Lotteria

Everyone has their own favorite fast food fix. Back home in Atlanta, mine was Taco Bell for drunk nights, and Chik-fil-A for any other reason. 

Here in Gwangju, we are somewhat limited for fast food (which could be a good thing for people like me). There is food that is "quick", such as Toast (a hot sandwich with egg, ham and cheese), Mandu (meat and kimchi filled dumplings), and Kimbap (think sushi with veggies and other things). And these foods are nothing short of delicious.

But, sometimes you just get the craving for greasy hamburgers and mexican food. [Un?]luckily, there is a Korean fast food chain right near my apartment.

Lotteria is as close to McDonald's as any of the fast food places I have seen in Korea. They have a variety of burgers (pork, beef, and shrimp) as well as french fries, mozzarella sticks, and sweet potato balls. Although it is no Mcdonald's or Taco Bell, it is the next best thing, and I am thankful for this little gem.

Oh, and did I mention they have ICE CREAM?!

Dos Mas? Si, por favor!

I ventured out of my house before noon, guys! And for a good reason...

I was invited to patron this teensy little "mexican" restaurant called Dos Mas. This is the 2nd mexican resaurant I have been to since being in Korea (Taco Bell is Seoul doesn't count).

This place was near Chonnam University (10 minutes from where I live by taxi), and sort of hidden in the back gate area.

The menu had burritos, nachos, french fries, tacos, and tequila.  I got the burrito and it was filled with bulgogi (beef), rice, cheese sauce (think movie theater), spicy sauce, onions, and lettuce. The combo only cost 3,500 Won (about $3!!!)

It was definitely worth it if you live in the area...but for me, the transportation was 5x the price of the meal ($14 there and back...ouch).

But next time I am around there, I will definitely be stopping by for a quick fix.

Week in Cambodia

A great thing about teaching in SE Asia is that travel is relatively easy and cheap. I decided to take my week vacation and spend it in Cambodia.

We stayed in Siem Reap the first two days and saw the amazing Angkor Wat. Out hotel was The Golden Banana which was great. They helped us plan all of our day trips and our bus to Sihanoukville.

The day after Angkor Wat, we visited the Tonle Sap. This is the largest river/lake in SE Asia. We went to see the floating village, which is just that. Land is more expensive than living on the water, so extremely poor families will live in the floating village. There were dogs, pigs, and chickens on these homes, too.  There was even a school on the water with over 100 students.

After Siem Reap, the next stop was Sihanoukville. We took the overnight (10 hour!) bus ride from hell. I actually slept the majority of the time, but I heard the bus driver was driving like he was having the worst LSD trip. Awesome. A few miles before our bus stop, our bus broke down, and the driver informed us we had to get off the bus. Upon exiting, all of the passengers were accosted by tuk tuk drivers and motor bike taxis. We got a tuk tuk, which is now my favorite mode of transportation, which took us to a booking place. It worked out in the end, and we booked our boat to the island of Koh Rong, which is a 2 hour boat ride from Sihanoukville.

The island was beautiful! There were only a few places with bungalows, and we stayed at the farthest accommodation from the "village". The Treehouse Bungalows were amazing...I am not used to things like no running water, sweating endlessly (really, I didn't stop once), and one matted, unbrushable dread on my head, but it ended up being totally worth it.

After a few days of snorkeling, playing with puppies, watching sunrises, laughing at roosters, and lazing around, it was time to go to Phnom Penh. It is the capital of Cambodia and there were so many things to see---the National Museum, Central Market, the Palace, tons of restaurants and street food, and pigeons?

Some of my favorite things about this trip was the food variety. Fish Amok is one of my new favorite foods. Also, how unbelievably cheap everything was was a huge plus (dinner and drinks for less than $5). The people were very kind and everyone seemed willing to help. I look forward to going back someday.

Would you like to be sore for a week? Then go to Muju Mountain!

Snow + fast food= last weekend. I ventured out to Muju last Saturday to try my luck at snowboarding for the 2nd time in my life. The mountain was VERY busy on Saturday, but luckily there we less people on Sunday. This was a fun getaway that I hope to experience again very soon.

The hotel we stayed in was a break from the norm. I am used to staying in love hotels or hostels, but this was all the resort offered (for the cheapest price at 65,000 Won/night) and it supplied us with a tiny room, 2 floor mats, blankets, and pillows. I was afraid I wouldn't be very comfortable sleeping on the floor, but it actually isn't so bad. I would definitely do it again. I concluded that I am not the best snowboarder, it took me an hour to get down the mountain the first time, but I kept improving over the duration of the weekend, so I am looking forward to going back and practicing some more.

3 small reasons why Korea is awesome

Generocity of Koreans/Weekend Seollal Doings

This weekend was the Seolall Holiday in Korea and everyone celebrated the long awaited time off. I traveled up north to Hwacheon for the Ice Fishing Festival. The first night there, we didn't catch any fish :O After fishing, we were warming up in a tent by the heater and a man asked us if we like BBQ. Neither of us are the types of people to turn down the opportunity to 1. eat or 2. try something new, so we obliged and went to the back of said tent to see what was up. At first, we thought this may be a raping spot, but then Han Song-Jun turned out to be a kind chain-smoker (and possibly habitual liar??), but he made us 2 BBQ-ed fish and brought us out beers and makkoli. This made the night more more enjoyable, seeing as we lost track of time and our bags got locked in our lockers so we had no fresh clothes for the next day.

The next morning, slightly headachey after our past night's doings, we headed back to ice-fishing bright and early in hopes of better-luck-this-time. Well, we had it. We caught 8 fish in 15 minutes. We had some more BBQ-ed fish, this time our own catch, saw Song-Jun and thanked him again, and then went on our merry way (after sledding down this huge hill of course).

Our next stop was Uljin for the hot springs. We ended up getting in a little late so we stayed in the most fabulous and psychedelic love motel I have seen yet. We brought snacks and more drinks to our room and watched hours of tv (we don't have tv's in gwangju) and I took a bubble bath (oh yeah, no baths in Gwangju either).

The next morning we headed to Deokgu Hot Springs, but before jumping on a random bus we were told in broken English that would take us there, a very nice couple vacationing from Seoul asked us if they could take us since we looked lost and helpless. We went with them, every-so-trusting, but it hasn't failed us yet.

The Hot Springs were quite strange, imagine a water park feel, but instead of slides and rafts there were hot tubs filled with not only children but very very old people as well. There were all different levels of baths and such, as well and some indoor some indoor and some outdoor.  The lemon or the jasmine bath were my personal favorites.
**I have a phobia of water parks and anywhere it's ok for a mass amounts of people to walk around barefoot, but since living in Korea this phobia has been simmering down a bit since I have to be barefoot quite a bit.

After showering, we hopped on a bus back to Uljin so we could try to make it back to Gwangju at some point that night. While at the bus station, a Korean man asked if he could help us with anything (again the only white people around), and eventually he ended up dropping us off at a crab restaurant that I was bitching about going to since before the start of the trip and picking us back up and taking us to the bus terminal.
**This crab dinner was excellent---my first time eating crab guts. The way Koreans eat is is they mix it with this rice and veggies and other things and serve it in the crab shells. A little nauseating to actually think about, but very tasty once you stop cringing and just eat the damn thing.

Sometimes it's hard to believe how nice Koreans can be. I will say, Americans and other cultures all over the globe may be just as kind, but this is the first time I have noticed a consistency in these actions. We were helped by 5 different people along the way, all offering their help by driving us places, feeding us, or helping with booking tickets for buses seeing us as lost or confused.

That being said I can't dismiss the two very awkward and dickish occurrences this weekend. These events don't have anything to do with Koreans, just assholes in general.

The first one was at the hot springs. We were sitting in a sauna and a little creepy man was sitting there beside us trying to practice his English. It seemed innocent enough until we got up and he hugged us, smushing me up against him and putting his lips on my cheek for what I would consider and uncomfortable amount of time. I can't describe this situation in any better way but he was trying something. After showering and waiting for our bus, he saw us in the lobby and walked up to me and reached his hand in my bag of chips (?!) and then proceeded to try to hug and kiss me some more. Well...

The second happening was on the bus from Daegu back to Gwangju. In the bus terminal an old (drunk) man tried yelling to us (like, ehhhh good job') giving a thumbs up. Sometimes these things can be funny, but when it continues for too long, it gets annoying. Turns out he was on our bus back to Gwangju. He was sitting towards the front so that was fine, but we were laughing in the back of the bus (yes, soju was involved) and he got up and walked back and yelled at us for laughing. This was just confusing after he was being so 'nice' to us at the bus terminal. And he said 'SHUT THE MOUTH' which made us laugh even more.

Nevertheless, neither of these events sway me from my beliefs on how kind Koreans are, but these things just happen.

Anyways, overall I had a fun holiday and am looking forward to the next one.

Seollal---Lunar New Year----COULDN'T HAVE COME SOONER!!!!

Holy cow, after weeks and weeks of teaching non-stop since our last vacation in September, our holiday time has finally arrived. This weekend is the Lunar New Year, a 3 day holiday, that all of us teachers are gladly celebrating.

Most of the teachers I know are taking a trip to Seoul, while some others are visiting other countries. I'm still not sure what I'll be doing for most of the time, but I will most definitely be R&R-ing. Hallelujah.