There’s a
Korean word, which I can’t even pronounce much less try to write, that is for
the last frost before spring. The cold is jealous of the budding trees, as the ancient
lore goes, and tries to snap back. Luckily for us, the flowers are prevailing and color is making its way into
the landscape.
The winter weather
didn’t bring much snow, but temperatures fell to the teens for long stretches.
Our weeks consist primarily of work Monday through Saturday (hence the lapse in
posts!) and Koreans love overtime, an obligatory honor passed on to us employees. My walk to work is, well, "nothing special," a Koreanism our students like to say, but all is well at my school (YBM) and Zak's (Language Cube).
Weekends –
that is, Saturday evening and Sunday – are the time to tend to the could-be mundane
(check out our kitchen! and laundry is all hang dry, about a 3 day process)
but we like to keep it creative. We also take time to explore Seoul, often
with no specific destination making it even more interesting. Here’s a bit of a
photo journey of the last month and a half, and we have some fun plans coming
up soon including the Cherry Blossom Festival, a trip to the East China Sea,
and a temple stay. More to come!
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| Lots of one-pot meals these days. |
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| Korean sliders in parilla (sesame) leaves from our local CSA box. |
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I can never say a kitchen is too small after this experience.
Luckily we found a metro rack (aka the mobile kitchen) to help us out. |
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| Chocolate mousse with local eggs and buttercream. |
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Usually used as kimchi, we decided to try something
different with daikon - stovetop fries. Yum! |
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| Wintertime is good for tea. Koreans sure know how to do this one! |
Bongeunsa Temple in Gangnam
Just a short walk north of our neighborhood and we're hiking!
And the random "others" (another Koreanism)
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| Gift idea, anyone? |
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"The value want to possess"
The signage never ceases to amuse us. |
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| Apparently a Korean wartime tradition. Coffee with egg and nuts. |
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| A door made just for me! |
