Chicken

Been a fairly quiet week. Went out to dinner  Sunday. Had a chicken galbi with fried rice that was really spicy. Even the Koreans thought so. Still, I managed to eat it though it actually numbed my lips a bit.
Also ate at the faculty staff cafeteria a couple times. It's a bit of an adventure because I never know what they'll be serving. Had squid one day and bibimbap the next. Both reasonably tasty.

Cooked microwave roast chicken tonight. Really small chicken -- 500 grams. Note the fork to the left of the plate. The brown color comes from rubbing with a mixture of oyster and soy sauce. Came out quite well.

A trip to the countryside

A Korean acquaintance invited me to visit the place where he grew up. This particular house is over 400 years old and is the ancestral home of his family. It is undergoing renovation. The second picture is of the family crypt.


It was good to get out of the city and to see the Korean countryside. The fields are fairly small because the country is so mountainous. They were in the middle of harvesting rice. As in many countries the rural population in Korea is declining. It's difficult to make much money farming.

Ondol

It is getting a bit chilly here so I decided to make sure the heat works. Korean's generally heat with an underfloor hot water system called an Ondol. This is mine. There are no less than six valves: main inlet and outlet valves and four "zones." There is only one thermostat, in the living room, so the zones are basically heat or no heat. They are not labeled so it is a matter of turning them off or on and seeing which floors get warm. I just tested it to make sure it worked (it's not really cold yet in the apartment).
From what I've seen most apartments have their own boilers for the Ondol and domestic hot water. Mine does not. I'm guessing there's one for the building somewhere.
I did experience Ondol heating when I interviewed for the job in March. Quite pleasant -- beats the heck out of the forced air heat pump system I had back in the states for comfort at least.

Keeping busy but out of trouble ...

I've mostly been too busy to update. Mostly work but some fun as well.
Went out to dinner Friday last with K.E., a colleague from work. We'd planned to meet up with some other international faculty but couldn't find any. Fried chicken and beer. I actually walked all the way home -- just because. It's quite a ways.
Saturday I was supposed to meet up with one of my other language exchange partners but she was ill.

Joined the English language study group Sunday afternoon. Chatted for awhile and then had dinner at the Holy Grille, an international restaurant in downtown Daegu. We were a bit disappointed in the food which all the Koreans found too oily.



Monday K.E., his wife A., and daughter attended an organ concert with me.  Pretty spectacular. The photo is of Adams Chapel at Keimyung and that is a pretty serious instrument. One of the music teachers was retiring. She actually welcomed me to the concert but I didn't realize who she was at first. Very gracious lady and a very moving event.

Adams Chapel is actually up a pretty serious hill. I walked there and back after the reception. Quite a view.

Finally, in other exciting news, I cooked a chicken in the microwave. Since I don't have a conventional oven (they're rare in Korea) the only way to "roast" a chicken is in the microwave. Turned out edible though a little bland (need to get more spices and such). Had it with some steamed vegetables (also made in the microwave) and salad.

I'm so domestic

It may come as a surprise to those who think they know me but I am quite capable of performing domestic tasks. I generally manage to cook (for some values of cooking) and keep the place, and myself, reasonably

clean. 

Yesterday I cooked a chicken. The chicken was 500 grams, just a bit over a pound. I was thinking as I did it "Wow, Korean chickens are really small" but, on reflection, realized that what we get in the US are  giant mutant overfed monstrosities. Not fancy cooking I just cut it up (and yes I still have all my fingers) browned it with some onions and added cream soup (from a mix). But I also made my own salad dressing (oil, vinegar, some brown sugar and mustard). Just call me Betty Crocker.
In other minor triumphs a found a source for whole wheat bread. Quite tasty actually. And I managed to toast some in the frying pan -- toasters are for sissies (actually I'd like a toaster oven but they don't seem to have immigrated here). I also managed to iron some shirts without burning them, myself, or the building.

Chuseok

It's Chuseok this weekend. Chuseok Visit Korea site (although they don't have the current date. It's a lunar festival and they forgot to update the page.). I of course can't do any of those things. Best I could do is call my mom (I'm much better about calling my mother these days -- mostly because I know she worries about me). So I'm sitting in my apartment feeling a bit lonely. Was just listening to Simon and Garfunkel, "Homeward Bound" -- I wish I were. But as Thomas Wolfe writes: You Can't Go Home Again. Other than that I'm doing fine..