Taking in the sights and sounds

I’m awake. I’ve eaten breakfast and I’m actually not tired, so I figured I might as well update the ol’ blog while I have a chance. Today one of my ‘Adoption Friends’ is picking up their son. Actually – their ‘meeting’ starts in 10 minutes. (and I think my heart just started racing for them!) If their son is doing well when they get back, I’ll be taking some family photos of them. I’m SUPER excited about it! There’s another family we met who got their son yesterday, and I’ll be taking photos of them too. So I’m totally looking forward to this afternoon.

Yesterday, Bob and I headed over to Namdaemun Market (I have no clue if I spelled that right, and I’m actually too lazy to look it up). So here are a few pictures of that little adventure. Just as a disclaimer, every time I took my camera out, it started to rain. So some of these shots were taken with my iphone as well. So I apologize in advance about the quality.

The market places are fun here. There’s just so much to look at and take in. And the shopping goes on and on and on. The main objective was to get to the kids section as I wanted to find some stuff for the kiddos at home.

Inside the children’s area, are rows and rows of these ‘stall’ like ‘shops’. I think some of them were literally 4×4 feet. It was crazy. There was so much cute stuff, but I’ll be honest … it wasn’t that cheap. But I did find a couple of things that I felt we couldn’t live without. Something I found so neat (but couldn’t get a picture of) was watching the Ajummas sit together and eat by their ‘shops’.  Some would sit on the counter space crossed legged, while others sat on a chair or even on the floor. Together they would share a tray filled with small dishes of rice, kimchi, tofu stew, or whatnot. I would hear their voices as they would chat and laugh and just enjoy each others company. And I’ll be honest, I kinda wanted to join them.

But instead, Bob and I went out to see if we could find us some street food. And of course, we did.

I’ll be honest. I have no clue what this stuff is. But we decided to try it anyway. Plus, it looked really good.

You were able to just pick up your own skewer and I think it cost us $2 bucks for one. Which isn’t a bad deal – and we shared.

Up Close and Personal

I think there was imitation crab inside? Again, not sure, but it was good!

We turned down a side alley and found this whole strip of little restaurants that had ‘examples’ of all their dishes. And all of them looked delicious!

I keep forgetting the name of the stuff I’m eating, but it’s ‘rice cake’ with a sweet and spicy sauce. Super good. And super cheap. The only thing that would have made it better is if I had a bigger bowl and a bigger bottle of water.

Outside one of the restaurants were these huge vats of soup. I’m not sure what kind they are, but I’m assuming they are pretty popular … since they were SUPER huge containers.

We saw these two bins outside of one of the restaurants. Inside: LIVE EELS. Crazy. We didn’t get any closer than this (and I have a zoom lens).

Later we went to this restaurant in Insadong. They are known for their Bibimbap and it is SOOOOO good! I ate here the last time I was in Korea, so I was stoked to be able to take Bob this time.

And let me just say – I think their kimchi was the best I’ve ever had. It was incredible!

Sometimes in Korea you see funny signs. Like this one.

a little Jass anyone?

Later we met up with some friends from College who are teaching English in Seoul! Who would have guessed? It was fun to hang out and we were able to bring them some stuff from ‘home’. Like Brownie Mix and Frosting. In Korea – that put them back $33. No.Joke.

So now I must go, as Bob has some shopping place he wants us to visit (I know, eat your hearts out ladies) and then hopefully we can meet up with some other families and their kiddos.

Overall, I love being here. It’s so much fun and I’m SO happy and thankful and grateful that I get to experience this wonderful place again. And the icing on the cake is that I get to share it with Bob. Oh – and just a heads up – we’ll be getting Callahan on Friday at 3:30p MY TIME. Which I think is 11:30p PST on Thursday. Whatever the case – it’s tomorrow. And I can hardly wait!