My students took their final exams today, so I’m done with university classes until September.  I’ve still got to teach our university’s children camp in July, but that will be easy.  It’s four weeks, Monday through Thursday, 1 to 5pm.  I’ll take the opportunity to go workout at least five days a week, and get my fitness on.

After the exams tonight, most of the teachers went out for beer and chicken at “Mexicana Chicken”, near my apartment.  The last time I had “Mexicana Chicken” was when the World Trade Center collapsed!  At that time,  Ras and I were living in Gangneung, Gangwon-do, and we were waiting to pick up our chicken order at the restaurant.  The TV was on, and I saw some tall building with smoke billowing from the top.  The woman there spoke in broken English, telling us she had a sister in New York.  I didn’t know what the heck she was talking about, thinking she was just trying to make polite conversation because we told her we were American.  We didn’t think anything of it until our Korean friend called on Ras’ cell phone when we were almost out of the restaurant.  He said, “Turn on the TV, your country is under attack!“  WHAT!?!  We rushed home to find more information on the internet because we didn’t have a TV.  It was so surreal to be abroad when such a monumental event happened back home.  To this day, I still don’t think I have a full grasp on what happened because all my information was diluted through the internet.  I missed not having updates from the nightly news, investigative reports, in-depth stories about heroes from the event, or a constant stream of information.  I didn’t really “feel” it like Americans did at home, and I miss that.

Anyway, getting back to my topic…  Its been almost seven years since I’ve had Mexicana Chicken.  And let me tell you, it was delicious!

While there, we had a bit of a shock when an ajumma (older lady) decided to say hello.  Needless to say, she had a little too much to drink.

Now do you see why I always carry a camera with me?  You never know what life will throw at you, so be ready to capture it.

Since I’ve got a lot more free time now, I’m back to regular posting.  Check back often.

Last week was “Festival Week” on campus.  It wasn’t as loud and rambunctious as on other campuses in Korea because my university has a no alcohol and smoking policy.  There weren’t a lot of people on campus for the afternoon festivities, and I felt a little bad for the students.  I tried to spend some money were I could, to help the student groups raise funds.

The foreign teachers also had our own booth, with our homemade food.  (I made carrot cake.)  It was all kind of thrown together quickly, but we did pretty well.  All the money raised is going to help the cyclone survivors in Myanmar.  Vegemite was the least popular food, which wasn’t a surprise.  One teacher tricked some students into thinking it tasted like chocolate and gave them a huge free sample.  You should have seen their faces!  I thought for sure they’d throw up in their mouths.  I also had some Vegemite for the second time in my life, and it was “okay.”  Not something I would crave, but it must be one of those things that grows on you.

On the second day of the festival, the Korean girl group “Jewelry” performed.  Two songs they sang were live, and two were lip-synced.  Can you tell what category the following song falls into?

You might as well have been watching this video - they both sound a little too perfect.

Yesterday, Bart drove Ras and I to have an early dinner at a relatively famous restaurant in Gunpo called “Chakhangogi.”  It’s located off a main road, but is deep in the country.  It was originally a cattle farm, eventually opening up a butchery on site, and soon was providing seats for people to grill their newly purchased beef.  It’s not even really a restaurant, but a covered outdoor area with low tables and plastic stools.  Hey, as long as the food’s good, I’m not picky.

Once you get there and order your meat, the butcher cuts it up and will bring it to your table ten minutes later.  It cost 28,000 won for 600g (of some cut I can’t remember).  Of course, the price reflects that it’s  “hanwoo” beef and very fresh.  In the meantime, we had to go to another area to get the lettuce, “saamjaang,” garlic, salt and kimchi.  Once the meat is bought, everything else is sold separately.  Our lunch tray of goodies cost 4500 won each.

This place is simple, delicious, and with no frills.  Since the restaurant doesn’t serve rice or side dishes, customers can bring their own rice if they want.  For that matter, they can bring anything else they want: extra vegetable for grilling, chigae,  or their own alcohol.  You don’t really have to bring the latter, since beers were 2000 won a bottle (but not very cold).

Bart and Ras were loving their rare pieces of beef.  The meat was delicious and we’re definitely coming back.

(Left: The cows near the parking lot.  Right: The view from the parking lot.)

More pictures can be seen here.

Yesterday, I was walking home from the swimming pool and decided to get an ice cream for the walk home.  I spotted one of my favorites at the corner store and went to pay without thinking about it.  Once outside, I opened the package and started to enjoy the apple and strawberry popsicle.  For the first time EVER, I read the package.  I was enjoying a Big Screw!  Yup, that’s the name of the popsicle.  Well, at least it wasn’t a Small Screw.

From now on, I’ll have to take notice of what my other favorite ice creams are called!

This afternoon, I tested out a carrot cake recipe for a batch I’m going to make on Wednesday.  I used this recipe from Epricurious.com and it turned out to be quite excellent.  Taking advice from other reviewers, I decided to use only 1 cup of oil, cut the sugar to 1 cup, add 3/4 more carrots, and use walnuts instead of raisins.  The end product was moist and not too sweet.  The addition of orange juice and orange zest were also a nice touch.  I opted not to make the cream cheese frosting since I already had a container of pecan/coconut frosting.  It was so good hot.

If you have an oven, I’d definitely recommend making a batch.