Exchange Day 84 - Happy birthday!

I woke up feeling a teeny weeny grumpy today because of my project meeting that was scheduled right smack in the middle of the day. It sucks when such things happen as my whole day is basically wasted since I can't do much before or after the meeting, although I don't really have much things to do.

Breakfast was walnut rye bread with strawberry jam from PB! I regret not listening to my heart and buying the fluffy white bread because now I'm forced to endure this boring bread for another two breakfasts. The crust was dry and there were no crunchy bits of walnut inside the bread. At least the bread's thick. I love thick toasts.

The trees in school are all turning red and soon they'll all be bald! I should feel bad for the poor trees but I can't help but feel excited to see botak trees. Trees in Singapore are evergreen since we have sunny weather all year round so we don't get much of a chance to see them turn yellow, red and bald.

I finally had a very satisfying lunch of rice and many side dishes in my favourite cafeteria near school! Although I'm always awkward when I'm eating there (I feel like everyone's judging me for eating alone), I always finish all my food. I've eaten there for almost five times now and I still find it extremely delicious!

The young couple who was sitting beside me barely touched their side dishes and they only finished half of their rice! Why do they even step into the cafeteria if they're not hungry in the first place? I get really upset when I see people wasting their food because I feel that they're not being appreciative of the people who prepare the food. Also if everyone starts wasting food, restaurants and cafeterias will start serving smaller portions at the same price and food indirectly becomes more expensive!

I ordered bean paste stew for 3,500W and it's a little different from the ones I've had elsewhere as it's spicier. In a typical bean paste stew, you can find pieces of leek, cabbage, tofu and zucchini.

Today's project meeting turned out much more productive than expected but we're still meeting tomorrow to practise giving our presentation. I was hoping that we wouldn't have to meet tomorrow but I guess I should help my groupmates with their scripts as we'll be presenting in English, which my groupmates aren't fluent in.

I had 삼겹살 for dinner today, in (secret) celebration of my friend's twenty-first birthday, at Palsaik in Nampo-dong. Palsaik is best known for their eight-coloured fatty pork meat, which is basically fatty pork marinated in eight different sauces. 삼겹살 in Korean directly translates to 'three layered meat' and is usually barbequed and eaten wrapped in leafy vegetables. 

We ordered the Eight Colours set for 30,000W and it was good for four! The fatty pork came in this neatly classified tray that tells you the various flavours in the four most common languages used in Korea.

Other than the pork, each table is also entitled to a steaming pot of spicy seafood soup, when finished could be swapped for a pot of fried rice for a small fee.

Honestly, all the different pork tasted the same to me once barbequed and I couldn't really tell which was which. I gobbled them down hungrily regardless and I was surprised that I didn't pick out the fatty parts of the meat. Usually I do that, but I somehow forgot this time round.

After the meal, we headed to the Twosome Place for dessert, where we sprang a Chocolate Truffle cake on the very surprised birthday girl. We took a lot of mandatory selcas (but none directly featuring the cake) before heartily tucking into the decadent dessert.

The excited us who couldn't wait to tuck in.

Since there were only four of us, we each had to finish a quarter of the cake, which wasn't a difficult task actually. The cake was very rich (flimsy plastic knives would not be able to slice the cake) but not cloyingly sweet. The chocolate chiffon melted in my mouth and the lavish layer of truffle caressed my throat, rendering me speechless as I went back for more.

My sister and I both agree that I need help with food vocabulary as I seem to have exhausted mine.

Twosome Place is a dessert cafe that is better known for their luxurious cakes and chocolates, although they do serve the usual coffee and drinks. Although its name is suggestively exclusive, I believe solo diners will not be rejected from patronising the shop. I haven't tried going there alone though, but I will soon. Today's trip has left me asking for more of their yummy desserts.

xoxo, ❀

Exchange Day 83 - Frozen goodness

I was supposed to go bird-watching again at Eulsukdo Nature Reserve today with my friends to make up for our previous failed trip and then visit our Korean buddy at a horse stable she works at but no plans were confirmed so I decided to go out by myself. Thankfully I went ahead with my own plans because if I had waited for their response, today would have been a wasted day. (or maybe they did go out but I wasn't informed)

Breakfast was honey cake that I bought from the dormitory's welfare shop yesterday and Mommy does not believe that it's only 230kcal for a big slice of cake. Well, it says so on the packaging, (I've checked umpteen times) and there's no saying that the cake's more than one serving. So I guess it really is only 230kcal. (smirks)

The honey cake was much tastier than I had expected. I refrain from imposing high expectations on a convenience bread because I'm afraid of disappointment. These few days I'm losing all interest in my food. (frowns) The honey cake was sweet, fluffy and so addictive I ate the baking paper that was stuck at the base too. Two bites worth before I realised it was paper. Oh well, more fibre in my diet.

A honey cake didn't satisfy my voracious appetite so I downed three waffle biscuits and a cheesecake bar. They still didn't do the job but I decided to curb my greedy tummy.

I had planned to eat something satisfying like rice for lunch but I ended up having frozen yoghurt from Yogurberry along the streets of the Dong-A Hadan campus. The shop has a self-service concept where customers choose a cup size and are free to take whatever yoghurt and toppings they like, before paying for their froyo at the counter. Prices for froyo go according to weight at 220W per gram and mine weighed exactly 200g so I paid 4,400W, which was similar to what I would be paying in Singapore.

There were altogether eight flavours - green tea, chocolate, mascarpon cheese, strawberry, blueberry, plain, mango and grapefruit - and more than twenty different toppings to choose from. I like being able to try a variety of flavours, so I took a bit of green tea, chocolate, cheese, blueberry and grapefruit. Green tea was fragrant but not too overpowering, chocolate wasn't too sweet, blueberry tasted a little creamy and grapefruit felt like a tangy sorbet. I liked all the flavours I picked except for cheese, which I felt was too rich.

I took the smallest size cup, which when filled to the brim is enough to be shared amongst two people, although eating it alone is much more satisfying.

Other than frozen yoghurt, the shop also sells 빙수 (shaved ice) but it isn't a fixed thing on the menu so it might change with the seasons. From the pictures, the shaved ice didn't look as appealing as its yoghurt so I would suggest to stick with the froyo unless you're sharing with friends.

Today's destination was Dongdaesin on Line 2, home to the Dongdaesin Market and neighbour of the Seodaesin Market. The word 'market' excites me a lot as it usually has the connotation of being cheap and local, which I love and hence I rushed to the market in hopes of finding cheap and delicious hawker fare to satisfy my grumpy tummy.

Every time I visit a market, I always draw stares from the ahjummas because rarely are there people my age at the markets. I bet they must all be wondering if I got lost while trying to find somewhere else. Unfortunately for me, most of the cafeterias weren't open for business, even when I walked all the way to the Seodaesin Market, so I left and walked out onto the main street.

I found a bakery, very happy that it wasn't part of any global franchise so I decided to give it a chance. There were so many mouthwatering bread and pastries I had a hard time deciding but I eventually succumbed to a 고구마빵 (sweet potato bread). So predictable I know. My sister must be mumbling to my mom how I keep eating the same thing over and over again.

Although the label describes this to be bread, I think that it's just a sweet potato baked in cheese. There's nothing about it that tastes like bread to me but anyhow, it was sweet and delectable. Very pricey at 2,000W but worth every single penny. The potato filled me up finally and I didn't even feel hungry for dinner although I still ate.

I went into Toms and Toms Cafe, for it's the only cafe along the street I haven't been into and I try not to repeat, and ordered a Rose Flower Tea. I was really disappointed because they didn't serve my tea in a fancy porcelain cup and the only thing fancy about the drink were the pretty rose buds in the tea bag. Not worth my 4,200W. The cafe was a little stuffy at the first floor where I sat but it might be better on the second floor, where most of the other customers sat.

The first floor of the cafe. I sat in one of the red leather chairs close to the windows.

My expensive rose flower tea.

Studying again! It's sweet for my books to always accompany me on weekends but I wished they'd find other friends.

Dinner was 튀김 (tempura) and 오댕 (oden) again from a popular street vendor in Hadan, although this time I ate significantly less and had a mini 김밥 (kimbab) too. You can find the shop outside Exit 3 of Hadan Station and the food is really affordable at 500W per piece. The tempura is always freshly fried and I'd recommend requesting the imo for the sweet and spicy deokbokki sauce to go along with your tempura for a gastronomical experience.

I succumbed to temptations. ): The ice cream was rock hard, which I loved but I got cheated by the calorie label.

xoxo, ❀

Exchange Day 82

I forgot what was breakfast. These few days I keep waking up late so my meal times are pushed back later, and sometimes breakfast gets combined with lunch. I had lunch in the dormitory cafeteria. We had a choice today between 닭치리덥밥 (sweet chilli chicken and rice) and 잡체덥밥 (japchae with rice), and obviously after the previous mortifying experience I had with the dormitory's japchae, I chose chicken. No question about it.

Fried chicken is always delicious, but I would appreciate it if they could lay down a little on the sauce. I always end up rinsing my chicken in the soup (落汤鸡 pun haha) and people give me weird looks like I'm those girls who soak all their food in hot water and dab them with kitchen towels to remove oil. How people want to live is their choice okay, don't stare like we're animals in the zoo!

I heard something calling me from the convenience store to bring it home and I simply couldn't refused its insistent pleas.

Chocolate chunks and vanilla ice cream are one of the best combinations on Earth I swear.

I waited an hour for the bulge in my tummy to dissipate before dragging myself down to the gym. It's freezing in the gym so I've been putting off gymming for quite a while now, but it won't do if I want to continue eating well. I've decided that slacking around in the gym is better than doing nothing at all in my room so I'll try to go every day just for a teeny weeny bit of exercise.

After I did some reps at the machines, I went back to walking/jogging for a bit more, mainly because there was a volleyball match on.

I had dinner at the dormitory cafeteria again and the food was surprisingly scrumptious today. I tried hard not to finish the entire plate but I couldn't help myself. I even contemplated to lick the plate, but it looked so sparkling clean already there wasn't much to lick.

My hamburg omurice at 3,000W with a side of coleslaw salad!

The hamburg patty tastes like a beef-flavoured sausage patty, something like the sausage patties in McDonalds in Singapore except those aren't made from beef, and I absolutely love omurice made from short-grained pearls. If ketchup rice is only for children, then I don't want to grow up ever.

After dinner, I had a cup of strawberry yoghurt to stave off cravings for ice cream and also to get my bowels moving again.

Maeil Bio yoghurt, proudly endorsed by figure skate Kim Yuna!

xoxo, ❀

Exchange Day 77 - Waffle

Breakfast wasn't much of a spectacle today, I scoffed down some waffle biscuits and that was it. You can imagine how starving I was when I finally went down the mountain for food. Every time I go down to study, I bring a lot of books with me that are bulky and heavy so I try not to bring my laptop along. Because of that, I normally finish everything I need to do on my laptop before I go down and that seriously takes a very long time.

I wanted to try a cafe different from yesterday's but the new cafe I went to rejected me for they had no more available cabins for lone customers. Why do you even need to split your cafe into cabins and fine, I'll leave.

So I had nowhere else to go, Cafe Bene was teeming with people and the other smaller cafes were closed (most of them), leaving me with no choice but no go back to Angel-in-us. So embarrassing I actually chose the exact same seat, but I don't think the staff remembers. I found out that they had those huge waffles that I was craving for so I ordered a plain waffle and a cup of strawberry tea for my overdued lunch.

Look at all these books, how to still bring my laptop along?

After an excruciating wait of ten minutes, my food was ready! The smell of the waffles drifted throughout the entire cafe as it was cooking, tempting me to go on a rage before the waffles were ready to be served. How I have missed that familiar scent! I'm surprised by my ability to pause for pictures despite being so hungry I could devour two horses.

A plain waffle costs 6,000W and comes with blueberry jam and frosted sugar. The strawberry tea cost 4,200W.

The waffle was soft on the inside and crispy on the outside, and absolutely delicious when paired with the blueberry jam. I took at least ten pictures before settling on this, I think if I took anymore I would have rampaged on the spot.

The tea was really fragrant, I felt like I was in a strawberry garden but tastes just like normal black tea. I recommend ordering hot drinks if you're planning to stay for long, because you can ask for refills of hot water and that gives you better value for money!

My friend came down early to meet me for dinner so I wasn't able to do much (partly because I spent so much time eating and doing nothing). I regret lugging those books down. We had no idea where we wanted to go for dinner so we decided to be adventurous and hopped on the next bus that came along.

The bus brought us to the Busan Station, where we found a Pyongyang (North Korean anybody?) cafeteria while we were navigating through its back alleys. We ordered a 따로 국밥 (pork soup and rice) to split so that we could afford to eat more at other places later. 국밥 usually comes with the rice already in the soup itself, but for people like me who are resistant to the idea of eating wet rice, 따로 국밥 is best for you as the rice and soup are served separately for the diner to mix at his own discretion. 따로 means 'separate' in Korean and is useful to ask for separate bills when dining with friends too.

The pork soup was kind of bland initially, but that's because you have to mix in the chives and shrimp paste that came along in the side dishes. It's up to the individual how much he wants to add in, but I'd recommend throwing the whole lot in as it makes the soup much more flavourful. Chives also boost the fibre count of the meal, which is really important if you don't eat the kimchi. There's essentially no more fibre.

Exchange Day 67 - Happy Halloween!

Today was an exciting day because my friends and I would be having ice cream at Baskin Robbins before our late evening class! We were going to challenge ourselves to finish the mega huge ice cream monster pail! At Baskin Robbins, there is a promotion for every thirty-first day of the month, where customers will receive a free upsize with every purchase of a family pint, giving you savings of 5,000W and a whole lot more ice cream!

I had breakfast at the dorm as usual, which was a carbohydrate-loaded meal of gravy potatoes and fried fish fillet with rice and spicy tofu-radish soup. I have to say the soup was the best part of the meal, I don't enjoy eating normal potatoes that much and the fried fish today was tasteless if not for the salad cream.

For lunch, I met a friend, whom I got to know two days ago. It was a really random occurrence as I was standing outside the post office after having dropped off a parcel to Chubby. She came up to me and started talking to me in a flurry of Korean. Thinking that she needed directions, I smiled sheepishly and said that I was a foreigner, expecting her to understand that I could be of no help and she had to find another person for help. To my surprise, she kept on talking and we ended up chatting so much that we arranged for a lunch date today.

She was late so she offered to treat me for lunch, which I gladly accepted as it's considered rude in Korean culture to decline such an offer. We ate in the school cafeteria of Seunghak campus, which was new to me as I never had classes there. Like all other cafeterias, we had to buy a meal ticket from the vending machine but there were a whole lot more food choices here as compared to the rest. I'm a little sorry that I didn't take a closer look at the menu before deciding on dumplings as I didn't expect the dumplings to be fried and the fried chicken that I loved was on the menu today! Such a pity.

Lunch ended on a bit of an awkward note as more 'friends' turned up than I had expected and I felt a little pressured by them to take up activities at their cultural centers. My friend had told me about her cultural center that they offer dancing and modeling classes for lower prices and so I had agreed to find out more about the classes from her over lunch today. But I didn't get as much information as I would like to because I had to visit the center to find out more, which was fishy I thought. Coupled with the fact that I felt out of place and uncomfortable with everyone that was present, I thought I better leave. Thankfully they could sense my discomfort and didn't press for me to stay.

The next part of the day was the best as I fled to Baskin Robbins to have ice cream with my friends!!! Being indecisive girls, we took a long time but we finally decided on six ice cream flavours to enjoy! Each monster bucket entitles you to choose up to 6 different flavours and you won't just get a scoop of that flavour but the staff will use this thing that looks like a paint scraper and cut one whole chunk of ice cream for you.

Look at the mountain of ice cream oh my god this cost us 19,500W, which was really a steal. 

It took lots of pain and determination but we managed to finish every single drop of ice cream in the bucket. We have agreed that we will not eat any more Baskin Robbins for the next one month.

Dinner was fried chicken from a roadside stall and rice burger from Bongusu Burger, which was newly opened right outside the side gate of Bumin Campus. As I liked it sweet, the staff suggested a Mayonnaise Ribs Burger, which I accepted.

2,500W for my burger.

The cubes were chicken in bulgogi sauce and there was also tuna mayonnaise in the burger. It was really satisfying and we ate our burgers with a spoon although you can choose to compress it and eat it like a normal burger.

Fried chicken was 2,000W for a medium sized cup, which we shared, and there were also golden brown hashbrowns inside! So delicious!

T'was a fatty but really happy day for my tummy! I shall try to eat healthier for the next few days to mitigate the damage done by the ice cream and cake and fried food. Good night everyone!

P.S. My friend and I saw people in Halloween getup heading towards something that looked like a party so we decided to try our luck. Korea doesn't have a Halloween culture so we got really excited when we saw people in costumes, but it turned out to be a 'sensual' (as quoted from their poster) club event so we bailed.

xoxo, ❀

Exchange Day 64 - I love pistachio

I must be really tired these few days because I keep oversleeping my alarm. Actually today I didn't oversleep the alarm, I woke up and turned it off then went back to sleep.

Breakfast, or rather lunch, was the long loaf of white bread I bought yesterday from PB! I saw a friend eat it that day and it looked really delicious for a loaf of plain bread so I bought it to try. We should never have expectations for anything because it really disappoints you when things turn out otherwise. Okay maybe just for food. I know there's really nothing more I can expect from plain white bread and I really love all kinds of bread, but today's the first time I actually got sick of eating white bread.

I stayed indoors and loafed around (pun intended) until I absolutely had to leave for class. In that time, I managed to finish three blog posts, which is quite an accomplishment considering how I can spend half a day doing nothing on the Internet everyday.

Dinner was 정식 (yes again) from the school cafeteria and I didn't finish it either. All the food I've been eating these few days have been disappointing so I got an ice cream cone from the supermart across the street to redeem myself.

I had been wanting to try this pistachio-flavoured cone for some time now and there was no class the past few days so I couldn't visit the mart, but today I finally did! And the cone was awesome :') I have decided that my favourite ice cream flavour is now pistachio, regardless of the brand or colour or shape it comes in.

Back home, my sister and I like to play the "What is my favourite.." game where we quiz each other about our favourite brand of ice cream, sock colour, place in the house and stuff like that. For us when the question is food-related, it becomes a really serious affair as we have to be specific if not we won't get an answer. I used to say that my favourite ice cream is Baileys from Gelato di Bruno, but now it doesn't matter anymore, as long as it's pistachio I'll take it.

I feel like getting ice cream again tomorrow.

xoxo, ❀

Exchange Day 61 - Where are the birds

I was supposed to visit the Gamcheon Cultural Village with my friends today but I bailed because I was too tired from stalking Scoot the previous night. I can't believe I went to sleep at an ungodly 4a.m. and the worse part was it wasn't even productive. I still don't have a flight back to Singapore.

Breakfast today was the chocolate log bread that I had been dying to try from PB! It wasn't extremely chocolatey to the point where you felt you gained ten pounds from a single bite, but it wasn't chocolatey enough to satisfy your inner chocolate demons. I don't know what exactly I was expecting from the bread, but it sure didn't taste as mind-blowing as I envisioned it to be.

This thing cost me 3,000W.

I stayed in my room the entire morning and I didn't even go out for lunch because I was too engrossed in the Internet. I can't even remember what it was that I did today oh my gosh. If not for my room mate, I don't think I would have stepped out of the house at all today.

She came back in the late afternoon and said that they were trying to claim their transport fees and asked if I wanted to tag along. Well of course I did, it's free money. So I finally took my first step out of the house and thankfully I wasn't looking too dishevelled because we ended up staying outside for a couple of hours and even had to visit the school's office to submit our applications. Special mention goes to David, a Korean buddy of ours who is the nicest person I have ever met, I can't believe such a person exists actually. (and it was his birthday today I didn't even know until a few days later)

The cavewoman caved in (yay punny!) to her hunger so she bought an ice cream from the convenience store for 1,000W. I love ice cream cakebreads (actually I just love ice cream) like this and this one is blueberry-cheesecake-flavoured! I made it a point to try every single prepacked ice cream from the convenience stores here and I am nowhere close to even half the list because I keep rejecting those temptations.

Anyway, the ice cream was cold, creamy and smooth, deliciously sandwiched by the soft spongy cake slices but I don't think I should eat it again. There're too many other ice creams waiting in line. But this one was really good!

We spent an hour bumming around after we went to the office (I learnt that guys can be as indecisive as girls sometimes) and by this time, the cavewoman has evolved into a hungry monster and we all know what she's like when she's hungry! So she fled down the mountain to grab herself some food.

I've always wanted to try Mom's Touch, but I didn't have the guts to go in and order a takeout I don't know for what reason since I have been through much worse embarrassments. But since David was around, he could help me order and I finally got to try the highly raved Mom's Touch! I got the mango chicken burger, which was huge (true to its picture) and tasted like a non-spicy version of the Zinger burger back home. It wasn't half bad but I was disappointed because I couldn't taste any mango in all of my bites. Are they not in season? The fries were fantastic though! Best fries I've had in Korea!

My room mate wanted a drink so we all got bubble teas! I try not to drink bubble so often but I've been wanting to try the bubble tea here in Korea to see how it differs from the ones back home. The shop we went to was called Bubble Tok (bad pun) and each cup bought is worth one chop on the loyalty card. The cute part was that you could play rock-scissors-paper with the staff and if you win, you get an additional chop! And we both won. (grins)

I ordered an iced pumpkin latte which costs a crazy 4,300W and only tasted so-so. The tapioca (that's what they call it here) was really chewy, but it was kind of tasteless so it was a chore for me to avoid the pearls when drinking the latte. I ended up throwing the drink away at the halfway mark. Although I would like to try their sweet potato drinks, I probably wouldn't go in again.

After dinner, I joined my friends for bird-watching at the Eulsukdo Bird Sanctuary. It's just round the corner from Hadan and across the Nakdong River. It's within walking distance actually from Hadan Station but if you don't like to walk, you can take Bus 58 from the station but it only comes once every twenty minutes.

Through a series of misfortunate events, by the time we got there, it was really dark and the birds were all gone. Well, not all the birds, we managed to see one crane and three unidentified flying creatures but that was it. We have to come back another day. (sigh) I read online that the birds are not always around throughout the year and that October is the best time for bird-watching.

It was really dark but I managed to spot a crane perched on top of a wooden gate! (happy)

I'm glad we got to see the beautiful night view of Hadan though.

My friends were hungry and they wanted to have dinner at 본죽, a franchise porridge house they found online. We walked for miles and miles no thanks to Google Maps but we finally found it! The long search whetted our appetites and we wasted no time ordering our food.

As the servings were huge, us three girls got two bowls to share whereas the guys happily polished off one bowl each. The girls wanted to try the popular Bulgogi-Octopus Porridge so we had that and I picked Pumpkin Porridge for our other choice. The guys were boring and both got Mushroom-Chicken Porridge. Each bowl of porridge ranges from 8,000W to 15,000W and I felt that it was really too expensive to be justified even though the servings were very generous.

The bulgogi-octopus porridge (9,000W) had lots of ingredients in it and looked really appetising, but tasted very bland. The pumpkin porridge (8,000W) had more flavour, but it lacked the abundance of ingredients. It tasted more like a dessert than a proper meal, especially with the rice dumplings inside it. I'm not a porridge person, so I guess I'll not be coming back, but it was definitely worth a try.

xoxo, ❀