Okay. So I’ve been a little lax on my blog writing. Worse yet, I’ve hardly taken any pictures to share with you but I have been doing a little adventuring so…

Thursday night some of the other teachers invited us newbies to dinner at a VERY Korean-feeling restaurant. There was graffiti on the walls, we were served rice wine in over-sized teapots and watched as they cut up live octopus at our table!

Ya. I know. It’s so not PETA-friendly but it’s an experience I’m glad I did not miss. I’ll bet you didn’t know that the octopus still moves after it’s been cut up…. AND the tentacles still work. After watching that, there is really nothing left that can traumatize me-I think. Ben (he’s been here 2 years) was sitting next to me and explained that when you eat a piece you can feel the tentacles grabbing onto your tongue. So…. I had to try it. Yes. I did. I’ll have to admit though that it took quite a few minutes for me to maneuver the squiggling thing into my mouth and by that time I think it had already surrendered to it’s fate. I did not feel the sucking on my tongue. (Too bad that would have been the most action I’ve had in a while. Ha ha.) I tried to build up the courage to try it again with a fresher piece but, alas, the moment had passed. In case you want to know…it had the texture of fresh squid and it was seasoned with sesame oil, so it tasted pretty good.

I also tried cow lung the other day. Ryan (the one from Seattle) and I found a Kalbi BBQ and it was DEEEEElicious. I can totally see why Koreans protested when the government tried to import American beef. The quality here is superb! Perhaps that’s because their meat is not pumped with antibiotics, formaldehyde and anti-depressants! J/K on the formaldehyde-maybe, I’m not sure. Whatever the reason, the meat is really good here. The meal came complete with all kinds of side dishes like kim-chi and blood soup and radishes of all kinds + cow lung cooked in egg batter! I had to stick to my “Yes, Man” theory and at least try it. The egg coating was good but it is extremely rubbery. I don’t recommend you try that one at home. The blood soup tasted like, well, blood-yick! Otherwise, it was well worth the 17,000 Won. That’s pretty expensive for dinner around here but it equates to about $20 which is less than it would cost at home. The owner was super nice and brought us a Coke (actually Pepsi) on the house.

Eating at home is not as exciting. Lots of ramen and sandwiches but I’m getting better at finding the goodies. I went wandering around on Saturday night sampling all kinds of ice cream and pastries. Too bad, though… I was really hoping to lose weight here. You learn the true meaning of “American Thighs” when you try on a pair of pants in Korea. RRRrrrrrrriiiiiiippp!