A Day on the Town

Well, I’m fired for not taking photos of the million and one new Korean foods I’ve tried today. My stomach is bursting and about to go on strike entirely. I don’t even know how I’ve managed to get away with consuming some of the things that I have today, without them paying a return visit (i.e. silkworm larvae… are you kidding me?? YES, I actually did swallow it…). Actually, I take that back – I do have a photo of the silkworms.
I spent the afternoon with Rianna, Aisha, and their Korean friend, whom I christened with the English name of Nathan. (He called last night while we were in the middle of a high-stakes round of Yahtzee and asked to speak with me. “You have lunch-ee tomorrow, OK?” he asked. I gathered that he was asking if we could have lunch tomorrow. When I asked his name, I tried to repeat it back, only to evoke serious laughter from the girls. It wasn’t until later that night, while traipsing through Seosan on our night walk, that they told me I had called him, roughly, “Yellow Rice Boy.” Ha ha, joke’s on the English teacher. I better get used to the fact that my Korean pronunciation leaves something to be desired…)
We took some of the backstreets through town to a little Japanese noodle shop for a late lunch. On the way, we passed street scenes that reminded so much of Taiwan – old women sitting cross-legged on the hard cement with little plastic baskets filled with greens picked from the fields, honking cars squeezing down narrow one-lane streets and alleyways, pickup trucks spilling over with radishes and onions, and shop after shop with merchandise spilling out into the sidewalk for passersby to peruse. Lunch was a plate of breaded pork, served atop a spicy layer of cabbage, with a side of pickled daikon radish and cucumber kimchi.
We finished up lunch with a sweet snack at a trendy little place called “Fresh Berry.” I tried not to twist up my face too terribly as I watched Aisha stir together the ice cream, fresh fruit, and black beans (yes, beans!) with crushed ice. It actually wasn’t so bad. Still, I told her, you’re never gonna find black beans on a dessert menu back in the States. Oh well, when in Rome….