We had another 회식 (Hweshik/school dinner) last night. I think these dinners are so fun, even if they're awkward at times. The menu was...interesting. Not the most delicious, but edible. Well, maybe not the side dishes:
These are silkworm larvae. My mentor teacher asked me to try one. So I did. It was a little bit crunchy, and then a chalky/chewy center. The flavor was really strong and salty and there's nothing I can really compare it too. It wasn't terrible, but I didn't go for seconds. My mentor teacher ate most of the bowl--she loves these things. She was telling me they are seen at fairgrounds and amusement parks a lot--at "happy places," in her words. My happy place probably wouldn't include silkworm larvae...
Another side dish (not pictured) was little hard-boiled spotty bird's eggs (I think). I didn't dare try them...
Okay, the main dish. This was a "medium" bowl (they serve a size larger), but a medium was gigantic. One of these dishes was shared between four people:
It was a hodgepodge of seafood and noodles and bean sprouts. The seafood that I recognized was octopus, crab, and shrimp. Then there were fish eggs (the brain-looking things) and some sort of crustacean with prongs and antennae-things (I didn't try it, because I couldn't tell what part of it was edible and what was its shell). The dish was incredibly spicy, but the flavor was okay.
The green bottle you can see is Cider (Sprite). Soju comes in a very similar-looking green bottle, so you have to be careful. But my whole school is so polite about my not wanting to drink alcohol. My vice principal wanted to do the Korean shot thing with me during the meal last night, so he specifically got a brand new bottle of Cider from the waitress and a clean shot glass and brought it to me so we could share and do our shots. Haha, it was so sweet of him.
(I finally worked up the courage at this Hweshik to take pictures. I think I've waited long enough that they won't think it's rude. I asked first, and my mentor teacher just laughed and said, "Of course!")
So now I can take pictures of school lunch, too! Here's today's:
Not the most exciting of the meals we've had, but it was pretty basic. Top left: imagine sweet and spicy spaghetti-os (so...not that good). Then fish sticks, peach juice, my wimpy 2 pieces of radish kimchi, tofu/vegetable broth-y soup, and bean sprout rice with a really yummy sauce. I can't wait to take more pictures of lunch to show you guys! Stay tuned.
Other school stuff:
We had school pictures today. The faculty did a picture all together. There were three rows of people. I was in the back row, standing on chairs. I was standing next to the cute older janitor lady. As we were starting to smile and pose, she reached out and grabbed my hand and we held hands for the rest of the pictures. Haha. It was the sweetest gesture. My school really has been so kind to me.
I had badminton with my school again today. I'm getting better and they compliment me a lot. With the language barrier, I still feel like I'm treated like a child, but it's just comical to me, not offensive. Yeah...who knew that I'd ever become a badminton player??
I went shopping underground a little bit and found these:
(The heart want what the heart want)
And I bought this sweatshirt:
Ahh! I just love it. It's not sweatshirt weather yet, but it's going to be so comfy and perfect when it is. It was green, only 12,000 won, and had an awesomely random English phrase--so Korean. Love it.
Okay, it's past my bedtime. Goodnight, love you!
No comments:
Post a Comment