NaBloPoMo 2015: Day 6 "Noms"

#20 "Try a new food"

One glorious long weekend ago, Adam and I went to Sokcho, Gwangwon-do province, which is the northeastern-most province in South Korea. It was a terrifying prospect: a 6-hour-long bus ride there and back, but 100% worth it!

It was stunning.

We hiked two days in Seoraksan National Park.

We explored.

We both made the rock move!

Temple views

Legit bouldering at the peak

We made friends.

It was a masssssssive Buddha!

New friend, Erin - we all made it to the top of the 7th highest mountain in Korea!

We ate. And I ate something I've surprisingly never tried before in Korea: gamja jeon, which translates roughly to potato pancake.

I did not capture the moment on camera, because I wasn't expecting to love it so much!

I have tried various types of jeon (savory pancakes, usually full of tentacles and green onion), without being too crazy over them. But potato jeon? That jeon is my jam! And man oh man did it taste good in that fresh mountain air.

As I stuffed my mouth, I exclaimed to Adam, "How have I never tried this before??" and then immediately followed that with "Hey! This is my 'try a new food' from my list!" :D

If you ever get the chance, Seoraksan and gamja jeon both come highly recommended. 10 out of 10 would eat and visit again.

Bellyful,

Anna

p.s. These are belated, because while my sister was here, I said NO to spending time on the computer, and YES to spending quality time with her.

NaBloPoMo 2014: Day 11 "Up where the air is clear..."

One of the other numerous changes that this year has brought about is that in February, we moved to a new apartment. Actually, we technically moved into our first Korean apartment. Despite living in two other abodes since 2012, we have never actually lived in a proper Korean apartment. We lived in "two-rooms", which are tiny 4-story boxes with terrible insulation and perfect mold culture conditions and barely enough space for 1 person. But we actually never imagined living in the legit, high-rise apartment complexes that are so ubiquitous across the landscapes of Korea.

This is because you have to have 10s of thousands of dollars to pay something called "Key money," which is a massive deposit that most foreigners couldn't even dream of affording.

However. We got lucky. While looking for an apartment that was closer to my then-new job, we stumbled onto a gem: a 17th-floor, 2 bedroom, spacious apartment with a key money price that we could afford, and rent that's well below our housing allowance. How could we resist?

Ours is circled up there: middle right, second from top

I love this place. Adam loves it, too.

The extra space means that we can host friends and family (and do, almost every week!), we have an actual KITCHEN with a FULL-SIZED OVEN and a HUMONGOUS FRIDGE* and room left over to work out to our Bob Harper DVDs, when we're so inclined.

*caps-lock used to emphasize items that make us the envy of all our friends. mwahhahah

The almost-best part of this lovely little home is that is also comes with a bathtub. A BATHTUB. For ESL teachers in Korea, this is almost unheard-of. About 5 minutes ago, I exited an hour-long bathing excursion, fueled by sore muscles (ugh, squats....) and Lush bubble bath and Gilmore Girls. 'Twas glorious.

But even if the bathtub hadn't been the most exciting complete selling point, I think we would have still taken it. Because the absolute best thing about this apartment is the view. From the 17th floor, we have the perspective of the clouds. We have bedroom windows that are warmed by the morning sun, and a wall of windows that look out upon Mount Mudeung, the biggest mountain in Gwangju. She's a beautiful mountain range.

                                            

                                             

                                             

                                             

I'm crazy about heights. I love being on the highest possible point of wherever I am: mountains, buildings, towers, airplanes, trees... There's a very distinct and intoxicating kind of elation that I experience when I'm high above the ground. With a different perspective, breathing a different layer of air, tracing terrestrial pathways and roadways with my eyes, laying my mental map over the spread of earth below me to get my bearings.

One of the greatest constant joys of this year has been this apartment. I will be sorry to have to leave it in the end.

Carpe diem, enjoy every sunrise while you got 'em.

SQUATS: So sore... but DONE. 110.
SPLITS: 2 mins 40 secs on each leg. DONE.
BOOKS: Chugging along in Dubliners. OH!: Thanks Mom for the new awesome book gift, by the way! I'll be reading it immediately after Gone Girl. <3 p="">WATER: Gah, my weak point. I usually drink 2 cups of tea in the morning at work, and cold water sounds so unappealing when I'm fighting off the chill of the day. So, imma work on this.