Well today is the end of the work week, as tomorrow is Korea's Memorial Day, and is observed. Since I last blogged I have been able to go to some retail stores to see how meat is marketed and sold. It amazed me that what they call BBQ (thin strips of meat) is more expensive than a fillet - differences in cultures I guess. Yesterday we also went to a street market where they sell all the offal, heads, intestines, and pretty much anything you can imagine right out of the booth. Everything was laying on the ground before it was washed and put into a bucket or refrigerator - and they are worried about importing beef from the US!
For lunch we had Korean BBQ, which consists of cooking thin strips of meat over a charcoal/gas burner. It is served with about 10 side dishes. It is actually pretty good. I have always told myself I would try anything once, and if I did not like anything I would never have it again, but at least I could say I tried it. Well yesterday was that day. One of the side dishes was little pieces of raw liver and tripe served with a sauce; so I tried the liver; ewww, tastes too much like blood; then I tried the tripe, flavorless and chewy. Now I can scratch those of my list of things to eat; I better watch out, the travel channel will be calling for an episode with Andrew Zimmern.
Tomorrow I will be meeting up with a couple of guys that are here from DC doing some research and we are going sight seeing and will do some shopping. It should be pretty fun since I haven't ventured far from the hotel.
The riots are still going, but are becoming less about beef and more political; the hotel and the US Embassy have both sent out warnings for tourists not to go out at night and just to be safe - no worries, I am in before dark.
Some of you have asked about culture shock, and some things I am still adjusting to are: the fact there are very few non-Koreans here, the meals always have a lot of vegetables (I probably get more vegis in one day than I would in 4-5 in the states), of course the language is difficult and luckily for me ~85% of Koreans speak good English, the dress code for business professionals is dark clothing (yeah, and I have a lot of bright things in my wardrobe). That is all I can think of now; if you want to know something just ask, I ask a lot of questions - even if they may not be appropriate.
Have a great weekend. Cheers.
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5 comments:
Veggies are a good thing. That's interesting that you ate raw liver. You would barely eat cooked liver when you were young. Tripe is a bit tasteless and definately chewy. You should have more garlic and some red wine to wash it down. Maybe you'll jazz up the workplace with your loud clothes. I am presenting 3 Cattlewomen scholarships in S.V. tonight.
Gotta go and feed sheep and be off to work. Take Care kid. LOVE YA, MOM
Thats good that you have people to go shopping a sight seeing with. I bet you'll have fun! So they eat beef of the ground and they are worried about eating an older cow?? Nice! Well, have fun sight seeing and even though you want to try everything, please dont eat any cats or dogs!! lol
hey stranger...sounds like you are have fun! Wish I was there! Have you found any cool veggies....How about insects? I should have sent you some vials so you could collect me a few cool ones!! Take care! Miss ya.
PS. did you leave key anywhere?
Go you! Hope you are having a wonderful time, doing your own thing! Must be fun to explore by yourself. Though be careful, looks like the protests may have stepped up one notch!
I know you are game to try any type of food! Well as you said, two off your list!
As I said, I saw the UFC thing Saturday night, was very entertaining. The crowd was well behaved apart from the occassional bout of booing. They also did the Mexican wave!
I miss and love you!
Take care!
Hey friend,
So this is my second attempt to post a comment to you, Dang computer!! This is pretty cool, to read what you have been up to. I still can't believe you ate raw liver, GROSS!!!! It must be crazy to see all the riots going on. Personally, I think the U.S. should give them the big ol' finger and say fine we dont need your business. But we all know it's got nothing to do with food safety and everything to do with politics! Well, we havent been up to much here. I did have an hour long interview with the ARC Branch last Tuesday. He said they should have things wrapped up in a couple of weeks. I'll keep you posted. Well, I guess I better wrap this up, have fun, be safe, and let me know you address, i was also thinking of sending a care package!! Laters
Lacey
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