Also, as a little note before I jump into my entry, Jenny and I finally had some pastries from Tous Les Jours. OMG SO GOOD. I had an apple-filled pastry and this other one. SO DELICIOUS. We need one in America...or at least Corona and Davis. This place is amazingggg.
Apple pastry in the back and pastry in the front...don't know the name but I LOVE it...just needs some butter haha
Anyways, I headed out to meet Jae Hee yesterday and we met up at the area around Hongik University. Hongik University itself is apparently known mostly for its' fine arts department. Love it :D I think that probably explains the nearby graffiti that I talked about earlier. Yonsei, Ewha, and Hongik (known as Yondae, Ewha, and Hongdae) are all big private universities that are really close to each other. Not surprised that they would spill into each other's areas...not that I'm saying they should be segregated hahaha.
Jae Hee should be a model :P
Hongdae (as in the area around the university) is super busy. It's filled with shops, cafe's, restaurants, clubs, etc. OH, HAHAHA something I couldn't take a pic of but there was a bar called, "The Ho Bar." I KNOW they didn't mean it the way an American or English-speaking person would take it but still...lol it's like those random restaurants in America that have these weird names in foreign languages. Like they sound good but what do they mean (El Pollo Loco, for example haha)?
Hongdae as the sun sets...I thought I didn't have a pic of the Ho Bar, but I do...check this pic out...to the right!!!
Setting up for a busy Saturday night of clubbing :D
But Jae Hee took me to this really good restaurant. You just order the meat and they come cook it for you in the big metal pan. Really, REALLY good. I also had what Jae Hee called, "kimchi soup." LOL so cute. It was really good though. Like spicy and sour at the same time but cold. It was a really good counter-taste to the spicyness of the chicken that she ordered...look at me, sounding all foodie. This means I watched too much Anthony Bourdain and Andrew Zimmern during the summer haha
We were eating that and the waiter comes over and starts talking to Jae Hee. He was all surprised that I could eat the food since even a lot of Koreans had trouble eating it (because it was so spicy) haha. I was so proud of myself *sigh.* Look at my Indian heritage shining through once again, strictly because of my tastebuds. Mommy, Daddy, thank you :D hahaha
After we finished eating, we headed out to the larger Hongdae area. Jae Hee helped me buy a bag (I'm so indecisive and my sense of fashion sucks) and made sure I got a good deal. She also told me about other good places to go shopping haha. I totally saw some presents I'm going to grab later there. Things for Avni, Niral, Mansee, Fariha, and Johnathen...got all of y'all covered haha.
By the way, I get a TON of free things here in Korea. On my first day here, I bought a dinner from the convenience store downstairs and got a free cup of noodles and a free corn tea (YUMMMM). Then when I went back later on, I bought another meal and got a free yogurt. When I was with Jae Hee, I bought this little watch for myself and got a cell-phone charm for free. And TODAY, when I went to Home Plus (Korea's version of Wal-Mart...I just hope it doesn't kill people and contribute to the degradation of the environment...I think it might be sexist though :[ ), I bought shampoo, and got another shampoo free, along with free conditioner and a free basket.
I love Korea haha.
But after buying all that shizznit, Jae Hee and I decided to chill in this little cafe (there are so many cafe's here! All the coffee drinkers of America would rejoice...but it is still expensive here lol). I had this awesome little fizzy grapefruit juice. And it tasted like a grapefruit...and I had little pieces of pulp. I LOVED IT!!! YUMMMMM :D I was sitting there drinking it, thinking about my first year, where all of us ate TONS of grapefruit. Some people though *coughMelindacough* had lots of trouble with the grapefruits hahaha.
YUMMMMM :D Grapefruit Fruit Ade haha
After eating, Jae Hee took me to an Ulzzang shop. It's like this place where you take tons of pics together, with backgrounds and props. Then you color them in, put little stickers, whatever. It's kind of cool and I wish they had them in America haha. They're like photobooths but with tons more options. Mine were so cheesssyyyyy LOL. Jae Hee kind of looked at me and was like, "Ummm, epic fail." hahaha Plus, I took wayyyy too long to color them in haha.
At the Ulzzang place, computer where we decorate our pics. Love it :D
The last thing we did before going our separate ways was something my dad really wants to do when he comes to Seoul...eat DUKBOKKI!!! LOL I had to take it to go but it was really good! Reminded me of something my mom and dad make with dough triangles...it's a Gujarati dish but the name escapes me. The concept is the same: sweet and spicy sauce, with a doughy addition. The Gujarati version is more like a soup...I'll have to get the name from my parents...But still, same taste. The dukbokki, however, has a really different texture since it's rice cakes. It's interesting, since the texture isn't anything I've ever encountered before. But you get used to it :D
Ah, and then I went home...
That's about it. OH! And I've taken to watching Korean dramas on TV (we have HD...yes, it's okay to be jealous. I know I am) but I still don't get them. I need to learn this language :P But because of those dramas, I'm slowly picking things up...I hope. Otherwise I've been screwing things up majorly haha...
One of my roommates had me watch this song and it's been stuck in my head all day...super cool music video AND song...Korea's pretty awesome haha:
hi anreeka! i found ur blog >.< haha, we both have the same picture of the "touch me softly" photo booth sign on our blogs! i guess those are marks of a foreigner...we are amazed at the littlest things her haha.hope u had fun last night, and good luck uploading the pictures :P
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