Jeju Island Day 2

I usually don't dream about food unless it's Cinnamon Toast Crunch or pancakes of course, but when I woke up on the second day of our trip to Jeju, I thought I was dreaming about warm, homemade bread.  But I wasn't!  Andrew and I went into the kitchen and Ilene was slicing a loaf of fresh bread that she had just taken out of the bread maker.  Talk about Korean hospitality!

We made breakfast for ourselves with the ingredients that were set out for the guests' use; bread, eggs, milk, jam, coffee, and tea.  I had a delicious egg sandwich and Andrew made a fried egg.  We knew we wanted to head out early so we got ready fast and then spoke to Ilene about our plans.  She recommended a beautiful beach for us to go to that would be far less crowded than Jungmun beach, which is where we went the night before.  She wrote out the bus numbers for us to take, as well as the name of the beach, Hypeojae, so that we could just show the bus driver our slip of paper and not worry about memorizing the Korean.  Without even planning it, we ended up going to the same beach as one of our housemates, Ginger Puffer, and yes, that is her real name.  Like Bree, Ginger's from California and teaching at the international school in Incheon.

The beach was beautiful!  There was plenty of white sand and seashells, and we got to walk around the lava rock that remains from Mt. Halla's last eruption in the year 1007.  Mt. Halla, or Hallasan, is a large, inactive volcano in the middle of Jeju island; in fact, the volcano's eruption is what actually formed the island.  The volcano is visible from virtually any part of Jeju, but typically the summit is covered by clouds or fog.

Sitting on some lava rock, enjoying Hypeojae beach. 

And so it begins, my strange obsession with adorable Korean families. 

We were reminded immediately by the wind and temperatures in the low 70s that it was certainly not summer anymore!  We didn't let that stop us though, we walked through the sand, got in the water (to my knees at least!) and laid out on our towels.  I even managed to get a little sunburned!  It was incredibly relaxing and the scenery was absolutely breathtaking.  We only stayed a few hours because there was so much more to do!

Our next stop was the O'sulloc Tea House Museum.  We were pleasantly surprised when we got there, it ended up being far more beautiful than Andrew and I were expecting.  It was a small, but beautifully architected building, with a cafe, observatory room, nature walk, paths through the tea plantation, and even samples and demonstrations.  We were starving at this point so we went straight to the cafe.  We shared a piece of green tea cake roll and some green tea ice cream.  Both items were delicious!  We then walked around the museum and went up to the observatory; we were shocked to see that the green tea fields stretched as far as the eye could see, but it makes sense though, since green tea is a Korean favorite.

O'sulloc brings a whole new meaning to fresh!  Here museum workers are packaging the green tea that Andrew and I bought.  

Andrew and me on the observatory floor; that's a lot of soon-to-be green tea!

Smells like tea!

After walking through the fields we decided to head back since we wanted to go back to Jungmun to have dinner at the Lotte Hotel.  We took a cab back to the guesthouse to get ready for dinner.  After showering Andrew and I both came to the conclusion that the sun is still extremely strong in September and that perhaps sunscreen would've been a good idea (we were looking a bit lobster-ish, more so me than him).  I was so excited to go to Lotte for dinner!  Lotte is a huge Korean company that owns supermarkets, amusements parks, department stores, and hotels.  The Lotte Resort at Jeju is a staple of the island, and by far the classiest hotel there, so naturally I was dying to check it out!  I wore a pink silk blouse that I had bought while shopping with my friend Rachel (she bought the same one) before we both left for abroad.  When we bought it we knew we'd wear it to something special while studying abroad in our respective locations, Seoul and Copenhagen.

Andrew and I had 8pm reservations for Lotte's Volcano Buffet and Lightshow. We arrived a little early to walk around the lobby and check it out.  The place was beautiful, and like the Hyatt, it reminded me very much of being at Disney World.  Everybody we encountered was incredibly nice, and it was just so nice to finally be there.  We headed outside to the buffet and were absolutely stunned.  Everything from the beautiful swimming pools, the hotel's "volcano" structure, the sushi bar, and the tables and tables of food, was just amazing.  We were seated right away and perhaps the most surprising, but nice thing was that we were surrounded by so many families!  We had forgotten for a bit that it was still the week of Chuseok, and often this is the only vacation time each year that Korean families get.  

The entrance to the Lotte Hotel

View of the Volcano Buffet from the lobby terrace. 

Andrew and I ate a ton!  Everything was so delicious we just couldn't help ourselves.  I'm sure that the Korean families at the table next to us began to stare after plate six, but that didn't stop us.  Some of the highlights were the sushi, roasted duck, filet mignon, rice cake filled with red bean paste, blueberry cream tart, and green tea gelato.  I'm getting hungry just thinking about it!  At 8:30 it was time for the Volcano Lightshow, the event that the buffet and hotel are known for.  The volcano went dark and then all of sudden a flash of light appeared and it began!  There were flames, streaks of light, flashes of water, and even holographics!  I wish I could do a better job explaining it, but it's just something you have to see in person.  Although it only lasted about 15 minutes, it was an incredible show and it certainly made the whole night worth it.  When the lightshow was over, a group of Korean drummers performed, and although they were quite talented, nothing could compare to the lightshow.  We continued to stuff ourselves, and when we couldn't possibly eat another bite, we walked around the patio and pools some more and then headed back to the guesthouse.  

Volcano lightshow, pictures just don't do it justice.

Andrew and I still going strong, not quite stuffed yet!

E-mart

Today I needed to do a little grocery shopping and since we always go to Grand Mart I thought I'd try something new. E-mart is the biggest retailer in South Korea and it is known around here as a "mega-store". It's kind of like a Walmart Supercenter, in that it carries everything from clothes to electronics to groceries. I went to the one in Yongsan, and in my opinion, it's much nicer than Walmart. Everywhere you turn there is an E-mart employee ready to help you, and if they don't speak English then they go and find someone who does. Also, they were giving away many free samples which made shopping on an empty stomach much more enjoyable.

My friends and I have been cooking a lot more because we've quickly realized that eating out for multiple meals a day is not only unhealthy, but also a big waste of money. We haven't been that adventurous with our cooking yet, but we're working on it. The types of things we've been making are basically sandwiches for lunch, scrambled eggs and egg sandwiches for breakfast, and usually fried rice with some meat or vegetables in it for dinner. We've also made some different types of stir-frys and we're going to try pasta this week. We'd like to make more but the kitchen in our dorm does not have any ovens, just stovetops. We were told that Koreans don't use ovens that often to prepare meals and that's why we don't have any. So we've been getting creative with the microwave and stove! If you know any simple recipes that we could throw together, let me know!

E-mart is much bigger than Grand Mart, which I think I've mentioned is our local grocery/department store in Sinchon. E-mart had a much bigger variety of everything, including a huge bakery, a fish market, and a large produce section. Apples, cereal, and cheese were on my list, and I didn't deviate from my list because E-mart was a bit of a hike from Sinchon and I didn't want to have to carry many bags. I also got some dish soap because with all of the residents of SK Global House sharing one big kitchen, the pots and pans have been getting a little grody. All of the items I got were a little bit cheaper than at Grand Mart, but not by much. Produce is incredibly expensive here because all the rain during the monsoon season has been bad for the crops. I bought a bag of 7 small to medium-sized apples and it cost me 6,900 won, which is about $6. I even saw a watermelon on sale for 35,000 won, which is over 30 bucks! The cheese and cereal are both considered "Western" items so they too were expensive. The pack of cheese I bought (individual slices just like American cheese, but they don't call it that here!) was 4,980 won, which is about $4.50. Lastly, the cereal almost killed me. Most Koreans really don't eat cereal here, or any "breakfast item" for that matter, so how anyone can wake up and have a big bowl of ramen and squid soup is beyond me! So, after unsuccessfully trying to make my beloved Cinnamon Toast Crunch last more than a week, I needed to buy some cereal. I bought a mid-priced box of Post cranberry and granola flakes which cost 6,950 won, which is a little over 6 bucks.

So it wasn't the cheapest grocery store trip, but all necessary items for an American college student living in Seoul! It was fun checking out a different grocery store and a different part of the city, but I always forget that once I leave Sinchon, I'm no longer surrounded by as many international students and therefore people definitely look at me more. As I mentioned in my last post, it really doesn't bother me as much as it did before. Also it's occurred to me that when I pass newborns and little babies in the stores and on the subway, I could possibly be one of the first Caucasians that they've ever seen. I know that's a strange thought, but being a foreigner (and an obvious one at that) in such a big city, these are the types of things that go through my mind.

Another cool thing about going to E-mart was that the subway line to get there, line 1, uses a Korail train, or a "KTX". The KTX is a newer model train that travels at a much higher speed than the conventional trains. I tried to read about it at the subway station while waiting for the train, but much of the sign was in Korean. An interesting fact about the KTX is that the train is designed to look like a shark. I was not at the top of the platform, so I couldn't actually see it, but here's a picture I found that resembles the picture on the KTX info board I was reading from:

I have CINNAMON TOAST CRUNCH and a new roommate!

This past week I flew to Jeju island for the Chuseok break and when I returned I had a new roommate! To be honest I was little bummed at first because giving up my second closet was very sad, but she's really awesome so it's worth the sacrifice. Her name is Joe (that's her English name, her name tag on the door says Pho Sze, needless to say I prefer Joe) and she's from Hong Kong. We really haven't had that much time to sit down and talk but she seems really cool. She's just at Yonsei to learn Korean, rather than to get a degree. She is not enrolled in any other classes, just the morning Korean class from 9-12, so she has plenty of free time. Valerie had such a huge course load that I barely got to see her, so it will be nice to have a roommate who's actually around.

Joe's English is good, but not nearly as great as Valerie's. It's okay though, we have good laughs over some of her cute mistakes and I enjoy helping her. I think the funniest thing Joe said to me was "Last time I was in Korea I couldn't find meat, I NEED MEAT!!" It was hysterical and then we laughed over the fact that we both hate vegetables. She said to me, "I hate vegetables; I just can't eat them. Does that make me weird?" Perhaps she's my long-lost twin from Hong Kong?

Today I had my first group presentation! For my sports medicine class we've been working in groups on a research project on the ACL which is the anterior cruciate ligament in the knee. It basically connects the tibia to the femur and is used to absorb shock during motion as well as to provide a stable range of motion for the leg. The presentation went really well, but boy am I tired! My group worked basically all night last night to put the finishing touches on it and I didn't get to bed until after 2 am. Then we met again at 8 am to rehearse the presentation until class which was at 11. I couldn't understand why we needed so much time to rehearse but then I realized that since English is my group members' second language, presenting a project like this in English is a very different experience for them. It was really inspiring watching them devote so much time to practicing the correct pronunciations. They asked me many, many questions about the English grammar on the power point and my job, aside from researching, developing and presenting a rehabilitation program, was to edit and put the finishing touches on the power point.

Like I said, my job was to come up with the rehabilitation program for our project, and so after researching the topic I developed an aqua aerobic therapy program for our "injured athlete", Jason. It was a bit scary at first getting up to present because I am the only Caucasian in the class. Also I was unfamiliar with the technology system in the classroom, which is very modern, but it was basically just a touch-screen monitor and my group members helped me navigate through the system. All in all, I believe my group did really well. Something that stood out to me was that a different group presented their project in which they included a video clip that was in Korean. The video had English subtitles though, and they told me they subtitled it themselves so that I'd be able to understand it. It was really nice of them and it meant a lot knowing that they had done that.

The best part about today was getting back from class and having a package waiting for me in the lobby of my dorm! Thanks to Aunt Amy and Aunt Linda, I got the best package ever with all my favorite American snacks! And hidden at the bottom... drum roll please... CINNAMON TOAST CRUNCH, my favorite cereal!!!! I ran downstairs, and by ran I really mean I stood in front of the elevator and yelled at it to hurry up, then went to the convenient store (conveniently located in my dorm) to buy milk. So I had a wonderful appetizer of Cinnamon Toast Crunch, but don't worry, I didn't spoil my dinner because I only had a little bit. This box has to last me 2 and half more months!

I know you're all wondering about Jeju! My trip to Jeju was really incredible, I had such a wonderful time touring the island with Andrew. We didn't even want to leave! I'm definitely going to blog about it very soon when I have a bit more time (and perhaps a bit more sleep!) So stay tuned!

P.S. It seems Aunt Amy and Aunt Linda were pioneers in the international package-sending process, but don't be intimidated by their success and audacity! Don't be shy, if you'd like my address just ask!