Weekend in Taebaek - Happy Halloween!

I'm not quite sure if I've updated you on my cooking endeavors yet, but I'll do a little recap just in case.  This past Thursday I boiled a pumpkin, pureed it, and made some delicious pumpkin pancakes that I stuck in the freezer.  I also made some apple cider syrup.  This was drop-dead delicious!  I have a bottle of it that's sitting in my fridge, just calling out to me to be used this winter.  I also toasted the pumpkin seeds in a skillet since I haven't gotten my toaster oven yet.  Today, I used the rest of the pureed pumpkin to make a pumpkin spice latte syrup that is to die for and I'm making pumpkin butter on the stove right now.  I have one more pumpkin so I think I'll probably cube it up and stick it in a soup.  I'll probably end up buying a few more before they go out of season and freeze it so I can have it during the winter.  Making all of these things from scratch has been a little hard (trying to find the ingredients, lack of kitchen ware and kitchen space) but it makes the final product that much better because I put so much work into it.  I can't wait for more holiday baking!

On Friday I had a little Halloween celebration with my students.  We watched "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown," I brought in a ton of candy, and printed out some little packets with word searches and crossword puzzles in it.  We had a fun time!  I can't wait to do it for Thanksgiving and Christmas, too.

My Korean is really coming along!  I'm honestly really impressed with how quickly I'm picking it up.  I ran to the store today and could understand some of what I was reading because there are quite a few cognates to English.  I was so excited.  I was telling Peter how I want to go to a traditional Korean tea house some time and he said we could have a lesson at a tea house, hopefully this week, so I'm really excited about that.  The only problem with these lessons - I think Peter might have a crush on me.  I'm not 100% positive because some of what he's saying gets lost in translation, but he's been texting me a lot lately and has put a couple hearts at the end of some of the texts.  I, of course, just want to be friends and love having a Korean who's so willing to help me out with the language and show me around the town a little bit, so I'm hoping that maybe it'll fade so we can continue to just be friends and it won't be awkward.

One of the teachers at my school, Baz, was telling me about this little town in Seoul that has a great flea market and tons of inexpensive shops that I should go to (because I will be in desperate need of warmer clothes this winter and some outdoor running gear).  Then she offered to take me!  So we're going shopping on Wednesday before work.  I'm so excited to hang out with her and I feel really lucky that some of the teachers are going out of their way to show me around and make me feel at home.  On Saturday, my boss Mrs. Kim and her boyfriend are going to take me to Seoul to see some sights and spend the day together.  I can't wait.  And, I'm even more excited to see what Mrs. Kim is like around a man.  Should be interesting!

This past weekend I went to the mountain town of Taebaek with a bunch of friends and stayed in a cabin at O2 Resort, a popular ski resort about 3 hours east of Seoul.  We had a blast!  We got up to Taebaek mid-day on Saturday and walked around town for a little bit.  Then we had coffee at the most adorable coffee shop I've ever been to!  It looked like a tree house with all the wood walls and cool decor all over.  When you walked in their homemade pastries, homemade ice cream, and brew station were on the right.  There were two small tables and a few chairs around them, but one of the best parts was that they had an old-school log burning fireplace in the back corner.  It reminded me of being at the Roath's cabin in South Park, CO (some good family friends who built two cabins themselves).  When you walked upstairs there were a bunch of small little rooms each with its own set of cozy chairs, cute little pictures, and small shelving units and old dressers/desks with tattered books and recipes on them.  They were playing some American music, too, like John Mayer and Jason Mraz.  I wanted to camp out there the whole weekend!  Outside, there was an area used for chopping and storing their own wood, plus an old porch swing.  It was the perfect place to warm up since it was freezing outside.

After drinking our lattes we went on a short hike past some family farms that were growing different kinds of lettuce, cabbage, and I'm sure there were other things but I'm not quite sure what they were.  We played on some of the funny Korean exercise equipment, and then walked back down as we were serenaded by Simon with his lovely voice and excellent guitar playing.  We had lunch at this great galbi restaurant.  Galbi is chicken or beef cooked in front of you with a ton of vegetables, broth, and some spices.  It's all raw when you put it in the pots on the table.  They the waitress covers it and lets it cook until the chicken is done.  The broth eventually thickens and it becomes the delicious stew-like mix that is hard to explain unless you've had it.  So yummy!  Then we taxied up to O2 Resorts and just hung out for a bit.  We walked around the "ski" area, which, to CO standards, looks like the size of the bunny hills at Vail.  I can only imagine the chaos of Korean skiing here - clueless, decked out men and women of all ages, crossing back and forth across the mountain, cutting off or skiing over anyone that gets in their way.  I'll probably stay away from skiing while I'm here.  With my luck I'll probably end up breaking my leg and won't be able to walk for two months.  We had a little Halloween party in the boys' cabin.  Simon and Nate had brewed their own beer and brought up a ton of it.  I don't like beer, but it was fun to try a homemade brew that friends had made.  They did a good job, too.  I was really impressed.

Sunday was spent hiking, eating the best homemade chicken noodle soup you'll ever have in your entire life (homemade noodles and all), and going to town so I could get some yarn, crochet, and knitting needles so I can learn how to do both and make some scarves and hats.  I might as well pick up a new hobby while I'm out here since I have a lot of time in the mornings.  One of the funniest parts of the trip was meeting this Russian guy who was friends with Simon and Nate.  He came to the party and the slept in his car that night.  The battery died, so he had to jump his car from a police car.  He was still drunk at 10 a.m. when we hiked around and brought a beer with him on the hike.  He could only speak Korean and Russian, with a few English phrases here and there, so trying to communicate with him was hilarious.  He was seriously crazy!  Whenever he wanted to talk to us he would say, "Attention please!"  He seriously talked the entire time even though know one could communicate with him.  It was unreal.  I've never met someone who talked as much as he did.  He was 24 and apparently married with a kid!  The woman who married him must be a saint.  I was only with him for a few hours and he drove me nuts . . . I couldn't even understand what he was saying!  Apparently, as we were on our way to lunch, the Russian (I'm not sure what his name was), was in his car saying goodbye to some of our friends.  He waved, then put his car in reverse and totally smashed a parked car behind him and moved it an entire parking space!  What's almost crazier is that the parking lot was essentially empty, so the fact that he was able to back into one of the only cars there was unbelievable.  After he realized what happened, he froze for a second with a look of sheer panic on his face, then zoomed off without leaving a note or anything.  Like I said, this guy was crazy!  

It was a fun weekend and the town was really cute.  It was great to get out of the city and up to the mountains.  It was really chilly though.  I'm pretty sure I'm going to freeze this winter.  I don't know what I'm going to do.

Here's my schedule for this upcoming week (in addition to my running - 1/2 marathon is less than 2 weeks away!).  Should be a fun and busy week:
Tuesday - Korean lesson with Peter
Wednesday - Shopping with Baz at the popular flea market in Seoul.  After work I'll head up to Seoyhan for girl's night at Whitney's apartment.
Thursday - Coffee with Kim down on Cafe Street, this adorable little area I just discovered near my apartment that has tons of independently owned cafes that are really eclectic and unique.  There are also a ton of little restaurants that I can't wait to check out as well, most of which are not Korean.
Friday - Korean lesson with Peter.
Saturday - Sightseeing in Seoul with Mrs. Kim and her boyfriend in Seoul.

Hope everyone had a great Halloween!  I'll post pictures from the trip soon.  I would do it now, but I have to get ready for work.  Lots of love, hugs, and kisses!