Highlights.

I've been really busy lately. Said busyness has caused me to be really lazy in my downtime. 

Whoops, my bad.

Here's an update of my life the past few weeks...

(1)  Monday, November 11 was Pepero Day here in Korea. People give each other these little boxes of.... cookie sticks? I guess that't the best way to describe them. Well, I got a bit at school and then went to meet a Korean family I know later in the evening. As I was leaving, the mother pointed at a bag and said "Those are for you!" When I tried to lift the bag, I realized that there were about 6kg (roughly 15lbs) of sweet potatoes! I guess a relative has a sweet potato farm and the kids had gone there the past weekend to learn about the farm and help harvest the sweet 'taters!

(2) The following Thursday, I went out with a Korean friend and some of her adult English students. When I had met them the previous week, they asked me what my favorite Korean food was, so I told them that I have a lot of favorite Korean foods, but my favorite meal is Galbijjim. Galbijjim, depending on where you get it, can range from being like pork ribs to beef stew. The one we got was more along the lines of ribs, and was definitely quite spicy! Sometimes Korean spice can be overwhelming, but with these, it was just enough to make me sweat a bit, but not enough to burn my mouth or make me stop eating :)

After dinner, we went to "e-cha" (2차), or "second place." It was a chicken and fish restaurant/drinking place. Its a little unusual for a restaurant to specialize in both chicken and fish, but it was totally worth it. We ordered fried chicken and raw squid. Surprisingly, I liked the raw squid-- because I really dislike cooked squid or squid jerky. An interesting surprise with the chicken came about 15 minutes after the main dishes were brought out. Small, fried balls of.... we'll get to that in a minute. I asked the people I was with what it was, and they immediately giggled and pulled out their phones to translate. I quickly yelled "WAIT! Let me try it first, then you can tell me what it is." They agreed, then I tried it. Chewy, but tasted like chicken (probably partially because it was fried in the same oil as the "normal" chicken buts. Gizzard. It was a portion of chicken intestine. Not so bad considering I assumed it was chicken butt-hole (because, yes, they do that here).

(3) I also did some cooking! My slow cooker has been coming in very handy. I've been making pasta sauces with leftover tomatoes. I also made an awesome beef stew! It might be the easiest thing I've ever made. Beef, potatoes, onions, carrots, green beans, beef stock.... 6-8 hours later, I've got 3-5 servings of comfort food!

I've been working my way through the sweet potatoes that were gifted to me. I have replicated a meal idea my friend came up with a few months ago. She didn't have a lot of food at home, but needed to use it before it went off... so she threw together what she had, added an egg and BOOM! Meal time. (1 whole sweet potato- skin on, 1/2 small green pepper, onions, some cumin/salt/pepper, I happened to have some extra spinach so I threw that in, too. Boil the sweet potato until tender and combine everything with a little olive oil in a frying pan.).

I also got bored one Sunday and I made (for the first time I should add) salmon ravioli with a lemon pepper sauce! Hand made the pasta... which came out pretty good for it being the first time and not having a pasta maker. I really like them, but I'm not sure that I'll make them again since it was really labor intensive. When I get home and can properly stock a kitchen, I'll definitely be  making more! 

(4) Went bowling.

(5) Had a school festival/performance day.

(6) Found this hidden treasure on a shelf in my classroom... its been on display for 2 years and I didn't even notice 

(7) Spicy gochu everywhere. Can't event handle it.

(8) Noticed that the sky looks the nicest right as I'm leaving school.

(9) Went to a rugby match in Suncheon with some friends. Stayed for the party. Successfully ordered 3 pizzas and 2 orders of chicken fingers.... on the phone.... in Korean.

(10) Gathered and shipped a lot of stuff to Cebu for disaster relief.

 (11) Found a new favorite snack. Boiled sweet potato with Babybel (Belcube) cheese and sesame seeds. Good flavor and texture combo.

That about covers it!