Insadong Will Have My Heart, Waffle Fish Will Have My Stomach

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

This morning I had my coffee at a coffee shop in Insadong. Insadong is where Sunny took me my first weekend here. It is lovely there. Today, not being the weekend, there were less people around. Of course I had to be there early, so not all the shops were open yet either. Many of the shops do sell tourist crap, but it is nicer tourist crap than in Itaewon. However, there are also lots of art supply stores, I wish that I were a painter or a sketch artist, Insadong would be like heaven. Almost every other building is an art gallery of some kind, something I hope to take advantage off while I am here. There are also a number of traditional tearooms and restaurants. I decided that I love Insadong.

On my way home for Insadong, I finally did what I have wanted to do since I arrived in this country: I bought food from a street vendor. Some of the vendors sell these waffle type things that are filled with a bean paste (sounds gross, but is actually quite good, it’s sweet) and are shaped like fish. There is no fish in them, they are just poured into a mold. They smell really good and when I walk home from the subway station, I pass three vendors.

I passed the first vendor, losing my courage. I passed the second vendor, kicking myself. At the third, I finally took the plunge. It seems that they also sell waffles, a woman was ordering in front of me, and she got a waffle. It looked good too. Anyway, it was soon my turn, I pointed at the fish waffles and held up one figure, just one I said. He took my cheon won (1000 won bill, basically like a dollar) and gave me a bag with three fish. Fine, I’ll take it. Most places don’t like to give change; they want to have the exact change. I have had more than one cashier dive into my wallet looking for the exact change.

I took the waffle fish home. Excited to eat them. All three fish were different. The first fish had the expected bean paste; it was delicious. The second fish had the a different sweet filling, it may have been a marmalade, but I’m not sure. The third fish was not sweet, the third fish was like the main course fish, it was more like a pizza pop. It was ok, but I would have rather eaten it first. I would in the future only get the bean paste or the other one, but unfortunately, I have no idea how to express this desire. I shall have to learn how to say bean paste only. I’ll ask Julia at our next Korean lesson.

I made a delicious soup for lunch using a soybean paste in my broth, I was a bit apprehensive that it would be disgusting, but it worked out. I am quite delighted and actually look forward to eating it for lunch again tomorrow.

I went out for supper with a couple of teachers. Tasha and Amy (a part time teacher whose name I only learned at supper) took me to a restaurant that served a dish I have not yet eaten. Again, the food was awesome; I have yet to be disappointed in a restaurant. Everything is soooooo gooooood. We got a big plate of uncooked meat, pork and beef. We grilled the pork but the beef was cooked in a broth, kind of like a broth or oil fondue. We also threw bok choi and other lettuce type leaves into the broth. Then we had a rice paper that we soaked in hot lemon water to soften. We piled meat, lettuce, sprouts, onions, cabbage etc. onto the rice paper, added a bit of sauce, rolled up or balled up the rice paper and ate it. The rice paper had a sticky slippery texture, but it was delicious. Then after the meat was all gone, the server brought some rice out and mixed into the broth to make a rice soup, which we then ate with kimchi. The kimchi is starting to grow on me, just like I was warned but never believed.

Even when eating something like fried chicken, you will get a small cabbage salad and picked radish, which I love love love by the way. This country is awesome.

Wednesday night madness this week was not quite so mad, a little more intimate actually, much less drinking. Park, Lim, Sally, and I went to a pool hall this time, pool hall Korean style. I think that they often go to play billiards, but decided to take us out for pool this time. Mr. Lim drove us all to Nowan. Remember the really long walk I took the other day, the walk that took me like 45 minuets to get to Nowan? It is like a five minuet drive.

In Korea, the pool halls apparently don’t serve alcohol; they only serve coffee, tea, and pop. So I sipped my green tea while I shot some pool. It was Park and I against Sally and Lim. Sally and Lim took us three to two, but the first game was lost only because I sunk the white ball with the eight ball. It was distressing. Park is a decent pool player and I felt bad that he was stuck with me, the hopeless one. But he gave a me a few pointers and constantly rearranged my fingers and I was almost doing stuff by the last game.

The really funny part was the people playing at the other tables. When we arrived there were two sets of girls playing. There were all smoking, something that Korean girls do not often do. That means they were bad ass. They all had special pool gloves and most were wearing five inch heals. And in typical Korean fashion, tights and short skirts or dresses but covered on top, I guess the Korean ladies focus on their hot legs and try to not draw attention to their flat chests. I don’t blame them; I wish I had their legs. (Although, some of the girls don’t fit their boots, I would rather bulge a bit over the boot then have the boot loose around my too skinny leg.) At the other tables there were bad ass boys playing billiards, Park said they were good, I said they were cute, he didn’t hear me. Two particularly badass boys were checking themselves out in the mirrors and when they left they each carried a very feminine bag. Boys and their purses, it gets me every time.

The man running the pool hall fetched us our complementary drinks, he was very quick. Green tea on the house. I guess you pay per hour not game and beverages are free. Once again the Korean system prevails. Of course wan jan nim Lim paid, being the boss and all.

After pool we went out for fried chicken and pints. Not Hyte, but Cass beer. Weakish, no Fort Gary Dark, but not too bad. We ate at a place that was a slight step up from a street vendor. Here, there are lots of little places right on the sidewalks that sell all kinds of food. Some of these places even have chairs within a plastic covering that you can sit on while you eat. This place had a permanent building, but half the building was a plastic tent.

We ate our fried chicken and drank our pints, chatting about stuff. I learned that I probably won’t actually get any vacation time expect for maybe three days in Summer. I hope I misunderstood, but that is how it sounded. I don’t get, I can handle this because I am only here for year, but Park and Lim, this there full time job and they work six days a week, with almost no time off, that is horrible.

It was very nice evening. Mr. Lim drove Sally and I home. I got home at about 2:30. GD, GT’s.

Dee