A Summer Hike in Seoul

A quick update (and excuses why we haven't blogged in a month). As soon as Michelle arrived we've been going around Seoul exhaustively, all while searching for and moving to a new apartment. I've been studying Korean for about 7-8 hours a day (including my classes) and Michelle has been working and preparing her graduate school apps. More frequent posts to come (we promise)!

The weary traveler arrives.

The only way to see Seoul is by scooter.

Ready to ride!

Quick pit stop at an open air market.

Lovely smiling squid.

Colorful rice cakes.

Trying to find our way up one of the mountains behind Seoul.

Making progress.

Whenever you go hiking in Seoul, somehow you always happen upon Buddhist temples tucked away in the mountains.

Luckily we found an overlook just as Michelle was ready to call it quits.

I first thought this halmoni (grandmother) was having a feast of a picnic, but later learned that she was doing an ancestral ritual.

Sweaty and disgusting, I wanted to take Michelle to a traditional Korean lunch.   The main course (stew) is really a sidenote to all of the side dishes.

Brown rice steamed with mussels.

Michelle's favorite: dwenjang-jiggae (stew made from fermented soy beans)

Chewy little fish.

Beheaded big fish.

East Siiide

Kevin, Kevin's mom and I took a road trip to Kangnung, on the East coast of Korea. The Korean topography is very mountainous and it made for an incredible drive (despite the rain and fog). August is rainy season here, so it's rained every single day I've been here (with the exception of maybe one or two days). We're lucky our house didn't get flooded like so many others...

View from our room.

Kevin's mom. If I go shopping with her or run errands alone, everyone thinks I'm her husband. I guess to Koreans I just look like a typically creepy, old, white guy.

Between the mountains and the sea.

The rain clouds finally moved on.

Squid store.

You can't take a trip to the sea without eating raw fish. Octopus, shrimp, and other random chewy things.

Lots and lots of fish.

More fish and some corn. Koreans love corn. Their greatest act of blasphemy is putting it on pizza.

Sweet rice cakes for dessert.

A Day In the Life

For those of you who remotely care, here's what I've been up to the past few weeks. Basically, I've been reconnecting with old friends from the last time I studied here, eating stupid amounts of food, and learning as much Korean as I can before my language course placement test. I also just started an internship at the North Korean Human Rights Database, which interviews North Korean defectors to gather information about human rights violations in North Korea.


I haven't done anything super "touristy" or picture worthy yet, but here are some random pictures from a few of my days. Mostly I've been eating. So here are lots of pictures of dirt-cheap, unbelievable food and the occasional picture of roads taken to get there.

Hopefully there will be some more interesting shenanigans to come...

Road outside the house I'm staying in: a very typical Korean suburb.

Lunch at a Korean high school...much healthier than what I ate in high school.

Chilled buckwheat noodles with a soy broth.

Kimchi, pickled cucumbers, sweet potato, and spicy rice cakes.

The bridge into Seoul.

More chilled noodles (it's absurdly humid in the Summer here).
Naengmyun - noodles with cucumber, pear, and a tangy broth.

Comes with a side of charcoal-grilled beef.

"Fist rice." You get gloves and make your own rice balls.

Voila.

The trendy drink of the summer...bags of booze.

And dinner. The greatest meal in the world: Korean barbecue

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Steamed eggs with scallions and seaweed soup (which is exactly what it sounds like)

Grilled pork with garlic.

I'm not fat yet, but am well on my way!