BENNIGANS!

This past Tuesday we decided to indulge in some sweet sweet North American Bennigans. PS...they do serve kimchi here and they make a mean deep fried sandwich.


This is our waiter, Boya. He seemed to like practicing his English on us. He was really friendly and even gave us two loaves of bread as a parting gift.

The best part of dinner was by far the dessert. The Death By Chocolate is exactly what the name suggests, chocolate everywhere! With extra chocolate syrup on the side! It couldn't have been better!




We left a happy couple!

A Weekend Of Firsts!

This weekend we decided to branch out and try some new things, authentic Korean new things. Below is Anne's first indulgence with the Korean staple, Kimchi. That's some spicy cabbage!


We both decided to go with a meal that we heard was really good. It was bulgogi dup bap which is basically pork, some onion and the bap is rice. Very good!

Next came the Korean alcohol of choice....SOJU....mmmmmm.

We were both pretty excited for the experience!




So we took the plunge.....



And how did it taste you ask....the pictures speak for themselves!

Mini-Bike Heaven

Move over Harley, theres a new hog in town. What better way to spend 5,000 Won (aka $5) then by renting these beasts for 30 minutes! And as the foreign teachers (Nathan and Lydia) at our school said, "it may not be safe, but at least it's fun!". That 30 minutes was filled with tons of people going in any which direction, not to mention the kids area, which was basically the center of the bigger kids area! In Canada, helmets and a waiver of liability would be required, but not in Seoul! Let the good times ride!



Adrian and Hilary - new friends that we met through Nathan and Lydia! They also shared our passion for the mini-bike.


Lydia and Adrian ripping it up.


At the end of our ride, Colin's bike got a little slow so he traded it in and we hit the road together! (that's a leg workout!)


By the way, the reason we stumbled upon this mini-bike heaven was because we had set out to explore a lake in Ilsan. It was beautiful and a nice retreat from the mass amounts of people everywhere in Seoul as well as the numerous buildings.



All in all, a great day!

Downtown Seoul

Here is the great view at the exit of the City hall subway stop. Pretty awesome if you ask us. That's all along the side of their city hall building. Very cool, very patriotic here in South Korea. Next to this building is a concert stage and on Saturday when we were their the lawn in front had sprinklers going to help give people a break from the 46 degree (with humidex) weather!


Ahhh Starbucks, million dollar franchise, million dollar prices! But how good it tastes!




Just a shot by some buildings...



"korean korean korean [insert f-bomb here] korean korean korea [wave your mother f***ing hands in the air] korean korean korea"

That sums up the Korean rappers seen below.



It was nice to take a load off on the way home, we'd been in crowds all day it seemed, so it was really nice to have a break from all the people on the subway.....oh wait....there is no such thing as personal space in Korea (especially not on the subway!)

Malbok

This past Wednesday was what the Koreans call Malbok. According to the lunar calendar this is the hottest day of the year and subsequently the end of the summer heat wave (as of today it wasn't any cooler!) On Malbok individuals eat Samgyetang or Poshintang. We were taken out for lunch by the Korean teachers at our school and had Samgyetang (luckily....as Poshintang is dog meat soup...literally.) Samgyetang is basically a chicken broth with a small whole chicken that is stuffed with rice, ginseng, chestnuts, garlic and a date. Both of these dishes are thought by Koreans to increase stamina and help you get through the extreme heat. We quite enjoyed the samgyetang (although I didn't feel staminated -yes Ry we know it's not a real word- afterwards!) and learning about this aspect of Korean culture.

Gwanghwamun

Today we rode the rails to Gwanghwamun. We have no idea how to acutally pronounce that. There was a bookstore there that we had heard had English books, so we thought we would check it out. The building below had a huge bookstore in it's basement that was pretty cool.

As the day progressed, we found our way to a stream that runs through the middle of the city, that was once a highway. It's neat how there is a lot of green space here despite the large number of buildings and population density. It was hella packed, but we're getting used to that here.

This area had a lot of cool shops, this building just shows how well the Koreans use their space in that every floor is a different business.

This is the Vietnamese restaurant that we tried out for lunch. It had pictures in the menu which made it easier for us to actually know what we were getting for lunch.

Our Home..

Here are some pictures of our beautiful home in Seoul...it actaully feels a bit bigger than it looks. We're still keeping our eyes open for some decorations as right now we have some pretty sweet white walls, but hopefully we find some "flare" soon!

(the only room with any colour!)






(our bedding situation is rather sad....but we do have a blanket, some hope and a plan!)