Jessi's Journey To Pusan: Happy Tuesday!

Well it's another Tuesday during exam week here in Korea. I have 3 classes and I get to play review games! These used to be my favorite days in America! I loved playing jeopardy with my students and seeing that they had actually learned something! :-) My first grade students yesterday did really well with the game and I was surprised how much they had actually learned from me! :-) So today I have dance practice and boxing. I so stupidly agreed to do a dance with some teachers for the school festival. First problem, I have never done a dance, a group dance, except for the pep rally and that was more of a joke than an actual dance! Second, I am the tallest, biggest, and only foreign teacher doing it...so guess who is going to stand out....THIS GIRL! :-) Third problem is the costume! They are wanting to get sparkling shorts....now they might look good on chopstick legs....but not on my thunder thighs! hahaha! But I have a feeling my students are really going to love it so it's worth it to make them happy! On another note I have been sticking to my diet plan....except on sunday (which was kimchi day and I will talk more about that later). I ordered some melon so instead of one melon for 10,000 won I got 4. Which in Korea produce has become very very expensive so I will take a good deal where ever I can! :-) I just received my order from iherb.com and got my tahini....so you know what that means....its HUMMUS time! this makes me very excited! Hopefully it turns out ok~~

On Sunday I made kimchi at my friend 남가연 (Nam GaYeon) house with her family! I joke that they are my adoptive family in Korea! Her mother is so lovely and her father is a real family man! Reminds me of someone else I know (mom and dad!) :-) so I will post the pictures of the order in which things happen on kimchi day....because there is a process! :-)

Step 1: First we made the kimchi sauce....well its more like a rub....hahaha

What you see here is adding the sliced carrots and radish to the special red paste that GaYeon's mom makes. This is what makes every person's kimchi different the secret red paste. I know also they put some squid in theirs because I saw it when I was helping mix this paste! :-)

Step 2: Cover (rub) the already fermenting cabbage with the red paste you saw above. There had to have been over 60 halves of cabbage we had to cover with the paste. After you have given the cabbage a thorough rub down you fold it nicely and place it in the kimchi keepers. (Special Tupperware made for Kimchi)

Step 3: The finished kimchi. After you have covered it all and placed it in the Tupperware you put the lid on it and place it in the special kimchi refrigerator. This is just half of the kimchi we made....it all wouldn't fit in a nice picture.

Step 4: The meal. On kimchi making day it is usual to have a meal of boiled pork, rice, soup and kimchi. You save one cabbage of the kimch you just made and you eat it with the meal. Fresh kimchi has a much different taste than fermented kimchi. Gayeon's mother's kimchi is so delicious and very spicy! :-)

Step 5: After all of that hard work and delicious food...it is time for the family to go to relax at a 찜질방. (jjimjilbang) This is like the sauna type rooms where you sit in and sweat out all your toxins....or sodium from the kimchi we just ate. I had been to many 찜질방 before but not one like this. When we got out of the car you could smell the fresh smell of a fire. It smelled like someone was having a BBQ. GaYeon told me that this is more like a traditional 찜질방 and the heat is actual from a fire and not from an electric heater. The smell was fantastic and to me it smelled like Christmas time! :-)