformer-esque sports car, gave me an egg (while spitting some of his own on my leg during a particularly exciting counting game), and wouldn’t let me sleep.

This was after an attempted nap, which he woke me up from by poking me in the arm.

Our hostel was three rooms behind a café, with a cute little dog to play with. The café owners run the hostel so it was a nice atmosphere there. After checking out our rooms we headed to the seafront, where we had dinner and set off fireworks. After this we headed out to karaoke for a spot of singing and then back to the hostel to bed.

Day two started wonderfully, with some frankly magical sandwiches prepared by a lovely lady who didn’t even work in the café (she was visiting the owners, while doubling as foreign liaison for the duration of her stay as well as drinking lots of wine, at her own confession). These sandwiches were a major talking point of the holiday and Katy even suggested it was the best sandwich she has eaten in Korea. This reminds me of when I went through a ham sandwich phase last year, except it turned out it wasn’t pre-cooked ham and it was in fact raw bacon that I had been eating for days.

After breakfast we tried to find our way to a nearby lake to rent bikes. The bike rental seemingly didn’t exist so we went to the beach instead. After a dip in the cold sea, I made a beautiful sand face, ate a chip-covered bread-covered hot dog (covered in sauce) and went for a stroll along the beach, followed by some hula and hanging antics. Pictures below.

'Kimchi!'

Devoured. 

They bruise, they bruise. Oh, baby. when you spin, you spin.

Bats unmasked.

In the evening, we wandered around before finding a restaurant that had to call for family backup staff when they saw how many of us there were, and that is how we ruined Saturday night for two women whose parents own a restaurant. 

After dinner, we went back to our hostel where we played articulate. To be specific, it was British English articulate, so there were a lot of confused people.

Day three started with another fantastic sandwich, and another one in my bag for the hike ahead. We climbed to the Ulsan Bawi peak and on the way back down stopped for some celebratory soju and SANDWICHES (they were good, unsurprisingly). I also managed to have a little look around with the binoculars and at the same time earn myself a curious reputation.

Arriving back at the hostel, we were told by the owners that we could buy meat and cook it in the back room of the café, which we did and took it in turns playing chef. After this we played some games that not everyone understood (it wasn’t even a British version) and turned in to bed late.

Our final day started with a tea ceremony by the hostel/café owner followed by only a slightly delayed bus journey home.

Overall - a bloomin' good weekend!

Gamsahapnida for reading,

Bino Barlow.

P.S. K-Music by Lee Sora 이소라 with 나focus

Up I went in a cloud of... snow?

Last weekend, I went skiing for the first time, and therefore crossed another mission off this year's bucket list.

After an early morning 'OH MY GOD I'M GOING TO BE LATE' sprint to the bus stop (not late), we departed and pulled up two and a half hours later at a ski and clothing rental store. I rented skis, sticks (poles, I was corrected), ski pants and goggles (I didn't need them, I just wanted to look the part). The first pair of ski pants I was given were peach coloured. Firstly, they would have looked horrible with my mainly black and blue clothes and secondly, I didn't want people to think I was skiing naked (from the waist down). I managed to change them for a black pair and all seemed well.

Things were soon to go downhill (downhill, get it? It's a skiing joke get with the program).

Just tilt your computer 45 degrees, or 90 if you want to see us on a more difficult slope.

Arriving at the slopes, the beginners were taken for their skiing lesson. During the lesson, I learnt how to fall over without impaling myself on the sticks (poles.. poles) and this was very handy information, as without it there would have been approximately 752 impaling opportunities throughout the day.

After the lesson, a couple of friends and I headed to what we thought would be an easy slope. Turns out it wasn't, and after chirping a cheery but nervous 'BYE' to one of my friends at the top, I spent the next ten minutes skiing at superspeed for five seconds until crashing and being saved by the staff. At one point my skis actually went through the fence and I thought I was going to follow. Luckily, I latched on and just swung around like a rag doll. Post-flapping around (a side effect of stopping when travelling at the speed of light)
I managed to untangle my skis. Eventually I made it to the bottom, a great deal sorer than when I left, with a painful knee thrown in for free.

Did that stop me? No it did not!

At some point in the day, some of the stitches in my trousers ripped open. The rental people LOVE me...

After some help from a friend, I learnt how to stop and slow down effectively and spent the next couple of hours on the beginner slope.

If there ain't enough danger - do it at night!

I also bought a night ski pass and went up to the top slope (BIG MONSTER SLOPE) with three friends. They told me it was a beginner course and of course I didn't believe them even after they promised, but I still took the gondola up with them. The slope was great and we did that course around six or seven times that evening, trying to fit in as many as possible before closing time. We decided to go *one last time* and took the lift up to the top. It was at this point that one of my friends promised me an ice cream if I could catch up to him. I accepted. Bad move, Daniel.

They were faster than me, but when we reached the final slope, I realised that if I was ever going to win that ice cream, it was now. It was at this point that I started Olympic speed skiing and raced in between the two of them, feeling on top of the world and relishing in the fact that I had just earned myself an ice cream (it is what I live for). Then I fall. Then I roll. Then I roll. Then I roll some more. In this spectacular fall, I rolled a few metres, lost both of my skis and one stick (POLE) and managed to attract just a little bit of attention (everyone). I even managed to break one of the skis so it was unusable. I was fine by the way, except I was still three quarters of the way up the mountain. After sliding down to half way on my bum (like a dog wiping it's you know what on your new carpet) I managed to take a lift down to the bottom.

...

...

...

Okay, finally made it a quarter of the way.

That night there was a meat and soju party, followed by fireworks and bed - A great end to a great day

Unfortunately it was the last weekend of the ski season, so until next year, Phoenix Park!


Arriving back in Seoul, me and a handful of friends went to get some food. We went to a place called Hong Cup in Hongdae, where you can buy a cup of chicken, rice cakes and mini hash browns covered in garlic soy sauce and cheese. Delish. Getting inside to eat was a bit of a mission as we needed to climb a steep staircase up to a mini loft which was big enough for two people, and there were four of us plus bags. It was cosy.

Hello.

HELLO.

Gamsahapnida for reading,

Denied an ice cream for falling over.

P.S. K-POP by 2NE1 with 'Happy'

Eating and Drinking in Unseo: Incheon Airport Town.

Welcome to Incheon Aiport New Town, also known as Unseo-Dong!

Well, you are here and settled into your hotel/motel/hostel/sauna/PC room? I suppose you want to find something to eat, do you? Well, here are my suggestions of Where to eat and drink in Unseo-Dong:

Bear in mind all of these recommendations are within a minutes, if not thirty seconds, walk of each other. If you can find one, you can find the rest!

1: CHOSUN CAFE (조선 카페)

The CHOSUN CAFE is a nice, friendly Korean barbecue restaurant here in town. The staff are helpful and do all the cooking for you, which is good if you haven't experienced cooking Korean barbecue before. The table is essentially one large grill on which they cook kimchi, beansprouts, steamed egg and nureungji (burnt rice soup) and all of your meat. After, try the bokkeumbap (fried rice) and wash it all down with some beer and soju! They put on a bit of a show for you sometimes, too, but that surprise can wait for when you attend.

The menu is in English, so you can't go TOO wrong... can you?

2: Myeong Pum Gwan (명품관)

Myeong Pum Gwan is a really nice traditional Korean restaurant in town, that offers a good range of Korean foods, mostly meaty and mostly beefy. Here you can eat stone bowl bibimbap, beef rib soup and lots of other things. The staff are friendly and the price, as you will find at most restaurants here in Korea, is reasonable.

In here and up the stairs, you will be greeted and taken to a seat.

The menu here is also in English, enjoy!

3: Gamja Gol (감자골)

Gamja Gol is a Potato Soup restaurant in Unseo.  While it might not sound hugely appetizing, the Koreans have made something REALLY special here. You can order big sharing dishes with large pieces of super soft pork, swimming in a rich sauce and buried under a mountain of thick japanese style noodles. There are a couple of shrimps thrown on top too. To order this ask for the 감자찜 (Gamja Jjim). You can order individual soups too, but the real star of the show at this restaurant is the sharing dishes.

You can get here by going to the second floor of the building which Amy's coffee (below) is a part of.

Nice tables and warm bums from the heated floor!

5: Amy's Coffee (에이미스 커피)

Amy's coffee is a nice and cosy coffee shop and has well priced coffees and friendly staff! They have a good menu and they also sell bubble tea! If you're in the mood for a caffeinated beverage or just need some wifi coupled with something tasty, pop in here!

See, cosy.

Nothing unusual here.

6: 'In d oven' bakery

In d oven (in the oven, get it?) bakery sells lots of tasty, freshly baked goods! It is quite unusual to see the kitchen working in bakeries, and this is a good aspect of in d oven. There is SO MUCH DOUGH, but ironically you won't be spending much dough in here as the prices are the best of any bakery I've seen here in Korea.

She is banned.

Lots of tasties. Eat the tasties.

The best. Buy it. Eat it.

7: Unseo Skewer Shop/Charcoal Fire Kebab (숯불 직화 꼬치)

Here is a wonderful skewer and beer place. You can order lots of chicken, pork, beef and veggie skewers here with different sauces. If you don't want the spicy sauce (which is the normal option) ask for teriyaki or salt instead when ordering. The beer (inexpensive) runs freely and you can keep on ordering skewers until you are ready to roll home.

Difficult to miss.

Buy them. Eat them.

So, come and eat in Unseo! If you are completely lost and have no idea what to eat, hopefully my recommendations can come in handy!

They really are all so close to each other. To find the general area, walk straight out of the station and keep walking straight until you see one of the businesses above!

Gamsahapnida for reading,

Mr Hungry.

P.S. K-Pop by 'Miss-A' with 'Hush'

Me 'ouse!

Good day to you all.

As you probably know, I moved from Sunny Sunchang to... Inchy Incheon? Let's just stick with Incheon. Unseo, Incheon.

I am living in an 'officetel', which is an apartment in a building also used for commercial purposes. The building in which I live is essentially a small town, with at least four restaurants, a pharmacy, a doctor's surgery, a spa and public bath, a gym, a snooker/billiards/pool hall, a screen golf zone, four floors of apartments, a masseuse, a PC room, a karaoke room, and probably some other things hidden away. If I worked in there I could potentially never leave.

Sinseong House, where dreams come true.

My apartment is on the ninth floor and I have a good view of the town, my school and the airport. You are probably wondering if I can hear the planes, and were I not an expert at blocking out noises, maybe I would. My brother's pet budgie springs to mind here, with me and the men in my family having the ability to phase out his noise, while my mother and sisters were not in possession of this power. Writing this I can hear them screaming 'BOBBYYYYYY! SHUT UP!' quite clearly. This is in my mind of course as Bobby is quite dead now. In true Bobby fashion, he died in the most dramatic pose possible, wings akimbo. What a bird.

This isn't Bobby, but I can't find a photo of him. Have a duck in a bowl instead.

Where were we? Oh yes, no noise that my ears can pick up. The most prominent noise is a sneezing man who lives somewhere in the building and has quite violent outbreaks. For those who know me well, you probably know I am also quite the sneezer at times, so I feel this man is challenging me. Unfortunately, he is far my superior as even though he is loud, I am quite certain he lives at least two apartments away.

Sorry, where were we again? Apartment! I have all the basics. This time around I have a separate shower and sink too, so Evil Toilet Tube's reign has come to an end, for me at least. Now, unless I am REALLY confused, there is no danger of getting ready for school and then taking an impromptu shower. So below you can see a couple of pictures of my room which are quite self explanatory:

The pillars add just a touch of privacy to the bedroom, as you can see.

Hardly a dancefloor, is it? It will do.

So that is my house in Unseo, Incheon. I hope you enjoyed the tour, now GET OUT!

Gamsahapnida for reading,

Vice Overlord of the Sinseong House Pillar Decoration Committee


P.S. K-Pop by Insooni with Beautiful Girl

P.P.S K-Ballad by Insooni with Father (music starts at 1:10)