Dumplings!

Every now and then, the dorms will give us little gifts in our mailboxes, like the baked eggs for easter. Yesterday, there were some "Ugly Dumplings" waiting for us :P

They were really sticky and the bean paste was sweet and rather dry. I liked them, but they made me a bit thirsty...and then I was craving chocolate :P

I also had another day of volunteering for the kids today! They had me read a little book in English to them...but the first book they chose was The Rescuers Down Under and it was a bit long and complicated so I had to stop early, which was for the best cos they had no idea what was going on anyway. For the next group of kids (theres a lot in the class so they switched groups out), I read the 3 little pigs, and two traditional Korean stories that were translated into English. They were Padjwi and Kongjwi (a cinderella-type story), and Heungbu and Nolbu (the story teaches that if you are good and help others then you will live a happy and successful life).

So that was lots of fun :)
In other news, it's Friday, and even though some of my friend are a bit sick, i"m gonna try to go out and have fun tonight!
haha as I was typing that my friend just texted me that there's lots of hot guys in Shincheon (the part of the city right next to us)!!
Looks like I know where I'm going tonight, eh?
OK that's all for now, I'm gonna go and be young and stuff
Love you all!

Tea Ceremony at Unhyon Palace: House of Hungsun Taewon-Kun

We went on a short field trip to Unhyon Palace, the House of Hungsun Taewon-Kun, who was the father of King Kojong. At the house, we were taught and participated in a traditional tea ceremony, learning how to warm the cups, brew the tea, how to hold the cup and drink it, cover our mouths when eating the snack, and thank the host properly:

Her Hanbok (traditional dress) was so pretty!

Now here's some pictures of the food I've been having the past few days :)

Jajjangmyeon- Black Bean noodles, with quail egg, cucumber, and pickled radish

Garlic Pork Fried Rice!!! SO GOOD HOLY COW (From Han's Deli)

My friend's meal: Spicy Chicken fried rice

closeup of the pineapple and...weird clear gelatin thing? I thought it was an ice cube. It was pretty good actually :)

Pizza with mashed sweet potato and pepperoni! Really good actually!

Kimchi farm experience

We (exchange students and Peace Buddies) went to a farm place on Saturday to make Kimchi, dye traditional handkerchiefs, play traditional games, and make rice dumplings! Sadly, the weather was cold and rainy, but other than that, it was pretty fun:

tied and pre-dyed handkerchief....

Making Kimchi!!

Mountains in the fog

Smashing rice to make dumplings :)

finished dumplings, coated in a sweet soy powder?? Chewy and good :)

These are examples of what finished handkerchiefs look like

 I'll add a picture of my handkerchief later...It's really cool cos they're dyed from local red mud that is supposed to have beneficial health qualities too :)

We drove under a bridge with Cavemen and saber tooth tigers on it.....

Traditional Korean Village/I look cute in a Hanbok

Today (Sunday) I went to Namsangol, a traditional korean village, with some Peace Buddies and friends....

detail of underneath the first gate

Namsan Tower (there's lots of photos of it here :P)

weaving straw shoes

Old and New

Seoul Time Capsule

Dominos has yummy looking toppings in Korea

more korean movie posters

 EDIT: Added more pictures, from a PEACE Buddy's camera :)