This past weekend I ventured to Seoul to visit my old roomie Dayna from SNET. She had been working a nonstop summer camp and we finally coordinated a time to meet up. We gossiped, shopped and ate at a "faux" Italian pastaria.
To fully understand the meaning of "faux" you must consider that Korean cuisine is drastically different than all other cuisines worldwide. They use specific ingredients and stick with them to make a plethora of delightfully spicy meals. However, this art does not transfer when crafting other foreign foods. Often you await a meal with anticipation just to realize your spaghetti has oil and octopus for sauce. Or, perhaps your naan is crisy cracker wafers instead of the doughy fluff of garlic you desire. Regardless of the type of ethnic food, it generally goes by the same name and looks appealing, but manages to be a bit peculiar. On this particular ocassion our calzone was wrapped in a tortilla and managed to taste like a mushy pizza wrap...tasty, but a bit of a stretch from the crunchy puff we expected. Don't worry though, all negatives of the meal were salvaged by the twinkle tree lights (totally going there on Christmas) and the $4 glass of wine. Thanks to oh so "authentic" Italy! Enough about food though, you will think it is Jake writing.
After parting ways with Dayna, I met up with my friend Derek for his birthday. We hit the streets of Hongdae - a booming nightlife area in one of the many university districts of Seoul. The downside of the fabulous scene is piles of litter, smells of sewer, and drunken chaos. Imagine New Orleans...no further description needed. We bounced into a few clubs and realized we couldn't uphold a normal conversation at the volume. Finally, with the help of his Korean friend Young-Il, we wound up at an underground hookah bar with fabulous ambiance. A pool of lilies and candles took center stage. Pillows, carpets, and tapestries covered every nook and cranny of the dim basement. Groups were clustered in alcoves and hidden corners about the bar. We found our own corner and settled in. If anyone visits, this is a sure stop. The pictures hardly do it justice.
Of course, the night wouldn't have been complete without a trip to the ever popular norae-bang (karoakee room). We jammed on till 4 am at which point I deemed it unfeasible to get a hotel room. Instead, I champed up and waited for the 5:30 am train home. Oh, what a night in Seoul.
In other big news, our intensives are over! Hip-hip-hooray! 5 weeks of 10 hour days was so overrated. It wasn't even that we were over worked. We actually only had one extra class. However, it was at 10 am, so we had to chill at the office for 4 hours extra with little to do each day. That equals 5 extra hours of being at work with only 1 hour being paid. It kind of cut down our time to enjoy Korea and do exciting things. Now it is back to the normal schedule so you can expect to receive more calls, emails, and updates. Till then....
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