Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to my little sister! I decided to be the first one to write "Happy Birthday!" on her Facebook wall so I waited until 12:01am on 11/30 Korean time to post it. Looking at her wall later today, I think this may have lead to others not in my time zone to prematurely send birthday wishes. Ooooopppps!

• Life Lesson #8: Being first isn't always best.

Thanksgiving...Korean Style

It was Thanksgiving yesterday. It wasn't the first time I spent a major holiday overseas and so I knew the hurdles that were before me. The first of which was the issue of not being with my family. Many foreigners here though, knowing they are a minority and thousands of miles away from home, form a bond that feels like family. Having each other is many times the closest thing to home we have. So of course, friends were a must.

The second hurdle involved my stomach. Turkey is a rare delicacy in these parts. And stuffing?Cranberry sauce? Green bean casserole? Forget it! I decided I would prepare for the worst; no turkey. But hope for the best; a full spread.

I don't live in an area with a lot of other Americans and couldn't find any restaurants that had a Thanksgiving dinner so a friend and I decided we would go to this really nice sushi restaurant near my house. Not only is the sushi great, but they serve it to you with about 10 different side dishes. That's Thanksgivingish right? Lots of side dishes?

Anyway, the food was wonderful, the service was excellent and we had a great time!

My 2009 Thanksgiving spread

• Lesson #7: Raw fish tastes nothing like a Gray family turkey.

Insadong

On Saturday I headed out to Insadong in Seoul. Insadong reminded me of the NW district of Portland, Oregon. The tree-lined streets were narrow and lined with small, various shops. This area is most famous for its traditional style housing accompanied by an ultramodern downtown.

After having tea at a shop that had live birds inside, my friends and I walked through a market area. I stopped at one stall and looked into a boiling pot of some brown substance. I was told it was bandaegi or, boiled silkworm larvae. I paid a woman 2000 won for a small cup filled with the small bugs and quickly popped one in my mouth. My first impression was that it had a pleasant nutty flavor with a paperish texture on the outside and a bean like texture on the inside. On my second piece, my thoughts on bandaegi did I complete 180. The smell was overwhelming, the taste was, well, something I never want to experience again, and the texture was grainy.

This wasn’t the first time I’ve eaten an insect though. A couple years ago my dad and I tried grasshoppers in Beijing. Now, I wouldn’t normally try to convince someone that one bug is better than another, but just so you know, grasshopper legs taste like french-fries and bandaegi tastes like crap.

• Life Lesson #6: Some bugs taste better than others.

Clean Bill of Health

Last week I took my mandatory health check at the local hospital. It was a very basic physical check that included a drug test, STD test and more. I got my results back and my letter grade for my test was an "A"!

What does this mean? It means I can get my Alien Registration Card (Foreign ID) and I'm eligible for healthcare. While this may not be a big deal to some, it's a big deal to me. I had health insurance in the US but I never used it. I was paying about 120/month and had a 2500 deductible. Most of the time I avoided going to the doctor because until I met my deductible, everything was out of pocket. I was making about 38k/year and couldn't afford the healthcare I needed.

If I wasn't able to do it on 38k/year, how in the world can insurers expect those making less or those with families to pay for the necessary and basic healthcare they need? While there are a lot of negative aspects to having nationalized healthcare, the US must understand that the health of it's people is it's greatest asset. If a country who is still at war with their neighbor can find a way to provide coverage for it's citizens, surely the US can too.

• Life Lesson #5: American expats have access to cheaper healthcare working in Korea than in their own country.

Let's Kick It!

The other weekend I ventured into Seoul for the first since being in Korea. Heading out to Itaewan for a friends birthday, I hopped on the subway in Bucheon with a couple friends. We had to transfer trains a couple times and on our last transfer our train was delayed for about 10 minutes. We took our seats next to a laid out, sleeping Korean man who looked like he had one to many earlier that night.

Being a brave soul, I sat closest to him and continued a conversation I was having with my friends. Suddenly, I was hit in the leg by something. I turned toward our sleeping friend and saw that he was still sound asleep, but his foot was awfully close to my leg. I was sure he didn't mean any harm and turned my attention back to my friends.

Seconds later, I was hit again! I looked at the guy and saw he was still in his inebriated state of slumber. Turning toward my friends I said, "This guy just kicked me twice! If it happens again, I'm going to have to move to another seat." We all were having a good laugh about it and then whack! I was hit again.

I grabbed my jacket and moved to the other side of the train. Not before taking this sweet pic though.

• Life Lesson #4: Seat selection is extremely important!