I am the foreigner!

First of all, I just want to start by saying, Korea is an amazing place.  Adam and I are very fortunate to work with extremely nice and welcoming people, all whom made our transition into the east successful to date.  I am starting to shake my jetlag, and I'm feeling back to my normal self.  I thought it would only be appropriate to dedicate my first non jetlag post to food!  If you know me at all, you know that I love to eat and enjoy nothing more than eating  "good" food with family and friends.  Korean food is delicious.  You definitely have to have an open food palette to survive here.  It is common to walk down the street and see tanks of live sea creatures on the sidewalk ready for you to eat.  Kinda weird, kinda smelly at times, but the Koreans like it fresh!  The Koreans also love condiments and sides.  Every meal is served with at least five side dishes [kimchi (patty singer, I do like it <3), sweet radishes, seaweed at times, fresh garlic...] Below are pictures of our food adventures to date (theses aren't our pictures, but are good representations).

Korean BBQ:  Yummy!  You are served raw meat (we had pork) and you cook at your table.  You wrap the meat in bib lettuce.  

Pork Spine Soup (Gamjatang):  Yes, I know, it sounds gross.  It is served with the bones in the soup.  This was more on the spicy side, which I enjoyed.  You spend about 10minutes deboning the soup and then add rice.  The meat was very tender :)  This is my favorite so far.

Chicken soup with ginseng (Samgyetang):  The whole chicken is served in the bowl.  It is stuffed with rice and spices.  Also spend about 10 minutes deboning.   Minus the whole chicken in your bowl, comparable to chicken noodle soup.

Live Octopus:  The octopus is in a tank and brought to the table once ordered.  The tentacles are actually moving on the plate. Extremely creepy, but it was delicious.  I am a huge octopus and calamari fan, and this tops the best that I've ever had.  I dipped it in soy/wasabi.  You need to chew the tentacles vigorously (as Adam said), or they can stick to your throat- Amazing!  Watch this youtube video to see what I am actually talking about (Click me- live octopus video!!).

Silkworm larvae: honestly, f-ing disgusting.  No offense to people who like this, but it looks like a beetle, and I had no desire to try.  I passed on  this, but Adam tried one.  I give him a lot of credit.  My stomach still turns looking at this.  

Ramon Noodles- I know you just cringed mom, but it is delicious here.  Adam's friend recommend a flavor, and its amazing. It's a red spicy broth.  We enjoyed it so much that we had it the past two nights :)

Korean Jet Lag

Greetings, my faithful followers! Sorry it has taken me a few days to update; I have a serious case of korean jet lag that I have not been able to shake.  The past few days have been quite a whirlwind (in a good way).  I am definitely far far away from the dirty wonderful streets of philadelphia.  I'm too tired to go into details, but below are a few pictures.

Outside School

Walking in the neighborhood.  The hanging lanterns are for Buddha's birthday :)

Lake by our apartment, which I have been enjoying morning walks around (okay, only one).

Meet our apartment

Apartment door.  No, I dont understand the flyers either. 

Entrance

Messy room

Closet

Bathroom.  Nice tub!

Kitchen

Window View

Another window view

Pill-Pill heaven!

Good night from Korea- we need to sleep (check out those jet lagged bags :)

The best is yet to come...

All of this moving away for a year has got me thinking, what will i miss?  Besides the obvious of my family and friends, I don't have the slightest idea of what to expect when i arrive in korea.  I'm secretly hoping they think i'm a skinny model..  But anyways, below are the top 3 non-neccessaties that I "think" I will miss the most (not in any order of importance).

#1 The Bat Mobile aka Cam Cam
-Not only is she 13 years old (that's about 104 in car years), but she has been with me for 7 years, which is longer than any boyfriend i've ever had.  We have a bond.  Today was my last day with her, and needless to say I was extremely emotional as i cleaned out all the empty seltzer bottles and dunkin donut cups for the last time.  I've complained that she was ugly, but down deep I will truly miss her.

#2 The Bath Tub
-You may think I am weird and gross, but I love myself a good bath!  I don't know a lot about my apartment, but I do know there is no tub.  In fact there is just a shower head in the middle of the bathroom with a drain in the middle.  No curtain, no wall, just straight soaking wet. ..I will have to find my morning zen somewhere else...

#3 The Jewish Buffat
 -The best part about being half Jewish, is the food!  The average person may have chosen a steak for their last supper, but I went with the whitefish salad.  My last day would not have been complete without a stop at Famous Deli, home of the best whitefish salad in all of philadelphia.  It was perfectly paired with cheese kugel and a bottle of seltzer.  I have a good feeling whitefish won't make the Korean brunch menu (do they even have bagels?); I hope today will last me for a while or until I find a replacement...mozel tov!

That sums up the top 3.  I'll see what happens when I'm actually over there.  Goodbye to all my family and friends, and thanks for all your support and love!  I will talk to you next from Korea!!!

P.S and a special thank you to Justin and Brie for driving us up here :)