Sunday, December 4, 2011

Kimchi making day

First I would like to start this off by saying that I lost a very special person to me this week. Kellie Bryant was one of the funniest and strongest people I know. The last three years I got to spend with her were wonderful. I am very sad to have to say goodbye to her. I know she is not longer in any pain and is in a better place, but I can't help and feel selfish because I want her to still be with us. I love you Kellie and I know you will be watching over us!

So this weekend was very busy! Friday started off by me going to have coffee and eat dinner with my friend GaYeon (Summer). We ate Bibimbop and had americanos. After that we went to Lotte Cinema to watch Breaking Dawn....It was amazing. It was after the movie I got the news about Kellie. Friday night was kind of rough because I was really sad and angry. I had to finally go to sleep because I was catching a 6:55 train to Seoul with some friends. Seoul was a lot of fun. I went shopping at H &M and forever 21. It was really crowded in Seoul and I was a little overwhelmed by the amount of people there :-) After shopping for a LONG time (we couldnt exactly find the stores so we were wondering for a bit) we had a little lunch and then went to the street where they sold all the korean style souvenirs. I bought a few things including Kimchi chocolate for mom and dad! :-) After that we decide we are going to find a motel to stay at for the night. Well after wondering for about an hour and a half we decide to try a different area of seoul because we couldnt find anything cheap enough. After finally finding somewhere to stay we were unloading all of our stuff when I realized I lost my return train ticket. (the train was leaving at 6:10 because I had to be back for kimchi making day). That was 50,000 won down the drain. So after realizing that I decided I was going to try to go back to Changwon saturday night and that way I could sleep in later. This was around 9:20.  We looked up times for the train and the last train left at 9:55 and we were so far from the train station there wasnt enough time. So then I decide a bus is the best idea. So I gathered all my stuff and took the subway to the bus station and caught a bus back to Changwon at midnight. I arrived home around 430 and went to bed.

I woke up very late this morning and was very exhausted. What a long weekend it had been so far. But it wasn't over yet. Today was Kimchi making day. I was to arrive at my friends house at 12. I was told to dress comfortably. I wore my new grey sweat pants that I had bought the day before at H&M...this was a bad idea. There was about 200 halves of cabbage and a TUB full of kimchi sauce. HOLY COW....was there a lot of kimchi to make. We spent about 3 hours spreading sauce on cabbage leaves. I was COVERED in red sauce.  My new sweat pants were COVERED in Kimchi sauce...hahaha I even had it all over my feet. It was a lot of fun though and really awesome to experience. While making kimchi my friend's mom kept giving all of us "kids" pieces to eat. Now I like kimchi but today I ate more kimchi than I have the whole time I have been in Korea. Not to mention to fact the last piece of kimchi she let me try had a raw mussel in it. While chewing I almost threw up. It didnt taste bad but the texture was AWFUL! OMG! After that I was FULL of kimchi, but for dinner her mom prepared boiled pork and rice. Which we wrapped the pork in kimchi that we had made. This is a traditional meal when families make kimchi. I was also given a GIANT box of kimchi to take home. I am not exactly sure when I will be eating kimchi again after today but it was really nice of her mom! I really enjoyed being with a family today. It really felt nice!! Over all it was a nice day...I am exhausted tonight but I have exams this week so mon-wed I will not be teaching...just desk warming. :-) So it was the perfect weekend to do all of this stuff!

This is Jessi  Henson, signing off, with kimchi sauce in my hair.....HAHAHA  :-)