Octopus, anyone?

Today, we were invited out to lunch with a Korean family who lives in the country. After being lost for two hours, we finally made it. The food was great, but there was one dish that I was definitely not going to eat - octopus! However, realizing that this could be a once in a lifetime opportunity, I told Gabe I'd try it if he would try it. (Misery loves company, and it's much easier to get yourself into troublesome situations when you have siblings that will cooperate with your plans.) He agreed, and after we each grabbed a tentacle with our chopsticks, it took us several minutes to finally get the courage to chew. In all fairness, Gabe bravely went first, and when I saw he wasn't dying, I followed his example. To my surprise, it really did not taste bad. How would I describe it? Hmmm, maybe "rubbery chicken" would be a good representation. The hardest part was when I bit off one of the tentacles - it's not that the taste was horrible; instead, it was the rather squirmy thoughts "swimming" through my head! Hello, I'm your lunch!

Now, the only thing I have left to try here is dog...

Ja-Jong-Myon

Despite the fact that ja-jong-myon sounds like a character out of Star Wars (possibly related to Jar-jar-binx?), it is actually a type of Korean/Chinese food. Ja-jong-myon are noodles covered with black bean sauce and onions. Though it might seem unappetizing, it is really quite delicious.

In Korea, many of the restaurants offer takeout service; they deliver your food to you on the back of one the numerous motor-bikes buzzing around the cities. Sunday night, I had the lovely idea that we should order ja-jong-myon takeout so I could practice speaking Korean over the phone. Knowing that I was calling someone who wouldn't know a bit of English, I wasn't sure what might end up wiggling through the door (or if it would even arrive at all). Even though the lady talked so fast I sometimes had to take an educated guess as to what she said, it worked. About 15 minutes later, one of the crazy, motor-bike, delivery men drove up to our apartment. How much do you have to pay for all that extra service? Nothing! There is no tipping in Korea, and since noodles in black bean sauce is not exactly an expensive recipe, we are hoping to repeat the project again soon!

Ja-jong-myon and radish kimchi

The noodles try to attack you sometimes - you have to learn to use your chopsticks to defend yourself!

Recovering from the attack

Slurp, slurp (an Asian tradition)

Party Time!

Last night (Friday), we were supposed to have an open house for the entire high school co-op and their families. However, it ended up not being a very good night for some of the families so we postponed it for a couple weeks. Instead, Dad and Mom were invited out to dinner with a Korean couple so Mom gave us permission to invite any of the high school students who were available over for a time of games (and dessert- you wouldn't believe how much they love our homemade desserts. It's not uncommon to see plates stacked with 5-10 cookies, brownies, etc.!). We had about ten high school students along with the 6 of us kids. We played several different kinds of games, and we were laughing so much! The expressions that the Koreans have and the English words they say are so funny to us sometimes. Also, as you spend more time with them, you begin to discover their sense of humor. Here are a few pictures of our games (I wish I had taken more, but we were too busy having fun...)












Notice the blonde in the middle of all the black - and I actually seem tall.













Thinking...













Doo...little thinking he's smarter than everyone else :)













Some of the gang













It's very important to wear glasses when you are blindfolded - otherwise, you might not be able to see well!