On the Streets!

I am now on winter break! It's like being in college all over again except better because I get an even longer break, about six weeks. It's a bit crazy, buuuuut I can't complain. The month started off with winter camp. It was a fun couple of weeks. We had a good turn out, about twenty kids, and we all learned and had fun. If you are curious, there are some pictures on Facebook. Now I'm  just enjoying the time off and trying to keep myself busy. One way I'm doing that is by writing this blog. So, today I'm going to educate you about the Korean streets! No, I don't mean the streets as in "the hood" or "the hard knock life", I'm talking about food! and a few other surprises you can find as you walk to the store or the bus or pc bong (internate cafe) or the mart or the noraebong (singing room aka karaoke) or...

First of all, there is a lot of interesting food. The most let's say "exotic" thing you can find is "beundegi". What is it? Silk worms! They are usually steamed and have a distinct smell that you can't misplace or escape. I have tried them and they are ok...but, I probably never need to taste them again. However, a good majority of Koreans love them and pop em' like peanuts. 

Moving on to better tasting things...my favorite street foods are "bungeoppang" and "hodo pang" or, respectively, red bean filled carp bread and walnut cakes. They are both types of cakes that are cooked in machines similar to waffle irons by people in small stands on the street. For one dollar you can get three fish or for two dollars you can get about ten walnut cakes. They are the perfect snack when you are walking on a cold day. At the fish stands, you can also get fish cake (the actual processed seafood cake) and a drink of warm broth that is also very when you are waiting for the bus on these cold days.

 

Bungeoppang Stand                               Fish cakes and an adjumma making bungeoppang

Bungeoppang!

Two other favorites of mine are roasted sweet potatoes and "ddeokbokki". A favorite snack or dessert of many Koreans are grilled or roasted sweet potatoes and you can sometimes buy them on the street as a healthy alternative. Probably one of the most famous Korean street foods though, is "ddeokbokki". It's usually made of a mix of red pepper paste, rice cake, fish cake, and onion. It's spicy and o so good. 

Ddeokbokki

Then there are, of course, the many kinds of sausages and fried foods that show up in all cultures. I haven't explored these too thoroughly, but you can get a gist of them from the pictures. 

Bigger than just food, there are also what are known as "pojangmacha". These glorious orange wonders only appear at night. During the day they are stripped down and set aside. Basically they are bar tents. Usually run by a bad ass adjumma, they serve various kinds of food, snacks, beer, and of course, soju. Relatively cheap, people go here to unwind after a long day at work. Below are some pictures of the last time I went.

Outside of the tent...and inside everyone is preparing food. 

         We had soju and the best omelet in the world! 

While there are many other interesting things to discover as you walk around any Korean city, there is one more I have to mention, the "kudu byung hwan" or the shoe hospital! These little shacks are scattered through out the city and, just as you might imagine, they fix shoes. One day my heel on my high-heels broke, so I stopped in and ten minutes later, for the whopping price of three dollars, I walked away with a virtually brand new pair of shoes.

 The shoe hospital

As you can see, there are many wonderful and interesting things on the streets of Korea, however, there are two major draw backs: a sever lack of garbage cans and the entire absence of salt, sand, or anything else to get ride of the ice rink most of the side streets and sidewalks have become. You adapt though and carry your garbage (or litter - not my choice) and walk more carefully. Well, all of this has made me hungry, I'm going to go find some walnut cakes... see you next time!