Dictionary of Korean experience

• Academy - the Korean version of cram schools or buxibans in Taiwan. Private English schools which hire a lot of foreign teachers. Rosalee works at one, while Amanda works at a community center. They both teach 5- 8 hours per day in a series of 50 minute classes. Their "big" classes are 8-13 students! The size of my smallest classes!
• BBQ - Known in Korean as Galbi (marinated beef or pork) and Sum Gip Sal (thin pork strips, almost like bacon) - one famous Korean dish which we had for lunch yesterday. It consisted of a number of side-dishes and meat which you cook in front of you on a grill, or in our case a large shovel. The meat is then dipped in sauces and wrapped in a leaf (added Kimchi is optional) and eaten. It's delicious!
• Busan - the second largest city in Korea and our destination for tomorrow! Busan is on Korea's south coast, and we will visit a beach and an aquarium as well as shopping.
• Fast food - we had fast food in a cinema/shopping center yesterday for lunch. I had sushi and Rosalee had a chicken cutlet. You look on a sign with pictures of everything offered and write down the name of what you want to eat (if you can't speak Korean), then go to the center and order at a counter where you also pay. The cashier then informs the appropriate restaurant and you look for your number displayed at one when your food is ready. So there are anout 5 or 6 restaurants on this system, which seems quite efficient to me.
• Kimchi - (Kimchee) originated in Korea and served with every meal. It's made of fermented, spicy vegetables. The most common variety is cabbage or lettuce and is red. The flavor is sour, tangy and spicy. Definitely not for everyone, but I enjoy it every now and then. My favorite is in soup, it adds such a nice taste.
• Korean - has a phonetic alphabet, so reading and writing are actually easier than speaking and listening here. I've learned how to say a very few things including "Anneyeong Haseyo" (hello) and "Comsamida" (thank you). There are Chinese characters under the Korean characters for a lot of place names, and I'm fascinated to see the Chinese influence on the language including similarities in numbers, and in directions (north, east, south, west)
• Outback - my first Outback Steakhouse experience, it was soo delicious, albiet a little pricey. We had a wonderful waitress and some of the best service I've ever received, including free frozen yogurt sundaes at the end and her running down the street after us to give us our free loaves of rye bread (which we enjoyed for breakfast the next morning
• Seoul Tower - the tallest building in Seoul. We took a cable car to the base of the tower, but tickets to the top were sold out. We still had a spectacular view of the city in the evening (around 11:00pm)
• Shabu Shabu - a large hot pot shared by two or more people, starting with beef cooked in a soup with greens and mushrooms. Next noodles are added and eaten in your own bowl, and finally, rice, egg, and onion is fried in the same pot (after the soup is emptied) it was so delicious!
• Sports - We passed by the Olympic Stadium from the 1982 (?) olympics, and everywhere we go there are posters of the national soccer team, also known as the "red devils" all of the students ask me if I like the World Cup and the Red Devils, and I think the nation was heartbroken that Korea didn't make it into the final 16 teams. When we were at City Hall, they were dismantling a huge stage and display area where people had assembled (at 4am!) to watch the game. Most students we asked also stayed up all night on Friday to watch the game. I, on the other hand, did not.
• Taxis - base rate starting at 1.80 Canadian... really cheap and Rosalee's choice mode of transportation. I think I've taken every type of public transportation Korea has to offer.
• Yeoido Full Gospel Church - The largest church in the world, which we attended on Sunday. There were at least 300,000 people in attendance that morning in a huge chapel with extended balconies. There are also sattelite churches other places in Korean and Japan. Also we attended one of 4 packed services on Sunday, bringing the total membership to over a million. Channel surfing in the evening we discovered a broadcast of the service we'd attended. You know your church is famous when.... haha Actually I heard that about 25% of Korea is Christian, and there are tons of churches and neon red crosses everywhere!

Pictures coming soon.