There are a couple great things about having visitors. For one, you can show them how you live and your favorite parts of your area. Maybe just as good though is guests give you a good reason to do things you've always wanted to do but haven't gotten around to. My sister's visit definitely included a good heaping of both.
One of the easiest things to share with any guest, no matter where you live, is the cuisine. Having been in Korea for almost 10 months now, I've sampled my fair share of the country's delicious eats. So I had a pretty good idea what to share with Dana, and we covered most of my top choices. We definitely hit up the Korean BBQ scene a number of times, which is probably the easiest thing for Westerns to try because so many of the ingredients are common to the Western palate. It's pretty simple really. You order meat and cook it on a grill in the center of your table. Any order is complimented by a bounty of side dishes that are limitless. And as the meat grills you select your morsel, wrap it in a lettuce leaf with chosen sides and devour.
I also convinced her to try some spicy octopus, which was actually much more delicious than any I've tried previously. And we sampled Korean-style pancakes with seafood, noodle soup and of course school lunch (the day she came was actually pretty good).
In addition to the food that has become a part of my everyday life, Dana got a little glimpse of the whole reason I'm here. That's right, on Monday we went to school. Learning English doesn't exactly trip the trigger of most of my students, but learning about Brent teacher, now that's exciting (going back to America and being a regular schmoe will be a big change!). So of course my students were excited for Dana's visit.
Honestly I don't know how she made it through the day because I would have been bored out of my mind. She was active in the beginning, as I gave her some time to introduce herself and take questions, but after that she was mostly a bystander. The lesson was okay, but the delivery had much room for improvement. Still, Dana insists I'm a good teacher. I'd argue a small sample size, or that I might have the potential to be a good teacher, but in my mind there are too many things I struggle with to consider myself a good teacher (but that's another story). The best part of the day though might have been lunch, as when we took our trays up after finishing it seemed all the eyes of the cafeteria turned in our direction. Dana said in all her travels (and that's saying something) the staring never reached that extent.
Overall we certainly didn't waste a moment (probably why I was exhausted when she left!). Graciously, and unexpectedly, my school let me take Tuesday off, even though I already had Wednesday and Thursday off (testing and no scheduled classes). We took advantage of that Monday night and traveled to Seoul to take a cruise on the Han River and get a different vantage point of one of the world's largest cities.
Thankfully we had a bit of a rest Tuesday morning before heading to lunch with a couple teachers from school. But the day still went by fast At day's end we were pretty determined to get to bed at a decent hour, not only because we were wiped out but because we had to be up at the crack of dawn to get to Seoul in time to catch us DMZ tour bus.
The tour was certainly worth it, and I think anyone who lives in Korea for a significant period of time should experience it. For me it's still hard to process the fact that it's still an active war front, especially with tourists traipsing around on both sides. Well, at least on the north side there was traipsing, on the south side we had strict rules to follow. Apparently the North Koreans are a little hypocritical (imagine that) and complain about the free movement of tourists. See for yourself. We were told to stand in two straight lines and had a pretty limited time to take pictures. Overall they were very careful with where they allowed photos to be taken.
After the tour we managed to sneak a quick visit to Noryangjin Fish Market in Seoul (check this blog out for a better idea: Noryangjin) before meeting up with my former co-teacher for dinner. Then it was home to crash before sending her on her way in the morning. Thanks for the visit, sis, it was a great time!
One of the easiest things to share with any guest, no matter where you live, is the cuisine. Having been in Korea for almost 10 months now, I've sampled my fair share of the country's delicious eats. So I had a pretty good idea what to share with Dana, and we covered most of my top choices. We definitely hit up the Korean BBQ scene a number of times, which is probably the easiest thing for Westerns to try because so many of the ingredients are common to the Western palate. It's pretty simple really. You order meat and cook it on a grill in the center of your table. Any order is complimented by a bounty of side dishes that are limitless. And as the meat grills you select your morsel, wrap it in a lettuce leaf with chosen sides and devour.
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| Rice, garlic and ssamjang (seasoned bean paste) in a sesame leaf. |
I also convinced her to try some spicy octopus, which was actually much more delicious than any I've tried previously. And we sampled Korean-style pancakes with seafood, noodle soup and of course school lunch (the day she came was actually pretty good).
In addition to the food that has become a part of my everyday life, Dana got a little glimpse of the whole reason I'm here. That's right, on Monday we went to school. Learning English doesn't exactly trip the trigger of most of my students, but learning about Brent teacher, now that's exciting (going back to America and being a regular schmoe will be a big change!). So of course my students were excited for Dana's visit.
Honestly I don't know how she made it through the day because I would have been bored out of my mind. She was active in the beginning, as I gave her some time to introduce herself and take questions, but after that she was mostly a bystander. The lesson was okay, but the delivery had much room for improvement. Still, Dana insists I'm a good teacher. I'd argue a small sample size, or that I might have the potential to be a good teacher, but in my mind there are too many things I struggle with to consider myself a good teacher (but that's another story). The best part of the day though might have been lunch, as when we took our trays up after finishing it seemed all the eyes of the cafeteria turned in our direction. Dana said in all her travels (and that's saying something) the staring never reached that extent.
Overall we certainly didn't waste a moment (probably why I was exhausted when she left!). Graciously, and unexpectedly, my school let me take Tuesday off, even though I already had Wednesday and Thursday off (testing and no scheduled classes). We took advantage of that Monday night and traveled to Seoul to take a cruise on the Han River and get a different vantage point of one of the world's largest cities.
Thankfully we had a bit of a rest Tuesday morning before heading to lunch with a couple teachers from school. But the day still went by fast At day's end we were pretty determined to get to bed at a decent hour, not only because we were wiped out but because we had to be up at the crack of dawn to get to Seoul in time to catch us DMZ tour bus.
The tour was certainly worth it, and I think anyone who lives in Korea for a significant period of time should experience it. For me it's still hard to process the fact that it's still an active war front, especially with tourists traipsing around on both sides. Well, at least on the north side there was traipsing, on the south side we had strict rules to follow. Apparently the North Koreans are a little hypocritical (imagine that) and complain about the free movement of tourists. See for yourself. We were told to stand in two straight lines and had a pretty limited time to take pictures. Overall they were very careful with where they allowed photos to be taken.
After the tour we managed to sneak a quick visit to Noryangjin Fish Market in Seoul (check this blog out for a better idea: Noryangjin) before meeting up with my former co-teacher for dinner. Then it was home to crash before sending her on her way in the morning. Thanks for the visit, sis, it was a great time!
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