Wow, it's beautiful today

Just had lunch and caught up with an old friend...the rain has gone away and the weather is beautiful. Now I'm going to attempt to walk through the ferry building without buying anything. Hmmm...

Home sweet home...

I was so excited to go home and see my family that I didn't sleep the night before. Well, partly also because I made the mistake of watching the season finale of Grey's Anatomy and spent the entire night worrying some nutcase would go loose in whatever hospital my brother ends up working at.
I meant to sleep on the plane, but there was On Demand entertainment:

I tried not to giggle too loudly lest I wake up the other passengers.
We landed safe and sound in SFO and I called my brother, only to find out my family was so caught up in watching Personal Taste they hadn't left the house yet. Sheesh.
Straight from the airport, we went for dim sum. I really missed dim sum:
Then the weather was so clear and beautiful we went to Twin Peaks:
The beautiful weather continued to the next day, when I got to see Ody and Britt! Wee! We wandered around the North Beach/Russian Hill area and walked up a stairway where we were greeted with this view:
Then we went to the Mission for mexican food. I had a burrito the size of my head. I also really missed burritos:
My brother made fried chicken:

And Ody, along with putting lemon juice in everything and making lemon centerpieces, my mom also made preserved lemons:

She wanted me to take a picture of the jar in the garage, because that one was "prettier" - I was too lazy to walk up there though.

Express train to ICN

You know the train is THAT good when you wish the ride were a teensy bit longer...I still managed to organize my Dream Concert photos on the way to the airport.
In 15 hours I'll be back in San Francisco. Yay!!!

Temperance, followed by gluttony....

Today is a holiday (buddha's birthday!) and luckily, these guys were holding a temple-style (vegetarian) cooking class. These days, it's hard to leave the house without my aunt telling me to sit down and stuff myself, but knowing I would get to eat the fruits of my labors, I quickly put half of my rice bowl back into the rice cooker while she wasn't looking. Alas, I couldn't do the same with the vat of fish soup she then proceeded to ladle out for me. I tried to explain why I wasn't eating "enough":

Aunt: Where are you going again? What are you learning to cook?
Me: Temple-style food.
Aunt: Well, learn to make delicious food and come back and make it for us!
Cousin: No! She's only learning how to cook vegetables, ick!

But that's the beauty of korean food - there are so many vegetables you don't know what to do with them. Also, my 어학당 friends live far away so I don't get as much non-family adult interaction as I would like. And my cousin spends all her time at hagwon. I also need to make friends with some korean people, because my korean skills are slipping. Will you be my friend?

I digress.

Here is what we made: Chive salad. I love black sesame seeds. I completely forget to put sesame oil in this, perhaps that's why it never tasted quite right to me. I was pretty distracted during the whole class and forgot to add salt to most of my food. I suppose it wasn't too terrible; the chef-teacher tasted all of our versions and claimed to like mine the best. I don't believe him (I mean, sesame oil makes everything taste delicious and I left it completely OUT, come on!) but what a nice guy. I may have a tiny crush on him.

Bibimbap: Yum. I LOVE gosari (the brown stringy vegetable) and could pretty much just eat rice, gochujang, and sesame oil mixed together any time of day. Just not three times a day. My goodness I could kill for a tamale right now. Wow, I am really all over the place today. I blame the heat. Anyways, the chef made a fermented soybean paste sauce that smelled heavenly and definitely helped the fact that I forgot to salt all my vegetables. My cousin laughed at me the other day because I incorrectly spelled 된장 as 됀장. See? I need more korean friends. Misspelling that is like living next to a McDonald's yet spelling "burger" as "burgur". Where is my brain?
Next up:This is before I added tomato to it. Seriously, adding tomato to 된장찌개 is truly delicious.

After we finished cooking, we got to eat! Unfortunately, I couldn't finish because of the massive breakfast I had already eaten. But it was nice to meet and talk with other people who have 관심 in korean food, and also find it odd that tomatoes and sweet potatoes find their way into desserts here. The folks running the show are the nicest people; once I actually start getting paid I hope to do one of their market tour classes. You should check them out!

Speaking of dessert:
Yum yum yum!
Although this almond chocolate croissant was delicious, this place is nuts expensive. I paid 7000 won for an americano; whenever I pay that much for what ends up being overly watered-down espresso, I feel like somewhere, a fairy just lost its wings.
The man at the counter was extremely helpful however, in helping me choose pastries to take home to my aunt and cousin that would withstand a few hours' travel time in the extreme heat:
Tartelette Fromage
70% dark chocolate pot de creme. Deemed "too bitter" by my cousin. I told her my dad considers 85% cocoa chocolate bars a pleasant snack. I think 72% is my limit.
Black sesame-grapefruit and orange-red bean macarons. The man at the counter said "Oh, you like the unusual flavors!" I told him I once tried a foie gras macaron. He said he feels desserts should be vegetarian. That's only because he's never tried my candied bacon chocolate chip cookies.

I'm not making that up. I just never got a chance to blog about them because I ate the entire batch in two days. Well, I gave a few away as well.

Mmm, bacon.

Taipei - Last day

My last day was pretty short, seeing as I had an early afternoon flight back to Seoul. After checking out, I went to the train station hoping to find soy milk for breakfast.

No such luck. But I did find a MOS Burger. Unfortunately, only breakfast sandwiches were available:


I decided to splurge an extra $2 and take the high-speed train to the airport:


Bye Taipei! It was awesome!


I loved this trip for so many different reasons. It was nice to take a break from Seoul - not that I'm getting tired of Seoul, but I had just finished another semester of school and hadn't really had time to sightsee IN Seoul. I love seeing new places, but also, going away and coming back made Seoul start to feel more like a home than a temporary transit place.

When I told people I was going by myself, particularly Korean people, they were surprised. I still have to get used to the fact that things that seem normal to me (not living with my parents after college even though San Francisco is only 30 miles away, going on an overnight hiking trip with a bunch of strangers, carrying my own damn purse) might be hard for people here to picture. I think what is most hard for people to understand is that I don't mind traveling alone, in fact, I like it. Hell, this whole blog started because I decided it would be fun to drive to Denver by myself. And I managed to not only survive that trip (lions, tigers, and bears, oh my!) but the time I spent alone (I spent a super-fun week with Liv in Denver followed by an amazing few days with my parents roaming around Yellowstone) was truly memorable. There's nothing like a solo trip to give you time to get lost in your thoughts while at the same time forcing yourself to open your eyes and absorb everything that's going around you because you only have your own observations to rely on. Trips like that make coming back home to wherever "home" might be at that moment seem like a fresh start.

And really, even when you're by yourself, you're never really alone.

So when I saw amazing things and ate delicious things while in Taipei, I never felt regret at the fact that I was doing it by myself. Mostly, I felt excited at the prospect of one day coming with my family and sharing with them everything I was so happy to experience during my short visit.

Happy birthday mom!

My mom celebrates her __th birthday today. She's the cutest __-year-old I know:

What in the world is going on here??

Today is teacher's day, and seeing as my aunt is pretty much the most awesome elementary school teacher (and aunt!) EVER, she came home with a bunch of presents from her adoring students. Including this cake set:

Which is surprisingly intact. Because I ignored it fully only to tear into this guy:


That's right, I chose rice cakes over real cake. Next thing you know I'll be wanting to eat rice three meals a day and packing kimchi with me when I go on trips, just in case the place I'm visiting doesn't have any. Because, you know, you haven't really eaten a real meal unless you've eaten rice and kimchi.

Gah. I need to visit home soon and get my head set straight.

Taipei - Day 3 continued

The garden at the National Palace Museum stays open an hour later than the museum buildings, so I decided to head over and find a place to rest my poor feet, since I had hours of roaming around the night market planned ahead.
I noticed a bunch of people gathering to the side of the pavilion so I decided to see what they were staring at:

Only to find out they were starting a feeding frenzy. Koi fish really creep me out. I think it's the way they open and close their mouths. But really, doesn't this picture slightly disturb you?


I ran away and found a bench to read on. Check out my new $5 sandals!


I took the bus back to the MRT station and decided to walk to Shilin Night Market. On the way I spotted a sign that made me consider for a moment whether or not I would be crazy to come back to Taipei on the 17th:

In case you can't recognize him - that's Richard Marx! Why yes, I DID just turn 30, why do you ask?

I realized I must be nearby when I saw this crowd of people waiting in front of a bunch of delicious-smelling food stands:

Later I would find out that this is just a "light" crowd. I wandered and wandered and wandered the maze of alleys. The area was packed with food vendors and stores and people in the middle of the alleys selling all sorts of trinkets laid out on blankets. This is so they can gather up everything quickly and scamper off when the police come. Same with the people selling clothes on rolling racks. I learned this the hard way when I nearly lost a toe.

I never did figure out why this turkey was here:


Oyster omelet. Um, wow.


Also delicious. At that point I think it had been 4 months since I'd had any fruit that wasn't an apple, clementine, strawberry, or banana, so I was pretty excited to be eating something that had TWO colors:


I was already stuffed by the time I saw this guy, but the insane crowd of people waiting around swayed me to wait. It was worth it.


Apparently, I had only been roaming around part of the night market - as I walked toward the MRT station I noticed a huge "building" that said "Shilin Night Market" and was essentially a crazy food court with stall after stall selling all forms of stinky tofu, oyster omelet, boba, fruit shakes, fried things, and noodles. I'm kind of glad I didn't see this at first, because the sheer size/number of different food options was so overwhelming my head would probably explode just trying to decide what to eat. Or more likely my stomach would explode just eating everything in sight. I decided it didn't matter, since I would come back here with my family someday. Soon, hopefully.

More pictures from the day here.

Summer

Yes, it is only May. But somehow Seoul has managed to skip spring and launch directly into summer. Summer by my standards at least. I may or may not have mentioned before how much of a wimp I am when it comes to heat and humidity.

Today I had a nutso experience at the immigration office that involved running around town like a headless chicken trying to get a copy of my dad's family registry. When the lady at the office told me my mother's forms were useless in my quest to get an F-4 visa, I immediately felt defeated. My parents have been living in the US longer than they lived in Korea - how in the world would I find my dad's family registry?? But surprisingly, all I had to do was go across the street to some office called a 동사무서, hand over my passport and my dad's old address (which was, thankfully, on my MOM's family registry), and 5 minutes and $2 later I had all the forms I needed.

I can't even imagine being able to get a form that easily back home. I mean, it took me 5 months to get my diploma. And if you want to get your degree verified, you can't just call up the school and ask them "hey, did so-and-so attend your school and get a degree?" You have to register on a website, pay some ridiculous fee, then wait who knows how long just to get a simple "yes"...

Then again, there are other things here in Korea that are surprisingly difficult. For example, a proper thank you card that doesn't have some inane inappropriate phrase on it like "I love you and your smile that never fades!" It took me a week to find two cards that only had the words "Thank You" written on the front. These cards are going to the two professors who were very kind and wrote letters of recommendation for me even though they are very busy and I gave them short notice.

But that's a different story. Instead, let's look at a picture of a cute baby!


You know a baby is cute when he spits up all over you and you don't even care. This is my cousin's 3-month-old son.

And now, some random, perhaps useful, information, aka how to get an F-4 visa if you are a girl and your parents used to be Korean citizens but are now American:

Bring a copy of both your parents' naturalization certificates, a copy of their passports, and copy of your passport, and a copy of your birth certificate. You'll need to get a copy of your father's family registry at the 동사무서 across the street from the immigration office - this is easy if you happen to be listed on that registry (unlikely). You'll most likely need your father's address at the time he was listed on the registry. Luckily, my dad's address was listed on the copy of my mom's registry I had. Just to be safe, I'd bring all the aforementioned documents and just show them all to the person helping you while looking helpless and in a hurry. This worked for me.

Now go across the street to the immigration office. Before you do anything else, get a number. If you get number 155 for example, they will most likely currently be on number 140. And that doesn't include all the people who came before but were missing some crucial document, had to run across the street to get it, then get to cut back in line (guilty!) After you get your number, fill out two forms. One is the general form everybody fills out. Another is a form that says something about korean nationals living abroad. Even though this isn't you, fill it out. You'll need to glue a 3.5x4.5 (cm) photo to each one. You'll also need to go to the basement and ask for 60,000 won worth of "stamps" to glue to your general application. By the time you finish these tasks, they'll be helping person number 143.

I would bring a book.

After that, the rest is pretty easy. They are very helpful and friendly (I had been expecting something like the DMV, but this was not the case) and I was done in about an hour and a half, despite having to leave the building twice to get various forms. I think the issue with using my mom's family registry to get my visa was that my mom was still technically a Korean citizen when I was born, so they needed my dad's registry to see if I had been listed on it.

After you hand over your forms and your passport (make sure you don't need to go anywhere!) you'll get a receipt telling you to come back in a week to pick up your passport.

I'm not sure if it is more complicated if you are a guy - it might be if you are listed on your family registry. Something to do with military service.

Okay, time to go study chemistry to sleep.

Birthday Feasting

My 30th birthday was a few weeks ago (oh my god it's MAY already???) so I thought I'd post a few pictures showing the various ways I bemoaned celebrated the passing of so many years. I don't think it was quite the horrible event I imagined it to be, thanks in part to the fact that I've had to spend the last 6 months telling people that I'm 30 in Korean years.
Thank you so much to all of you who sent me birthday wishes that I wasn't able to respond to via general facebook update (Liv! Gwynna! Jess!) - I swear, the reason I haven't responded yet is not because I spent that week curled up in a ball crying for my mommy (although she DID fly all the way out to Seoul, whee!) - it was because I was eating.

The festivities started the Friday before, when 효천 took me out for dinner. Mmm, nothing says "30 is the new 20!" like feasting on pork fat:


The next night we went out to dinner in Itaewon. I had been craving falafel. This really hit the spot:


Then we walked to a 막걸리 place which had a gazillion different kinds of rice wine. The weather was really warm that day, even at night - it was nice being able to walk around without some sort of crazy insulating down jacket.



The bar had a very extensive hand-written menu, describing each type of rice wine in great detail. It can be tough to decide, so they have a sampler where you can choose 5 for 2,000 won. Ridiculous. I couldn't even finish this:


I ended up trying a whole bunch of different rice wines, including buckwheat, 5-grain, and corn. I think the real winner though was the yogurt cocktail. It pairs nicely with chocolate cake:


I stumbled home at the very age-appropriate time of 11:30, only to be met with the disapproving clucks of my grandmother, who thought I was out VERY VERY late.

The next day I reveled in the fact that my advancing age means no 막걸리-induced hangovers! Then my aunt came over to buy me a birthday dinner. We went to a sashimi place:















What you don't see in this picture are the 350 side dishes that arrived prior to the sashimi, including corn gratin, california rolls, clam soup, squash soup, grilled mackerel, salad, clam, scallop, and sea squirt sashimi, poached skate, and who knows what else. After we were done with the sashimi, they brought out a huge pot of spicy fish stew. I spent the next day still feeling full.

Then my mom came! Yay! On my actual birthday, I had a meeting in Sinchon, so we walked to Hongdae afterwards. It was 4:30, but we were both hungry, so I took us to a place we could get some noodles. We split this salmon dish and a "caviar" cream pasta:


































Much to my chagrin, my mom had considered that a snack and wanted to go out again to dinner later. I was still so full so we settled on a yummy Costco dinner of rolls and cheesecake:







































Pretty much the perfect way to end the day.