An American-Korean Thanksgiving

Last weekend was Thanksgiving in America, and since Taylor and I work with four Americans we all had a Thanksgiving potluck dinner. This thanksgiving had a twist as there were also a couple of Korean guests. We had to have chicken instead of turkey and there was no cranberry sauce to be had but other than that it was everything we wanted. We brought mashed potatoes and ice cream to go with desert. The Korean guests brought some traditional and very common Korean food, sliced pork with kimchi and lettuce, it was delicious too. We got to see them enjoy gravy for the first time, could you imagine never having had gravy and not even knowing about it?! After the feast we played yahtzee and balderdash, both of which were won by this very couple. We would like to dedicate both wins to Milty and Guto, we miss you both and miss dominating game nights back home too. All in all it was a great night and I am very glad that we didn't totally miss out on thanksgiving this year.

Bukhansan National Park

We visited the Bukhansan National Park a few weeks ago. It is located just outside of Seoul and is home to huge granite mountains, ancient temples and fortresses, beautiful scenery, and as always in Korea, lots of unique cultural experiences. The park holds the world record for being the national park with the most visitors per square foot and averages 5 million visitors. However, it is still easy to find trails that are virtually secluded from the crowds of hikers. Me and Nathan spent a large part of our day alone wandering through the woods following the faint sound of Buddhist chanting, which ultimately lead us to our first true temple experience and yes, it was amazing.

They Did The Mash

Last week was our Hallowwweeen Party at work. Halloween isn't widely celebrated in Korea, but with the increasing popularity of English schools, and the resulting exposure to Western culture, more and more Korean children are beginning to take part. However, the costume selection is still pretty limited so you get a lot of witches, wizards (boy witches), and devils. The kids loved it and really how could they not? dressing up, eating candy, and  playing games. Nathan's class even learned all the words to Monster Mash and treated me to a private show on the day.

Dino Meat

Yeah, this place actually exists. Sorry to disappoint, no they have not been able to make Jurassic park a reality and thus they do not serve actual dinosaur meat. However, aside from having to accept that crushing truth, this is possibly the greatest thing ever, if you love copious amounts of grilled meat that is. The way it works is you get a table, which may require some waiting, something that is unheard of here in South Korea. Your server will then bring you an array of sides, salads, sauces and of course kimchi. Then you take your silver tray over to the meat fridge and take as much of whatever you want. There is a wide selection from side beef ribs, to thinly sliced deliciously marinated beef, to sausages and other strange ground meat patties. Once you have selected your meat you take it to your table and grill it however you want, as every table has its own charcoal grill. Once you have finished your first tray you simply repeat the previous two steps endlessly. You will run out of pretty much every side, sauce and salad. Don't fret, you just push the call button on your table and someone pops right up and is more than happy to bring you more of whatever you want. You can order various beverages, both alcoholic and non, including the very fun and fitting Korean alcohol soju, great both for shooting between lettuce wraps or mixing with "cider" (sprite). All this can be yours for the costly price of 14,000 won (roughly $12.75 Canadian) plus whatever you drink, roughly 3,000 won per beverage, or any meat you take from the fridge and don't eat, I have no idea what the price for this is.