Office Party Seoul 12/12/09

We had an office party Friday night at a chicken HOF in Jangandon. A HOF is a place that sells beer and chicken, I think it is German. It was Julihee's going away. She was our manager and she is going to a different campus. Andrew and H.K., two other Koreans who teach English, are going to different jobs.
Office parties are very fun, they are a lot of work though.

Making Kimchi -- JJang!!

The process of making kimchi lasts all day, but the rewards are delicious! It requires a lot of cabbage, a lot of hot pepper, a lot of radish, and a lot of makgoli!! JJang!!

Meeting at City Hall

I met Liz, an English teacher from Bucheon, in Hongdae about a month ago. She is on her third contract here in Korea. On Sunday I met her to get something to eat and go to the Seoul Museum of Art. We ate tween jang chigae at Jin Ju Hoi Gwan for lunch. And went to see the only exhibit opened at the Seoul Museum of Art, I think it was anti-sculpture? I forget. It was interesting though. The museum costs roughly 50 cents. Not as cheap as the Smithsonian's in DC, which are free, but still super cheap.
After, because Liz is also interested in photography and studied at the school of the Art Institute of Chicago, we went to Chungmuro. Chungmuro is a section of Seoul that is filled with photo supply stores and printers. Mainly commercial printing shops, but many photo shops, too. The last photo is Liz in front of my new photo place, both the price and quality are excellent!!!

Korean Hamburgers

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I don't crave hamburgers often here in Korean, because there is too much other food that is just so much better. However, last week I ate a hamburger for lunch on Wednesday and Thursday while getting film processed in Wangsimni.
Lotteria and Kraze Burger are both Korean fast food chains, although their hamburgers are very different. At Lotteria I ate a Steak Hamburger, it was topped with cream of broccoli and on the bottom had sauteed onions, better than anything at McDonald's. But, it didn't compare to the Maximum Burger I ate at Kraze Burger the next day. One hamburger at Kraze costs more than an entire set (meal) at Lotteria, but it is so worth it.
If you can't find a Kraze burger you're better off eating gimbab than at Lotteria (even though their steak burger isn't bad).

Hiking with Umbrellas

In Seoul you don't let rain stop you from heading to the subway station to get to your favorite mountain. No, here when you want to hike and it's raining you take an umbrella, extra makgoli, and I like to take hard boiled eggs, too. Because eggs stay warm for hours if you boil them right before you leave.
Last Sunday I went hiking with my friend and coworker Ray, and my Korean brother You Jay Jin. We took the subway to Suraksan with thousands of other hikers, we walked past all of the tents set up to sell food and drink to the hikers, and went up the mountain. This hike was basically a massive set of stone steps that I thought would never end.
On the way up people awkwardly passed each other on the slippery wet steps with their umbrellas. I saw one hiker with no shoes!
When we were nearly to the top, we decided to stop because of the hazard of slipping on the wet leaves and rocks. We drank two bottles of makgoli under the shelter of our umbrellas, ate some kimchi, and headed back down.
Before we reached the bottom we stopped in the hillside gym (that most people were using for a shelter from the rain to eat in) and pumped a little iron.
It's hard to believe that it was the end of November and there were still bugs. I saw a giant bug strip on a tree that had many interesting specimens attached to it.
Walking back down Hyung, my Korean brother, saw some friends from high school. They kept going and we waited for them in a small trail-side makgoli tent.
After 30 minutes or so his friends showed back up, and we continued to drink makgoli, as prescribed by the traditional handbook of Korean hiking. When ate, went to another makgoli tent to eat and drink so more, and then took the subway home.
Life is good.