There is a Dukkbogi Stain on My Blanket and it' is Not My Fault!

Geum Jan Di and Goo Jun Pyo broke up at least twice yesterday, but something dramatic always brings them back together. The harder the mother tries to pull them apart they closer they get. If she would leave them alone they would eventually just split up for good. Jan Di was kidnapped by a hot model who has his hate on for Goo Jun Pyo and was being paid by Jun Pyo’s mother to break up them up. Jun Pyo went to save Jan Di and then the model and his minions starting beating Jun Pyo, the F4 came to save them. It was lovely. Then they broke up again because Jan Di lost the necklace that Jun Pyo made for her, but she went out to the mountain to find the necklace (which had actually been stolen by the hot mean girls) and the weather turned bad and Goo Jun Pyo had to save her (again) and apparently the best way to save her was to take of his shirt and they kissed again. Third Kiss! But at the very end of the episode he had leave with his mom because something is wrong with his dad. He didn’t even say goodbye and Jan Di was heart broken and crying in the arms of Ji Hoo, oh-oh!

Last night Sarah came over for our standing date with F4 and Geum Jan Di. I met her at the bus stop and walked her back to my apartment, the first person I have had over besides Sally and my family. It is really too small to have many people. I had prepared a spread of cut veggies, fruit, and home made kimbob. I made kimbob, alone without help. I am extremely proud of myself. However, before I gloat to much and you think me a magician in the kitchen (or chicken as my little kids call it), please note that I created kimbob from a pack. The only thing that was not in the pack was the rice and I used pre-cooked rice for this so that I would have the right proportions.

Kimbob, or more correctly kimbap is a very popular Korean food. It looks a little like Sushi at first but isn’t sushi at all. Kimbap is carrots, radishes, egg (usually my pack didn’t have egg), some sort of mystery meat (again, not in the pack but usually) and then it can have a variety of other things depending on what you order, like chamchi (tuna) or kimchi (my favourite). This is all rolled up in rice (bap) and seaweed paper (kim). It is delicious and cheep. I have not met a single foreigner who dislikes kimbap. Anyway, I made some all by myself. Mini rolls. They were adorable and not half bad and only one fell apart on me because it wasn’t rolled tightly enough and I had the exact proportions of rice I needed.

Sarah brought white wine and I had red. We watched most of the first episode and then Amber called and we told her to come over. We both went to meet her at the bus stop and then she bought some dukkbogi and Sarah bought more kimbap. The kimbap place is under the school and we ran into Sally leaving the school, so she joined us well. It is a small party on my bed, watching Boys over Flowers, eating all my favourite Korean foods, drinking red wine, and chilling my friends.

Quick digression: There have been people in the hallway talking for a good while this morning, making me nervous and worried that they would knock on my door and now in the apartment next door they seem to be doing some sort of work, including hammering on the wall between my neighbour and I. It is very loud. I hope the hallway isn’t blocked when I want to go for walk. I don’t know the Korean for “excuse me” or “get the fuck out my way”. Now they are drilling in the wall. Now somthing is being torached. I know that sound, my dad invented that sound.

After the show was over, we made our way to a nearby hof that I walk past on a very regular basis and by which I am always intrigued but I never have had an opportunity to actually go there; we don’t do much partying in Ssangmun. There is a train in neon lights on the window, who wouldn’t want to go there. We walked in and immediately couldn’t help but notice a thing that looked like a huge lava lamp full of beer sitting on the nearest table. Of course we had one of the those.

Less than half way through the beer, I noticed a white guy walk by the hof, he noticed us inside and was clearly surprised to see four white girls sitting in the random hof. He walked by again and we waved him in.

Brian from South Carolina has been teaching in Korea for about one month. He likes it here, but is not a fan of the Noraebang. He has a girlfriend coming to visit at the end of the week (which he awkwardly brought up when we invited him out for Friday at FF). We were the first foreigners that Brian has met in Ssangmun. Despite the obvious personalty flaw (Who doesn't like Noraebang?) he seemed very nice and I hope that we can add him to our group.