In Korean, at the Kimbap Chunguk:
Kimbap Unnie: Do you know "military base stew"?
Me: Of course.
KB Unnie: We have it here now! It's on our new menu.
Me: Oh really? My husband loves military base stew--he'll be happy.
Another customer: Oh, your Korean is good!
Me: No, it's still not good.
Customer: It's good! How long have you lived here?
Me: One year, but...
Customer: Only one year? Wow!
Me: ...but my husband is Korean-American, so I've studied for fourth year.
KB Unnie: (laughing) You mean four years.
Me: That's embarrassing. My Korean really is bad.
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Curry, Carols, and Christmas Shopping
Short work week for me this week, thanks to Veteran's Day. It was a pretty good week too, except I didn't get to see my handsome husband until Thursday. It's all good though--we have four days together this weekend!
I had dinner on Tuesday with one of the Korean Navy lieutenants that works upstairs in my building. She's so cute! We worked together during the last exercise, then met again at a work function, and have been trying to get together for coffee or something ever since. We both ended up working late on Tuesday, and decided to leave for a little bit and grab a bite to eat before heading back to the office to finish up. She took me to a Japanese restaurant right across the street from the ah-pah-tuh that, amazingly, I'd never tried. It was so yummy! We ate curry udon (thick noodles in broth, this time curry broth) and oyakodon--a chicken, egg, and rice bowl. Mmmm. And I thoroughly enjoyed our conversation. I'm hoping we can get together more often.
On Wednesday I went to Dongdaemun to get some fabric for a skirt I've been wanting to make. The Dongdaemun arts and crafts mall is one of my favorite buildings in Seoul. Seven floors of fabric, trimmings, beads, and assorted accouterments--it's like a Hobby Lobby on steroids, only significantly more disorganized. So much fun! I was able to get the fabric I wanted (and even had the vocabulary to specify the amount!), as well as thread, scissors, chalk, a seam ripper, a zipper, pillow stuffing (in case I get motivated to make pillows to match Mike's new polka-dot duvet), and pins. Then, since I still had some time, I headed next door to one of the wholesale fashion markets, thinking of a Christmas present I'd wanted to buy. I found the item I wanted (shockingly, I was able to find the exact stall I'd remembered seeing it in, and less shockingly, ended up buying the one I'd originally liked from the first time in the shop after looking at every single option). I also bought a skinny belt I'd wanted ($4.15), and a scarf I didn't know I needed but which I've really enjoyed this weekend with the chilly weather we've had in Dongducheon ($8.70), and another Christmas present. I capped the evening off with a great street-food meal--a fresh banana smoothie and egg and cheese "toast"--really a grilled egg, veggie, and cheese sandwich with magic sauce--for about $3.45. These meals are one of the things I'm really going to miss about Korea when we leave. As is the seven-story crafts mall.
Wednesday night I headed on base for the first practice of the "Community Choir" that will be performing Handel's Messiah and a couple of carols for the Community Christmas music night. I love the Messiah, and miss singing--if my schedule were a bit more stable I might join the all-Korean choir at church. (Mike likes to say I want to be the Jackie Robinson of the choir.) Anyway, the practice was fun. The director is too cute--she kept telling the altos to make our voices "fluffy," and the sopranos to use the big spaces in their heads to bounce the sound around. I'm still trying to figure out if the translation for "Jingle Bells" really means "gun-pop sound"...I'm thinking my Korean might be a little fuzzy on the details here. The funniest part of the evening, however, occurred when we pulled out what we thought was "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" and found, instead, "I Wish Your Merry Christmas." Hehe. I guess it does sound similar when you sing it fast.
I had dinner on Tuesday with one of the Korean Navy lieutenants that works upstairs in my building. She's so cute! We worked together during the last exercise, then met again at a work function, and have been trying to get together for coffee or something ever since. We both ended up working late on Tuesday, and decided to leave for a little bit and grab a bite to eat before heading back to the office to finish up. She took me to a Japanese restaurant right across the street from the ah-pah-tuh that, amazingly, I'd never tried. It was so yummy! We ate curry udon (thick noodles in broth, this time curry broth) and oyakodon--a chicken, egg, and rice bowl. Mmmm. And I thoroughly enjoyed our conversation. I'm hoping we can get together more often.
On Wednesday I went to Dongdaemun to get some fabric for a skirt I've been wanting to make. The Dongdaemun arts and crafts mall is one of my favorite buildings in Seoul. Seven floors of fabric, trimmings, beads, and assorted accouterments--it's like a Hobby Lobby on steroids, only significantly more disorganized. So much fun! I was able to get the fabric I wanted (and even had the vocabulary to specify the amount!), as well as thread, scissors, chalk, a seam ripper, a zipper, pillow stuffing (in case I get motivated to make pillows to match Mike's new polka-dot duvet), and pins. Then, since I still had some time, I headed next door to one of the wholesale fashion markets, thinking of a Christmas present I'd wanted to buy. I found the item I wanted (shockingly, I was able to find the exact stall I'd remembered seeing it in, and less shockingly, ended up buying the one I'd originally liked from the first time in the shop after looking at every single option). I also bought a skinny belt I'd wanted ($4.15), and a scarf I didn't know I needed but which I've really enjoyed this weekend with the chilly weather we've had in Dongducheon ($8.70), and another Christmas present. I capped the evening off with a great street-food meal--a fresh banana smoothie and egg and cheese "toast"--really a grilled egg, veggie, and cheese sandwich with magic sauce--for about $3.45. These meals are one of the things I'm really going to miss about Korea when we leave. As is the seven-story crafts mall.
Wednesday night I headed on base for the first practice of the "Community Choir" that will be performing Handel's Messiah and a couple of carols for the Community Christmas music night. I love the Messiah, and miss singing--if my schedule were a bit more stable I might join the all-Korean choir at church. (Mike likes to say I want to be the Jackie Robinson of the choir.) Anyway, the practice was fun. The director is too cute--she kept telling the altos to make our voices "fluffy," and the sopranos to use the big spaces in their heads to bounce the sound around. I'm still trying to figure out if the translation for "Jingle Bells" really means "gun-pop sound"...I'm thinking my Korean might be a little fuzzy on the details here. The funniest part of the evening, however, occurred when we pulled out what we thought was "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" and found, instead, "I Wish Your Merry Christmas." Hehe. I guess it does sound similar when you sing it fast.
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Saturday at the Palace
Mike and I had such a nice weekend this weekend. It was the first weekend in a while that I wasn't feeling at least a little under the weather, the weather was awesome, and--best of all--we were together for almost the whole weekend!
We decided to take advantage of the weather and go see the grounds and fall foliage at one of the smaller palaces in Seoul, Deoksugung. We got there just in time to catch a reenactment of a diplomatic ceremony.
After the palace, we had a late lunch and walked across the street to the Seoul Museum of Art. I'd been wanting to see the photography exhibit that's there.
We ended our day with takeout from Kimbap Chungook and re-watched a couple of episodes of Firefly. Such a great day!
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Busan
I tried to post this once, but it got lost in the nethers of the interwebs. So, take 2.
I was so glad we were able to go to Busan again while Michelle was here! We intended to go down early Saturday morning, but when we got to the train station we discovered everything was sold out until noon. We ended up just hanging out at a cafe in the train station.
The weather was beautiful, as was the countryside we passed through on the train trip down.
The Busan International Film Festival was going on while we were there (one reason we couldn't get earlier train tickets); when we got to Busan there were a bunch of police in Samuri suits gathering in a square nearby.
That afternoon we went to the big fish market by the harbor.
Dinner was hwae at a local restaurant.
And Kun Komo made us a feast for breakfast.
So good to see family!
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